Customer Reviews

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

In addition to the things others have pointed out -- the inaccuracies in the maps and screenshots -- I find the guide hard to use. For example, the map for all the hidden horseshoes in Las Venturas is about 100 pages away from the screenshots of all the locations. The Vice City guide was a great guide, very high on usability. You'll spend a lot of time flipping back and forth with this one. The typeface is really tiny, and the mission descriptions tend to be very simplistic (at least the VC guide gave you some actual strategy tips; much less so, I think, with this guide).

It's big and slick and pretty to leaf through... but that can't justify its cost. You will find less than 50% of what the game has to offer without it, so you're stuck with buying it. Brady should publish a second edition with corrections, or at least publish online corrected versions of the maps and an errata page.

This strategy guide was so bad that I actually wrote a letter of complaint to BradyGames. I am a huge fan of their guides and purchase them for nearly every game that I own that has a BradyGames guide. The San Andreas guide, however, is an embarrassment to what is usually a very thorough and respectable company.

For someone who is simply playing the game and needs maps to get around then this guide should be perfect. If, however, you are a fanatic who is seeking to get 100% in the game then there are some major concerns that you should know about.

1) The number of Horseshoes that you need to collect is 50, not 100 as it is stated in the book.

2) Something like 4 or 5 of the photos for the Horseshoes are incorrect. I think they are taken from a Beta version of the game.

3) Nearly ALL of the Photo Op pictures are associated with the wrong locations.

4) There are at least a dozen weapons locations that are incorrect and three locations list weapons that do not exist in the game.

In terms of strategy and graphical content the guide is great, but outside of that I don't feel it is really worth the purchase. You can find many other guides that are more detailed (and correct!) for free if you look online.

Odds are you are buying this guide to complete the game to its fullest. While it will certainly get you closer to completion a lot faster than just running around aimlessly, you should know that there are a lot of errors in it.

It will get you through the missions okay, but the maps leading you to collectible items are horrible. One map has the items marked half an inch to the left of where they actually are. On another the numbers do not match up to the corresponding screenshots AT ALL, and it's the one where you need the screenshots the most. There are numerous other incorrect pictures and descriptions. And the screenshots are tiny! They wasted a ton of space printing artwork from the game, but skimped on the useful stuff.

Also, in several places you can see that they had a slightly different version of the game to work from. Detail on the maps is terrible and does not always match what's on your screen.

If you are looking for a guide I would still recommend it simply because there is nothing else out there. Just don't expect this to get you to 100% completion.

With a game that's the size and scale of "San Andreas," you need every bit of help you can get. And this guide offers bits of help -- maps, captures, hidden features and, most importantly, an overview of the story and each mission so you'll know what to expect.

Most of the time the guide is great at telling you what you'll be doing... but doesn't offer much advice on how to do it. And, sure, part of playing this game is figuring stuff out for yourself. At the same time, this is a GUIDE and too often when I was repeatedly struggling with a mission, I'd flip to it in the book and get no help at all.

There's a wealth of better material online for 100% less than the guide's considerable cover price (my favorite is: www.bellaonline.com/gaming/w/sanandreas/). However, my computer is two floors above where I game, so... I keep my hard-copy guide by the TV and every so often it helps out.

For you people who actually found this guide helpful, did you even read it? I can get more accurate information listening to the White House talk about weapons of mass destruction. The photo ops map is so completely wrong it's ridiculous. As for the horseshoes, most of them are nowhere near where the book says. One of them, for example, is said to be on top of a building at the San Fierro Airport. Well, I found the horseshoe, and guess what? Not only is it not on top of a building, but it's in the middle of the freaking runway and there is no building anywhere near it!!! When you find a horseshoe, look at the picture in the book and then look at your screen. $1000 says they are nothing alike. And with the Los Santos Tags, how helpful is it to say "located on a building near the road"? In case the authors didn't know, there are about 5000 such buildings in the game. Not only that, one of the tags is not even located on the map! Okay, sure, it tells you what happens during a mission, but gives absolutely no advice on how to pass them, it's just a synopsis. I thought that the guides for both GTA III and Vice City were extremely helpful, they were great, but the guide for San Andreas is a disgrace to the publishing industry. Bradygames may consider, just consider, actually proofreading the material the put on the shelves for us to buy (and not cheap either). In my opinion, the authors should be ashamed to have their names on the cover. Yes, it will help you get closer to that ever elusive 100% (which is why everyone buys it of course), but it will not get you all the way. Take my advice, save your money. Consider using it instead as payment towards a lawyer to sue Bradygames for being such f*cking idiots.

This guide must have been rushed. It's full of more errors than the game has glitches. If your a hardened Grand Theft fan, you'll find this a set back. If your new to Grand Theft Auto then you may come to hate the game as much as top players hate the guide. The maps pin pointing locations of Tags, Photos, Oysters, and Horseshoes are so poorly marked that you may be driven to give up the idea of completing with 100%. Equally, the guide leaves out crucial tips that define the outcome of certain actions. In short, this guide is not worth buying. You'll be much better off simply looking up tips on your computer.

Quick Tip: When getting the oysters in front of the aircraft carrier and the center of the enclosed docking Bay in San Fierro you'll get an automatic five stars. Try this, (1) Drive off the cliff at the closes corner of the airport (2) Get the helicopter and land it inside the base of the red bridge (3) Get the nearby speedboat and go for the docking bay first (back in so that you can get out quickly) next go for the front of the carrier (4) get back to the copter (because of the height of the base the police boats can't shoot you) and take off for the paint & spray next to the train station. (5) (this part is tricky) Try to fly the copter into the paint & spray. The copter will scrap the walls but once the door closes, your set. Abandon the copter and save the game. two oysters for the efforts of one.

The whole reason I bought this guide was for the horseshoes,tags,oysters, and photo ops. Well first off I found mistakes in all of the above. The photo ops are completely off 100 %. The horshesoes are all wrong on the map and a couple of the descriptions look like they just photoshopped a picture of a horseshoe onto another picture and made up a spot. If your gonna make a buisness of doing books like these hire someone to double check your info at least. Not to mention the lack of real in depth info on how to really pass any of the side missions. Like someone before me mentioned it almost felt like they just played through the story missions and wrote down what the game already tells you. I just wanna say thank you Brady for wasting my 20 Bucks. Spend it well, I didn't.

The book contains some strategies but not enough. It talks about the different schools and what each test is about but doesn't tell you how to deal with the tests.
The map locations are off and not just by a little. There is an oyster off the lighthouse and on the map it is put as off the ferris wheel boardwalk. Also the numbering is wrong on at least one. With a book this large, they should've used larger pictures to show locations of tags and such. Those tiny pictures and with captions of "on roof of this building" is just useless.
Plus the lack of stats on the performance stats on the vehicles is just a major oversight.
The game itself has very good explainations about the missions so the guide book is not really necessary for it.
The book is good for the mission maps and race maps. Also for side missions the book is informative.
As for the previous reviewer who said that since it's a large game, some incorrect information is understandable is just the wrong attitude. You paid for this book to get correct information.
The book pretty much just repeats the information in the game. It doesn't really offer alot insights into the game. I would just skip the book and go for the online guides.

I found the book for the most part useful. The breakdowns of the missions are very handy. some of the hints they offer slow the mission down if you use them. the main reason i bought it was for the maps for the oysters and other little goodies that need to be found. And this is where it gets a little weak. They use big dots on the map to show where each location is. well that makes it a little bit of guess work. it gives you a general location. the photos they use are also very tiny and sometimes of little use. but overall the book is good and helpful!

I, like so many other's, was stupid enough to buy this guide not realising the mystery's within. I still havnt got %100 thanks to this guide and can say now that i will never buy a Bradly guide again.

Everything is all mixed up in there,(Locations of all inportant things such as Horseshoes, tags ect) there must of been no proof reading what so ever... SO I SUGGEST TO EVERYONE, DONT WAIST YOUR MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF... ...GUIDE.