5 comments about Shenmue: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. This one is one of Prima's top guides. It is very well put together and it did exactly what I buy guides for: To help me when I am really really stuck.

   The amount of information in this book really is staggering. There are individual profiles for just about every character in the game, right down to their blood type!

   But what really makes this guide great is the vast amount of extras! From strategies for the arcade games, to a complete list of the mini-collectibles, this guide is loaded. It also includes a very clever "sealed section" which I greatly appreciated.

   The bottom line is that if you like Shenmue, this is the ultimate companion




2. I've had a lot of issues with Prima not delivering a guide with all the info that it could of had. Prima's guides frequently do not deliver all but the bare essentials and can be poorly put together, but the Shenmue Official Strategy Guide does not follow tradition. From start to finish, the guide is absolutely packed full of information regarding the game and solutions to the many puzzles within it. Full, complete, well designed color pages document each event as it should happen with exact date, time and location, along with full color screen shots. It also includes complete index's of all the bonus items you can collect throughout the game and where to obtain them, as well as a full index of all note-entrys that can be imputted into Ryo's journal. As well, it features complete biographys taken from Shenmue Online, that include virtually every single individual you see in the game, regardless of weither you're ever able to interact with them or not. This is not a guide to pass up, and even if you're not one for cheating, it's virtually impossible to see all there is to see in Shenmue without this kind of a guide. A must have.



3. This is a great strategy guidebook for SHENMUE. It really covers a lot of information in the game. I've already played SHENMUE all the way through and I thought i had covered everything in the game. Wrong! There is a lot that I misssed! There were things in the game that you could get that I just didn't know about. For instance you can win a couple of Sega Saturn games as prizes for Ryo's Saturn at his house!

   I recommend you to read this book after you've already gone through SHENMUE at least once. You'll be suprised at how much you may have missed. It may even make SHENMUE even more rewarding the second time around.

   If you loved SHENMUE as much as I did, then this book is a must have!




4. this game has a five star graphics, gameplay, and plotline. the graphics are like real people. the fighting scenes are great. in this game you can go to an arcade and play those games!! the plot is great and if fun to go to the city and get info and find all this stuff about the murder of ryo's father's death! this is a must bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



5. Really good. I bought this after I beat the game. And used it to find all the "Side Events" and extras. Its good for people that want or need help during the game and for people that want to find the extras etc. One cool thing is that in the back you can see ALL the characters in Shenmue and it has a little description on them. So its good. Very good walkthrough book. Definately worth the money.

4 comments about Counter Strike (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. Does this game really need a strategy guide? There is virtually NO single player game (only good for learning the maps and weapons). This is an online game which means nothing is static about it. Every game will be different based on the skills of the other players. Sure the guide will point out key sniping and camping positions, but you know what, most seasoned CS players already know the best sniping spots and they also HATE campers!!! You want a challenge, send me an invite. Gamertag=bukster



2. I ordered this item: counterstrike for xbox strategy guide.
   some guy sent me THE WRONG ITEM: counterstrike conditionzero pc strategy guide. how useless and just plain creepy I mean think how many people right now are selling an item to people but there on the wrong list imagine this you order an xbox but the seller you bought it from thought it was the xbox s controller
   wow you can use that to play on the xbox that you will have in 3 months when you have enough money to buy one again jeeeezzzz
   talk about frustrating now wouldnt that just suck.



3. Prima's official strategy guide for the Xbox version of Counter-Strike is little more than a beginner's guide, but it's a thorough one. The beginning section of the guide is an in-depth explanation of the mechanics of the game for newbies with a few useful tips sprinkled throughout. The next part is the most interesting one - the weapons chart which shows you all the statistics for the weapon as well as the weapon's damage effect on an oppponent either with kevlar and helmet protection or without. The rest of the guide goes on to detail the individual maps of the game with overall strategies to detailed tactics. Overall, if you're already a mediocre CS player, you don't need this, but if you're new to CS, I'd consider purchasing it.



4. I oredered this guide thinking that it covered the original Counter Strike for XBox. Well, I was wrong. I was instead sent the guide for the game Sounter Strike: Condition Zero, which has the same maps as Counter Strike, but it's not what i ordered.

No comments about Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals Official Strategy Guide (Brady Games).

No comments about Frogger?: Ancient Shadow(tm) Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

5 comments about Soul Calibur: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. If you are a great fan of Soul Blade and Soul Calibur, you will need this book to show you the techniques to beat the living crap out of your opponent. It provides the strength and weakness of each character and the various combo that charcter has. It will be awhile before you become a true master. So many moves.... so many reading to do...ugh! But well worth it if you want to master the ways of the Soul Calibur! This is my bible to Soul Calibur!



2. Soul Calibur is the hottest fighting game on the market today, and it's also one of the hardest to master. You need a strategy guide! Fortunately, the ubiquitous Prima guides are out and about, and they've released one for Soul Calibur.

   As far as guides go, it's not bad. There are many pictures, and all of the moves are displayed, but the emphasis here seems to be on style over substance. The book is pretty to look at, sure, but the strategies sound like they are coming from an amateur and, quite frankly, could have been better. Sure, they're great for players just starting the game, but experts want more. Overall, though, a worthy purchase for improving your game.




3. Soul caliber is a very straight forward game. Kill things with your big old sword. You're bad you're good. You fight dirty when you bad.You with me? Didn't think so. To make a long story short, I bought the guide because was a dead up stumped. WHAT NEXT! I would scream at the TV screen. It was a dark period in my life. I bought the guide, things looked up. This guide could make Allundra look simple. MAN O MAN and I told all my friends I had no help. That is exactly why this must remain confidential! HAHAH. Maps and strategy guide are a must if you plan on getting throught this game with out pulling your hair out. That about as detailed as I want to get (don't want to give anything away!) To my homies who play, how funny was the part with the monkey! Don't worry, you'll see. MORE FUN THAN D & D!



4. This is a rather amazing strategy guide. Not only is there no strategy aside from limited advice on how to play the characters but the bulk of the text was cut and pasted straight from Namco's own documentation on the game! If you want the moves listed out in a bound and portable format, there's your only reason for buying this guide. You won't improve your game with this guide nor will you learn anything that doesn't ship with the game as it is. This is a very lazy effort at producing a strategy guide. Aren't they supposed to help you with game strategy?



5. The bottom line with this particular guide is: "How experienced are you?"

   If you're new to the game, you will probably want this. If you've been playing for around six months to a year, you won't get much of anything out of it.

   What You Get: This guide is designed perhaps entirely for the Dreamcast console as opposed to the arcade version. It is full-color, attractive and accurate. It provides the basics for the system, a little on strategy, and complete moves lists for all characters. But that's about it.

   In comparison to the Tekken 3 guide by Prima, however, you will be left with a sense of loss. There is no data on fighting against specific opponents. The strategy offered in this guide is skimpy. You will find similar data for the arcade version at the official site. Go there and you'll have a pretty good idea of what this book will have.

   Overall, this guide is indeed a lazy effort, and will prove useless against even most intermediate opponents. But if you're just getting started, you may want to pay its reasonable price.

5 comments about Medieval: Total War(TM) Official Strategy Guide.

1. In my humble opinion, I am tired of generic replicas of Microsofts real-time Age of Empires. Don't get me wrong they are very-good games, but that engine is totally overused. Every single game that comes out now is based on it. Thankyou to the Creative assembly for making a new engine that combines the best of turn based games and adds a realtime battlefield system. Shogun Total War set the stage for the very deep and much enhanced second installment Medieval Total War. The wide selection of campaigns and factions allows for hours upon hours of interesting (dare I say addictive) gameplay. I am truely looking forward to Rome Total War which will blow the competition away!



2. Strategy guides for video games tend to be... well, horrible. Particularly for a game such as medieval total war, a truly grand strategy game with vast scope and depth, strategy guides tend to be more the manuals that the game SHOULD have shipped with. That's because game manuals tend to be absolutely useless now-a-days. Total war, is an exeption in both cases.
   
   This strategy guide is simply a must-have for any true fan of the game. Sure, you can get by without it. The manual for total war is actually pretty good as far as video game manuals go. But the strategy guide expounds on every aspect touched by the manual and offers a more comprehensive look at the finer points as well as some aspects that are completely absent from the manual but are quite helpful.
   
   If nothing else you'll want to shell out the money for this simply for the unit specs. The guide gives you a detailed look at every unit in the game (this guide predates the expansion pack though, so only the original units are shown). This is a GODSEND! You get the exact combat values for each unit, along with information on how to effectively use each unit type. There's also a nice look at the TW combat system and how it works to use these numbers, as well as bonuses and other modifying factors such as terrain, woods, etc etc. If that wasnt enough they also take a look at morale and all the variables that play into it. This is pretty detailed and nitty gritty (hopefully they didnt leave stuff out!).
   
   Now anytime you fight a battle you thought you had in the bag and lost for reasons unknown you can take a look at the intricacy of the TW combat system and find out why! This is a game that NEEDS a strategy guide as there are many complex elements and strategic and tactical variables. Things like morale, command, vices and virtues, weather, terrain, fatigue, weapons, armor, formation and more can greatly impact the outcome of a battle. Remember one things that seperates TW from an RTS is that even a group of lowly peasants (the weakest unit in the game) can defeat a group of Royal nights (the strongest) if other factors are just right (I've seen it happen myself). That's what makes this game so amazing and so deep - and that's why u need this book if you ever REALLY want to know the game well (the game itself only gives you very vague ideas of a unit's abillities EX "strong charge, weak defense").
   
   There's also some nice walk throughs for the historical battles, some useful tips, a full list of vices/virtues and thier effects, a list of titles, a quick overview for basic strategies to playing each faction in the full campaign, and some other goodies.
   
   Could it have had more? YES! I would like have seen a more comprehensive look at the combat system and an indepth assesment of each unit in addition to the stats. Also the tips and tactics are pretty simplistic. They could have gone into a much better analysis of battle tactics and formations. They never go as far as they could, but as strategy guides go, this is one of the better ones. Kudos to Brady Games for thier work and one can only hope the upcoming guide for "Rome: TW" from Prima will be as good.
   
   I also reccomend you go read Sun Tzu's "The Art Of War" And either "On War" or "The Principals of War" by Carl Von Clauswitz. These will help you improve your tactics and generalship greatly as the designers made the game to mirror many of the real world concepts laid out in these works.



3. I orderd this guide two weeks ago only to be advised that it is NO LONGER Available. Seems to me they ought remove it from their list.



4. If you are going to buy this book, do yourself a favor and do not buy it from either of these rip offs selling the book for almost $60. It is not worth the price. The original list price is around $19. I don't know where these sellers get the audacity to try to charge people more than 3X as much.
   
   Look around, you will be able to find it for a much lower price. Also, there are several sites online that I have seen that have this book printed in its entirety so that you can print it out if need be. I repeat, If you buy from anyone who wants to sell for over the list price on a strategy guide, you are getting ripped off.
   
   ...and sellers, you should be ashamed of yourselves.



5. The tactical information was somewhat helpful, but the unit stats had so many typos and was so poorly organized, I can't rely on the information to be helpful. I don't think they editors reviewed this with the game publishers before this was sent to the printer. Not worth the money!

3 comments about Mortal Kombat 3: Players Guide (Gaming Mastery Ser.).

1. first off i liked all of the graphics and pictures in this book. I hate guides that only tell you what to do and leave out a picture (it can make a game more confusing than before). i liked all the fatalities and animalities that they show.And it one of the only sega genesis player guides still on the market. A good buy for anyone i highly recomend it!



2. The best part of the book is the retrospective on the evolution to this then current 3rd incarnation. Covers the different versions for the vast array of game systems all MKs were on. You know it is a act of love not pure cash in when Street Fighter and Night Trap (the infamous uber censored "hot" game)are mentioned and given screen shots in the first few pages!



3. I've only just got back in to the mortal kombat series after recently buying shaolin monks. After compleing that and remembering all the history there from my childhood, I decided to buy other games in the series. So naturally I went for the all time classic Mortal Kombat 3. Not being much of a pro at mortal kombat and after losing in the game on the 3rd fight (that was my best score d'oh!), I thought it a good idea to opt to buy a strategy book.! This book is fantastic; it has the history of mortal kombat 1 and 2 (incluing special moves, fatatlities, kombos and character bios - what more could you ask for?) It has a great sysytem, in which the author tells you the best way to defeat your opponents using each character (including the hidden cyborg smoke character). It really helped me, even though i'm not what you could consider a kombat pro; I feel much more confident in my tehniques and will endeavour to finally defeat that maniac Shao Kahn mwa ha ha ha!!

2 comments about Dragon Ball Z: Legacy of Goku (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. if you have the legacy of goku then get this book! the video game is okay but the only problom with it is that its rated everyone instead of teen. i am 12 years old but i love dbz so much! so get this book!



2. My son has used this book religiously. I bought it as a birthday gift and he loves it.

3 comments about Homeworld Cataclysm (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. I bought this guide because I felt that it would help hone my skills for playing against others online. It arrived at my doorstep, and I eagerly opened it and read through it. I must say I was very dissapointed. It's really just an extension of the manual. Everything you will read in this book, you either already know, or is irrelevant. I had already beaten the single player of HW: Cataclysm, so that section wasn't much use to me. I did; however, skim through that section, and saw that it was very well writtne and offered good advice.

   So, buy this guide if your having trouble with the single player campaign, but if you feel that you can make it through without help, this book will be worthless to you.




2. Frankly, a sequel to a fantastic game tends to completely screw up the concepts of the original in the search for a quick buck.

   The design team of Homeworld: Cataclysm, however, earned every last buck that anyone has spent on this game.

   Stunning graphics (my non-gamer fiancee even likes to watch)! Outstanding sound! Even better gameplay!

   Everything the original has, Cataclysm has more of. The only thing that annoyed me was the voice acting of the female voice aboard the command ship; it was a bit wooden. Otherwise, it was feature film quality. I bought it a long while ago, and sometimes I like to play through it again, just for kicks.




3. Rather than follow the same formula as the original, the developers have struck out in a tangent while keeping the same basic graphics engine and look and feel of the earlier universe. This time you command a single underdog spacecraft, but with a serious amount of ongoing customization to the ship possible through continued research. The individual missions are more challenging than before as well, since the underdog status forces you to employ the "right" strategy or else. You can't just slug it out toe to toe using a superior force in most of the missions. It can be a bit frustrating from this standpoint if you get stuck for a solution. Hints would have been nice as an option for those times.

No comments about Viewtiful Joe 2 Strategy Guide by Bradygames.