Strategy Guide Reviews

A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides

Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition Boxed Set Unboxing

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As soon as I heard Prima Games announce they were selling a boxed set of collector’s editions of The Legend of Zelda strategy guides, I was all over that preorder faster than either of my next-gen consoles. While I may own a couple of these strategy guides already, I had zero problems purchasing them again with a few collector’s editions that had never been released before.

Without further adieu, here is what you can find in this monstrous boxed set of boxed sets.

I’m going to need more reinforced bookshelves.

Assassin’s Creed III Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide – Why Should I Buy?

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Chances are, if you’ve bought any of the Assassin’s Creed III Collector’s Edition strategy guides in the past, you’ll be buying this one as well. Piggyback Interactive‘s Collector’s Editions are often worth the extra bucks, even though they often don’t contain much more than the paperback guide outside of the gorgeous hardcovers. This time though, there are a few extras that make the Collector’s Edition well worth the additional $10.

The Collector’s Edition contains an extra 16 pages of “History vs. Story,”which covers the history of the American Revolution and how it was woven into the story of Assassin’s Creed III. This includes commentary from the game’s scriptwriter, Corey May. Even if you aren’t a history buff, it may intrigue you to learn how the game writers used actual history to tell Connor’s story.

Of course, this isn’t the only bonus. Each Collector’s Edition includes a limited edition print of a painting–watercolor, perhaps?–of Connor swooping in to attack a few redcoats (so in the European editions of the guide, does the print depict Connor attacking colonists?).

Print in Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide

Each strategy guide includes a large map poster of the region Connor explores, complete with all collectibles marked, but the map for the Collector’s Edition is larger than the one found in the paperback guide, and it’s printed on vintage-looking paper.

Vintage Map in Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide

Is enough to entice you as a collector? It’s enough for me. But to be serious, I think we all know that the gorgeous hard cover artwork is always enough to make it worth it to me.

Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide cover Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide back cover

Guild Wars 2 Strategy Guide Review

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Guild Wars 2 strategy guide reviewReviewing a guide for any MMO is a tricky bit of work. These types of games constantly change and so info in the book quickly becomes outdated. There is also the issue that almost all of these games guide the player along lower level areas while introducing tidbits of the games various mechanics in small chunks, which most commonly happens between levels 1 to 20. What BradyGames has done with their Guild Wars 2 strategy guide is make a textbook for the MMO 101 class.

BradyGames starts this guide out with some lore on the Guild Wars 2 universe, and I enjoyed this greatly as I never fully played the original Guild Wars or any of the subsequent expansions. This portion gave me some history on world events, the races and their trials and tribulations, and how the world got to be so crazy. I actually read this portion twice just because it intrigued me and brought me that much closer to the game world itself.

From there, the strategy guide dives into the basics of multiplayer online games. I am talking these are basics down to what leveling is and slaying monsters works. Anyone that does not know what pulling or kiting is; this is the section to study. For those that this is not their first go-round in an MMO can skip right on by, as there is nothing new or earth shattering covered here.

The guide then moves into each profession, along with what weapons unlock what skills. I strongly recommend looking through this section before embarking into creating a character as this is a decent glimpse into how each profession works and what their roles in group battles are. This actually saved me a bit of time as I was able to see what I wanted to play and what fit my play style best. Each skill includes a blurb on what it does along with any cool down to consider. Do note that cool down times change as this game ages and profession balances drop into place, so do not always expect this info to be 100% accurate.

As with all MMOs, there is plenty to do for people that just want to make in-game items. Sadly, this is where the guide drops the ball with a measly six-page spread dedicated to helping players get their craft on. Sure, making stuff in GW2 is not overly complicated, but in my eyes, it deserves a bit more than this.

The guide then dives into the world and monsters players can encounter while playing. I have to be honest in that I never used this section. NCsoft did a wonderful job of making each area somewhere I just roamed and explored. Outside of some vista points and strategically place points of interest, the game itself encourages players to roam around and participate in quests and world events. I had a hard time trying to stick to some sort of script while I played and so I just closed the book here and immersed myself in the scenery while slaying countless enemies. From a new user point of view, this does provide some insight into how the game works but again, it is just some repetition of what the game already provides through various help screens and tutorials.

BradyGames does their best to enlighten a gamer on how player-vs-player works, but this is something that is only mastered through countless hours of play. The basics of how to conquer a fortress and rudimentary concepts of staying alive on the battlefields flow from page to page. This is a starting point that newcomers should look through, but the master sensei decrees one hour of practice every day to be an necessity on the stage of world dominance.

We finally arrive at one of the most used portions of the guide, and that is the maps of each area. I found myself here more than any other as I worked for the 100% completion bonuses of each area. While the guide does a nice job pointing out Asura Gates, points of interest, and quest hearts, it lacks showing where each vista point is. I do not need a breakdown on how to obtain every vista, but knowing their general location would help. The lack of these on the maps is a letdown and does diminish their value some.

If you are totally new to the world of Guild Wars, or have NEVER touched an MMO before, then theGuild Wars 2strategy guideis going to be of some use to you. However, veterans may find the maps handy but those are also freely available online and some even include videos on how to obtain the harder points of interest and vistas. I found the lore portion to be great and highly entertaining, yet I also found the crafting section to be weak and useless. I recommend that anyone considering this guide to head to their local bookstore and flip through the pages before dropping hard earned money on it as this is made for a very niche audience.

SGR Rating 3/5

Authors: Michael Lummis, Kathleen Pleet, Edwin Kern, Kurt Ricketts
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Collector’s Edition and Paperback
Acquired via Publisher

Assassin’s Creed Revelations Strategy Guide Collector’s Edition: Why Should I Buy?

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I’m a massive fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, and since I love the artwork so much, I’ve done my best to pick up all Collector’s Editions of the guides from the series. I picked up the latest AC game’s CE guide last night, and I have to say, unless you are a fan of the series to the point of being a collector, I cannot recommend buying this guide over the paperback edition.

Now, the CE has plenty of things that made me happy to see. For starters, I absolutely love the Subject 16 style of the front and back covers.

 Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide front cover Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide back cover

Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide back cover

Zoom in on this one...you'll like the text.

The guide also has additional artwork in the back from Altair’s past, and the artwork depicts scenes that have never been disclosed in any of Altair’s games.

 Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide bonus  Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide bonus

If you’re a multiplayer fanatic for the series, then you will like the other tangible bonus, which are individual, sturdy maps of all 9 multiplayer arenas. I only have five shown here, but there are four others on the backs of what are displayed here.

 Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide bonus Assassin's Creed Revelations Collector's Edition strategy guide bonus

Lastly, there is a free code for Prima Games‘ interactive map, much like what they had for their Skyrim Collector’s Edition Guide. However, I have no idea where this code is. It was fairly easy to find in the Skyrim book, but I haven’t seen it in any of the usual places. I submitted a question to the publisher on Twitter, so as soon as I hear a response, I will update here. UPDATE: The good people at Prima Games pointed me toward the hidden code. If I had bothered to look at the back of every multiplayer map, I would have seen it plain as day.

So as you can see, there’s nothing really that enticing for anyone except diehard fans. After receiving the Uncharted 3 Collector’s Edition strategy guide, I’m a little disappointed in this one. I know I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes high for another OST inclusion, but I hoped since both guides were written by the same group, the bonuses would have been similar. But that’s okay. I’m still pleased with my purchase.

On a personal note, I took all of these photos with the fancy pants camera my brother-in-law loaned me to play with. Look better, yah?

Skyrim Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide: Why Should I Buy?

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Skyrim Collector's Edition Strategy GuideMost likely due to the massive size of the Skyrim strategy guide, the Collector’s Edition doesn’t really offer much more than the paperback edition in terms of extras. The hard cover is gorgeous, no doubt. There are also two cloth bookmarks within, which are perfect for marking where you are in the main story and where you are in sidequests. The only extra content the CE provides is a download code for an interactive map:

The interactive world map includes over 150 location maps covering all 9 Hold cities. Each map shows the locations of every vendor, trainer, skill book, NPC, and unique item in the realm. You can toggle points of interest on and off and zoom in and out.

That said, I have to admit that I highly recommend splurging for the Collector’s Edition.

Why?

The guide is so massive to begin with, you might as well spend the extra $10 for a nice cover and included bookmarks. You may never use the interactive map, but you’ll never regret buying the beautiful hard cover. For a game like this, I can’t see a reason to NOT buy the CE over the paperback. If I could have gotten my hands on a copy of the Dark Souls strategy guides, I’m sure I would have recommended the same.

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