2 comments about Ninja Gaiden 2: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. This is a helpfull book it tells you the locations to get all 30 crystal skulls, strategies to fight every enemy, combos and strategies for every weapon, in depth boss analysis and stragedy, 160 pages of great secrets so this is a great book like the game is.



2. This game gets REALLY TOUGH in some spots. The guide has been super helpful getting through those rough spots. It has all the crystal skull locations and good strats for the bosses. Plus maps of all the levels. I'm really happy I bought it.

5 comments about Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Official Strategy Guide.

1. The guide contains a lot of information - the indexing could be better, however.
   
   Still, overall a worthwhile purchase, considering the complexity of the game.



2. This book was a great find. it showed me everything i needed to know step by step and had a great beastary.



3. This guide was for my daughter who plays the game. She has found the guide to be quite useful in the playing of the game and getting to know the different characters.



4. It's always nice to see a different approach to guide-making. This small booklet detail's nigh every nook and cranny of the game and gives informative(though not varied) approached to all form's of the game.
   
   All-In-All SMT guides are always well worth any amount of money spent.



5. I didn't expect it to be so tiny. The guide is about the size of the game case. But it came with everything i was looking for, answers to some of the obscure pop quiz questions, the correct responses when building social links. Worth the buy.

4 comments about The Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life: Making Money in the Metaverse.

1. Entrepreneur's Guide to Second Life: Making Money in the Metaverse
   
   I figured this would be a useful book because when I was interviewed for it the questions were in-depth, thoughtful, and non-fluffy. And it turns out that the book is even better than I expected. This is a GREAT book for anyone who wants to start an in-world Second Life business, or for someone who wants to improve their existing business. I would have turned a profit quicker if I'd had it when I was a newbie!



2. This book is a great way to learn about the many financial opportunities that await you in Second Life. The layout is clean and colorful, the examples shown are interesting and inspiring, and it is a good examination of Second Life overall. The lessons ignite the imagination...where would I like to concentrate my efforts as an entrepreneur? What does it really take to make a business successful? How have others done it, and what can I learn from their experiences? Terdiman did his homework on this project and the guide provides a realistic look at what it would take to create your dream career.



3. outstanding. this step-by-step guide is well-written, informative, and easy to navigate. the structure of the book allowed me to get straight to the topics i was interested in - it's clearly laid out and having first-hand advice from residents/experts was extremely useful and gave me confidence - there's a great chapter on Setting Up Shop, for example. It's a comprehensive how-to that makes the metaverse accessible to everyone.



4. This book gave me a lot of great ideas for the Second Life platform. I had no idea of the type of businesses that were in Second Life. Now that I have an idea of how to purchase land and have seen the various software applications being used to create product, I plan on experimenting with it for the next 90 days or so. From there, I'm going to continue using the platform to launch my Second Life business. This Book is fabulous!
   
   Lanesa Stubbs

5 comments about FINAL FANTASY(r) III Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)) (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)).

1. The game is mostly self explanatory. Not too much hard side quests that makes it hard to complete the game 100% without the guide, but for those small stuff, like the forging, the guide really helps.



2. This guide is great. A must have for FF3 DS. It guides you through all the little, and sometimes very annoying if you don't have a guide, puzzles along the way.
   
   Get ready for what's next by knowing what's next in the game so you can make the smart decision on what class to choose.
   
   A MUST HAVE!



3. This is a great product that, if you play any final fantasy games you know is a MUST HAVE!!!



4. Fantastic guide with great information. I did, however, have to reference GameFAQs for a better explanation of how to best get all of the weapons from the Arcane Labyrinth. Definately worth the money.



5. I'm very satisfied with this product. If anyone remembers the original Final Fantasy game this strategy guide comes in handy for the hardest games in any video game generation.

4 comments about Metal Gear Solid 3: Official Strategy Guide.

1. Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible game no matter how you play it. But go through it without some help and you're bound to miss something. This guide is almost perfect in everyway possible. But there are some troubling things that keep this guide down a little.
   
   First of all, this tome is jampacked with tons of helpful tips. Everything you need in the opening pages to know about the game is there. The guide details on all the basics of CQC. From the basics to the advanced tactics. You'll be a master of CQC. The guide also spends a lot of time detailing everything about the food.
   
   The food section tells you if you can use it on enemies or not and how. They also tell you how it taste and whether its worth eating or not. The cure section tells you all you need to cure wounds and how to do it.
   
   The walkthrough is very well written. Each section has a detailed set of maps, the location of every guard and the location of every item. It's very well written too, with EXCELLENT boss strategies that help out really well. Each portion of the walkthrough is broken down by area rather than objective. This is great in the sense that it's more organized. The walkthrough is actually done really well with great tactics. This is easily one of the most well written walkthroughs I've ever read.
   
   The Easter Eggs and secrets are really cool. They go into detail on some of the better ones and talk about the bonuses and such. The secrets chapter is also done well. Alongside that, the Snake vs. Monkeys is also done really well. Each strategy to take on the monkeys helps you get excellent times and even first place assuming you take them in the recommended orders.
   
   Then there's the stuff after the meat of the game. The interviews are spectacular and help you learn more than anything about the production of the game and the MGS series. After that there's an excerpt from the Konami Comic Book of Metal Gear Solid. This is an incredible comic. It may actually make you want to by the series.
   
   But the guide isn't without a few faults. For one, the walkthrough is only written for Normal mode. There are areas where there are more guards and such and the guide doesn't talk about that. What's the difference between playing the game on Normal and Extreme? You'd be surprised how many hardcore MGS fans just jump to Hard Mode without ever touching the lower difficulty levels.
   
   The guide also mentions that there are "secret" frequencies to call but they never tell you what the frequency is! They mention that you have to interrogate a guard in order to get it. But they still don't detail what the frequency is or what it does...
   
   Then there's the biggy (and the reason five stars was an impossible feet), there are several easter eggs and secrets missing! They don't mention that you can get the EZ Gun on other difficulty levels nor do they mention anything of the infinity face paint. Not only that but they never mention how it is you're supposed to come across certain ranks. All the ranks are listed but how do I get say... the "FOX" ranking? The guide doesn't detail it.
   
   It really is a good guide, almost perfect. But the small tidbits (and the one rather large rat) are annoying at times. I wish it was a bit more detailed on some of the secrets and gave more insight for the different difficulty levels.
   
   Either way though, this is the perfect MGS3 companion. You shouldn't have any trouble getting through the game without it. It'll help you conquer the game and even master it at some point. But be warned that this guide is only good for its walkthrough and not much else.



2. Bradygames brings us this strategy guide for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the Playstation 2. This is a fairly large paperback edition and is filled with details about the game and color screenshots from the game. The most important thing to note about this guide is that it only covers the walkthrough of the game on the "Normal" difficulty setting. While the maps would be the same on "Easy" or "Hard", the number of enemies and their locations would change on the more challenging difficulties. The location of certain items may also change, but this guide does not cover any other difficulty but "Normal". Since I played through the game on "Normal" mode, I can speak for how helpful it was for that difficulty.
   
   The first thing to note is that this guide is packed with information. The guide begins by covering all of the items, weapons, camouflage, and different fighting techniques. Everything is listed at the start of the guide. This is very nice, but I didn't find myself flipping back to check out the techniques or items. I just used whatever basic moves that I could remember and worked my way through the game and took whatever came my way.
   
   The real reason to buy a guide, however, is the walkthrough of the game. Before every section of the game, this guide includes a map of the area and small diagrams of where the enemies are and what sort of patrol pattern that they walk. This is helpful, but not nearly as much as it was in the guide for Metal Gear Solid 2. The problem here is simply that instead of being inside a building the entire game, the player is mostly outside in a forest or swamp. So, while the guards may walk a particular pattern it was difficult to determine just where you are on the map. What the map truly helped with was to give a general idea of where the enemies are, how many, and a general idea of where the items are. The text walkthrough (with some screenshots) is where the true value of this guide is. The text is clear in where you are, where you are going, and what you have to face. I've been playing video games for at least fifteen years, but Metal Gear Solid 3 is a challenging game without a walkthrough. The boss strategies are also quite helpful and helped me to beat them (as well as helped me defeat a couple of bosses with only the tranquilizer dart).
   
   There is also a section which covers little "Easter Eggs", like hidden posters and figurines which reference previous Metal Gear games. It isn't terribly important, but it does add a little extra flavor. There is also a walkthrough of the Snake Vs Monkey mini-game (which I didn't bother playing).
   
   Without this guide I would have missed many items (I have no doubt about that), been spotted by guards more often than I was (which was often), been killed many more times than I was (very few times), and spent quite a bit more time than the 24 hours that it took me to conquer the game. While this guide could have been more clear and helpful with maps and enemy locations, it was invaluable in getting me through this game. The guide is probably not essential to get the player through this game, but I have to say that it helps a lot.
   
   -Joe Sherry



3. Sorry but this guide is good for the getting through the storyline-After that its nearly useless! The book doesn't tell you all the secrets! or what happens if you kill all the toy frogs!



4. maps are a bit confusing. Picture illistration are small and not very clear. the control pictures in the illistations are also hard to see.

5 comments about Complete Champion: A Player's Guide to Divine Heroes (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying).

1. I quite like Complete Champion, which offers more depth on the major D&D religions, some cool feats and alternative class features, spells, and magic items. I didn't think too much of the prestige classes, but I rarely find prestige classes very compelling. Then again, I thought the "Shadowstrikers" have a very cool flavor: sort of a military alliance between the churches of Pelor and Heironious out to save the world. The Summon Holy Symbol and Metal Fang were a couple of handy spells that, upon reflection, should've come out years ago. The new feats include Domain Feats, each one associated with a particular domain that the cleric has to have to take it. The new reserve feat associated with healing (Touch of Healing) could revolutionize how some parties approach healing between battles: so long as you keep a 2nd level or higher cure spell in reserve, you can slowly heal your buddies up to half their total hp without casting a spell or expending a charge off a wand. (The feat is particularly useful for druids and bards.) The Holy Warrior feat is a personal favorite (constant boost to damage, but you need access to the War domain). An earlier review suggested that the book is only helpful for paladins: I couldn't disagree more. There is a divine-style alternative class feature for every class: the ones for ranger I thought were cool, and there are options for fighter and monk that enable them to align their weapons/unarmed attacks without needing a cleric to cast Align Weapon. Most of the magic items work for anybody, although some are only for druids, clerics, or paladins. The rules for joining church organizations, whether or not you're a cleric or paladin, have some neat little benefits: I thought the 1st rank benefits for followers of Moradin (+5 movement for only 500 gp and some easy criteria) is a good example of something any dwarf would appreciate. All in all, I really liked it.



2. While I really enjoy the concept of the domain devotion feats, there just did not seem to be very much to this book. They have interesting variants, but I wish they had more prestige classes in it.



3. I was a little disappointed that this book wasn't more like the Complete Scoundrel. I thought it would be the Scoundrel's complete opposite, much like the Book of Vile Darkness and the Book of Exalted Deeds.



4. Complete Champion works best if you're campaign is set in Greyhawk and/or prominently features the core 3.0/3.5e D&D gods. It's also the most DM-centered of the "Complete" books, which are generally thought of as extensions of the Player's Handbook (PHB). While there are new feats, prestige classes (11 of them, actually) and spells, the rules for creating church affiliations and holy sites take up quite a bit of the book. While players might join one of these organizations, it's the DM who'll get the most out of this information.
   
   Affiliations were introduced in the Player's Handbook II (PHBII) as a way of providing rules and benefits for characters belonging to various organizations. You don't need the PHBII, however, as rules for building your own church affiliations are provided in the Complete Champion. Affiliations are useful because they provide criterion for characters to rise up in the ranks of a given organization (in this case, a church) and provide increasingly valuable benefits for doing so. While all the churches presented in the book are of non-evil Core/Greyhawk deities, there are brief descriptions for the evil Core/Greyhawk deities, as well. Furthermore, rules are given to allow you to create a church affiliation for nearly any deity you choose based on their prominent domains.
   
   Among the usual selection of feats are a new type called Domain Feats. These feats, which can be taken by any character, are each based on one of the core domains from the PHB such as Air, Destruction and Travel. These Domain Feats provides an ability, often only usable once per day, based on the powers associated with the specific domain. This provides a fun, if not always balanced, way to provide non-divine classes with the blessing of a deity, which I like, but there's certainly nothing to keep a divine class from taking these feats as well.
   
   Many of the prestige classes are based on the Core/Greyhawk deities, as well. Pelor has the Shadowstriker and the Shadowspy which are both tied to a Pelorian church affiliation called Pelor's Shadow Guard. While this might sound counterintuitive for a sun god, the description of the affiliation does a great job at explaining how these prestige classes came to be. There's also a prestige class for Hextor (Ordained Champion) and another (The Sancctified One) which can be taken by Ehlonna, Kord, Olidammara or Wee Jas, providing differing abilities for each.
   
   The new spells favor the cleric, but there's quite a few new things for paladins, druids and blackguards as well. There's even a few new spells for Adepts (the NPC class), which is something I haven't seen in a while. On average, the spells are 2nd-4th level spells, but clerics receive a few 5th-7th level spells, too.
   
   Of the new items presented I particularly enjoyed the special holy symbols. These are masterwork holy symbols that each have special powers relating to the Core/Greyhawk deity they represent. There's quite a bit of variety here and these items are relatively inexpensive having more value in terms of status than monetary worth.
   
   The final chapter covers divine quests and holy sites. Again, this is probably more befitting a DM than a player. While players who worship a certain deity will certainly want to visit the holy site and gain the favor of their gods, this material is better served in the DMs hands. Still, these can add a fun touch to any Greyhawk campaign.
   
   Overall, I think this is a great book and I intend on using the church affiliation rules to build my own churches and expand those of the other deities in my Greyhawk campaign. If you're running a 3.0/3.5e Greyhawk campaign or favor the Core deities, this book can definitely help mesh the rules and rewards of belonging to a church to the concepts and flavor of serving a deity. If you don't have any use for the Core/Greyhawk gods, then this book will be of significantly less value to you and I suspect that may be why it's received such low ratings overall. I'm sure I'd like it a lot less if it featured Forgotten Realms or Eberron deities, for example.
   
   So, if you like the Core/Greyhawk deities and want to find ways to make them more interesting to their followers, pick up Complete Champion right away. Otherwise, you'll probably be disappointed. But me? I think it's quite good.



5. All in all this isn't a bad book, it just lacks a certain level of applicability to any campaign not using the "core" deities as detailed in the PHB. More or less all of the fluff and a good deal of the crunch in this book seems to take that as a given. All in all I have been impressed with the Completes series - I was dubious of the "second round" but after Mage and Scoundrel I was generally impressed. This one seemed a far cry in utility compared to the others in the series. It has a handful of useful rules items, but all in all this isn't a great book.

4 comments about Scales of the Serpent (Diablo: The Sin War, Book 2).

1. This book was awesome, I waited so long to find out what happened to my dear friend Uldyssian....now I have to wait again for the third book xD



2. I found out that the sin war series could have been finished in two books. The 2nd book is nothing more than an extention of the first. The plot just continues, there are no new surprises along the way. Essentially the heroes do more of their stuff in the 2nd one like destroying temples etc.
   I would say this book is a lot weaker than the first one. Lets hope the pace picks up in the 3rd book though.
   Frankly I really liked Knaak's other Diablo books especially Moon of the Spider and the Kingdom of Shadow. The sin war series seems less than a equal to the previous titles.
   Get it if you like me love Diablo.



3. This book really sets some pace into the story line, although dont bother reading if you have not read the first.
   
   I could rabbit on all day but if you enjoyed the first book you must read this as the character development continues and the war begins! And when you finish this book you will be scratching at the wood-work to find out WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!
   
   
   Jack.



4. I enjoyed reading it, it's very good written and not any worse than some other fantasy books.

3 comments about Battlefield: Bad Company: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. After purchasing and loving the Shadowrun Prima guide, I was expecting the same great guide for Battlefield: Bad Company. However, I was very disappointed.
   
   The pages are not nice and glossy paperstock. They are thinner and feel more like a newspaper feels.
   
   There is way too much focus on single player. Over 100 pages are dedicated to the single player campaign. Only 10 pages about Multiplayer. There are top-down diagrams for single player maps, but none for multiplayer maps.
   
   After the in-depth treatment Prima gave to Shadowrun, I thought they would do the same for BF:BC. They did not.



2. 
   I agree with other review. Feels really cheap and quickly put together. The pictures are really small and the paper is cheap. I wanted to pick this up to get a good review of the multiplayer maps but there aren't any layouts like in the RB6 or the COD4 guide. They actually covered each map on just one page. They give you 1 by 1 inch pictures of a house or base and what can you do with it. There is not a reference point to match it to on a map. For two of the maps they had so little to say they fit both on one page.
   
   I looked at this in the store and decided to skip it.



3. This book was a disappointment and is very incomplete.
   
   Multiplayer problems:
   As stated earlier, no top views of the maps and a very limited look into the multiplayer area. Most of the info is from the videos included in the "Gold Edition" of the game.
   
   Stats:
   The weapon descriptions are the general rant with little info in how they perform in the game. The numbers do not include the handling stats and they do not have a table for easy comparison to help you choose what weapon is best. The specialist weapons have little info on how to use them correctly, especially the Snipers goggles witch I am still having problems with.
   
   Single player:
   The majority of this book is centered on the single player campaign. This is set up with short paragraphs scattered on a page to follow along the way the writers played the game. This largest disappointment with this is if you try to read and go you will miss some vital info. One example is I started a tough battle and then read I should have picked up the mortar designator two objectives previously which was not mentioned in the explanation that was two pages previously.
   
   This guide is similar to the layout of the Kameo guide. Which also blew? The problem with Prima guides is it seems to be a crap shoot. Half of the time the guides are well laid out and helpful. The other times they aren't. This is the only guide out there and it does have some info to help complete the game and find the collectables and such in the single player. It also included the point values for actions in the multiplayer.

No comments about Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides).

5 comments about Mass Effect (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. This game is highly customizable. You can customize your background, psychological profile, and most notably, your appearance.
   
   Playing around with the various sliders in the appearance creation is so deep, you could spend hours messing around with that feature alone!
   
   The gameplay is awesome. It uses a 3rd person perspective, and plays like a 3rd person shooter, HOWEVER, you must open up menus mid-battle to select abilities that you can aim towards one enemy or more (with your squad). It definitely require brain-power and strategy during firefights. All of your weapons and upgrades make a big difference in battle, so you must be aware of all your items, and what would be most useful with what enemy type.
   
   The story is quite epic (and awesome). Your choices in dialog affect certain (not all) situations. There are 2 mission types: story, and side missions. The missions for the story are much longer, yet there are few of them, maybe 5. You can get through the main story in one weekend, but you need to do the side-missions to level up, and there's TONS of those.
   
   The missions are varied, though the indoor environments are not. This isn't really a big deal because it's still tons of fun to play. My first playthrough clocked in at 39 hours, and that was with 99% completion of all missions.
   
   If you own a 360, you like RPGs (NOT turn-based), and sci-fi interests you, then you MUST MUST MUST MUST MUST own this game.



2. I have to agree, this publication have typo errors, uneven sized fonts, unacceptable wrongly inserted words/phrases, missing sections etc.
   
   The reason I bought this was because they bundled it together with the art book (which would cost more if bought separately).
   
   Doing such sloppy work and knowing people will buy this because of the Mass Effect name, Prima should be ashamed of themselves (or is that a word not in their vocabulary)



3. This book has everything you need to save the universe from Saren. Everything. Walkthrough includes bot Paragon and Renagade choices. A must have really.



4. I dont understand why people waste their hard earned money on Game Guides...i mean not only can you find strategy on the internet but in the case of Mass Effect it is a pretty straight forward game. I've beaten the game on Hardcore mode and I'm working on Insanity and I have used no game guide at all. Stop wasting your money and just play the game



5. 
   You've seen all the reviews above. So I'll be brief. This is a guide on what all the who's and what's and fiddly bits are in the game. The 1st few chapters are a perfect primer for getting your head around the game mechanics and concepts. Especially if you are a person with a busy schedule (and or family) whom can't spend hours on end in front of the screen. You don't have to use the walk-through, but it's nice to get you out of sticky spots.
   
   Definitely recommend this as a buy!