PRIMA GAMES METROID: OTHER M [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

First of all, I have been playing video games since the mid 80s and have been using guides since the "NES Game Atlas" (Nintendo's, and possibly the industry's, first full map guide) and the early issues of Nintendo Power (volume 34, "A Link to the Past" was my first subscription, the friend who got it for me started about a year earlier), so I am familiar with good and horrible and medium guides.

I have all 3 Prima guides from the Metroid Prime series and like the layout. What I don't like is their disorganization from this guide. Sure they have a point of giving players an ability to not have to go through getting all items or deciding which to ignore. If they do that then having an entire list in the back is great. Except that's where the problem is. That list is HORRIBLY layed out.

* The map numbers are blue with black outline, thick font, tiny print. That makes them blur together too badly and is harder to see.
* The map doesn't seem to follow a pattern in the number sequence. They aren't in page layout format. They aren't in item collection order. They aren't in order by room navigation. They are random whatever layout. For example, the missiles in sector 1, you have #03, 11, 19, 20, 21, all in the same portion of the map (2-3 rooms connecting to each other). You can get #20 early into the game, then #11 immediately after, #19 can't be got until later, #21 not until much later, and #03 will possible be aquired soon.
* Their description of when you can get items is horribly done. Sure you can space jump to get it (a low numbered missile in the main sector) late in the game, but you can also wall jump to get it right away (and in this game the wall jump is far easier than before, so it isn't something that space jump is easier to get to). - I've seen this horrible description in other guides too though so it isn't surprising. Their proof read department only proof reads, not plays by instruction. (Metroid Prime, instruction on how to get to the wave beam stands out. It says to enter a room and jump up 2 ledges to the left. Problem is there is NO ledges there and instead you enter a building to the RIGHT and go up the 2 ledges. ALL other descriptions of the area and even the picture confirm this was their actual path. You can only follow their path with a super-jump enabled only by using Action Replay disk.)
* Their chapter / area of the guide "tabbed" effect they're trying to do is also nice but badly executed. In the past guides they did a better job at seperating out the individual sections of the guide and even sub-sections within those. This one they don't.
* Their main walkthrough says that it will only mention criticle items or ones that are along the main path and not ones that require out of the way searching or back tracking. But this is inconsistent. Missiles that require going off in another direction or circling back to get are listed, meanwhile others that are easy to find (and a casual player not using the guide would probably take the few seconds to get from that same room they're passing through) are left out.
* There is no listing of how many of which item you will find in this area like there was in previous guides. Also there wasn't a master list of the best order to collect the items. I've seen this in other guides and it would've been nice here too (in a good contrasting background so you can make a copy of it to write on).

Over all, using a lot of Prima guides really makes me miss the old days where Nintendo made the "Player's Guide" series. Not only were they usually better in my opinion, but I liked the additional character and environment stuff they included. (Read through The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / Link's Awakening / Ocarina of Time, plus Super Metroid and "Mario Mania" the Super Mario World guide as examples of finely written guides stuffed with extra information.)

The only reason it didn't get a 1 star is because it does seem to list all items (not played entirely through so I can't say for certain), and does give maps.
* The instructions are average, not great, sometimes poor, other times flat out incorrect or at least not the best and most obvious method.
* The fonts and colors used were very badly done, as if it were intentionally horrible.
* The pictures could use more of "accessing the hidden area" rather than "here is inside the hidden area".
* The item collection layout was too random and seems to have no logical order (order on page / order of room navigation / order of collection).
* Details that were used in the previous guides are left out here.

If someone else made a worse guide, I'd possibly buy it just to see if they really could've done a worse job. Prima needs to review their past guides and see this as a failure in comparison.

A plus is that the poster it comes with is decent.

In an era when thorough walkthroughs are available on the internet days after the game comes out, these hardcopy guides really need to have some value added. Unfortunately, this one doesn't. Not only that, but it wastes a lot of text explaining the incredibly obvious. I remember the old guides that used to include background on the characters and enemies. Alas, this one probably isn't worth your money.

This guide has helped get through the game. I would have never known about a lot of the secret passages or weapons without it. Because of this, I will always buy a walkthrough guide.