Resident Evil 4 BradyGAMES Official Strategy Guide
January 17, 2005
One of GameCube’s best games just landed, and BradyGAMES decided to give it their Signature Series treatment for the official strategy guide. Authored by Dan Birlew, the guide has a cover price of $16.99. The decision to purchase a strategy guide is not always easy with resources such as GameFAQS.com and others available online. Most of the time, I simply check for a few details online when I need to, instead of purchasing an actual player’s guide. Sometimes, however, I just prefer to have a guide book in hand as it is easy to access while actually playing a game and often provides better details than just plain text FAQS can ever offer. What I like about BradyGAMES is that they seem to understand that if you’re paying for a strategy guide, then you deserve something extra in the way of presentation and helpful graphics. I continue to be impressed by the BradyGAMES Signature Series strategy guides. The first time I was really impressed was when I realized that their Wind Waker guide was superior to and more detailed than Nintendo Power’s own official guide. Though there are no other Resident Evil 4 guides out there yet, anyone working on one will be hard pressed to outdo the BradyGAMES Resident Evil guide.
The first thing you’ll notice with this guide (or any Signature Series guide for that matter) is the great cover. The RE4 guide has some cool artwork on the front, with gloss highlighting Leon (the main character) and the RE4 logo. The inside front and back covers also sport some awesome scenery. In fact, the whole guide is filled with artwork throughout. From the table of contents, to the great character introductions, to the background images on each page, the graphic design of the guide keeps the whole guide visually interesting, rather than just bland text and screenshots.
The guide is well written and nicely organized. The first few pages provide spoiler-free introductions to the games and characters along with some nice artwork. Each character has his own full page for his introduction. Certain gameplay information has been separated from the walkthrough making it easy to reference. Basic gameplay instructions and strategies, common enemy descriptions and strategies, weapon details, and item details are separated in the section before the walkthrough portion of the guide. This is convenient because there is a lot of information here that you will probably want to check on multiple times throughout the adventure. I found the weapons section particularly useful. There are several weapons in RE4, and there are many upgrades available for each one. The weapons portion of the guide gives detailed statistics on each weapon including pricing and statistics for each upgrade. This was important to me because I wanted to plan out which weapons and upgrades to buy without wasting my money in the game. The guide also lets you know about weapons that can be obtained for free in the game or are unlocked by fulfilling certain objectives. I also found the treasure section of the guide really useful. It gives you the information needed to get the most value out of each treasure you collect.
The walkthrough section is laid out very nicely. It is broken up into chapters and sub-chapters, just as the game itself. The guide is further divided by each area, so it’s easy to reference any portion. This is useful for me because I usually don’t follow a guide step-by-step; I normally just check a portion of a guide when I am not sure that I have found everything, get stuck, or have trouble with a certain boss enemy. Regardless, the guide provides step-by-step instructions on where to go, what to do, and how to find everything. It’s well written and easy to follow. Important item names are emphasized with larger text and red coloring, making it easy to find just what you’re looking for if you’re skimming. There is a usually a full page of strategy for each boss in RE4, with a large title at the top of those pages, again, making them easy to reference. Any time a new enemy or obstacle is encountered, the author provides further details on defeating it. Useful screenshots accompany the written strategy, and they are plentiful.
The maps are another great feature. They’re professionally made, and you probably won’t find better maps online or in another guide. There are maps for every portion of the game and they’re nicely detailed with the same graphics that you’ll see in the game. This makes them easy to understand and orient you self with. Buildings and exits are clearly marked, as are all items. I really liked the maps because I could play an area of the game, and then quickly look at the map to make sure that there weren’t any important items that I missed. Some items are hidden in birds’ nests and bushes among other things, and are easy to miss. If you are a perfectionist that wants to see everything in the game, the maps are really useful. An item table appears next to each map in the guide, spelling out the quantities of items that can be found in each area. Icons point out each item location on the map, and if there is a special trick to getting the item, you can bet that it is explained in the text and the item table.
The final section of the guide covers the secrets and bonuses of RE4. Of course it tells you how to earn them, but it also provides more strategy for the secret bonus mission that can be unlocked, and the mini-games. Finally, there is an awesome double-sided poster included at the back of the guide. When unfolded, the poster measures about 21.5″ x 28″. The poster images can be seen in the picture of the guide’s back cover below.
I really like the design and layout of the BradyGAMES Signature Series guides. It makes them almost like a collectible. BradyGAMES realizes that gameplay help can be easily found online or in other player’s guides. I think that’s why they put extra effort into the style and presentation of their guides. It’s more than just a walkthrough and some drawings. Everything is carefully laid out, easy to understand, and find. The RE4 guide certainly can’t be any better. It’s just up to you to decide whether you need a guide or not. I like to have guides for some games, and for others, I don’t really want one. With this Resident Evil 4 guide as just the latest example, I continue to be impressed by the quality of BradyGAMES guides. Their official strategy guide for Resident Evil 4 is recommended.
CVG Report CardResident Evil 4 BradyGAMES Official Strategy Guide
Developer: BradyGames
Publisher: BradyGames
N/A
Genre: Strategy Guide
Rating: A+
Platform: GameCube
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