Strategy Guide Reviews

A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides

Prima Games Announces Legendary Skyrim Strategy Guide

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SkyrimLegendaryIn case you missed out on the first Collector’s Edition strategy guide for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Prima Games has a new CE that will blow your Skyrim-loving mind away. They call it the “Legendary Edition,” and it looks to be massive to legendary proportions indeed.

This updated edition now includes ALL of the Skyrim DLC, which has boosted this beast to over 1,100 pages. Prima has even created both a paperback edition and a CE, the latter of which includes a stylish hard cover, ribbon bookmarks, and a panoramic poster.

From Prima’s Facebook page, they boast that it’s “time to reinforce your bookshelf.” I’m quite certain if I introduced this beast to my strategy guide bookshelf, it will burst into tears unless I relegate it to the bottom shelf. And even then, I might need to add extra support to the floor, since my guides are kept upstairs.

I haven’t ventured into Skyrim yet, even though I own the game, as I’ve been afraid to. This book only reinforces my fear.

The Legendary Edition of the Skyrim strategy guide will be available on June 4, 2013.

BioShock Infinite Mini-Review

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BioShock Infinite Wallpaper

I, like probably every other BioShock fan on the planet, had high expectations for BioShock Infinite. I expected a story that would blow me away like the first game did, I expected to be highly disturbed at every corner, and I expected some truly unique gaming elements. I also expected all three of these to possess high quality delivery. For me, only 1.5-2 of these were fulfilled. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was expecting something akin to what I experienced with the first BioShock, and it never came together for me.

Reader beware…spoilers are within.

I greatly enjoyed the first half of the game. I loved not knowing what was going on, the exploration, and yes, even the combat. The combat in BioShock Infinite was exponentially improved upon from the first BioShock, although I really believe that since Booker was a more involved character, a more separated character from the player, than Jack, a third-person point-of-view might have been better. Nevertheless, the FPS mechanics were greatly improved from the first game, so I never felt that overly frustrated with aiming or with using the Vigors. Yes, the implementation of the Vigors felt kind of forced, but it’s part of BioShock‘s culture in many ways, so it didn’t really bother me. I never really mastered the sky-line combat, but I blame that mostly on my vertigo and not the game itself.

What I loved most about the first half of the game was the exploration of the world and slowly uncovering the story. There were combat sections, but they never felt heavy and they didn’t impede on exploring the insanity of Columbia. I loved taking my sweet time in the Brotherhood of the Raven building, growing more and more disturbed when discovering each room. I reveled in exploring individual houses and finding their racist propaganda and even anti-racist propaganda. Even when I had Elizabeth tagging along, I never felt pushed to move on or frantically fight my way through hordes of enemies.

About the time the Tears were introduced, the game began to drastically change. I couldn’t go anywhere without having to fend of hordes of Founders or Vox Populi, and gameplay started to feel more like a typical FPS. I started to understand why some people were calling the game “CoDShock,” although I think that label is a little unfair. As a result, gameplay started to go increasingly downhill in terms of both fun and game mechanics, particularly with the Lady Comstock’s Ghost boss fight (of which the concept was absolutely ridiculous, besides).

It was at this point where the story took a complete nosedive for me. At the point where Elizabeth could use her Tears to open doorways to alternate dimensions, I lost all interest in the story. I hoped it would redeem itself later, but it instead grew worse. I hate the parallel universe plot device with a passion. I find it to be completely lazy and it opens up more plot holes than it tries to fill. This is exactly why I lose interest in comic series; over time, they all seem to eventually devolve down into alternate dimensions. So once BioShock Infinite traveled down this path, I was done.

I have never been more let down by a game’s story. I thought Dishonored would hold that honor, but apparently my expectations for BioShock Infinite were higher and my hatred for parallel universes is greater. There is nothing anyone can say to turn me around on this game’s story. Trust me, my friends have tried. They’ve tried to fill the plot holes the same way I did after finishing the game (I stayed up half the night trying to fill in the plot holes in order to like the story and only opened up more questions), and I’ve been able to counter each explanation with another question they can’t answer. Also, please don’t suggest I didn’t get it. Like The Matrix trilogy, the game slaps you in the face with what is happening. I just flat out didn’t like it.

It’s always weird disagreeing with the massive majority on a game, but eh, it is what it is. I really hoped this game would be one of my contenders for Game of the Year, but it’s nowhere near my top ten. Then again, I haven’t exactly enjoyed a game that has released this year yet, so my list of contenders could be very, very short this year.

Article Praising SGR on SpawnFirst.com

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sflogo_transparentA few weeks ago, I received an email from a reader asking if he could write a little article about SGR and what we do on his new gaming site, SpawnFirst.com. Of course I was flattered, but that didn’t prepare me for how flattering the actual article was. It published on Sunday night, and I can honestly say it is one of the nicest things I have ever read about what I do over here at SGR.

SGR was originally part of Blogger, born out of an idea I had randomly one day while thinking how I could contribute something different to the video game industry. I was already somewhat established at a video game site at the time, working as a copy editor and content manger for Kombo.com (may it rest in peace), but I felt like I could do something unique. I love strategy guides. Does anyone review strategy guides? To my surprise, I learned no one did. I proposed the idea to my EIC at the time, got shot down almost instantly, so I decided to write about strategy guides on my own. So what if no one reads the site? I love strategy guides and I love to write, so here’s my little corner of the Internet where I can fangirl out about these books.

I never once thought that within a year, I would get review copies of strategy guides. I never thought I would have more than five regular readers–all of whom I swore would just be my gaming friends who were just patting me on the head. I never thought I would be able to actually talk to strategy guide writers and learn about the magic of what they do.

So no, I never once thought a reader would want to write about my little site. I cannot thank Karam Elahi, SpawnFirst, my writing team, my readers, and all the support I’ve gotten from everyone everywhere enough. I still have fun writing and maintaining this site, and I’m so pleased someone out there has appreciated my effort.

After you read Karam’s lauding article, be sure to check out SpawnFirst and what they have to offer. It’s a newer site, but they’re definitely on the right track toward greatness!

Monday Gaming Diary: Rusty Gameplay

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Batman: Arkham Asylum

Nothing takes the wind out of your sails like getting killed by grunts.

It’s happened to all of us at one point or another. We play a game for a couple of hours, get distracted by something new and shiny, and then attempt to pick back up the first game a few months later. Typically, at this point, we’re past most major tutorials. We may not remember what we’re supposed to be doing at all. We’ll resort to looking at controller configurations in the menus and do nothing for a few minutes but press every button in an attempt to trigger remembering how to play. We’ll die a lot at first, and either one of two things will happen: we’ll find our groove back and continue with the game or put the game in the pile of never to be played again, but we say we’ll start it over some day.

Last week, this game for me was Batman: Arkham Asylum.

While I have nothing pressing for the next few weeks or so, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to clear out some games from the stack of shame. Last week, I finally finished Halo 3: ODST, and then I decided I needed to finish Batman: Arkham Asylum. I’ve already started it, I’m not that far into it, so it’s time to play it and clear it off the stack. I’ve only played the game for 2-3 hours tops, but apparently a lot was taught in that time. I could not remember how to do anything, and unfortunately, none of the takedown button combos are in the controller configuration menu. They’re also not in the strategy guide, which greatly disappointed me the most. Those who have played know how important it is for Batman to execute ground takedowns (obviously the inverted and silent takedowns don’t require button combos, just certain situations to trigger them) while fighting and while taking out armed convicts. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that I died more in the first 30 minutes of playing last week than I did the first time I played the game. At the very least, it was easy to remember what I was supposed to be doing.

Normally, with my level of zero patience, I’d rage quit or start the game over completely. But for some reason that day, I was determined to get back into the swing of things. I relearned how to do a ground takedown by accident, which has greatly improved my enjoyment of playing. I’m still not very smooth or fluid with combat, but I think with another hour under my gaming belt, I’ll be okay.

With this experience, I can’t help but obsess over another game I have sitting in my stack of shame unfinished. If I’m this rusty after putting down Batman: Arkham Asylum after only playing the game for a few hours, how horrific is Dragon Age: Origins going to be for me when I pick that game back up? I have well over 20 hours logged there and I haven’t played it in well over a year. I have a feeling I’m going to have to start a new game to relearn how to play via tutorial before jumping back into my old game. I am not looking forward to that, as much as I want to finish that game.

Gears of War: Judgment Mini-Review

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Gears of War: Judgment

After sitting down with Epic Games and People Can Fly this past year at E3, I was unbelievably excited about Gears of War: Judgment. I was excited to be able to play a Gears game starring my favorite character, I looked forward to the changes they discussed, such as random spawn system and the Declassified mission settings. I couldn’t wait to see why Baird lost his officer rank, which rolled into why he was initially so angry towards Marcus when his rank was reinstated after his time in the Slab. After being in such an unhappy gaming slump since November, I was overly eager to play a game I was honestly excited about. And then came the utter disappointment.

From what I understood about the Declassified mode of the missions, I believed this setting would unlock some hidden tidbit to Baird’s story. I was not expecting the mode to simply add on an extra set of parameters to make the mission more difficult. On the one hand, I enjoyed the Declassified settings because it forced me to use weapons I normally do not, which was fun. On the other, it added absolutely nothing to the story.

The story itself was done an awful disservice by the length of each mission. Each mission, at its longest, was ten minutes. Most were less than five minutes, and at the end of each mission, you were given a rundown of your performance, much like in an arcade version of the game–think Bayonetta or DmC: Devil May Cry. This wouldn’t have bothered me so much if the missions weren’t so short. Since the missions were so short, breaking them up with a report card really broke up the story, killing it of all chances really be anything cohesive. It honestly made the story in the first Gears of War look absolutely stellar.

In addition, what happened to Baird and Cole’s characters? Cole was virtually silent the entire game, which is completely not like him. There were hardly any funny quips from him, and I can say the same about Baird, save one comment he uttered that stood out. Sofia and Paduk had far more lines, far greater character development, which is fine on the hand that they are brand new characters, but they completely overshadowed Baird and Cole. In the other games, Baird and Cole were just as well developed as Marcus and Dom.

Also, I have to wonder if the writers of the game bothered to read any of Karen Traviss’ books, as her books and even the previous games, made it QUITE clear that Baird had a huge problem with women serving in combat. And yet in Judgment, he is overly nice to Sofia. Not one crass comment, not one sexist comment, and he never made fun of her. If you’ve played any of the prior games or read the books, you know that’s not Baird’s personality, whether it’s with men or women.

The best part of the entire game was the Aftermath campaign that unlocks after you obtain 40 stars in the main campaign. This campaign took place during Gears of War 3, when Baird, Cole, and Carmine separated from the rest of the group to hunt down a boat around Act III. Aftermath completely reverted back to the original Gears formula of gameplay, and was almost instantly more enjoyable. Baird and Cole even transformed back to the sassy characters we’ve grown to love over the first three games.

As a huge fan of the series and of Baird, Gears of War: Judgment was an incredible disappointment to me. If you haven’t bought it yet and are interested in the game, I strongly recommend a rental, as you can easily beat both campaigns in about ten hours time. I’m not going to actively pursue a 4-player team to play it on Insanity, and I doubt I’ll touch the multiplayer. I’d honestly rather play the first game again than Judgment.

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