Customer Reviews

Mass Effect 2 Collectors' Edition: Prima Official Game Guide

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I ve played a few hours and when I looked back to this guide, I found this guide is ok but lacks depth in many ways.

I had the original Mass Effect 1 guide in hand, overall their styles are similar but I can guarantee that this guide is written in such a hurry, and far from being comprehensive about a massive game, so let me compare them to show you what this ME2 guide lacks.

Minuses:
- ME1 guide has way more tips and notes than this guide, these tips and notes are like: where to find extra items, how to open extra dialogue, the strategy of fighting enemies etc. This makes ME2 guide less new player friendly.
- ME1 guide always uses an extra little section to talk about morality choices for some important dialogues, what is the benefit of being Paragon or Renegade. Well, ME2 guide has no such thing.
- No mission summary(what you ll get in this mission, including codex, weapons, armors, etc) like the ME1 guide.
- There are many little nice touches from ME1 guide which are missing from the ME2 guide.

Pluses:
Well I guess I was being a little negative above. This guide does show its worth, especially with the Amazon's $16 pricetag.
+ The 3D Art section by the end of this book.
+ Hardcover collector's feel
+ a nice poster
+ decent walkthrough of missions

Close comments:
Overall I would rate this one 3 out of 5. If you would like to complete your collection of ME2 stuffs, then buy this guide. If you are looking for a comprehensive reference of Mass Effect 2, well go somewhere else. In my humble opinion, the Fallout 3 GOTY guide is still the best out there among all other guides, if you own Fallout 3 guide and expect to get something alike, you will be disappointed. I will update my review later if I found some other important things I would like to share with you

Length:: 0:17 Mins

This 320 page hardcover guide for Mass Effect 2 is full colour with an excellent hardcover of N7 logo featured on Shepard's environment suit -- droplets of water stand out as they are printed glossy on an otherwise matte cover.

After having reviewed the Assassin's Creed 2 Collector's Edition: Prima Official Game Guide, this guide was kind of disappointing by comparison. For one thing, the quality of the paper used for the book to be pretty soft and flimsy, like those in mass produced magazines, definitely not of a collectors' edition.

Inside, you find the usual walkthrough, list of weapons, armour, skillsets, mineral locations etc. The spoiler-free walkthrough is pretty mundane and nothing to write home about, and appears to have been written in a hurry right before the deadline.

As with the other recent BioWare game, Dragon Age: Origins, the Mass Effect 2 universe allows a high level of interactivity, where your actions and decisions affect the outcome of the game in a profound way; the guide does remind you at crucial points of the walkthrough, but that's about all it does with no detail elaborations. Even the strategies for completing the stages are pretty skeletal.

The presentation of the guide is pretty simple too, just a list of the missions, and short descriptions of each mission which is nothing you would not find in the game itself, readers might find the guide pretty wordy although there are plenty of screenshots.

The roughly 25 pages of concept art at the end of the book looks like it was included as an afterthought. Quite a lot of the pieces look like screenshots from the game itself, some would appear quite familiar as Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition which includes a (small) art book too. Even the included wall poster disappoints.

If you are looking for a high quality guide book to complete your experience of Mass Effect 2, you might be disappointed with this guide. You might consider getting this if you want to complete your collection of the game's collectibles, but if you do not have the cash to spare, just settle for the normal paperback edition, there is nothing you would miss.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I bought it because i love the N7 Logo.....The information is good too. I like the Planet Database a lot because it lets you know what elements can be found on each planet, and saves a lot of time.

This manual complements the collector's edition of the Mass Effect 2 perfectly. Even though I don't use this as much, I like the feel and construction of this manual. For me it is purely collectible.

I first bought this game and played about a third of the way through it. It was a little overwhelming with all of the planets to explore and side missions to do , so I bought this guide and it really helped. It explains every commrades powers, enemy profiles, and (most useful) a chart of all of the planets, their locations, and what minerals they contain. Instead of wasting hours searching the galaxy to get more platinum, I know exactly where to go.

Now about the "Collectors edition part" it's really not to amazing. Prima just throws a concept art and 3d models section at you plus a sneak preview of the comic Mass Effect Redemption. I do like the hard cover and it is a lot more sturdy than your usual game guide. If you own Mass Effect 2 and unless you are a veteran or well-informed/have a photographic memory this guide is for you.

The reason I didn't use it much is because I genuinely like the experience of searching around and finding things on my own. That having been said, I did reference it a dozen or so times to help find hidden planet missions...there are a lot of planets, and randomly searching all of them would have taken a loooong time. I also found the results of some decisions not how I wanted my character to develop, so I used the guide to show me which answer/choice was best for what I was going for...though that was only once or twice, as the moral choices are pretty obvious in most of the situations.

If this was Mass Effect 1 id say its a mandatory thing to buy. But the game is pretty self explanatory but the book did get me through alot of tight spots. Also look at it, the book is one of the best looking book out there.

This 320-page, 8-1/4"x11" strategy guide is packed with information on glossy pages, so much so that the player is in danger of information overload. Therefore, the most sensible way to use this book is to read up the most salient sections (as well as the entire game manual, from top to bottom), just enough to start on the game. As the game progresses and questions arise, the player can then refer to the book for answers.

The content of this strategy guide is divided into eight sections, namely, How to use this guide, Introduction, Training, Upgrades and Research Projects, Walkthrough, Special Assignments, Planetary Database, and Appendix. The following are the sections that I would read before starting on the game:

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE, page 4-5
This section gives a brief overview of the content of this strategy guide. It describes all the eight major sections listed above, plus the main quests in the walk-through.

TRAINING--Character Classes, page 11-13
This section describes the strength and weakness of the six different character classes available to the player, namely, Soldier, Infiltrator, Vanguard, Sentinel, Adept, and Engineer. No decision has a more far-reaching effect than to choose the class of the player character. A soldier class player character relies on the heavy arsenal of weapons he lugs around the battlefield, while an adept class player character can win a battle solely on biotics alone, without firing a shot. The battlefield strategy and tactics are necessarily different, and hence the player experience of the game is different as well.

COMBAT, page 20-23
This section describes the ten teammates available for recruitment by Shepard. Commander Shepard goes to missions with two squadmates. Each has his/her own strength and weakness. The player is advised to balance the strength and weakness of Shepard with those of his squadmates for each specific mission. For example, a soldier class Shepard may want to take along a biotic and an engineer to battles which involve both organic and mechanical enemies.

WALKTHROUGH, page 40-224
The main walkthrough is divided into twelve main quests, namely, Awaking, Freedom's Progress, Normandy SR2, The Citadel, Dossiers, Horizon, Dossiers Part 2, Collector Ship, Loyalty, Derelict Reaper, Normandy Attacked/Legion, and Endgame. Each main quest walkthrough starts with a map of the physical location(s) involved and clearly stated objectives, followed by step-by-step play-through instructions, with generous amount of full color photo-illustrations. Detailed information on characters and institutions in the game world pertinent to this particular quest can be found in the "Glossary" and "Enemy Profile" boxes, which pop up in the pages from time to time. Tips on actions favorable to the players and warnings of impending danger are in colored boxes. I personally prefer to scan quickly through an individual quest in entirety to get an overall idea and then refer to the text later for more specific detail as I play.

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS, page 225-250
Special Assignments are side quests apart from the core game. They are divided into two major categories: City Assignments and N7 Assignments. The City Assignment involves minor jobs while Shepard is on the Normandy or visiting the hub worlds of Omega, Illium, Tuchanky, and the Citadel. The N7 Assignments are full-fledge missions, not unlike those in the main quests. These assignments become available as the core game progresses. They serve the function of earning experience points (and leveling up), as well as Paragon or Renegade points. I prefer to complete most, if not all, of the special assignments, and thus attaining the highest possible level in the play through, before I commit to the final endgame. That will greatly increase my chance of success.

Another important section (but not essential at the beginning of the game) is UPGRADES AND RESEARCH PROJECTS, page 34-39. It describes the procedure to upgrade equipment and squad combat abilities, as well as the Normandy, which will likewise enhance the chance of success in the endgame. Other useful information can be found in the Planetary Database, and Appendix sections, as well as many other sections throughout the guide. I refer to them as questions arise in the game play.

In conclusion, the walkthrough section, which comprises the major part of this book, is as good as, if not better than, any strategy guide I own. Online walkthroughs are aplenty these days; some of them are fairly well written, especially those in major game sites. But nothing can replace a book that I can carry along to any place and have access to at any time, and without having to fight Net traffic. Other sections of this guide are relatively thin, compared to some other strategy guides I own. However, as such, this ME2 strategy guide contains more information than I need to complete the game. The book is handsomely bound with hard covers. It can stand up to the abuse of players totally absorbed in the game. The graphics are aesthetically pleasing and the contents are well organized. There are six pages of comics titled Mass Effect Redemption at the end of the book. They are quite entertaining. In addition, there is bonus material for this collector's edition, which consists of Mass Effect 2 art, an article on the thoughts of the executive producer, Casey Hudson, and an interview with the founders of Bioware, as well as a 24" x 36" ME2 wall poster. I think this guide is worth the money.

Too many errors to really list, but missing planets, planets that do NOT exist, WRONG resources. Walk thru is ok (but barely). Wrong info about Renegade/Paragon, different from ME1 guide which is CORRECT and EXCELLENT. Poor quality paper. Missing info about the stores, and when items are available. Misleading hints about how to play certain parts, some are just wrong.

If you are a fan of Mass Effect 2 then this guide will make an excellent piece for your collection! Loaded with great info about the game and lots of neat things that will keep the fan of this series thumbing through the pages over and over again. Nothing but good things to say about the information on how to play the game and do the things in the game that will make it even more fun for you! Excellent guide!