5 comments about Winning Chess Tactics (Winning Chess).

1. It has been said that chess is 99% tactics. So studying tactics is a requirement for getting better at chess.
   
   This is the 2nd book in Yasser Seirawan's "Winning Chess" series. It discusses all of the fundamental tactical tools which should form the foundation of a solid chess player's skill. In addition Seirawan introduces readers to some of the great attacking players in chess history and their games.
   
   Overall, I think the book did a superb job explaining the different tactics and provided ample examples and exercises to drive the points home. The only problem I noticed was either a diagram was wrong (#77) or the analysis appears to be incorrect.
   
   I would highly recommend this book as a first book on tactics.



2. I used to lose almost every game I played. I never took Chess serious until I played a thirteen year old and was thoroughly beaten. I knew I needed help and fast. This book broke tactics down to a level I never got from other chess books. It was not hard to follow and I learned a lot in just the first few chapters.



3. If you are a beginner chess player, with a rating below say 1400, and you are bewildered by the array of chess material ... rest easy. This book and tactics and this entire series of chess titles are absolutely excellent, and the best presented and thought out thematic chess books aimed at lower rated players in a way people can easily digest. Seriwan and Silman have created a deceptively simple formula for articulating complex points, and present the material with succinctness and clarity.
   
   Really this series is the defacto education plan and reference set for the beginner to U1400 player. Sadly i bought many titles before this series was publised .. you can spare yourself wasted time and money.



4. If you want a good book on tactics, this is the one for the Class A player on down. There are two kinds of books on tactics; ones that are a collection of tactical problems categorized by theme and this kind which is instructional and contains just the amount of problems needed to get the point made. This book also has a great exam at the end to rate your skill level at tactics and see how much of the book you have absorbed. Couple this book with Reinfeld's Winning Chess or Combinational Challenge by Hays(for the more advanced player) and you don't need any more on the subject!



5. There are many problems with this book, and it's a shame because the book has many 4- and 5-star reviews that will most likely overshadow this one. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to write a review on this book.
   
   1. The tests in this book have several major problems. Usually there are 4-6 tests for each tactic. The first two questions are usually on par with the examples, or slightly harder. Then the questions drastically get tougher. Like one reviewer pointed out... one question will require a simple 2-move combination, and the next requires you to figure out the 100% perfect move-list for a 10-move checkmate. Sorry, I'm not a grandmaster Yassir! The problem is that the tests don't progressively get tougher. There are usually more tougher tests than easy ones too, which I think only demoralizes the reader when they realize that they can't figure more than 30% of them out.
   
   2. Sometimes the first question is actually one of the toughest! This is rare, and it happens! Great method of instruction! (sarcasm). Another problem is that none of the examples are challenging, but Yassir expects the reader to use the vague general principle taught and exercise it to master-level strength in the tests. It's like the questions were purposefully tougher than the examples, and I don't understand the reason.
   
   3. There are not enough easy tests to cement the pattern of the tactic in the reader's mind. In fact, there is often only 1 test of each pattern for the tactic being demonstrated. As we know, pattern recognition only happens with constant repetition, so the book is more or less useless on this front. Maybe the problems in "Chess Tactics for Students" were simpler, but at least I can recognize those tactics rather quickly at a glance. This book hasn't helped me at all in my games.
   
   4. Sometimes tests at the beginning also use tactics taught in later chapters. For example, there's a clearance sacrifice required to solve a problem in one of the first tests... but clearance sacrifice taught several chapters later.
   
   5. Sometimes the answers to the tests are wrong. On test 23, you are put in check by the opponent's queen and you have to decide how to get out of check. You can block with your queen, block with a pawn or move the king (it's a pin problem... so the goal is to avoid a pin). After looking at the position however, I immediately saw that 'e5' (blocking with the pawn) was the best solution. It does pin the pawn to the King, but if you look at the position, it's not a negative at all.
   
   However, Yassir says moving the King is the best answer... and doesn't even consider blocking with the pawn at all! He just ignored the possibility completely. After giving the position to Fritz and Rybka chess engines, both said 'e5' was the best solution. Moving the King was only second best.
   
   There are several other tests (even those 8-10 move complex ones!) where the lines suggested by Yassir are incorrect, or where other solutions could easily fit the bill as the 'correct' answer. Test 50 is a good example of this. Honestly, myself, Fritz and Yassir only agreed on the first 2 moves. At that point, Yassir was dreaming of this 8-move checkmate that doesn't exist. When asking Fritz and Rybka the answer, it goes on for much longer with completely different moves.
   
   As far as I can tell, this only serves to demoralize the reader like they are doing something wrong. The tests should have been worked out so that very few lines would work. As it stands, your answer is almost always going to be different than Yassir's answer for these long 10-move problems.
   
   6. There are spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the book, even in the revised edition.
   
   7. Explanations are usually very thin. Sometimes the author will say "and with these 4 moves, Black is in real big trouble!"
   
   The problem is that Yassir doesn't explain how he's in trouble (it's usually some kind of tactic that is unrelated to the concept that is being taught). Yassir should have explained everything so that it was understood by new and expert players alike, but he doesn't! This happens quite frequently in the book, where the reader is left to their own devices to see what the author means. It just interrupts with the flow and understanding.
   
   8. The example games at the back of the book are irrelevant. The games with Anderssen are completely pointless. Yes, the games feature tactics, but it's only because the opponent accepted gambits (because it's "the manly thing to do!") and accepted double-rook sacrifices (because "he wants his opponent to prove a point") without considering the compensation that the other player gets or actually formulating plans of his own.
   
   In effect, Anderssen's opponents were idiots... and by modern standards, nobody in their right mind would play the way either player would. In fact, they would get crushed. What is the point of analyzing inferior openings and inferior moves when today's games will never see them? We learn by osmosis. These are not the type of games we should be studying!
   
   9. Also, the examples are master-level games where 90% of the stuff is not explained. Honestly, much of it went over my head. I don't understand the point to learning from master-level games. Why not show some 1200-1500 level games instead? Like show really common tactics we will see on a regular basis... and common errors and how they can be exploited? Why not make this book practical? This approach would have made the game analysis useful.
   
   10. There needs to be more diagrams in the book. Many times Yassir will throw out move lists or entire games with one or two diagrams. Unless you have a chess set with you, you are sitting at a computer, or you can see all the moves in your head... these examples won't be of much benefit to you. They are just hard to follow, and makes it impossible to read on... say... a bus. This is a problem with many chess books, and I don't know why they couldn't add another 40 pages to the book to make it easier to read. I would have gladly paid the extra .50 cents.
   
   11. The book is also plagued with the problem where you have a diagram on one page, and it's explanation on another... causing the reader to flip back and forth. Was it really hard to paginate the examples properly, even if it meant having some white space?
   
   Make no mistake, I did learn things from this book. I think because so many examples did use clearance sacrifices or piece sacrifices that I can see them a little better... perhaps because the "I'm going to lose on the exchange" mentality has been changed. Still, the book is just poor instruction and there has to be better books on tactics out there than this one.

1 comments about Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dawn of Destiny (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. I have been waiting for it to come through the regular mail system, but it hasn't arrived. I wrote a complaint, but the people who sent it replied they don't do refunds. So I am totally dissatisfied with my purchase, and probably will not buy products through Amazon anymore.

1 comments about Kane & Lynch: Dead Men: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. It's too bad no one else has reviewed this guide yet, because my review will probably seem a little heavy-handed by itself. But here goes anyway. I've purchased and read many strategy guides by both Prima and Bradygames. In general, the Bradygames guides are more comprehensive and give you more "bang for your buck." There have been, however, many quality guides published by Prima for a variety of genres. Unfortunately I have noticed a trend with guides written by this particular author and it continues here. This guide is so bare-boned that it seems to have come directly off of a casual (and FREE) walk-through that you could get on a gaming website such as GameFaqs. The author provides no substance or depth beyond a simple point A to point B on how to get through the game. The guide is very simple with no value added. There is minimal coverage of multi-player or achievements. And, as this author seems to often do, the author compensates for a lack of depth and substance with gimmicky sidebars with exaggerated fonts and weak slang that would probably only appeal to a reader under the age of 10. The writing style is very adolescent. Do the author and publisher think that only 10 year-olds are playing these games? (This game is actually rated Mature and contains a lot of gratuitous and unnecessary vulgarity, but that's a separated issue which usually indicates weak writing by the game's developers).
   To sum up: this is a weak, subpar guide written by an author who consistently puts out an inferior product. Unfortunately, this author seems to get a lot of assignments from Prima, which supports the stereotype that Prima just doesn't seem to care as much about the quality of what they publish (and seemingly hand out their assignments to the first guy to say, "Oh, I'll do it.") If you see the author, Fernando Bueno at the helm of a strategy guide, expect to be dissapointed and underwhelmed by the final "product."

No comments about Sid Meier's Colonization: The Official Strategy Guide (Prima's Secrets of the Game).

4 comments about Wizardry 8 VIII: Sybex Official Strategies & Secrets (Strategy Guide).

1. This is definitely the kind of game a hintbook is useful for. There are a lot of puzzles. What do I do with that Alter? How do I open that strange lock? Sometimes, you have to come back much later in the game, and sometimes you can't progress until you figure it out - being able to know if I should worry about something now or later is worth the price of the book.

   It also has Alchemy and Gadgetry formulas, which is nice if you don't enjoy experimenting with that sort of thing. The regular manual is exceptionally good on things like classes, skills, and spells, so those chapters don't add much.

   The walkthrough isn't 100% accurate in the case of what items you may get, particularly out of chests where there's some randomness, but it does seem to cover all the plot points and major points of interest.

   I haven't easily found any great online resources for this game, and there's definite potential to get stuck, so I'd say this book is useful.




2. The writers and publishers of this guide should be ashamed. There is nothing wihin its pages that can't be found out by simply playing the game through.
   My primary reason for buying this guide was to find some of the things I missed before and discover new secrets. -Not only does this accursed guide NOT describe any of those things, it's actually completely in error in some of its descriptive points.
   The only thing this guide does do is provide you with a very basic walkthrough; which is completely useless to anyone intelligent enough to play Wizardry 8.
   So...I've plunked down my cash for this piece of trash, now what? -Guess it's time to go out and get myself a puppy...at least this guidebook will make a good chewtoy; it's nice and thick, chock full o' pictures with their descriptions-for some idiotic reason-placed on the previous page.



3. I found the book real useful. The is a lot of "fluff" in the beginning of it: lists of spells, races, classes etc., but the second half of the book is good. It gives you lots of useful information about the various areas and monsters in the game, and of course maps, and I found this information to be accurate. The game is so non-linear that the walthrough is pretty much guaranteed to not match your game completely, but it still gives you what you need to get past the areas where you get stuck.



4. The guide is littered with typos,misinformation,and an incomplete bestiary.Mr Walker should be ashamed of himself for writing such a piece of trash.The internet has better strategy guides available for free.There was no cohesive order to the basic walkthrough as well.

5 comments about Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2: WW II Pacific Theater: Inside Moves (EU-Inside Moves).

1. Good graphics and concise writing are key to the quality of this book. The author's knowledge of flying and aerodynamics is obvious. He knows how to teach; his explanations are smart and clear. Excellent reference for anyone who wants to maximize their use of this game.



2. CFS2: WW II Pacific Theater is a very informative addition to CFS2. I recommend it highly. I have some experience with CFS2 and have studied the tactics and plane specs closely. I found CFS2: WWII Pacific Theater very informative. The author is a pilot and obviously has a great deal of knowledge and insight on the tactics he describes. I only wish chapter 7, Combat Maneuvers and Aerobatics, had more depth. Chapter 5, Takeoffs, Landings and Advanced Flying goes into great depth including several demonstrations of concepts that you can fly through. If the same depth had been given to the Combat Maneuvers chapter the book would have been unbelievable. As it stands the Overhead Attack and High Side Attack merit only one short paragraph. I find these two maneuvers of particular usefulness and the lack of analysis is a letdown.

   Another area where the book is somewhat a letdown is in "tweaking" CFS2. The book flatly states you can not fly AI aircraft. This simply is not true - you only have to make a minor modification to add these wonderful aircraft to your inventory. Still the author devotes a good deal of attention to these aircraft and if you choose to fly them you will find good advice in the book. I just wish the author had devoted some time to the tweaks in CFS2.

   If you play CFS2 you simply must have this book. Even with it's shortcomings it's well worth the price.




3. If you enjoy CFS2 or CFS3 this book is worthwhile. The reason I say CFS3 is because this book covers a lot of the basics of flight which can apply to CFS2, 3 or FS2004 for that matter.

   This book, along with the CFS2 manual, makes the game / sim wonderful. Without these two resources I would have been lost.




4. microsoft puts together a nice game in combat flight simulator fun to play and many options . the book is detailed and has a tremondous information but for ww flight simulators il 2 offers a lot more



5. This is my favorite Combat Flight Sim. Considering the graphics technology when this sim was introduced, it is excellent. Scenery is accurate. Aircraft are a little "fuzzy"looking. The ships and carriers need to look more realistic. Combat is fun. In the manual, advice on how to handle dogfights is given by fighter Ace Joe Foss and a few Japenese pilots of the time. Flying this sim enticed me to read Greg "Pappy" Boyingtons book, THE BLACK SHEEP. Carrier landings are challenging. It's a good sim, buy it.

5 comments about Homeworld 2 (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. Simply put, this book is a horrible excuse for a game guide. After reading the original Homeworld guide, one would expect better for a game much tougher than the original. The guide contains many exeprts straight from the game manual. The game guide does not give specific directions for the single player campaign (the main reason one buys a game guide), only broad strategies that any decent gamer could have come up with on their own. Some major game events listed in the guide do not even happen in the game! I am not sure if that is due to bugs or misleading writing but is obvious that the writers played very little (if any) of the game themselves and only wrote what they were told to by the project management. To be blunt, the guide is impersonal and flat out inacurate in its strategies for Homeworld 2. Very dissapointing.



2. The Homeworld2 strategy guide contains the critical hints and tips that are necessary to beat the game without loosing the element of surprise in exploring the rich single-player campaign.

   Written by Dan Irish, the Executive Producer of Homeworld2, he lends a lot of in-depth strategies and a ton of backstory to an already rich universe.

   Contrary to other reviews, many others on the relicnews.com forums and www.homeworld2.com have raved about the complexity of the game that is revealed in this book. No Homeworld fan should be without one.




3. Homeworld rocks, but the single player campaign can be pretty difficult, what with the reactive fleet and all. I read some strategy guides online, but this book had a rocking walkthrough for the campaign, as well as a ton of additional tips from the designers (who'd have thought of using scouts' EMP against the keepers?).
   I don't know what axe our reviewer from Chicago has to grind, but Dan Irish was the producer of this title, so he would have had
   extensive access to the game, and I think the content of this book shows. There are three chapters dedicated to the single player campaign walkthough - what more could you want?
   This book gave me 2 positives: I enjoyed reading it - it's written in a very militaristic style, and the information it gave me helped me to improve my game in ways I would have never thought of.



4. The Homeworld 2 Strategy Guide has lots of info; LOTS. It starts out with a listing of some changes from Homeworld to its sequal. This was very helpful to me, being a Homeworld fan for a long time. It then goes on with the ship listing.
   Yes, they stole some quotes from the ship listing in the manual... but they also included a comprehensive Pro-Con listing for each ship. They then went through with you some basic fleet control and strategy, which is very important considering Homeworld 2 is a very unique game, even from Homeworld. It discussed how ships relate with each other, work against each other, and what balance is required and how it can vary. The guide then went into specific strategies, not all military. While I don't use any of these directly in a game, I used the basis of one and evolved it so far that it eventually became an entirely different strategy... a very good one.
   Then the singleplayer walkthrough. Boy was this GOOD! I recall while playing the game reports of bugs in the single player campaign, making it impossible to proceed and win until the patch. Well, not even knowing it, the guide bypassed the error and let me proceed to win! The guide not only reveals surprises, but hidden elements on the map that can give you am edge against your enemy.

   however, once you read through the guide about 5 times, you memorize it all and it becomes useless, and you should sell it. Nevertheless it's a good thing to buy for a newbie, as they can learn important skills before they head into the real world of Homeworld 2.




5. I am in broad agreement with the other reviewers, but i would like to add that this is the only place you can get the full backstory of the conflict, and that is a really good real and really helpful to get into the why of this conflict. Highly recomended.

5 comments about Dragon Warrior VII (Prima's Official Strategy Guide).

1. Indeed, it took me over 100 hours to finish DW7, it was a satisfying game. It was very satisfying, but also frustrating for I got stuck few times here and there. I got really stuck at one point and bought this strategy guide. I expected a full blown walk through with detailed step by step, however, I was left with more frustration because of this strategy guide rather than feeling liberated from the agony of being stuck.
   
   It doesn't have a WHOLE WORLD MAP, which confused me lot of times, and how to reach certain location was just vague. It would've been a much better strategy guide if they simply put a whole map with arrow pointing at every location with their name-I'm not sure if the writer's intention was for the gamers to figure out the rest of the game with only structured guide, so the gamers can have their own share of 'fun' to figure out the way- and I don't think that's 'funny' or 'justified' when we are talking about a game strategy walk through. Information regarding items, weapons, and armors was insufficient. For instance, if you can only get this weapon from an enemy, it doesn't specify which enemy you would have to fight to get it, or though the whole walk through does show where to get certain items from either treasure box or from a certain event, on the weapon/armor list, it doesn't say anything, doesn't specify specific location.

   If you are looking for something 'barely' enough to proceed with your games, this might work fairly well, however sometimes, that 'barely enough' isn't enough, really.
   I don't know what to say.. unless the price is really reasonable, I wouldn't recommend this strategy guide at all. But again, what are you gonna do when you are really stuck, right? It's a hughes game and I'm sure it might be an impossible job to really create a thorough walk through, however, just basic element and content of any walk through for RPG was missing, thus making it very frustrating. Good Luck.




2. Wonderful!! A great help. it was organized, a step by step success to defeat the Demon Lord and restore the world of all it's lands free of evil. Every aspect of this strategy is in FULL detail. gives great information on the weaponary, armory, Items and special item showing a pictures and plenty of information, gives an entire beastiary (monster) selection as well giving from Hp to capture rate. tells you almost exactly where every last Shard is and where the pedistals are in the temple to use them. a MUST have to know all the information in this great game



3. Wonderful!! A great help. it was organized, a step by step success to defeat the Demon Lord and restore the world of all it's lands free of evil. Every aspect of this strategy is in FULL detail. gives great information on the weaponary, armory, Items and special item showing a pictures and plenty of information, gives an entire beastiary (monster) selection as well giving from Hp to capture rate. tells you almost exactly where every last Shard is and where the pedistals are in the temple to use them. a MUST have to know all the information in this great game



4. While it doesn't look like much, the author packed a crazy amount of useful information in this small book! The job/level system is a little overwhelming at first, and the author sumerized it up nicely in the beginning of the book. I found this great since you don't have to read through the walkthrough section and spoil the story for yourself. When you get stuck, each part of the game has a it's own section in the walkthrough, so it's really easy to find. There are tips-0-plenty throughout the guide as well. Over all, I am very satisfied, and recommend this guide to anyone who wants to get the most out of Dragon Warrior VII.



5. This book will come in very handy if you buy the game. The game takes between 100-250 hours to beat and is extremely difficult. Without the book it will probably take well over 500 hours to beat it, if you don't give up. My brother is hard-core gaming geek and has well over 200 RPG games. He has only needed a strategy guide and help 3 times and this was one of the games he needed it for. If you can beat the game without it, you are a genius.
   
   It gives you walkthroughs and maps of most of the levels. It also has a guide in the back of all the monsters you will face and what they drop, etc. Weapons, armour, items, characters, etc. also have their own sections. The only thing I don't like and I really can't fault Prima for it is, is that it does not give "all" the info you need. For example, it tells you that there is a couple of bonus dungeons but, not how to get all the pieces to open them. This may seem small but, I tried for weeks to figure out how to open them. After 3 three weeks I finally found something on the internet how to open them. Another is tiny medals, there are tiny medals in this game to upgrade weapons. You do not really need them but I wanted to try to find all. The prima guide gives you the location for a lot of them but not all. You need to 100 to open the bonus dungeons and if you invest this much time into a game it will make your blood boil if you can't find them. Find that stuff at Dragon's Den on the internet. Other than these small things the guide gives easy explanations how to beat the game, for the most part. BUY IT!

1 comments about Ultima Underworld Clue Book: Mysteries of the Abyss.

1. If you began your PC gaming career in the 80's like I did, then you know all you need to know about the Ultima Series. I recently discovered a way to play old dos games on my windows PC (dos box). This clue book has made playing this game extremely entertaining. Very well written - not just a game guide. There is content here that adds to and enhances the over all storyline of the game.

2 comments about Perfect Dark Zero (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. The worse book ever as far as a guide book goes. But what can you expect from prima? They should not be in busines. Don't buy it. You will waste your money.



2. I'm not sure what the other reviewer is griping about, or even why. The only thing I can figure is that he must work for one of the other guide publishers, and is crusading to make his brand look better or something.
   
   I have bought and used several guides made by Prima, and they are just the same as other guides made by other publishers (Brady Games, Nintendo Power, . . .). Like every guide ever made, this one has the usual sections - plot synopsis, character and weapon overviews, strategic walkthrough, and even strategies for the co-op and multi-player arena parts of the game. Prima was even nice enough to include a graphic short-story set in the Perfect Dark universe.
   
   So just ignore the last person that reviewed this book - it's like they were expecting the guide to play the game for them or something. To that reviewer: get real and get a life - if you don't want to put the effort into a game that's required to finish it, don't buy it; and don't blame a completely satisfactory guide for your shortcomings.
   
   To people interested in buying this guide: this will not disappoint - whether you're looking for tips on getting through a mission you're stuck on, or just want to learn more about the weapons and characters of PDZ, this guide's got everything you could possibly need. Just don't expect it to beat the game 100% perfect for you, like that other bozo.