Customer Reviews

Mass Effect: Prima Official Game Guide / The Art of Mass Effect (2 Volume Set)

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

 

 

This set is wonderful...Sure the Guide Book isn't hard cover, but it is full of great tips, and no Mass-Effect fan should be without it. As for the Art Book, the guys at Bioware sure do have fantastic talent and imagination. A highly recommended purchase, especially if you love the game.

I got this for the art book, so I don't have a strong opinion on the guide. That said, the guide is useful for completionists like me. The "collecting" side quests may be quite hard to complete without any help as many of the objects don't show up on the maps until you get near them. This book will save you a lot of time by marking them out for you. Although you can get all the information you need online, it's handy to have a printed version while you're within the game.

The art book contains a lot of gorgeous concept art that really shows how much attention has gone into the design of this fabulous game. Mass Effect has one of the best game stories I've encountered, and if you love the story as much as I do, you'll enjoy reliving the game via the artwork and seeing how the design of the characters and aliens evolved into their final versions.

The chapters cover the gamut: characters, races, environments, vehicles - there's even a "details" sections that covers miscellaneous stuff like furniture. The pages are dominated by the pictures, descriptive text is present but minimal; the way it should be.

I would give the art book a 5 star, but overall the set receives a 4-star because the guide is pretty straightforward, and there's nothing really special about this so-called collector's edition.

This guide is pretty good in general but references Appendices that were apparently cut and has typos and some inaccurate info, Its great for covering the planets and the key points of the major missions.

the strategy guide itself, is still in paper back, the art book is the only thing that comes in hardback. This is getting 2 stars b/c the artbook is still very very nice.

I am a huge fan of Mass Effect. I've been playing games for two decades now - Mass Effect is the first that appeals to me in nearly every way.

That being said, there's a lot of good in this package. The art book is very professionally done - hardback, clear text, and what everyone who would care for this product should expect - detail, description, and knowledge. It was very entertaining to see prototype images on the faces, species, vehicles, and even weapons used in Mass Effect. It was also interesting to read the ideas that became the various species and creatures. I'm very glad to have the art book in my possession.

The game guide is, well, another game guide. It gives nitty-gritty detail on the stuff you can figure out on your own, and skims over the areas that might challenge you, but that's the nature of the beast. My only complaint is that - as I have seen with many of these guides - is frustrating print issues. In some of the side-tip text boxes, the text overlaps itself - words are printed on top of words and the entire section is completely illegible. There's little reason why an error like this should slip through product quality testing.

In the end you've got a product that's good but not great.

The artwork produced for this game is fantastic! This book belongs on the shelf of any science fiction enthusiast. I'm not surprised at all that this collectors' item has TRIPLED IN VALUE in the few short years since its print! Also, its value will only continue to rise since the Mass Effect saga will be coming to the big screen in a couple of years!

This item is a must for every mass effect fans. you get the full guide to the game, can check if you missed something from the game and learn to get better at it.
The art book is a master pice of how develop art for this new and vast game. you understand the depth that the creator put into the game.

The guide is typical Prima Guide fare, very helpful, lots of pictures, good walkthroughs, the whole 9 yards. But where this 2-pack shines is the art-book. The art book is awesome. It is not a couple pages of sketches like a lot of books, it is a full book of full color artwork, with comments, ideas, explanations, thoughts on creation. It has things that never went into the game, concept sketches on things that did but were not used, all kinds of really cool stuff. Plus it is hardback and the kind of thing you can put on a bookshelf and show off, not slap in a drawer and worry about getting damaged. So for me, this was an awesome buy :)

With a sequel on the distant horizon I wanted to pickup Mass Effect again, but to do it right (as I'd heard your character carries over). The guide does a good job of documenting the game, as complicated as it is, but is, perhaps, a little fragmented. Everything's there, but it's divided by category instead of by when you might encounter it. I know the game's non-linear, but maybe a set series of goals might help to focus me instead of flipping back and forth? I will say the "Collectors Edition" is definitely worth it for the art book, it's about the only game art book I've seen that can stand up to the ones Blizzard puts out.

Mass Effect is a great game but you can miss a lot of the game because of things you do not know. I use the book to learn how the game operates. This book does a good job of explaining it. I only use the walk through when I replay the game. Unlike many hint books this one is well worth it.