Strategy Guide Reviews

A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides

Monday Gaming Diary: Peggle-tastic Weekend

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Peggle 2

I admit that sometimes I am really spiteful and mean to my friends. I swear I only do it out of love, and I only do it to those who can take it. If I don’t like you, I pretty much just ignore you. So yes, go on ahead and feel sorry for my husband if you must. The recent victim of my spiteful love has been my podcasting cohort and fellow writer here, Blake Grundman.

Blake is a huge lover of Peggle and pretty much everything pinball. Peggle 2 released last week for Xbox One, a game I know he’s been clamoring for. However, the guy doesn’t have an Xbox One and probably won’t have one for a little while, no matter how much it kills him he can’t play his beloved Peggle.

So what do I do as the super supportive friend that I am? I check to see how many Xbox Points I still have, see I have enough to get the game for free, and then buy it. Just because I can and he can’t.

And I’ve been letting him know just that. I’ve even uploaded a couple of videos I recorded from the Game DVR to show it off specifically to him and show how terrible I am just to twist in the knife a little more.

I might have gotten the game for spite purposes, but I’ve ended up really enjoying it more than I thought I would. I played the first Peggle a little bit. I have in on my computer and iPhone, but I never got very far. Usually by the third Peggle Master I’d stop playing and move on to something else. After only two play sessions of Peggle 2, I’m almost done with the game. It is a little short, but I’ve gone through 4.5 Peggle Masters. I am having that much fun sucking at this game.

I even introduced the game to my eldest son, who now loves watching me play it so much, he asked if he could have it on his iPad. Watching him get so excited every time he hears “Ode to Joy” makes me tingle with glee. All I need is for him to not give up on Super Mario Bros. after dying on the first level and I’ll have unlocked that “Gamer Parent” Achievement.

As I said, I have uploaded a couple of Peggle 2 videos from the Xbox One’s upload feature, which is really a lot of fun to play around with. Here are two incredibly lucky shots I posted to my personal YouTube account. If you see any “thumbs down” on these videos, they’re most likely from Blake.

Why Bother with Print Strategy Guides?

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zelda-unboxingThe following tweet entered my Twitter stream today:

The poor strategy guide business. Not only are they all online and free now, but games barely need them anymore. Games are easy now.

Yeah, I was instantly enraged. First of all, this person is basically saying I suck, and anyone who uses strategy guides suck, as a gamer because “games are easy” now. I beg to differ. I’d like to argue that games come more easily to some people than they do others. And while many modern games hold the hands of the players with lengthy tutorials, quick-time events, and linear progression, it is possible to be completely stumped as to what to do next. Or how to beat a certain difficult boss. Or what about those who are completionists and just have to find every single collectible?

For these people, games aren’t exactly “easy.” Sure, if you want to just burn through a game as fast as you can, collectibles be damned, you can put a game on the lowest difficulty setting and have a grand ol’ time. I’m sure several people do just that instead of trying to unearth everything a game can offer. With how many top games release in a single month, many just don’t have the time to spend combing every inch of a game.

And there’s people like me who don’t have the time to spend but want to do anyway as efficiently as possible. Hence the need for a strategy guide.

So what about the first part of this person’s tweet–“not only are they all online and free now…”?

Saying that all games are online is not entirely correct to begin with. For example, The Wonderful 101 has been out since September, as I got stumped yesterday during a boss fight, I had to search through four different online strategy guide sites before I found one that had a complete walkthrough. A few Vita games still don’t have online strategy guides. Since IGN has left doing the strategy guides themselves and turned them into wikis, you can’t even count on information being up and available on day one of the game’s release. If you need that free info, you have to wait at least a week or two.

While many online strategy guides are free, you have to remember that you get what you pay for. If you use GameFAQs, you will never, never get a map of anything. IGN’s wikis will only have maps if a user takes his or her time to create one. Print strategy guides however, have maps right there, with the collectibles clearly marked (if it’s a good guide).

Even if a map is found online, it’s so much easier to look at a printed map than it is a digital one, even if I use my iPad, which I have done in the past. There’s just something about holding physical print in your hands when looking up information to help you out in a game that’s easier (so far) than finding the information online. Many online resources don’t have a way for you to search exactly what you’re looking for, unless you use GameFAQs and are willing to deal with the poor writing, lack of maps, and lack of screenshots. IGN, for example, has everything segregated like a book’s table of contents, but it’s not half as easy to flip through an IGN wiki as it is a print book.

Prima Games has started to offer free digital copies of their strategy guides with the print versions, and that’s mainly to accommodate those who prefer digital to print or those who want to watch quick videos of the strategies. Future Press has always offered free access to their gameplay videos if you buy the guide (for those who may need a little extra help in pulling off a particular strategy).

So yes, when something is online and free, it may seem silly to bother paying for a print strategy guide. However, you get what you pay for, and using a free, online guide requires waiting for extra time for the information, often badly written information, and zero maps. With a print guide, you get it right away, you get maps, you get better writers (usually), and you get a nice physical collector’s item for your video game as well. As anyone who has gotten a print strategy guide in the last couple of years can tell you, they’ve become gorgeous art books, something you definitely can’t get for free or online.

I probably shouldn’t take offense to the comment that games are easy now. I know I suck at games and have very little patience when it comes to figuring some aspects out.

Monday Gaming Diary: The Disappointment that was VGX

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vgx_headerI’m one of the rare few gamers who really enjoys the Video Game Awards show every year. Many complain that it’s insulting to gamers, and while I see where they get that, I still have a lot of fun watching. I also really enjoy seeing the new game announcements and of course, the award presentations themselves. This year, Spike TV decided to try something new with the award show. Instead of broadcasting a live award show that could only be seen in the US with lots of flair, musical numbers, and not much about video games, they opted to stream a live broadcast via Twitch.

It honestly sounded like a great idea. No pomp. No circumstance. Just Joel McHale and Geoff Keighley talking about video games, showing off new game announcements, and getting through all the awards without a ton of commercials.

At first it was just like that. They did have “commercial breaks”, but they were spoofs and were a little funny, particularly the one set in the future where gamers were still waiting for Half-Life 3.

But then it became apparent that either Joel McHale didn’t want to be there, or he just had no idea what to say. He seemed so bored. He had zero chemistry with GameTrailers front man Geoff Keighley. The two brought on stage with them game developers to talk about their new games or show off new demos. Joel is known for being snarky, but this didn’t exactly resonate well with developers who aren’t professional actors. When Reggie Fils-Aime appeared to show off Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, the sarcastic badgering from both Joel and Geoff about else Nintendo was working on seemed to piss off Reggie. They even went as far as to make jibes at how well Nintendo was selling Wii U units and Super Mario 3D World. I was waiting for Reggie to punch one of them. Considering Geoff made a big deal that Nintendo has never come to the Spike Video Game Awards show before, I would have thought he would have been a little more welcoming. Now I doubt Reggie will ever go back.

I also felt like hardly any awards were passed out. I remember seeing the awards for Game of the Year, Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Shooter, and Best Independent Game, but somehow I missed the others. Either they blended in with everything else or I blanked out some time during the stream.

Not to mention, I was incredibly disappointed in the lack of new game announcements. The VGAs have always had fantastic new game announcements with amazing trailers and just enough hype to get the masses excited. This year, I only saw two new game announcements: Tales from Borderlands and Dying Light. And I’m not even 100% positive that Dying Light wasn’t already announced. Everything else they showed and slapped on the “World Premiere” label were new trailers for previously announced games. Really, really don’t care to see trailers for games already announced at VGX. Send out press releases with that info or save it for conventions.

Granted, this was the first year Spike tried this out so of course there would be some bumps. I just hope the producers took notes for maybe NOT what to do next year. If you’re just going to make it like an E3 interview setting with developers, then maybe you should not invite celebrity hosts, for starters.

Ryse: Son of Rome Mini-Review

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ryseRyse: Son of Rome has been lambasted in reviews, and of course I end up absolutely loving the game. It’s not a Game of the Year contender by any means, but the game isn’t terrible like so many want to say either.

That said, when I reviewed Ryse for Game Revolution, I did my best to be as fair to the game and what gamers generally like as possible. I gave the game a 3/5, and that’s because even though I found it fun, I understand that many will not find it as great as I did.

This makes sense, I swear.

Ryse is pretty darn accurate when it comes to depicting Roman tactics in battle. As a Roman history fanatic, I found this really exciting. However, being accurate with war tactics doesn’t mean that the game will be exciting to play. If Call of Duty or Battlefield were as realistic and accurate, I can guarantee you that they wouldn’t do so well. There’s a reason why so many real military soldiers (like my husband) love those games–it’s because they aren’t realistic.

Since Ryse is so accurate, the same military tactics are played out over and over, such as the traditional Roman tortoise technique. I completely admit that many gamers will find this to be tedious and boring.

I admit the same with the hand-to-hand combat, even though I found it to be quite the guilty pleasure. I can honestly see me replaying this game again to nab a few more Achievements, I had that much fun.

Here’s a small snippet of what I said in my actual review. I really did try to be honest with what gamers would like and balance it out with my love of Roman history.

Interestingly enough, the game shows that the writers and developers really did their research with Roman history and even British history. At one point, Marius has to entangle with the Horned King, which is straight out of Welsh history and mythology. The Horned warriors even executed the captured soldiers using wicker baskets, also inherent in Welsh mythology and history.

Little touches like that made me smile a bit, but then other things showed that they either didn’t completely do their research or they just didn’t care. For example, this is about Rome and Roman soldiers, yet the characters used Greek names for the gods. The writers even took the Greek myth of the sword of Damocles and wrangled it to fit what they needed for their story of vengeance.

But then the writers actually scripted for one of the Roman soldiers to yell, “The Britons are coming! The Britons are coming!” as the Romans were trying to evacuate, which made me literally laugh out loud. I swear to you that if at any point when Marius was sailing to Britannia someone ordered “Ramming speed!”, I would have given this game a perfect score on the spot.

Well, I would have wanted to, but the gameplay would have prevented me from doing so, as this is where Ryse does take quite a hit. The style does not deviate much from four types of combat, which though accurate for what Roman soldiers did in battle, doesn’t mean that it is interesting to play. After about three to four hours of game time, you’ve pretty much experienced all the combat styles the game has to offer. At least the main campaign is short.

Ryse: Son of Rome is most likely a rental for many people, but please do not knock it until you try it.

And by the way, all reviewers who trashed the game for the microtransactions obviously didn’t try out a lick of multiplayer. Yes, it is possible to purchase gold to use to level up Marius Titus and buy equipment for your gladiator, but that’s not the only way to get gold. You can get gold by playing multiplayer. The ability to purchase just speeds things up a little bit.

Why Should I Buy? – A Link Between Worlds Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide

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As is tradition with Prima Games and their Legend of Zelda strategy guides, A Link Between Worlds has its own Collector’s Edition strategy guide. Why buy this one over the paperback strategy guide?

I’ve created a handy video that shows you exactly what you get with the Collector’s Edition strategy guide. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, as I think showing over video is so much better for this than writing about it with a few photos. In other words, yes, expect more of these in the future.

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