Strategy Guide Reviews

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Strategy Guide Giveaway: Dead Rising 2 Collector’s Edition

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Dead Rising 2 Collectors Edition strategy guideThis strategy guide giveaway shindig has been so much fun, why don’t we hold another? Who’s up for an unopened, pristine copy of the Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide for Dead Rising 2?

Entering is simple; just do any of the following and each will be marked as one entry. The most entries wins! If I have a tie, names will be pulled out of a hat.

Winner will be picked on Friday and announced on Monday. Good luck!

Strategy guide pet peeve: “Prepare yourself for battle”

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While playing through Mass Effect these past couple of weekends, I’ve noticed that the strategy guide likes to repeatedly tell me to make sure I’m prepared for battle. Every time I see it, I think, “Really? Because battle happens so little in this game?”

This phrase is littered throughout the ME guide, but I know I’ve seen this same piece of advice in multiple other guides (those just didn’t state it as often, but that’s not the point here).

The point is, this phrase should never be mentioned in any strategy guide for a game that has fighting, unless the fighting happens very, very sparsely. [Read more…]

Strategy Guide Collector’s Edition Giveaway – Epic Mickey

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Epic Mickey Collector's Edition Strategy GuideThanks to everyone who participated in the last strategy guide giveaway, where the Collector’s Editions of the Alan Wake and Tekken 5 strategy guides found new, loving homes. This week, I have another Collector’s Edition guide that needs a loving owner: Epic Mickey.

From Prima Games’ website, here are the features included with this Collector’s Edition in addition to the gorgeous hardcover shown to the right:

• Collector’s Edition includes the complete Disney Epic Mickey game guide!
• 40+ fully labeled world maps and extensive walkthroughs reveal the secrets behind every quest, puzzle, boss battle, and hidden area to help Mickey in his quest to save Wasteland!
• Exclusive developer content! Foreword written by the game’s creator, Warren Spector. Plus, Warren Spector answers questions about the game and its creation in our 16-page bonus section.
• Limited edition art: 8″ by 10″ reproduction cel of artwork inspired by the game! [Read more…]

March Poll: Boss fights?

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Matriarch BeneziaIt’s clear to me that either my poll questions are lousy or no one really has any interest in participating in the polls, because for the last couple of weeks, I’ve had meager responses. And that’s fine. So I’ve decided to make these polls monthly, and this first poll I’m bringing over from my article at Games Are Evil, where I question the necessity of boss fights at all.

Depending on the game, I don’t mind boss fights. In the case of one game I’m playing now, Mass Effect, I really don’t mind them because they are implemented well. The types of boss fights that I hate are those that are giant time sinks. You know, the ones that take several minutes to chip away at their health bars or those that morph into multiple phases with no save points (sometimes, no checkpoints either).

I understand the need for boss fights, but I just don’t think that as a whole they are presented well. There are so many instances where a boss fight makes little sense, and it’s quite obvious the developer needed some padding or they couldn’t think of a better way to spice up the gameplay.

I’m about halfway through Mass Effect, and so far, every boss fight has been my ideal. Bosses come in at specific plot points. They aren’t there for mindless and frustrating leveling up. It actually makes sense why you have to fight them right there and then. And best of all, they don’t take longer than a couple of minutes to defeat.

So strategy guide-loving community, do you love or hate boss fights?

Weekly Poll: Which Mass Effect game did you like the best?

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Dragon Age: Origins pollThe response to last week’s poll was incredibly underwhelming. I’m so glad I wasn’t waiting for all the responses, because I would have missed out on some great gaming this week. Dragon Age: Origins is the first game in years (really, years) that I have to stop myself from playing. I could easily play this game all night. I have to force myself to stop when it gets to midnight, because I don’t have the luxury of getting up whenever I want to the following day. I’m probably about 8 hours in, and I have to say, the sheer number of sidequests is going to be the death of me. There’s no way I can finish it before Dragon Age II releases next week, but I really want to get these games finished before the end of the year. [Read more…]

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