Customer Reviews

Microsoft Age of Empires II (EU-Inside Moves)

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

 

 

I bought this book along with the game itself, so I read it from a beginner perspective. I would say that a novice would get some value out of it, but it would be of very little help to a player with any experience.

My main criticism is that about half the book is devoted to descriptions of how to play the various civilizations. The author went into far too much detail on this. It would have been much better to talk about general strategies that apply to all the civilizations, and then maybe devote 10% of the book on some of the unique features of each civilization.

I spend a few days going through this book while learning how to play the game. Afterwards, I bought the Prima's Unauthorized Strategy Guide and found it to be much more useful. I find myself referring to the Prima guide all the time to refresh my memory on certain aspects of the game (eg. before I play a civilization for the first time). I never refer to Walker's book.

I got a sense that the author did not play Age of Kings thoroughly and in depth, and that the book was written too quickly.

This book definitely DOES NOT provide players with decent tactics/strategies. All it does is just make a few common sense statements a 100 times over. Among several weak points, here are a few:

What kind of an advise is it to have an economy of 13/19/25 villagers in Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age ? Even for beginners ? This technique would take the player back to the literal DARK Ages !

I doubt if anyone who uses the tactics/strategies mentioned in this book could finish a regular multiplayer game under 4 hours.

The tips/tricks mentioned in this book is nothing more than the Info sheet provided with the game and what a player couldn't find out for himself/herself in the 1st hour of the game.

Sheer waste of money & time !

I recommend Ensemble's book which costs the same and is good for even the average player. Compared to this one, that book is a BIBLE.

You'd think this could have some original strategies or SOMETHING useful. This is like the manual with a walkthrough thrown in. Don't waste your time on this book.

I am a newbie to AOE both 1 and 2. I've had both games less than three months but I love them and am learning fast. I have Steven Kent's "MS PRESS Inside Moves Strategy Guide to AOE 1" and that is what prompted me to pick up this one for AOE 2 -- BIG MISTAKE.

Whereas Kent gives incredibly detailed and useful advice and information that reveals hours of (fanatical) research (he even tells readers how to do their own experiments using the scenario editor), it is obvious, even to a casual reader, that Walker's advice consists of unresearched superficial assertions, no doubt deduced from looking through the user's guide. Unlike the Kent book, there is almost no detailed, in-depth information comparing and contrasting the units, the strategies, or the pros and cons of various technology research. Playing some of the walkthoughs only confirmed my suspicions that either Walker does not know how to explain himself thoroughly, (though he writes reasonably clearly) or he has never, not once, tried his own advice to see if it worked -- I suspect both suppositions are true.

What were you thinking MS PRESS? I trusted you to hire an author that would be a credit to a great MS game. I'm going to bet that the Ensemble Studios book is much better -- given that they are the direct creators of the game and the other reviews of their book here.

I am a rookie at AOK, so I thought this book might help me improve. I have played the game for only a couple of weeks and almost all the tips given here were things I had already learned in the course of playing the game. This book adds very little to the knowledge base of the manual and/or that which one obtains by playing a few campaigns. I felt it was a real waste of money.

Definitely a "corporate" work. There is virtually nothing here that anyone simply jumping in blind couldn't figure out in a few hours. The "information" on the individual civilizations could apply to ANY of them. Very skimpy, and overpriced.

fortunately, this book was part of a bundle and I did not have to pay for it. If you are new to RTS games, then it might be of some use. Otherwise, what person with any brains would not know to put weaker missile units behind sturdier melee ones? I mean, really, it's that basic.

I must say that I disagree entirely with others who have written a review for this strategy guide. I think that it's great that the author gave so much information on each civilization; that way you can become an expert in one area. His advise is great and it works, and he seems to know a lot about the game. I do, however, agree that he should have written more general tactics, but a lot of the general tactics he explains when writing about the civilizations. His walkthroughs for each campaign and scenario are fantastic and prescise, and if I were you I would buy this guide in an instant.

(By the way, I was about in the middle of between expert and novice when I bought this book.)

Well if you're looking for in-depth strategies you're in the wrong place, it only works if your manual is missing or something like that, this only gives the very basics of the game and if you're a semi-experienced then you already found out for yourself most of the "tips" in the book.
I give it 3 stars because the Mexican edition of the book (which I own) includes a CD-ROM with additional levels and AI files and many other utilities that will allow you to take more fun of the game.

I'm quite certain that "five star" review was written by the book's author. Anyone that's played the game online would laugh at this book. For a *real* strategy guide you should definitely get Prima's book or Sybex's book. Sybex's book had substantial input from top gamers and Prima's book was entirely written by top gamers. Who's ever heard of this author? He writes books--he doesn't play games. Good grammar dude! Now go write a dictionary and leave us gamers alone.