Customer Reviews

Age of Empires: Inside Moves; Winning Tips and Strategies for Microsoft Games (Inside Moves Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This strategy guide is mostly filled with detailed, well-written explanations helping you to beat each scenario in the campaigns. It does very well on that, but there are few general playing/multiplaying tips, and scant descriptions of units and buildings.

If you're just learning how to play--especially if you're working your way through the various campaigns--you'll find this book helpful. However, if you already know the mechanics of the game and are familiar with the various units, technologies, and ages, you might be disappointed should you expect to find much in the way of strategy for multiplayer games on random maps. Better than half the book is devoted to the campaigns and how to play them. The first part of the book reviews the basics of the game, with no in-depth analysis of the individual civilizations' strengths and weaknesses. Only several pages in the appendix address multiplayer strategies, and even this information is minimal. This book deserves a better, more descriptive title that would suggest it is appropriate for beginners and campaign players.

The book I purchased was shrink wrapped, and, if I could have looked through the book briefly, I wouldn't have bought it. I was looking for tips, tricks, tactics, and strategies mainly geared towards multiplayer gaming.

One sentence on the cover claims "Full of play-tested tactics and strategies, 'Microsoft Age of Empires: Inside Moves' will be your guide--providing you with strategic hints, statistics, and tactical assistance neccesary to lead your civilization to glory." I disagree. There are very few useful strategic hints and no statistical tables. Finding the cost, hit points, attack value, armor value, and range of a unit cannot be accomplished easily with this book.

The book contains one chapter labled "What Every Emperor Should Know." This chapter briefly describes the units and structures, but it leaves out all the marine units and provides very little new information to me. Most tactics from Warcraft II apply to the gameplay described in this chapter.

The cover does not mention single player campaigns, but single player campaign strategies occupy about 200 of the 280 pages in the book. I expected that it would contain campaign tips, but this was overwhelming.

The book provides two multiplayer strategies--both completely worthless. The book contains far more historical information on ancient civilizations than multiplayer tips. I wasn't concerned about ancient emperors; I wanted to improve my gameplay.

I would recommend this book to a beginner mainly concerned with the campaigns or perhaps to a person "researching" ancient civilizations. I rated it so low because I didn't fit into the two categories above. The book has very good campaign assistance and good historical reference. ;)

This book is just what the novice player needs. It provides the tips and strategies necessary to make the game enjoyable rather than frustrating. Well written and nicely illustrated, the book carefully details the individual scenarios within each campaign, allowing the player to develop the basic knowledge and skills for more advanced play.

Figures. Can't believe I read the reviews and bought this book anyway. Sheesh. Like, 3 frickin pages in the whole book about multiplay and not nearly enough about advantages,disadv of each culture.

If you read the review on the back cover you think you are getting a great book, but MS Press must have written their own on this book.