BioShock 2 Strategy Guide Review feature

The first thing you notice when you get this guide in your hands is the quality. The guide itself has some lovely artwork on the front and feels sturdy and well made. It really wouldn't look out of place on a bookshelf in the home. The presentation within the guide itself is fantastic. It isn't often you can describe a games guide as a page turner, but this one is. The art style matches that of the game, the artwork itself lovely and give you a chance to look at parts of the game in high quality, without running for your life. BioShock 2 is split into three main parts. The single player game, the mulitplayer game and the world itself. Starting with the mulitplayer, the guide introduces you to the newest addition to the BioShock world, giving you an overview of the multiplayer setup, the characters you'll see, including a short bio and the looks and weapons they have. The illustrations here are really well done and this section works well as a read-through and a quick look tool. Through the next 20 or so pages you are treated to as much information as you will ever need to get to grips with the multiplayer aspect of the game. From what pickups there are, what rankings you will get, costs of upgrades, bonuses available. There is even a dedicated section to each weapon, again with lovely illustrations and quick look information. The maps section for the multiplayer is really well done. The left page has tips, screenshots and description. The right page is a top down 2D map. Again this is both visually pleasing and great for quick looks.The single player walkthrough is really well crafted. Each section starting with a 2D top down map. You are then given small bite sized walkthrough chunks. This is vital for a game like BioShock, as it will mean you won't be reading too far ahead and ruining any of the story for yourself. Again each section is littered with screenshots, tips, pickups, weapon hints, again all done in small chunks to drip feed you what you need. A really nice feature to the guide is the inclusion of transcripts from the audio diaries. Sometimes you can get all too wrapped up in the game to hear these properly, so to be able to come back and read a transcript is a godsend. The way the walkthrough has been written really deserves credit as not once are you in any danger of having the story ruined, which is always dangerous ground in a game such as this. Obviously you need to resist the temptation to carry on reading, but that isn't the fault of the guide itself.The third part of the game as said is the world itself. The characters, the mythology, the history, the story. The guide opens with a prologue which will whet the appetite of players returning from Rapture in BioShock, but also gives new explorers a good overview of the story to come, again without ruining anything surprises. The character pages are stunning to look at and it is very easy to get lost in these pages as you stare in awe of what is in front of you. 20 pages of essential reading right off the bat. It is just after this though that the only complaint with the guide comes in. The controls list, the tables for weapon upgrade costs and bonuses just look a little out of place. They are great for quick looks, but they really do ruin the immersion of the guide. They are very useful though and have everything needed to hand. Just a shame that they are the one stain on an otherwise perfect guide.If you own BioShock 2 then there is no moral choice to be made here. Go and rescue the guide and then harvest its information.For a chance to win a BioShock 2 Strategy guide in our competition, please click here.