Authors: James Price and Zy Nicholson
Publishers: Piggyback Interactive
Editions Available: Paperback and Collector’s Edition
Acquired by Distributor (Prima Games)

Strategy Guide Review Policy:

My goal for these strategy guide reviews is not to discuss whether one needs the guide to complete the game. Every gamer has different strengths and skills, and one may need every bit of a guide, another may need to look up information for quick assistance once, and another may laugh at the idea of ever using a guide, even the online freebies. My goal is to determine whether the guide is 1) helpful in the first place, 2) does it encompass gamers who need hand-holding as well as those who need a quick reference and 3) how much information does it really have.

Review:

To be completely honest, I was not excited to learn that Piggyback Interactive was yet again writing a guide for the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Since the last guide for AC2 confused me quite often, I expected this one to do the same. I am so happy to announce that I was wrong. [Read more…]

by Ryan Olsen

I am embarrassed to admit that this review took eons to complete. While 2010 might just be old news, Medal of Honor tried to come back in a big way with EA firing all cannons to give it a fighting chance against other modern combat shooters. The outcome among critics was split whether if the reboot of the franchise was a success or not, but there is a core group of gamers who love the new direction. First person shooters are notorious for being complicated with minute differences between guns and maze like, multiple tiered levels and any intel on what lurks around the corner will be appreciated by all types of first-person shooter fans.

Since this is my first strategy guide review, I had to soak in the entire experience. The presentation of the book is rather neat. The dust jacket complements the images on the hard cover that matches with the gritty look EA was going for with the theme of actual War on Terror locations. After being lured in by a slick presentation, the actual guide starts with no assumptions. It takes players who have never picked up a virtual gun and brings them up to speed with all the first-person shooter jargon and terms fired off by grizzled veterans who populate the servers. [Read more…]

By Eric Frederiksen

If there’s any game series that deserves a proper strategy guide with every release, it’s Fallout. The massive, open worlds are packed with easy-to-miss quests, special items, and interesting characters to interact with. Fallout: New Vegas feels like a bit of a throwback to the older style of RPG, and appropriately so: many of the guys at developer Obsidian worked on the original Fallout games. As such, New Vegas holds the player’s hand a bit less than many similar titles – even 2008’s Fallout 3; a good guide will blow the world wide open.

The guide opens with a seemingly endless barrage of spreadsheets for reference including briefs on all the different factions, the many weapons available, different items and characters, and good character creation practices for both normal and hardcore game modes. A walkthrough of all the different possible paths for the main quest follows, as well as brief and informative guides for each of the many side quests the game has to offer. The quests are well organized and easy to find thanks to a comprehensive table of contents at the front of the book. [Read more…]