God of War III: Ultimate Edition Strategy Guide

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RN8CX009WUDO0 Prior to getting this book, I've already started on God of War III. If you've already played bits of the game, you'll realise it's not a very complicated a game. Even without a walkthrough, clearing the game should be no problem.

Having said that, the walkthrough is still there if you need it, clear and complete. If you don't want any spoilers from the walkthrough, you can just use the maps provided without reading the walkthrough. Each map has all the collectible items listed, including treasures of the gods (some gods like to throw their stuff everywhere). Interspersed with the walkthrough are interesting stories on the mythology and characters, although they left me a bit confused with the supposedly real world mythologies because of some discrepancies.

The usefulness of this guide is more on the information on the weapons, collectible items, challenges and trophies. They have everything listed. Button combinations for all the weapons and their powers are listed, which helped me saved a bit of time on trial and error (sometimes I miss reading instructions on screen). After you finish the game, you'll unlock the Challenges of Olympus with all its challenges and trophies. If you really can't figure out how to beat those challenges, then this the guide for you.

This limited edition includes additional pages of concept art which is really cool. I wish the creators would come out with a proper art book though. There's also a printed lithograph provided, only one out of the four designs are included. Why not all four?

The negative part is the paper quality, which is soft and flimsy, like those in mass produced magazines. It's not one would like to see used in a limited edition guide.

Overall, this is a very decent guide for the epic game. Recommended to gamers who just can't get enough of the game and don't want to miss anything.

4.5 stars out of 5

THE GOOD : Great layout, VERY comprehensive info on anything you could want to know about this game and as an added bonus it provides a history lesson on each of the Gods and many of the creatures in the game, throughout the book. Quite a nice little bonus to be sure. A videogame guidebook with some brains instead of just brawn! Also, this 'Ultimate Edition' includes some nice artwork for serious fans of the series.

THE BAD: This book seems like a rush-job. The many noticeable spelling errors led me to ask if anyone ever proof-read this thing before it was published. It was that bad. Additionally, and even worse, this book has altogether omitted one of the 7 challenges of Olympus. Also along these lines, one of the 'Godly Treasures' (Hephaestus's Ring) is not called out in graphic detail like the others are. It is mentioned in the text of the walkthrough, but again, it is not called out / presented in the same fashion as all the other collectibles like this are.

VERDICT :All in all, this is a very good strategy guide, but it's not without some rather significant and very noticeable flaws, but nothing that will significantly hamper your walk-through. Or at least, nothing that a little research on the Web can't fix.

I'll start by saying that contrary to what others have said I find the guides cover, thickness and quality to be great for the price. However, that is what the "greatness" ends.

The guide itself is probably more eye candy that it is functional. Some of the descriptions on how to beat the bosses (and do small things like open doors, getting past Gaia's "heart" etc) are not great and they can still leave you with the feeling that you are solving the puzzle on your own. It is not very detailed and often times it will have pictures that don't really give a good idea of what you need to do.

Overall I would recommend this for any collector, however if you are stuck on an area and/or want a complete "God of War III for dummies book" I would look elsewhere because their are unofficial guides (online and in print) that will help you more in your quest of finding everything in a quick and timely manner!

this guide is very useful. Not only that but it looks great. You could tell they put a lot of effort into it. Very happy i got it

This is a review of the quality of the guide, not the content.

From a quick thumb-through of the guide it feels very rushed. This guide is not up to the quality of other recent collector's edition guides, such as Bioshock 2 or Final Fantasy XIII. The paper is low-weight and the screenshots used in the walkthrough are blurry. They also give you an art print, but only one out of 4. Since no one in their right mind would buy the guide 4 times, this seems very cheap on Brady's part. For the price I got it for from Amazon it's OK, but I would have been very upset had I paid $35 for this guide in the store. Therefore my 3-star review is assuming you're paying around $20 or less for it. If you're paying retail price, subtract another star.