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Call of Duty: Black Ops Strategy Guide Review

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Call of Duty Black Ops Strategy Guide ReviewIt’s time to strap up and lace your boots; we’re going in and this time it is with the Call of Duty: Black Ops Limited Edition guide! Real soldiers never enter the battlefield without pre-hand knowledge of the layout and intel of the missions details, this guide will help you with both and then some!

I prepared to play through the game again to properly review the guide because it would be unfair for me to expect you to go into battle without properly testing the tools myself! That’s like me telling you “this vest is bulletproof!” without testing it. That’s no fun unless you’re getting hazard pay.

I am going to break this review up into two parts, the single-player and multiplayer. First let’s start with the single-player campaign. I started this game up again on the games hardest difficulty “Veteran,” so I could really test the guide and see how it helps in situations where you need it most. Starting off with the first few pages the guide has general tips on how things work in Call of Duty: Black Ops such as the obvious advice on taking cover as well as descriptions of the different types of weapons.

Going onward with the missions you are greeted with the name and details of the mission as well as a nice top-down 3D view of your starting point and the point you need to get to. The thing I like about this guide is that it tells you what weapons you started with and when you eradicate certain enemies the guide will tell you what weapon they are carrying and if it is worth it to switch out over your current loadout. I also really like how in most situations the guide advises you on the best place to take cover for that wave of enemies and what to look out for. I completed it already on Veteran when the game launched but I found the guide to be helpful for spots I used to have trouble with where now I know exactly how many enemies are coming and what weapons they planned to use on me and where I needed to be. It really helps to know those details, and I am glad they were able to provide them throughout the game!

I had some trouble with one of the stealth missions where I was going for a trophy where you do not get caught but after referring to the guide I was able to get the trophy as well as silently put the enemies to sleep.

Moving on to something some of you might know, I go for on these games are the Trophies. Yes those satisfying little *dings* of accomplishment you get. I am pleased to report this guide will tell you when you are coming up on a Trophy/Achievement and how to go about getting it which gives this guide some cool points from me. When you are going for the Intel Collecting Trophy/Achievement the guide has that same top-down 3D map as you move through the rooms and shows you where the intel is located. This is really handy so you don’t have to worry about looking for a separate or better guide as this one tells you everything you need to know about the Trophies/Achievements and collectibles.

There are some Trophies/Achievements in the game that make you do the mission a certain way (getting into the relay station without being caught, escape the ship with 2:15 left on the timer, guide the squad through an outpost without them getting killed), if you don’t know exactly what you are doing or if you are coming up on it the guide is sure to tell you how to get the Trophy/Achievement prize on the appropriate levels.

The guide also features a comprehensive tips and strategies section for the Zombies mode. I have never been good at the Zombie mode solo but using some of the tips and the maps it provides have made me a better player at it, for example where to turn the power on and rooms and points of interests and where the Mystery Box spawns in which is a box that can randomly give you some very awesome weapons. I found the maps to be quite helpful as to find out where to make my stand during each round.

Now we move on to this franchise’s probably most popular mode: the online section. Looking through the tips it gives you on Perks and Loadouts are always interesting as well as information on every single weapon and attachment. The guide of course also features maps of every level as well as the hot spots in them and tips on every mode and suggested loadouts to use, but the real surprise with this guide is that it comes with an extra bit of help in terms of a foldout “Multiplayer Tactical Recon Stand.” This thing is truly neat; it stands up and lets you flip to the level you are currently playing and it shows you depending on the gametype the objectives you need to get to as well as the player spawns, flag bases, and everything! This was something I personally have not seen before and it really surprised me how much trouble they went through to produce it at such a high quality. This is not just some cheap poster, but a cool and useful tool if you find yourself wanting to know all of the ins and outs of a level while playing it and feel like a pro.

Overall I could not find one thing to complain about (believe me I tried!), so far the two “Collector’s Edition” guides I have reviewed from BradyGames (God of War III and this one) are both top-notch and deserve a place on your “Shelf of Help” (I need to copyright that) where all of your guides go.

*Guide was provided by Keri at StrategyGuideReviews.com, played through on Veteran Difficulty gathering all Intel as well as scooping up any situational single-player trophies that I missed on my initial playthrough.*

Authors: Thom Denick, Phillip Marcus, and the Sea Snipers
Published By: Brady Games
Editions Available: Paperback, Limited Edition
Acquired via Publisher

SGR Grade: 5/5

Portal 2 Strategy Guide Review

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Portal 2 Strategy Guide ReviewPart of the fun of playing games in the Portal franchise is trying to figure out all of these insane puzzles yourself, as it really is VERY rewarding to do so. At times that reward feels like you’re an idiot for making things really hard on yourself, but it’s still immensely satisfying no matter what the aftertaste is. However, patience runs thin for many of us, so for those puzzles that do make you pull your hair out because you have no idea where to go or how to get to a certain point, Future Press’s Portal 2 Strategy Guide is your life line for keeping you away from Cave Johnson’s insanity.

One thing I really appreciated were the warnings/suggestions at the beginning of the single-player and co-op chapters, where it strongly urged players to only use the guide when they were stuck. I can’t recall any guide saying that, not even the original Portal strategy guide. Granted, the reason why people buy a strategy guide is for assistance, but it’s nice that the writers asked users to try to work out the puzzles on your own, because really, you won’t get the beauty of the game without trying on your own.

Thankfully, the rest of the Portal 2 strategy guide is great and doesn’t hide behind this suggestion to mask any deficiencies. The guide is divided by campaign, chapter, and then chamber. The start of every chamber has a clear map–multiple maps if the level has multiple areas–with marked orange and blue portal placements. Each placement is numbered to correspond with the numbered paragraphs in the walkthrough. So if you just look at the guide whenever you have a quick question, it’s extremely easy to find what you need within seconds.

Portal 2 Strategy Guide Maps

And if you just don’t understand how to implement their advice, you can use the little QR codes at the top of every chamber. Register your strategy guide online at Future Press, and then you can type in the QR code and watch a short clip of how to solve the puzzle. Just be prepared to perform a hefty face palm after you watch the videos.

Portal 2 Strategy Guide page layoutIn addition to the maps, the strategy guide does include various screenshots with the walkthroughs to help point out where you should place your gels or your portals. The maps do a fairly great job of depicting portal, light bridge, and funnel placements, but they don’t show where to place the gels. I find this to be a good thing, because otherwise the maps would be a mess of blue and orange. Instead, the screenshots depict a mess of blue and orange, but at least there, it’s easier to decipher and that’s what you’re going to be seeing anyway.

Within the walkthrough paragraphs, there are also callout boxes–marked with a nifty Aperture Science logo–for speed tips, hidden Achievements/Trophies, warnings, etc. I most likely wouldn’t have racked up half of the random Achievements without these callout boxes, because I never would have thought to head to certain areas or do certain completely random things. I was too busy laughing at all of the dialogue or trying to figure out how to make a jump without dying.

Of course, in true Future Press fashion, there is more to the guide than help with the single-player and co-op campaigns. There is an artwork section, explanations of the Portal universe, interviews with the devs in the Collector’s Edition, AND a speed run guide for the first Portal game. I personally didn’t try out the speed runs because as I stated earlier, I didn’t enjoy the first game. However, I did watch the movie clips, and I can attest that these guys definitely know what they are doing. I watched most of them with my lower jaw in my lap.

However, my personal favorite feature of the Collector’s Edition guide is the two woven bookmarks included: one is orange and one is blue.

To make a long story short, the Portal 2 strategy guide is flawless and offers everything anyone could want to get the most out of both Portal games and the Portal universe.

SGR Rating: 5/5

Authors and Publisher: Future Press
Editions Available: Paperback and Collector’s Edition
Acquired via Publisher

Unboxing the Portal 2 Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide

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Check out what the FedEx deliveryman brought me! It’s the Portal 2 Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide fresh from FuturePress, and it looks fantastic.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a review copy or not, so I picked up the regular edition at my local Best Buy since the CE is easily available in the US. My eagerness in picking up a guide is your gain! If you want a free copy of the Portal 2 strategy guide (regular edition), then leave a comment here on this post explaining how much you love the Portal Universe.

DO IT FOR SCIENCE!

Mass Effect 2 Strategy Guide Review

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Mass Effect 2 Strategy Guide ReviewThe first Mass Effect strategy guide was also published by Prima Games, and since that one did so well, I had very high hopes for this one. The fact that Catherine Browne was the author of this guide only made me more excited. However, this guide ended up being a giant disappointment for me–as my big build-up should have already suggested.

A lot of what the guide has is great. It incorporated the same layout from the first guide, so everything is very easy to see at a glance, and the images are unobtrusive, significant, and won’t require users to squint. It’s also great that it makes little notes of who Shepard can romance (depending on gender) as well as how one can go about doing it. For example, romancing Jacob takes a lot of subtlety and gentle prying for him to come out of his shell. For Jack, you have to gain her loyalty and either side with her in her “disagreement” with Miranda or diffuse the argument with charm/intimidation. In addition, as someone who imported Shepard from the first game, I really enjoyed the little callout references to things that happened in the original, such as the explanation for why Wreav or Wrex might be the krogan leader.

However, despite all these design elements and the mostly accurate walkthrough, the guide is missing a lot of vital information. These omissions will cause problems and confusion for those who 1) want to snag all of the Achievements/Trophies and/or 2) imported their characters from the original Mass Effect.

The first omission that surprised me was a side mission Shepard can take on Illium. Shepard runs into Giana Parsini from Noveria Internal Affairs, a character only those who have played the first game will remember. She approaches Shepard and asks for help busting a weapons thief. It’s possible that this is a mission a player can only get with an imported game, but that’s really not an excuse for it to not even be mentioned in the side missions section of the guide. Since this was so small, I dismissed it.

But then, I reached the start of the endgame.

From the time I had to play as Joker until the end credits, I was finding holes in the guide. For the scene that you have to play as Joker, it really offers no guidance other than walk the path. However, at one point, if that’s all you do, Joker meets a nasty end. The guide showed a screenshot of what you should do at this point, but there were no captions or mentions in the paragraphs as to what the screenshot even meant. For all I knew, it was just a screenshot of Joker walking down the hallway. At the very end of this venture, when Shepard has a choice to go after the Normandy crew or continue sidequesting, the guide discusses all of these options, but never once says that if you don’t go after your crew immediately, they all die except for Dr. Chakwas.

Mass Effect 2 Strategy GuideThis isn’t the only time that users aren’t given proper warnings for who might die in Shepard’s crew. The guide does mention that if the ship isn’t upgraded properly, a crewmate will die in the ensuing crash, but that’s pretty much where the advice stops. In the Mass Effect 2 endgame, Shepard has to make choices of who is to perform a certain task, who will accompany Shepard, and who will lead a separate party. Shepard has to make these choices three times, and depending on who the Commander chooses, crewmembers will live or die. During this entire section, no suggestions are proffered. I would understand if the writer didn’t want to give too much away at this point, BUT, these suggestions should at the very least go with the Achievements/Trophies appendix, since this is where the “No One Left Behind” Achievement is described.

As a result with my playthrough, Mordin died at the very, very end and I had zero clue why. I stayed up another hour longer to read the guide from cover to cover, to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. No explanation. I ended up going to IGN Guides, and they explained exactly who Shepard had to pick for these tasks in order to keep everyone alive. When I replayed the ending with their suggestions–the only thing I didn’t do correctly was who to send with the Normandy crew survivors back to the ship–everyone survived. While it is possible that the guide writer picked the correct crewmembers instantly, surely the “No One Left Behind”Achievement would clue in the writing team that it’s possible for teammates to die.

This experience absolutely enraged me. Of all the information this guide should have had, every scenario of the endgame should most definitely have been included. If I had paid for this guide, I would be even more livid, which is perhaps the biggest disappointment to me.

I can only recommend this guide if you are a huge Mass Effect fan, just because the gorgeous cover and artwork within make it worth it. Otherwise though, save your money and stick with IGN for help with this one.

SGR Rating: 3/5

Author: Catherine Browne
Publishers: Prima Games
Editions Available: Paperback and Collector’s Edition
Acquired by Publisher

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!

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