Alright, first the physical descriptions. The Special Edition is 208 pages of good quality somewhat matte paper in a hardcover, with a pretty nice paper wrap around. Somebody at Brady did pretty good work on the layout and presentation of the book, and it's not your typical full-of-text boring monotonous walkthrough. Well, it still covers all the bases and of course the various tips, tricks, weapon upgrades and locations for audio diaries and such.
The book is present in a sort of 80s comedy style with plenty of little monopoly-seque arts littered through the book. As most of you guys would know, most of the walkthrough and tips for the more popular games can be freely gotten online, so any guide book that professes to be either "collector" or "special editions" has to offer something more than the mundane.
The BioShock 2 special edition guide passes this quite adequately, though not with flying colours. ( My favorite guide book so far is still the Assassins Creed II collector edition).
The tone of the guide is witty and light, unlike the usual dull chatter of lesser guides. There are enough side illustrations to keep it from becoming boring, though most of the awesome art is featured in the art book that comes together with the special edition of the game instead, so don't be expecting the usual concept arts segment at the back of the book. That said, the included illustrations in the book are pretty detailed and well worth the time to appreciate.
All in all, a pretty well detailed and delightful guide. I would have preferred it if Brady had thought to include one of those little "table of contents" on the sides of the pages to make looking for particular segments easier.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
Visit the link beside to read more reviews on Amazon. If you buy from the link, I get a little commission that helps me get more art books for review.
Country-specific Amazon links for this book:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de | Amazon.co.jp
