1 comments about Commandos Strike Force Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

1. Guides you through everything and reveals paths that you might not have noticed the first time. With no online walkthroughs, this is the only help to turn to. Good buy whether you have trouble with the game or not.

5 comments about EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. By the time you reack lv 5 you will know all this book offers.
   It give incorrect information at times, poor stratagies at best, maps that come with the game it self. The only real use for this book is the list of spells and since this is a web base game all that play will be able to go online and look thoose up.



2. This guide is useless to advanced players. All it does is give newb information and history. Not worth it.



3. This is a must if you like EQ, the new zones are not worth
   it, except paludal and some other, and the new spells there.
   The really nice thing of this expansion is the new graphics
   engine and textures.. it¡s a big change from the first eq.

   Aside from that, it needs a LOT of hardware resources, I have
   an AMD XP 1700+, geforce2 mx400 64mb and 512 DDR MB of ram and
   still having trouble to play it at a decent speed in some areas,
   specially the bazaar and shadow haven.. when I enter bazaar I must look at the walls or floor to be able to walk faster than
   2 fps. As for the ram, you have the option to select which
   races you want the new textures loaded for, I wouldn't reccomend
   enabling them all even with 512 MB of ram.

   Btw, they just launched the new UI yesterday.. with the /bazaar option back, hah, don't try to run around bazaar with 300 players in ; ) (laggy to hell)

   Said that, I wouldn't ever miss this expansion, the new graphics
   are worth it.




4. I like prima strategy guides. Most people say they are worthless and you can find the same info on the net for free. This is true. But I much rather have a guide in hand that I can refer to while in game. I still find the old Kunark guide has alot of valuable info in it and I still use it. The Shadows of Luclin guidebook is not a complete guide. It is an addendum to the previous Kunark guide. Which means I have to flip through 2 books to get the info i'm after. This was frustrating to me because I wanted one up to date guide with all the info. I feel this should have been priced lower than other prima guides.



5. If you're going to play the Luclin expansion, you probably want this book. Like the original handbook, it has the new classes' spell lists, new area maps, etc.

   Yes, all that information is available in various places on the web. And yes, there are updates to the game over time. But the convenience of having it all in one place - especially if you're going to play a new class, new zone, etc. - is well worth it.

   I agree with a previous review that the biggest problem for me is that this is a just supplement (so I still need my original/Kunark guide), but it seems priced like a complete guide. Pima's having their cake and eating it, too. ;>

   I bought it. I'm glad I have it. And I'm sure I'll buy the new one when Planes of Power is released, too...

No comments about The Incredibles (Prima Official Game Guide).

No comments about Incredibles, The: Rise of the Underminer Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

5 comments about The Making of Doom(r) III: The Official Guide.

1. Steven Kent was given extraordinary access to the creative team doing Doom 3 while the project was under develoment. In this book he charts that development from early conception and the development of details like a new graphics engine that would do the actual on screen graphics. He then moves on to the development of characters, locations, and sounds that make the game what it is. One by one the developers are introduced, often by interview. And the developers get to say their prospective on the game and their part in it. The book is profusely illustrated showing the characters in the sceens where they belong.
   
   It is surprising, no incredible to me that the game of Doom 3 was created in total by a team of some 22 peop.le.



2. This book gives a great insight on the inner workings of ID software. The paper used in the publication of this seems to be extremely high quality. My only gripe is the book is not hardcover. Overall Steven Kent does a great job as usual. If you want to understand how ID works this book will explain alot.



3. I purchased both this book and the Half-Life 2 'Raising the Bar' book together for a discounted price. Both are exceptional and both I HIGHLY recommend owning.
   
   The Doom 3 book is far heavier on word count and focuses on the entire production of Doom 3 as opposed to the sporadic comments and captions grouped with pictures in 'Raising The Bar'. Having said that both are different and will appeal to everyone interested regardless.
   
   Both are printed on very high quality paper, 'Raising The Bar' even having a hard cover, a sore omission from The Making Doom 3. The content is brilliant with hundreds of images gracing throughout and insights into the making of these games. I particularly liked reading about the ideas, monsters and objects that were cut from the final games. Seriously, every gamer or visual artist/designer should own these, awesome and inspirational 'picture' books to have laying around.
   
   SO! If you are a fan-boy or girl of either game, get both, they are EXCEPTIONAL READING and I cannot recommend them highly enough.



4. This book was an utter let-down. I was pumped up ready to dive into this book after reading the previous reviews here on Amazon. The reviews made it sound like it was a solid book with a lot of detailed information regarding the actual "making of doom 3". This book in reality is a half-assed, piece-mailed collage of hype and fluff. There is no meat here. Steven Kent is not David Kushner, and this is not "The Masters of Doom" (part 2)... very unfortunately.
   
   What I was expecting from this book was stuff about how the team created what they created (which the book does, to some extent), but more importantly, WHY. What were the reasons for making certain decisions, what were the challenges they had to overcome, what technological barriers did they break, and how did they persevere together, as a team? I also wanted to know about the personal stories and the inner happenings of the game in production. I wanted to learn about the conflicts between the developers and the motivations for doing things they way they did. I wanted to know what kind of pizza they ordered after working 80+ hours a week, and how many liters of Mountain Dew they consumed as a whole. None of this was even pretended to be addressed.
   
   What the book does is a cheap, glossed-over summary of doom 3. It talks about the doom story mostly and tells some basic information about how things were created. (Anyone already in game development will surely recognize the provided information as elementary and immediately self-evident.)
   
   About the only good thing in this book is the Question and Answer Section with John Carmack. As always, John provides a real treat by articulating his knowledge of technical issues and world view opinion in the most elegant way. The author, Steven Kent, gets one point here for not editing Carmack's dialogue; for Carmack, on a number of occasions, seems to poke fun at the interviewer's most obvious lack of game development knowledge.
   
   Get this book if you are interested in game design (but have no previous knowledge) and/or if you are a die-hard id fanboy.



5. Great book by the writer Mr. Kent! The only problem that I came across was the that the pages fall out with minimal use. Warnig!!! Don not treat this book as a standard book!

No comments about Onimusha: Warlords - Greatest Hits (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

5 comments about Ultima IX: Ascension (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. Ultima IX, Ascension is, in many ways, geared towards adults. Unfortunately, it is not specifically geared towards fans of previous Ultima games. What this means is: the clues are few and far between, and everything you already know about Ultima is probably not going to help much. Fortunately, we have this strategy guide. It is well structured, so that you can get the hint you need without spoiling much at all. It gives you just the boost you need to stay interested in Ultima IX, the best Ultima game since Ultima IV by my opinion. (The virtues are back!)



2. This strategy guide provides great deal of information regarding spells, armours, weapons etc. It really helps the readers to understand the rules of Britennia. However, it lacks details about quests and many little things that Avatar can do while fighting Guidian. Personally I think it worths the money.



3. Being a web author of cluebooks myself, I found the Walkthrough section EXTREMELY lacking. It explains the most obvious things that a player could have easily figured out him/herself, but is very lacking on the specific areas where most players get stuck. On the other hand, the background info for the game, items lists, and character creation info is GREAT! The 48 page interview with Richard Garriott at the end is pretty interesting, too. For the die-hard Ultima fan, or someone looking for a handy reference to the game, this book is an absolute must-have. But, if you're just looking for solutions to the game, much better help is to be found by searching on the Net!



4. While the walkthrough lacks somewhat in truly useful details, it does have great item lists and spell descriptions. The interview with Ultima creator Richard Garriott is a must have for any Ultima fan. The dungeon maps, though not of the best resolution, are useful in navigating these places. Greater coverage of where to find items of any kind would be helpful as well, though.



5. First of all, if you haven't, play the Ultima Collection(that may not be possible as it is currently not availible!). The Ultima Collection will give you some story background and continuety. Ultima 9, however lacks continuety, but you will still have a much better experience if you play at least Ultima VI, VII(and part II) and Pagan.

   This book gives you some insite into this game. Do not read the walkthu's until you have finished a given section of the game(eg. dungeon, shrine, towne sub-plott, ect.) The walkthru's are spoilers and have a lot of info partaining to the plott. Much like Serpent Isle's clue book did for me. However, they can be useful for getting unstuck. (That is not likely in this game) and give usefull tips on where to get good wheapons and items. If you are wondering about how to 'be nice' to people and adhear to the virtues, that information is in here(unlike Ultima 4, where you had to second guess). There are a few things that will hurt your Karma that cannot be avoided. Undocumented is taking the hammer from the goblin in Paws. That will hurt your Karma, he is evil and he is dead and doesn't need it anymore, but never-the-less, it hurts your Karma! Taking wheapons/gold from other goblins, however, does not hurt it. Killing the brat who throws fireballs at you(find out for yourself) General rule, don't be rude, help the needy, speak the correct mantra at a shrine, and never turn down a quest(most especially clensing the shrine). Some choices aren't that simple, however.

3 comments about Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen Official Power Play Guide (Prima's Secrets of the Games).

1. Having this guide is a lot better than having nothing at all, but still, I suggest you don't buy it if any of the following details annoy you:*** -Low quality black&white screenshots -The guy doesn't tell where most of the items are, he just re-wrote what was on the map that you get with the game, which doesn't tell much -Halfway through the guide, the guy stops giving some interesting information, like Neutral monster type/location.*** Otherwise, this guide is complete and helps a lot to find everything in the game.



2. This book was actually disappointing when compared to other Prima books. The maps were low quality black and white, the author did not tell you where all the secrets were, and near the middle of teh book, he stopped giving some of the important information altogether. Not at all what I expected from Prima.



3. CAN YOU HELP ME FIND THIS BOOK

5 comments about Crash Team Racing: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. This Prima strategy guide will give you the goods on how to defeat Nitrous Oxide and all the other bosses to this kart racing title. There are solid in-depth maps and strategies to all tracks including how to unlock the secret arenas and characters. The guide shows you the way, however it's up to the player/reader to execute.



2. The Chrash team racing stratagy guide is great and is extremely helpful. There are not many pictures but their in color. If you want to beat the game 50% faster I recomend the stratagy gudie.



3. it'll help you with getting the crystals and coins but most of all this helps you with the shortcuts so you can beat nitros oxide



4. This book includes the shortcuts of CTR,and tips on how to get the crystals in Skull Rock,Rampage Ruins,Rocky Road,and Nitro Court.I wouldn't want to say that the guide is bad,but it dosn't help in many levels.



5. This guide book is very nice and easy to understand and read. It is fantastic for hints, etc. It's like any other guide book, or should I say good guide book. It will definately help you out when you need it.

   As with anything, shop around on prices. I think all of these guide books are a little over priced, but that's just my opinion.

5 comments about Pokemon Master Pokedex: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. it was really awesome........ It showed every pokemon there is(except for 1 ). i thought it was better than the normal pokedex



2. I am a 13 year old and I am extremely hooked on pokemon, and this book is a great deal for all you parents who feel that it is too costly, because it IS worth it. I know that many of you reading this that have children are kind of lost when it comes to the world of pokemon, I know because my parents are, well, if you want to learn more about the "pocket monsters" then this strategy guide is a great idea!

   Here are some of the most rewarding things you wil find in "Pokemon Master Pokedex".

   I found that this book was very helpful in giving a well informed description on all 251 pokemon, excluding the mysterious Celebi.

   It was very well organized giving info on almost every aspect of pokemon you can imagine.

   I found this book to be helpful in many areas of gameplay that were difficult to me, and the breeding section helped me catch and raise many new and different pokemon.

   Unlike other strategy guides, this one gives an in-depth review and is one of the most detailed guides, in my opinion, ever written.

   Perhaps the best part of this is the battle chart, giving you info on what type of pokemon is dominant against another, giving info on every type, from grass, to fire, to electric, to steel, this book is the best!




3. I liked this book because it really helps a lot. If you have to go on the internet to find Pokemon answers here is your guide! If you spend a lot of time on the computer to look for info on Pokemon this would be a good book! It has more Information than the Internet.



4. This 'book' is very useful and fun to read. I have used it in many battles where it seemed like I was going to lose, but with it, I won!



5. Complete, easy-to-follow, well-organized. The two Prima Guides credited to Elizabeth Hollinger and James Ratkos, ("Pokemon Master Pokedex" and the "Pokemon Gold & Silver" Strategy Guide), are in a separate class from the other Prima Guides, which are visually eye-catching, but less complete and harder to follow. (I have not yet seen Elizabeth Hollinger's "Crystal" Strategy Guide.) **PARENTS**: The Prima Guides are EXCELLENT learning tools, teaching children how to use reference materials independently. When my son was younger, I would read the instructions to him as he went along. Now an avid reader, my 7-year-old flips back and forth between his Prima Guides, plotting strategy, discovering information, confirming what he suspects to be true. EXCELLENT!!!