Strategy Guide Reviews

A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides

Monday Gaming Diary: More Than Meets the Eye

By Leave a Comment

Grimlock in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

How fun is it to play as Grimlock? VERY.

Yes, yes, as my corny title suggests, I played a LOT of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron last week, and I actually finished it in less than a week! If I hadn’t gone out of town during the week before Labor Day, I could have had that sucker done by Labor Day weekend! Ah well, them’s the breaks. The important thing is that it is done, the strategy guide review will be up very, VERY soon, and I can get back to my pursuit of finishing the following games before October 9th:

  • Halo 3: ODST
  • Halo: Reach
  • Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Feel free to laugh at me for having such lofty goals; I know I deserve it. I can’t promise that they all will be done, but I can PROMISE you that the Halogames most definitely will be, as I am in the middle of researching lore problems between the games and the books. I’ve been reading the Halo books since about July. I finishedGhosts of Onyx a couple of weeks ago, and on a whim, decided to fire upHalo: Reacharound that same time frame. Within the first or second mission of that game, I stumbled into a huge clash between this game and that particular book. If you accept it all as canon, it doesn’t make sense. But before I confirm this, I must finishHalo: Reach first, and due to suggestions on the Internet, must read a copy of Dr. Halsey’s journal that came with the Collector’s Edition ofHalo: Reach. Thankfully, I have a fantastic Halo fanboy friend who is willing to loan me his copy, since all of the scans and summaries I found online are sub-par at best. I have to admit, I feel like I’m becoming one of those super nerds that has to point out every plot-hole and mistaken reference in comics, like the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons, just without becoming a man and gaining 400 pounds.

Also, just before the Labor Day vacation, I got my hands on a 3DS XL. After scoffing its existence since its announcement, I have to admit that I caved to its brilliance. This is what Nintendo should have released in the beginning, although we all know that Nintendo never releases final products at launch. How could I not have learned this lesson from the DS Phat? Consequently, I traded in my 3DS and picked up a 3DS XL (don’t worry…I was able to transfer all of my data). While I was hanging out in GameStop, I finally picked up the most recent Professor Laytontitle, Professor Layton and the Last Specter. I’ve always loved these games, and I meant to pick it up when it released, but obviously, that never happened. Each game seems to jump the shark more than the last, but it’s always entertaining to see how it comes together in the end. Besides, I love the puzzles! Considering how much failure I’ve had with the Vita as of late–most recent game to bite the dust was Uncharted: Golden Abyss–it’s nice to find something I like to play on the handhelds.

So what aboutKingdom Hearts 3DS? I can’t say what my issue is there, except that it’s difficult to really play that gameasa handheld game. WithProfessor Layton, at least I can easily close it and put it down at the drop of a hat and pick it up with no problems. With KH3DS, it’s not so easy. I have to remember what I was doing, how I was doing it, remember what buttons do what, etc. As much as I love KH games, this one is most likely going to sit until I have nothing huge pending on the main consoles.

And that, boys and girls, is why this series needs to come out on a console already. It’s ridiculous.

Before I go on that rant, I better end this diary entry now.  Hope everyone has a great week!

Buy Prima Games eGuides…at GameStop

By 2 Comments

Madden NFL 13 eGuide

Prima Games and GameStop seem to have joined forces to help Prima sell more of their eGuides to the masses. Now you don’t have to buy the guides directly from the Prima Games website; you can buy them at a GameStop store and then redeem your codes online. It seems kind of silly to me, considering you have to visit the Prima Games website anyway, but Prima Games and GameStop have thought of an incentive plan to create some sort of sense of this.

Starting today, you can buy an exclusive Madden NFL 13 tournament bundle at GameStop, which includes both offense and defense Tournament eGuides for $19.99. If you buy them separately online, it will cost $39.99. If you’re going the electronic route for your guides anyway, this isn’t a bad deal.

So far, it is expected that similar eGuide/GameStop sales will include Halo 4, Hitman: Absolution, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, and The Sims 3 Supernatural.

In other news, oh hey, Prima Games is in charge of the Halo4 strategy guide.

 

 

Monday Gaming Diary: Getting Reacquainted with Handhelds

By Leave a Comment

Kingdom Hearts 3DS

I admit that I am a complete gadget junkie. As such, sometimes my new-found gadgets gather dust after their newness and initial excitement wears off. My 3DS and Vita are two such gadgets. Both have sat unplayed since SDCC, and I can’t really say that I played with my 3DS as much as I used it for Street Passing so I could complete two puzzles I couldn’t finish at E3.

This weekend, however, I was a little determined to make up with both of them. My husband had drill weekend, so he was gone starting Friday night and therefore, it’s up to me to parent the kiddo at night. It’s very, VERY hard to play my console video games and do this. I mostly play things he can’t watch, and since I’m trying to be quiet as he goes to sleep, I wear a headset, which means I can’t hear him get out of bed or call for me that easily (my headset is awesome, for the record). So the best course of action lies in the handhelds. Not to mention, if I get called away from playing, it’s so much easier to stop my handheld than it is a console game.

First up, I decided it was time to make up with Kingdom Hearts 3DS. I was initially really turned off by the game due to the fact it is, in essence, a timed game, but the fact that it’s a handheld game wasn’t that appealing to me either. If I play a game, I’d really rather it be a console game for a number of reasons. Again, I admit that I have no idea why I bought these handhelds other than the fact I am a gadget junkie. But anyway, I played KH3DS for a few hours and rekindled my love for the series. The timed portions aren’t as bad as they initially seemed, and I really like how tied the game is to Birth by Sleep, so yay, I’m glad I’m no longer mad at it.

Had to dust off the Vita a little too. After giving up on the Vita version of LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 (seriously, DO NOT BUY), my Vita has been off for weeks, for some of the same reasons why my 3DS has been turned off. But I have a stack of Vita cartridges that I haven’t cracked open or finished playing. I couldn’t bring myself to play more of Resistance: Burning Skies, so I tried Dungeon Hunter: Alliance. It’s a little action-RPG that follows the typical formula of a Western RPG and has none of the spark. I can see why it got poor scores across gaming sites, but it’s so mindless that it’s something I can play while Gabe occupies himself with coloring books, puzzles, or his iPad. KH3DS is anything but mindless, so I can’t really play that around him. This fits the bill perfectly.

That said, I can’t recommend anyone buy it, and I doubt I’ll pick it up again.

I’m going to Houston next week, and the handhelds will be making the trip with me. I have 4-5 hour road trip each way plus nothing to do at night at my parents’ house. Hopefully I can make a bit more of a dent in my Vita games and KH3DS during that time.

LEGO Batman 2 Strategy Guide Review (console)

By 1 Comment

LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide reviewEvery LEGO console game has two parts to it: the mission chapters and the hub world. The chapters provide the traditional campaign mode of a game, and the hub world is the place for exploration and unlocking numerous collectibles. While the chapters have plenty of collectibles, nothing can compare to the large number in the hub worlds. LEGO Batman 2 has quite possibly the largest hub world of any LEGO game I’ve ever seen, and I thought the hub world for LEGO Star Wars III was massive. This hub world spans across Gotham City broken up into three large regions and includes 12 red bricks, over 150 gold bricks, several vehicles, and numerous citizens in peril to find. The LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide definitely had its work cut out for it, and I have to say, when it comes to the hub world, the guide was spot on. Unfortunately, the guide for the chapters portion suffered from a number of inaccuracies.

When it came to the hub, the guide really went above and beyond the call of duty for finding all of those darn collectibles. Each Gotham City region was separated out with its own section, and each region contained the following:

  • a map of the region with every collectible numbered and color-coded;
  • a legend with each corresponding collectible along with requirements for obtaining said collectible;
  • legend checklists for the user to mark off collectibles; and
  • detailed screenshots and walkthroughs for obtaining each and every collectible.
LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide checklist

Oh yes, I wrote in my strategy guide this time.

To be honest, the map and legend checklists were all I really needed and expected, but the fact that it included detailed walkthroughs for each one greatly surprised me. It really came in handy when I needed to make sure I was in looking in the right zone or was about to embark on the right obstacle course.

Then, in case those weren’t enough, there were appendices in the back of the guide that were nothing but checklists for all of the collectibles. No matter which method you preferred to keep track, you had a few ways to do it.

The checklists themselves were so incredibly appreciated. There are an obscene number of gold bricks scattered across Gotham City, and many of them are found in similar-looking places. Being able to check off each gold brick found prevented plenty of back-tracking later. Considering how massive Gotham City is, well, these checklists alone make purchasing the guide worth it and are the guide’s biggest asset.

If only the chapter sections were as accurate, then the LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide would have set the new bar for being absolutely perfect. All of these inaccuracies with the chapters could be considered very minor. For example, some of the Super Hero Stud requirements had the wrong numbers. In another instance, the instructions for finding a minikit in Freeplay Mode left out a couple of steps, including the need to switch to a certain character. It was lucky that the character was not one that the player needed to collect outside of story mode, otherwise it could have been a frustrating situation.

It’s a shame that the chapters were not as perfect as the Gotham City hub section, because they are what keep the guide from earning a perfect score. However, they definitely don’t mar any recommendations for purchasing this strategy guide. If you want to 100% this LEGO game, I can’t recommend Prima Games’ LEGO Batman 2 strategy guide enough.

SGR Rating: 4/5

Author: Stephen Stratton
Publisher: Prima Games
Editions Available: Paperback
Acquired via Purchase

Monday Gaming Diary: Murder holes! Comedy gold!

By Leave a Comment

This past week I’ve had a bit of a personal tragedy, so all plans for everything pretty much went out the window like all my hopes for the Wii U. I needed a pick-me-up, something that was over-the-top and wasn’t serious in the slightest. With all of the serious games I’ve had to play as of late *coughcoughSpecOpsTheLineWitcher2SyndicatePrototype2etccoughcough*, I really wanted something silly.

Sorry, Kingdom Hearts 3DS…you take yourself seriously enough, despite the ridiculous pastels and fluffy creatures.

If you’ve looked at my stack of shame as of late, you probably know exactly which game I picked: Bulletstorm.

I’ve heard from my EvilCast cohorts more than once how insane the game is in both gameplay and in dialogue, but nothing could have fully prepared me for this game. I feel like I should replay with a journal next to me so I can write down every ridiculous thing that is said in the game. Then again, if I do that, I may end up writing down the entire script of the game. And then I’ll have to hide it so Gabe doesn’t find a book in my handwriting with the word “dick” scribbled all over the place. At least there are YouTube videos for that.

I also tried to play some more Halo 3: ODST, as, well, I have to get that and Halo: Reach done before November 4th, but I just couldn’t get into it this time. It’s too serious, and ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss Master Chief. These non-Spartans grunt and gasp way too much during a firefight. It’s horribly distracting and annoying. Plus, I feel that all I’m doing is wandering around trying to find health packs, and whilst doing so, stumbling into ambushes. I’m somehow not dying, which I’m going to attribute to the Covenant’s odd inability to chase me into buildings. It’s definitely not from my skill.

However, it was pretty futile to start Bulletstorm now as I’m about to have to really shelve it for a little while. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron releases this week, and at least it’s also not too serious! I doubt there will be dick jokes in it, though. If there were, that would rock on so many levels.

Top Posts & Pages