Ultra Street Fighter IV Strategy Guide Review

September 16, 2014 By Chris Nitz 4 Comments

Oh Ultra Street Fighter IV, you are such a guilty pleasure. Not only do I love to play you, but I also watch you religiously when you show up on the Team Spooky Twitch.TV channel. I love your improvements, yet I hate my weak skillz. Even BradyGames can’t help improve my noob level reaction times.

That’s right, I’m back with another fighting game strategy guide review. The funny thing about this one is that BradyGames went full on beast mode and called this the Official Bible for USFIV. I took this as a challenge and put that title to the test.

The Ultra Street Fighter IV strategy guide gets right to the point. It starts with 35-pages of terminology. If you have no idea what chip damage, FADC, frames, fishing, or shenanigans are, this section is for you. Even if you know a fair amount of the lingo behind this game, browse through it as there might be terms you’ve heard but didn’t know how they translated to the game. This section is especially useful if you watch Ultra Street Fighter IV streams. Reading this section is something you can easily do while drinking coffee or chowing down on lunch.

Love that data!

Once the glossary ends, it dives right into the characters. Each character begins with a small chart giving vitals such as life, jump distance, and various ratings. It also contains images of the character standing, crouching, jumping, and costumes available. The meat of the section then kicks in with an impressive breakdown of moves. Pictures and data regarding hits, block levels, startup, and more are nicely laid out.

The guide goes into great detail when it comes to throws, unique attacks, special moves, and ultra/super moves. If you ever wondered how to block an attack or frame cancel a move and punish your opponent, this guide has you covered. Rounding off the characters is a pro/con list followed by a bit of advice on how to play them in the close/mid/long ranges. The last bits of details are the common combo strings and how they work.

What I loved the most about the character breakdowns is that the characters, say Dhalsim, which have been through several revisions, the guide details the revisions from game to game. So in this example, Dhalsim had a hefty amount of tuning between Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV. These details even include the changes Arcade Edition received with the 2012 Update. This is extremely helpful as USFIV now lets you choose which edition of the game your character will fight at. Yes, this means vanilla Sagat can now take on AE Bison. I so dug that the authors took the time to put this in here.

That is pretty much the whole guide. I decided I would try something new with this review as well. Summer Jam happened not too long ago, and I was curious how this guide would hold up as a supplement to my stream watching. When the players picked their characters, I’d pick one and go to that character in the guide. I must say, the guide and all of its glorious info made for a much deeper appreciation of what the pros were doing and just how much understanding of the game they have. I will most likely do this again as it made for a great stream watching experience.

So much reading. So much goodness.

I chuckled when I first saw that BradyGames had the cojones to put the word “Bible” on the cover. Well, they certainly produced a guide worthy of the title. The amount of data this guide has might not help your reaction times, but it will most definitely give you a greater understanding of how to operate your beloved characters while aiding you to finally figure out how to beat those characters you are weak against.

I highly recommend this guide. I’d also recommend snagging the frame data app as while the guide can help with combos and the like, it cannot be updated with patches. The app and the guide are a must for any Ultra Street Fighter IV fan.

SGR Rating 4.5/5

Authors: Joe Epstein, Adam Deats, Arthur Williams, Long “ShadyK” Tran, Duncan Tonningsen
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Paperback
Acquired via Publisher

Borderlands 2 Strategy Guide Review

October 11, 2012 By Chris Nitz Leave a Comment

Ah Pandora, you do not even know how much I missed running around your barren lands while terrorizing your psychopaths. Now that I am back and causing Handsome Jack all kinds of issues, I can say I truly did miss the musing of CL4P-TP. Oh Pandora, what secrets do you have to hide this time around?

Well, now that I got that out of my system, let’s look at the Borderlands 2 strategy guide that BradyGames assembled for this highly praised sequel. The first few pages take players through the basics of the game. While I knew things like going for the headshot, elemental damage is a viable way to twiddle down health bars, and I need to shoot exploding barrels for extra bang per round, I did not anticipate the added notes and tables diving into greater detail and thus providing me an advantage before I even created my first character. This section is chock full of useful nuggets of info, and I returned a few times to make sure I understood the mechanics and utilized them to their full potential. There is a little something here for novices and veterans alike, so don’t skip it!

Damn the choices

Next up in the Borderlands 2 strategy guide is the new Vault Hunters section, and this is something I encourage all players to spend a few moments with. Not only does this look at the four playable characters, but it goes into their skill trees and elaborates what the significance of each branch is and why one may want to invest points in it. This is immensely useful for preplanning, especially for anyone who wants to play with friends. Each character ends with a breakdown on strategies for solo play and co-operative play. The authors even dropped in a “suggested” skill tree to help ease indecisive players into the world of Pandora. I tested two of these suggested builds and found them to be fairly solid for both solo and co-op play. I did modify them after some time to suit my play style, but as a starting point, they are an easy way to alleviate some of the confusion on how to best optimize each character.

Now that a new Vault Hunter is born, it is time to scour the world of Pandora for clues, and this is where the walkthrough becomes as useful as one well placed headshot. Each new area starts with a map that details where to find items like save points, Cult of the Vault markers, bosses, and ammo/life/cars. The pages that follow go into how to obtain those accursed Cult of the Vault markers, how to battle bosses, and details for the main quest line in that area. A nice perk is that each new mission has a small blurb detailing the objective, XP, money, and suggested level, thus making it quick and easy to determine if this is something to tackle now or hold off on for a few levels.

I ended up using the maps in this section quite frequently. They not only helped me get to each Vault marker, but they aided me when I ran out of ammo for my favorite pistol or stumbled upon a data recorder. I did have trouble every so often understanding how I was supposed to get to specific points to nab a Cult of the Vault marker or hidden data recorder, but the included screenshots added visual reference points that eventually got me going in the right direction. Another nicety is that each boss encounter includes strategies for completing the specific challenges for all four of the playable characters, which is a great way to add just one more Badass Point to the list.

What did drive me nuts is that the optional missions don’t sit in the main walkthrough, but rather after it. This ended up leading to a lot of flipping back and forth so I could look at the map and then jump back to read details of each side quest. To add to that frustration, the optional mission section is listed in alphabetical order, and it makes for hunting down details on what to do almost as confusing as finding the Vault itself. I firmly believe that this should be incorporated into the main walkthrough as it makes for an easier time completing everything in one area before us completionists move onto a new segment of the game.

Classified my ass

While I can excuse the segregation of main quests from side quests, I have a harder time when it comes to the weapons portion of this guide. There is some great info on what each weapon type does and why a player may choose it for various encounters throughout their time in the game. However, there is too much “classified” information in here. People that buy a strategy guide don’t do it to have chunks of info excluded, and that is exactly what BradyGames does with select items here. I want to know where I can buy the Raket Pawket Badaboom and the specs on it, not be shafted with knowing it exists but it is classified. The section is still nice, but that lack of info is just a punch to the face.

Redemption comes in the last few portions of the Borderlands 2 strategy guide, starting with a fairly complete Bestiary. I believe that every enemy I tried to find from the game came with a brief description along with a table breaking down how their life changed in multiplayer, damage, XP, critical hit area, and any weaknesses they may have. This also includes where the enemy resides and what, if required, optional quest it is on.

Following that is the secrets section, which includes how to unlock every new head for those who want to customize their characters even further. There is also a heap of tables breaking down all of the challenges in the game, and that includes all of the level specific challenges. Anyone looking to maximize their badass points, this is the section to study like a college kid cramming the night before a big final. Completing this is the obligatory breakdown of achievements/trophies and their associated point values.

There is a small portion dedicated to easter eggs that I am still trying to figure out how I feel. The guide mentions them, but it doesn’t tell you how or where to get them–AT ALL. On one hand, this is a strategy guide and I expect all information to be covered throughout the guide. On the other hand, finding an easter egg in the game is fun and adds to the exploration. The jury is still out on just how good or bad this is.

What I found this guide lacked the most was some form of index or detailed table of contents. Sure, the side missions come sorted alphabetically while the main walkthrough follows the game chronologically; however, there is still no easy way to quickly find specific info. This ultimately ends up with a lot more page flipping and hunting than is necessary in a guide with this much content scattered about.

Quotes from the devs are a nice touch

At the end of the day, I found the bulk of the Borderlands 2 strategy guide rich with detail and entertainment. I love the fact that BradyGames included character art and developer quotes throughout the pages. They once again did a great job making the guide feel as though it were part of the game and not just some secondary accessory. I still cannot excuse shafting players with “classified” info, but that is in a relatively small portion of the book yet it is still info that consumers pay for. However, this is a solid buy and I can still recommend it to any hunter. Now, I must go back to blowing the heads off some Psychos!

SGR Rating 3/5

Author: Doug Walsh & Joe Epstein
Publisher: BradyGames
Editions Available: Hardcover and Paperback
Acquired via Publisher

NIER Strategy Guide review by Doug Walsh and Joe Epstein

May 22, 2010 By Keri Honea Leave a Comment

NIER Strategy Guide by Bradygames Strategy Guide Review Policy:

My goal for these strategy guide reviews is not to discuss whether one needs the guide to complete the game. Every gamer has different strengths and skills, and one may need every bit of a guide, another may need to look up information for quick assistance once, and another may laugh at the idea of ever using a guide, even the online freebies. My goal is to determine whether the guide is 1) helpful in the first place, 2) does it encompass gamers who need hand-holding as well as those who need a quick reference and 3) how much information does it really have.

Review:

NIER is pretty much a game about killing things, something Nier himself says numerous times. It’s mindless hack-and-slash most of the time; so much so that level grinding is not required. Doing as many sidequests as possible helps your stats for sure and gives you rather nice weapons, but Nier will get extremely powerful (or as the guide says, fiendishly powerful) on his own. As such, the guide doesn’t have that much to offer in terms of walkthroughs – which is fine because no one will really need them – so the authors, Doug Walsh and Joe Epstein, structured the guide to help players get the most Achievements/Trophies as possible. A large handful of the Achievements are focused on defeating the end bosses within a specific time limit, and one Achievement is strictly for beating the entire game in less than 15 hours. In other words, Walsh and Epstein focused on producing the quickest strategies possible.

For example, the sidequests slowly unlock throughout the game, and several unlock at times when you really can’t do anything about them at the moment because either the location hasn’t opened up or the person you need to talk to isn’t available at the time. The guide’s sidequest section is quick to point out when is the best time to take on each sidequest so Nier can do it immediately and not waste time. If he’s asked to go pick up some crystal, the guide will tell you not to travel to that person to activate the sidequest until Nier has access to the markets in Facade, where he can buy crystal instead of trying to hopefully gather it somewhere in the field.

There are also giant appendices in the back of the guide that provide stats, tips, and the fastest methods to become a fishing master or grow a green thumb. I did not try to grow the legendary Lunar Tear or cross-pollinate to create pink moonflower seeds, but I am sure if I followed the guide’s steps and tricks to speed up time, I would have had little difficulty (I still would have thought the process was a complete waste of time, but that’s a story for another day).

However, I did have a few difficulties with the guide, which is why it received a 4 instead of a perfect 5.

The first one was with a map of the Junk Heap in Part Two. The elevator was marked incorrectly on the guide map, and I was backtracking all over the place trying to find it. I became convinced that I was trapped in this section, because obviously, there was no way out. The one good that came of it was all the experience I received from smashing robots and all of the items I collected (I found enough broken antennas to build my own city). An inaccurately marked map is a rookie mistake, and it never should have happened, no matter that it didn’t get me killed or eternally lost.

I also had issues with two of the sidequests, and both were in Part Two. The quest “Contract for a Contractor” required Nier to pick up a few items that could only be found in the B2 level of the Junk Heap, but the guide never once said that Nier couldn’t reach that area until a certain point of the game when he acquires access to that floor. Yet again, I was running all over the place, trying to figure out where this mystery elevator was that could take me to B2. The second quest, “The Pride of a Lover” needed some fluorite from the Barren Temple in the desert. The guide told me exactly where to go to find it and even provided a screenshot of the location, but after combing the room for far longer than I should have, it became apparent that the fluorite doesn’t appear in the same place in the Temple each time you play. I found it on a completely different floor than the guide suggested. I really can’t fault the writers for this, because they would not have known or even thought to have check that the fluorite was always there.

The fact that all these problems stem from Part 2 makes me think that the writers or even the publisher got a little rushed toward the end. Even though these problems did not ruin my experience with the guide or the game, it is the little things that keep the NIER Strategy Guide from perfection.

SGR Rating 4.5/5

SGR Rating 3/5

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