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Will the Gears of War Strategy Guide Work with Gears of War Ultimate Edition?

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Gears of War strategy guideThe Gears of War Ultimate Edition released this week and did not include a corresponding strategy guide in publication. The Ultimate Edition is simply a prettied up version of the original Xbox 360 game, right? So the original Gears of War strategy guide by Doug Walsh should work all the same. I had the same thoughts, but after seeing what happened with the Kingdom Hearts remixed HD versions, I didn’t want to take anything to chance. After playing the game last week with the original guide by my side, the verdict is both yes and no.

Yes, you can use the original Gears of War strategy guide, but only for the first four acts of the game. All of the strategies are perfectly sound for getting through the levels, and all of the COG tags are exactly where the strategy guide describes. I only missed one, and that was because I got distracted with one of the more tense scenes in the first Act.

No, you can’t use the original Gears of War strategy guide for Act 5. The Ultimate Edition added in the missions that remained on the cutting room floor but were put back in for the PC version of the original game. There are roughly five missions from Act 5 not mentioned at all in this strategy guide. If you need help, go find something online and make sure you look for the PC version until the Ultimate Edition walkthroughs are published. Three COG tags are also not mentioned in the original strategy guide either, forcing players to once again look online for assistance.

However, the last half of Act 5 is sound, and all COG tags mentioned in the guide for this portion are 100% there.

No, you can’t use the original Gears of War strategy guide for the multiplayer. The multiplayer portion of the game has completely changed since this strategy guide first release. All of the maps from the DLC and the PC version have been added, PC modes and modes from Gears 2 have been added, and the modes have been tweaked. Some of the advice for how to amp up your multiplayer prowess is still solid, but when it comes to map specifics, it’s best to ignore it all and just hurl yourself into the fray with that shotgun by your side.

If you already own the original Gears of War strategy guide, pull that baby out and use it to help find some of those sneaky COG tags. If you didn’t buy it the first time around, I’m not sure you’ll find your money’s worth in picking up a used copy as it is out of print.

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Strategy Guide Review

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Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls strategy guide reviewDiablo 3 released with plentiful hype, and copious amounts of issues. Thankfully, the Reaper of Souls expansion is a vastly different experience. This expansion feels like a completely different game thanks to the removal of the Auction House, better loot, Paragon skills, and many tweaks to the game itself. Those that have given up on this series might want to take a second look, and the Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls strategy guide from BradyGames is a great place to start.

This guide contains a bit of information for all players, new and old. It begins by detailing the newest sets of changes, such as difficulty settings and the two different game play types. Those that have continued to support Diablo 3 can pretty well skip this area, but new, and returning, players will want to read this section.

Following the basics is the class portion. What I liked about this is that I could finally read up on the Crusader and get some insight into how it plays. Every active and passive skill is listed, complete with what level it unlocks. It provides a small description of what the abilities do and why one might want this in their build. I must admit, this did give me a few ideas on how to tweak my Monk as I drive to level 70.

This needs to be at the very beginning!

This needs to be at the very beginning!

The actual breakdown of Act V comes next. I found that this covers the new campaign in good detail, with solid nuggets of advice on how to tackle each objective. It is also a blessing to know how many enemies will bombard me, such as three waves of Boggits swarming me as soon as I load into the next area.

What I appreciate the most is the details on the boss fights. Where Diablo 3 contained bosses that primarily just sat in one location during the fight, Act V sees a major increase in boss difficulty with the simple act of environmental hazards and the enemy hunting down the Nephalem in particular. The boss battles are broken down in fine detail, and should be on the radar for all readers as these just might save a broken mouse and keyboard.

The walkthrough of Act V might seem tiny, but the last half of the strategy guide goes to a massive amount of info on all the extra portions of the game. Items such as Nephalem Rifts, Bounties, crafting, maps and how portals connect the world together, and even a massive index of enemies all receive their fair share of attention. What new players, and those that are just coming back after an extended vacation, will want to do right away is check out the Loot 2.0 area. Why BradyGames tucked this away so far in the back baffles me as it plays a major role in why the Auction Houses are now gone and why the game has garnered a resurgence in players.

The Loot 2.0 chapter goes into how the new item system works, what smart loot is, how magic find changed, and even why there is now only one potion. For any player that has no idea what happened with this system, this is a must read while the game patches.

Oh, that is why he is all whiny.

Oh, that is why he is all whiny.

The last few pages go to all the achievements and skill challenges in the game. I love this, as it is way faster and easier to find a way to add to my banner customizations instead of clicking through all the acts in the game. Some of the harder to obtain items even have small bullet points giving pointers on how to obtain them. For someone with OCD, such as myself, this helped me nail down a few achievements I had overlooked in prior acts.

For all the nice things this strategy guide provides, there is one thing it cannot do, and that is adjust with patches. While reading the class or enemy area, take the cool down, damage, area of effect, and other figures with some caution as they might change depending on patches. Also, this won’t cover any new play areas that Blizzard might introduce down the road.

The Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls strategy guide is a great guide, especially for people that might be returning to the game. For players that have stuck through Blizzard while they ironed out the kinks, outside of the Act V walkthrough, there is not a lot here that will really warrant the purchase. Find this at the local store and thumb through it to see if it applies to your needs.

SGR Rating 3.5/5

Author: Doug Walsh & Thom Denick
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Paperback
Acquired via Publisher

Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Strategy Guide Review

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Borderlands 2 game of the year strategy guide reviewOh Pandora, how I love you and yet how your inhabitants hate me so. Yup, it’s time to dive back into the world of Borderlands 2 thanks to the Game of the Year edition and its corresponding strategy guide from BradyGames. Thankfully, I have wanted to check out the new classes and see how they handle the madness that is CL4P-TP

If this is your first foray into the world of Pandora, spend some time with the basics and class portion of the strategy guide. There is so much info crammed into here that it will make life on this crazy world that much easier. Those who have already tread through the world once, the class portion gives some nice details on the two DLC characters that is worth a look.

Borderlands 2 GotY Strategy Guide Review 1

You make life so much easier!

Due to how much content is in the GotY edition, the main storyline receives its own section. In here, readers will find plenty of content on how to tackle the main objectives of the original story. Each mission starts with a small briefing on what needs doing, complete with rewards and a listing of optional missions. While working through this area, pay close attention to the subtle text under some of the screenshots as these captions tend to offer up small hints that can make life a heck of a lot easier in certain situations. The pages are also littered with information, which had me pausing the game a fair amount to read, digest, and formulate a plan. There were even times I’d just sit down, read a few pages, and then get into the game.

Following the main game are the DLC campaigns. These follow the same formula as the main walkthrough section, but the DLC badge on the left page and yellow highlighted edges help distinguish them.

Those who have a need for completing every task set before them will find the optional missions next. These are not nearly as detailed as the main and DLC sections, but I found them detailed enough that I could tackle them while working on other objectives. It does take a bit of page turning and planning to make trips into the wasteland efficient, but once I got into a groove, the planning became relatively painless.

Completing the strategy guide, we find the weapons, bestiary, and secrets areas. These are separated out by main game and then DLC, which makes navigating the encyclopedia of death dealing that much easier. In the secrets portion, there is a handy breakdown of all the combat, weapon, and general challenges. There are also pages of pictures with all the unlockable heads that players can use to customize their character looks.

I believe the item I appreciated the most was how easy it was to navigate this guide. With the bounty of information scattered about, the side color markings made it easy to quickly find the specific portions I was in need of. Further aiding in this Waldo hunt, the bottom of the DLC walkthrough clearly stated what DLC pack I was looking at.

The thing I love the most is that everything from typography, page coloring, and artwork all tie this book into the art style of the game. It just feels as if this is the manual that was not included with the game. Even items such as the developer quotes are in little Gearbox Software boxes, complete with company logo. The little touches like this might not be evident at first, but go a long way in building a cohesive experience.

Borderlands 2 GotY Strategy Guide Review 2

Oh, homie don’t play that!

While I love the bulk of the Borderlands 2 Game of the Year strategy guide, I have a few issues that really bug me. First off, the return of the confidential weapons. Why on earth would the authors/publisher deem it necessary to block out content from a guide that consumers pay money for? For those a bit lost, as was the case in the original Borderlands 2 strategy guide, in the weapons section, there are certain weapons that are “listed” but are blacked out with a classified banner. I can easily go to any fan website and find the information on this “classified” weapon, so why block these details?

The second gripe I have comes at the construction of the book. More specifically, the pages themselves. The paper stock almost feels like tissue paper, it is that fragile. Compared to the thicker, almost waxy coated, pages from the original Borderlands 2 strategy guide, this is a major downer. I was compelled to flip through the book while being conscious about how vigorously I was treating it. It seems like a minor thing, but with how pretty the guide is, it is something that drug down the experience.

I am satisfied with the quality , and quantity, of the content in this guide, granted the construction could use a bit of a second gander. I don’t hesitate in recommending this to fans of this series as it is a nice collector’s item. Just keep in mind that if you plan to hunt down every item, you’re still going to need access to your favorite fan site.

SGR Rating 3/5

Author: Doug Walsh & Casey Loe
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Hardcover
Acquired via Publisher

Diablo III for Consoles Strategy Guide Review

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Diablo III strategy guide reviewWait, hold up a second…didn’t we already review a strategy guide for Diablo III? Why yes, we did over a year ago. However, Blizzard has ported this PC game to consoles, and BradyGames felt like they needed to revamp the strategy guide to fit the new style of game. Since Blizzard changed numerous aspects of Diablo III even while it was a PC game, the strategy guide sadly needed to be edited again anyway (not the fault of the writers, publishers, etc., mind you). As a complete newbie to the world of Diablo, I had zero idea what to expect from the game and the strategy guide. Since the game initially appeared to me to be a mindless hack-n-slash, I wasn’t sure I would need the strategy guide at all, but I was wrong, and the guide really helped me when I needed it.

Since I am such a novice to Diablo, I knew nothing about the character classes. I thought I could wing it since it seems to be an RPG, right? The classes are typically the same for every RPG, so hey, I should be good on my own. Yeah, not quite. As soon as I saw the names of the classes, I knew I needed some research. There’s a wizard and a witch doctor? What’s the difference? Is the monk similar to monks in JRPGs? A demon hunter? Is that a fancy name for ranger? I had to turn off the game and do something I rarely do–read the introduction information to the strategy guide.

Diablo III strategy guide boss fightThe Diablo III strategy guide kicks off with nearly 100 pages of information on just the character classes. It includes information about the style of play of each character, where they excel in combat, their equipment, and all of their skills. I was able to learn exactly what type of class would best suit me for my first time to play (which was a Barbarian…should surprise no one) and my typical play style.

Another thing the strategy guide did for the classes was for each boss fight, it listed the recommended level for the Hero at each difficulty and what skills the classes should know and equip for optimal success. Since your Hero is pretty weak early on the game, this information was absolutely invaluable. I was able to get through each boss fight the first time with little difficulty, and it really was thanks to the recommended skills. Oftentimes, I didn’t have these particular skills equipped, and it didn’t take long to discover how quickly I would have died if I went in to each boss battle with my typical skills and runes.

Diablo III strategy guide mapOne thing that greatly surprised me about the strategy guide was the lack of maps. I assumed since this was obviously a dungeon crawler, there would be maps detailing all of the treasure chests, item pick-ups, places for side quests, etc. The strategy guide pointed out that the game is randomly generated each time you play, so it became readily apparent to me that creating maps would be nigh impossible. So what the strategy guide did instead was map out in its own way all of the possible dungeon offshoots you can find in a particular area. Also, whenever you would reach a specific zone in a dungeon, the guide would mention all possible side quests that could randomly generate and how to complete them. Again, I don’t know how the writers handled this without pulling their hair out.

The appendices are really where the strategy guide shines the brightest. Every list you can think you might want is in there, including a superb crafting guide with recipe lists, a list of every piece of lore and its dungeon location, and every single possible conversation as well as how it unlocks. Just with these appendices, you can complete almost half of the game’s challenges and thereby several Achievements/Trophies.

Of course, the strategy guide also includes the endgame information such as the paragon levels and the optional quests that unlock after you complete the harder difficulty modes–Whimsyshire and Infernal Machine. I’m not sure I’ll ever play the game enough to unlock these quests, but at least I’ll always have the know-how for finding them. They appear to be a giant pain to unlock, and I have no idea how anyone would have known about these without some sort of help.

I tried to find something that the Diablo III strategy guide fell short in, and I honestly found nothing. Considering I breezed through my first time ever playing a Diablo game thanks to this strategy guide, I suppose I really can’t ask for anything more.

SGR Rating: 5/5

Author: Doug Walsh
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Paperback and Collector’s Edition
Acquired via Publisher

Remember Me Strategy Guide Review

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Remember Me strategy guide reviewRemember Me was supposed to be Capcom’s truly unique action game that featured a female protagonist that unfortunately was more forgettable than memorable by most critics and gamers. I admit I was greatly intrigued by the game from what I played at PAX East, but it didn’t take long to regret my purchase when I sat down with the full game. Fortunately, the Remember Me strategy guide by BradyGames was not as disappointing.

Remember Me featured a fighting-game-style form of combat, where learning combinations of button presses is crucial to surviving. It seems like it could be a button masher at first, akin to a game like DmC: Devil May Cry or even Bayonetta, but the timing of each button press is so important that simply learning the combo itself is not enough. In addition, players can create their own combos with Pressens, meaning that while you can’t change what button you press in the combo, you can change the effect a particular button press will have. For example, a simple 3-button combo is X-X-X, but you can change the effect the X button presses have with the Pressens. You can make one X heal Nilin and another X cause damage. Without these Pressens, Nilin will just punch and kick with zero effects, so they are important.

The Remember Me strategy guide does a fantastic job in coaching players through building proper Pressen combos for each situation. Before each boss fight and before each massive encounter, the guide advises players what types of Pressens they need to have in their combos for that particular time. There were a few ambushes I would not have survived without these tips, especially when the Leapers who could vanish in the dark showed up. Not only that, but the guide served as a good reminder of all of the Pressen options I had so I wouldn’t rely on a set of Pressens. Doing so only means bad things for Nilin’s survival rate.

Remember Me strategy guide collectiblesWhile learning all of your combos and different powers Nilin picks up from fighting bosses, players are also subjected to an obscene number of collectibles: health boosts, Focus boosts, Mnesist Memories, and Scaramechs. Since most of the world of Remember Me is rather gray and bleak (with a splash of orange here and there), it’s incredibly easy to overlook most of these collectibles. Collectible hunting is where the strategy guide shines the brightest (and it shines orange, trust me). All collectibles are marked in individual maps of each scene Nilin traverses, and then most of the collectibles have their own call-out box with screenshot in the written walkthrough. All collectibles are mentioned and highlighted in bold in the written walkthrough, but not all have helpful screenshots showing where they are. I understand why they don’t, because it could get quite cluttered on the pages, but I would have liked it nonetheless.

In addition, one of the appendices in the strategy guide shows exactly where all the Mnesist Memories are located in each chapter and even writes each of the memories out in case you just want to read up on the memories without collecting all of them (for those who aren’t Achievement-whores).

The Remember Me strategy guide is a well-rounded book for every type of gamer needing something from a strategy guide, from combat advice to collectibles to solving the memory puzzles on the first try. Completionists and collectible hunters will be especially pleased with the information provided.

SGR Rating: 4/5

Author: Doug Walsh
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions available: Paperback
Acquired via Publisher

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