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Prima Games Blog

The Prima Games Blog is the place to read about new video games, get expert strategy, tips, downloads,
free walkthroughs, and insider game info by gamers for gamers.

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Bad Company 2 Demo Survival Tips

Are you as addicted to the Battlefield Bad Company 2 demo as I am? I’ve been playing the game for nearly three months now and I still can’t get enough, squeezing in at least one hour of multiplayer every evening. But if you’re having a tough time grasping some of the new (and old) concepts, here are a few quick tips.

Tag Those Targets: You may have noticed the red/orange icons above enemy units. This is the result of your knowledgeable teammates tagging targets through the new Comms system. To tag a target, aim at an enemy unit and press the Comms button; “Q” on the PC, “Back” on the Xbox 360, or “Select” on the PS3. Tagged targets are visible to all teammates both on the HUD and minimap. This is an easy way to communicate with your entire team, plus if a teammate kills a target you tagged, you earn a 20-point Spot Assist bonus. A target remains tagged for approximately five seconds, but you can tag it again as long as you maintain line of sight.

Pass the Ammo: Hey assault guys! Would it kill you to drop an ammo box? The assault kit’s ammo box is the only source of ammo. So when playing as assault, be generous with the bullets. You’re rewarded with a Team Resupply bonus (10 points) every time a teammate retrieves ammo from an ammo box. Engineers and recon players often need more rockets and sniper rounds, so consider dropping a box at their feet to keep them firing. And for you medics, don’t be so stingy with the medkits either.

A Tank is not a Battering Ram: To all those players who drive their tanks headlong into enemy infantry: Stop it now! All it takes is 2-3 rockets to take out a tank, so keep it a safe distance from enemy infantry. Instead, use it as a stand-off weapon, blasting enemies from long range. The machine gun turret on each tank is equipped with a zoom function, making the weapon extremely accurate and deadly at extreme distances. Also, consider playing as an engineer, so you can repair your own ride.

Alt Fire Specialization: This is the only specialization available in the demo, so always equip it before spawning into the game. This perk allows drivers of tanks to fire a coaxial machine gun by holding down the alternate fire button. The UAV even benefits with a deadly machinegun of its own. But the AH-64 Apache gets an even bigger bonus with this feature. The gunner can use the secondary fire button to shoot tracer darts at vehicles while the pilot can launch Hellfire missiles, homing in on the gunner’s traced targets.

Destruction 2.0: In Bad Company 2, structures can completely collapse if they take enough damage. This is a great way to take out M-COM objectives located inside houses. In the demo, objective A at the Construction Site and objective B at the Office Site can be destroyed in this fashion. Simply target the building’s outer walls with explosive munitions until you hear creaking and moaning sounds, indicating an imminent collapse. Collapsing buildings not only destroy M-COM stations but they’ll kill any opponents inside.

For more multiplayer tips and tactics, be sure to check out our guide, releasing next month. Inside we cover every kit, weapon, vehicle, and specialization in detail, complete with stats, tactics, and unlock criteria. The guide also contains labeled maps showing the locations of all bases, objectives, control points, as well as spawn points for all vehicles and stationary weapons. So look for it on store shelves when you buy the game.

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Mass Effect 2 Guide Author Speaks!

Read more about Mass Effect 2 Game Guide

Catherine Browne recently finished writing Prima’s official game guide for Mass Effect 2. Here she shares some of her thoughts on the process of writing a guide and the game itself.

I played through the original Mass Effect twice – once going straight Paragon and then next indulging my inner Renegade. I still think the pacing is fantastic, hurtling toward that breathtaking final act where every narrative thread comes together for one of the most satisfying climaxes in an adventure game yet. So, naturally I was excited when the opportunity to write the Mass Effect 2 guide arose. Not only would I get to play Mass Effect 2 months before anybody else, but more importantly, I would also get to see how the story continued into this second chapter. By now, we all knew Commander Shepard met a hard fate at the beginning of the game, but how would the former Spectre (I say former because, well, there’s the whole death thing) be resurrected? And who would Shepard go into battle with?

After all, the supporting cast of a Mass Effect game is just as important as Shepard. Without thoughtful, engaging, and clever squad mates, Mass Effect just would not be the same. And so when I started my first real playthrough and taking notes for the guide, I kept a separate file on the squad members so that when I wrote the book, I could accurately describe these characters not just as hired guns to get the job done, but as real personalities that help shape your adventure. If I could give one piece of advice to anybody playing Mass Effect 2, it’s to consider the personalities of the squad when making some major choices. If you have friends with strong personalities, you know how some of them do not get along. You know how strong personalities can end up causing one friendship to further bloom while another withers? The same goes in Mass Effect 2. So if you discover squad mates that you particularly like, such as Miranda or Tali, don’t just take care of them with Medi-gel. Take care of them personally with kindness and deflection. That is one way to get the most out of Mass Effect 2.

Another way to get all that you can from the game is to play at least twice, each time with a different character class. BioWare did a masterful job balancing the six character classes in Mass Effect 2: solider, adept, engineer, infiltrator, vanguard, and sentinel. While some of these classes share abilities, like the soldier and vanguard, others could not be more different. Which class you select – and how you upgrade that class’ powers – really defines your play. Because I like close combat, I zeroed in on the vanguard class in one play through. Just having access to the Charge power (instantly close the gap between you and an enemy within eyesight) completely altered my play style, as I got quite good with the Charge-and-shotgun combo. But then I played as an Engineer and learned how I could use AI Hacking and Combat Drone to create chaos on the battlefield while I stayed on the outer perimeter. After these powers thinned the pack, I moved in and mopped up. Same scene – but totally different play styles.

Be sure to check out the Training chapter of our guide to see all of the powers each class uses so you pick the class that is right for you. And then look at our tables for creating a balanced (or class-heavy) team, because you aren’t the only person in the galaxy with specialties. Miranda, Jacob, Thane… each squad member has strengths. Putting together good team combos for different situations (going into battle against geth versus a mercenary band) is another way I found to get varied experiences out of each playthrough of Mass Effect 2.

One cool thing about writing strategy guides is that you get to see how games really come together in the final months of development. Now, at no point was Mass Effect 2 “broken,” but remember what I said earlier about narrative threads? Not all of them were neatly tied up back in October. I could see the personalities, but watching them grow as all the parameters of their death-defying missions were filled in was extremely satisfying. During my original playthrough, I definitely picked up on all elements of the plot, but by the time I finished my final playthrough, I could see how these personalities came to life when the real do-or-die desperation of the suicide mission was completely filled in. A new cutscene here. A little dialog trimming there. Just like editing a scene in a movie can completely change the tone, the editing of a game can really elevate its resonance. What was a great adventure at first had morphed into a great adventure with real significance (and weighty consequence). It made me even more respectful of the development process.

Looking for awesome Mass Effect 2 game strategy? Just choose your format:

Mass Effect 2 Website
Mass Effect 2 eGuide
Mass Effect 2 Book
Mass Effect 2 Collector’s Edition Book

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Sean Devlin’s School of Hard Knocks

Read more about The Saboteur Game Guide

If your knuckles haven’t had a bruise since last Sunday and you want to take some liberties with a Nazi officer’s face, you’ve come to the right game. In The Saboteur, you play Sean Devlin, a rough-and-tumble bloke who joins up with the French Resistance to put a hurting on the Nazi regime that has taken up residence in World War II Paris. Sean escalates from boosting cars and brawling in bars to assassination runs and top-secret sabotage missions. It’s always more fun to punch, shoot or blast your way through the Resistance missions than to sit back at HQ and read intel reports, so here are five tips guaranteed to cause maximum mayhem in the streets of Paris.

DYNAMITE DESTRUCTION: Normally you plant your explosives on a prime target, light the fuse and run for your life. You only have a few seconds to escape the blast radius, so you can’t always set up the ideal explosion. However, you can set your dynamite without a fuse and detonate it from long range with a well-placed bullet. It’s precision damage, except just remember that if your bullets can detonate the dynamite so can the enemy’s.

BURN, BABY, BURN: Once you get your hands on a Terror Flammenwerfer, you’ll turn the Nazi’s book-burning flamethrower against them and spark up a few unplanned BBQs. It underscores the meaning of “friendly fire,” so watch it around allies, but you don’t even have to hit enemies directly to kill them. Spray the area and watch as pants, coats and gloves burst into flame and send the bastards screaming to their charcoal graves.

SMASH-UP DERBY: Stolen vehicles help you cruise around the city in style, and you can also transform them into weapons. Besides running over errant Nazi foot soldiers and crashing through roadblocks, you can accelerate to full speed, aim at a target, then jettison out of the vehicle before impact. If you strap some dynamite to your speeding projectile, it’s an even bigger boom! Though you’ll need to earn that ability.

JAWBREAKER: Soften up enemy combatants with a couple of quick punches and follow with a strong punch to the kisser. Even bulky Nazis go down quickly with a flurry of relentless jabs. Throw in a hefty kick once in a while, or really punish an enemy once you unlock the Haymaker perk.

The Saboteur: Prima’s Official Game Guide is now available in print and digital download http://www.primagames.com/guides/display.php?isbn=9780761559566. You’ll get maps of all mission areas as well as an overview map of the entire game world, with labels for tons of hiding spots, pick ups, and more!

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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Two major milestones were reached on the seventh day of December 2009. I turned 30, and Nintendo released the most legendary handheld adventure game ever made. I’ll leave it to you to determine which event merits greater fanfare. (Note to site admin: please do not make a poll out of this!)

What an incredible game Spirit Tracks is. Everything that made Phantom Hourglass so wonderful has been improved. Motoring around the Overworld by train is a blast, and to my surprise, it was even more enjoyable than sailing the ocean was in Phantom Hourglass. Though the train-based combat is similar to those engaging nautical skirmishes, the biggest thrills came from the villains I couldn’t defeat: enemy trains that chase after Link’s trolley, ending his adventure if they manage to ram him. Shifting gears and altering course just moments before a head-on collision produced some of the biggest thrills I’ve experienced yet on the DS.

Driving the train was also a joy due to the constant eye candy. Rather than being surrounded by endless ocean, you’re treated to scenic views of dense forests, rolling hills, rocky mountains, and snow-covered plains. Whenever I wasn’t blasting pesky enemies or obliterating trackside objects with my trusty cannon, I found myself slowly scanning the horizon in constant awe of the visual splendor the developers were able to produce from such a tiny a game cartridge.

There’s also a big and satisfying twist! I don’t want to spoil it for you, but when you first fire up the game, it’s revealed in the opening cinematic. I knew instantly that this was going to be a memorable adventure. And that it was.

Spirit Tracks just never disappoints. The adventure is huge, the production values are top-notch, and as we’ve all come to expect from Zelda games, there’s just so much to see and do. Rest assured we’ve left no treasure chest unopened in our sizeable guide, which boasts a versatile walkthrough and pages of checklists to ensure you never miss a thing.

Turning 30 isn’t something I really wanted to do, but I was literally begging my betters at Prima for a chance to write the Spirit Tracks guide. Looking back at the project, I now recall a haze of long hours and late nights, but I couldn’t have asked for a better way to ring in my fourth decade. Thank you Prima for this special gift; it’s just what I wanted. And thank you Nintendo for continuing to innovate and reimagine, even after all these years. Growing up with you both has been a wonderful ride.

Happy Holidays!

Zelda: Spirit Tracks
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From Brawl to Smash-Up

TMNT Smash-UpI’m now at the tail end of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up guide and I just received frame data from Ubisoft. I do most of the fighting game guides for Prima and I always ask the developers for frame data, but this is the first time I’ve actually gotten that request fulfilled. I’m quite pleased to announce that frame data will be included in the Smash-Up guide. I’m just debating on how best to present it (a separate chapter or part of the character chapter).

In other news, I wanted to briefly touch on the differences between Super Smash Bros. Brawl and TMNT: Smash-Up. I’m moderately active on Smash Boards, and I know many competitive Smash Bros. players are looking at TMNT and comparing it to both Brawl and Melee.

While I can’t give too much away at this point, and there’s a section in the General Strategies chapter of the guide that covers this slightly more in-depth (I say slightly because this is a TMNT guide, not a guide on transitioning from Brawl to TMNT), but I can say that the game does not play like Melee. It’s much closer to Brawl, but it’s still quite a bit different. Knocking players out of the stage (referred to as ring outs in the game) is not the focus of combat like it is in Brawl. Some stages have easier ring outs than others, but there aren’t recovery attacks (Up+B in Smash) in the same way they’re presented and used in Smash. Smash Attacks also perform differently and must be setup differently.

The stun system in TMNT will add a new level of depth to competitive Smash, but overall I think Smash players will have to view TMNT as a brand new game and not an extension of the Smash series. It’s also important to look at TMNT as the first game in a series and not the fourth Smash title. Having three previous games allowed Brawl to advance the characters and refine the gameplay (although I know a lot of competitive players would have rather seen Melee 2 instead of Brawl). If you want to compare TMNT to Smash, it would be best to compare it to Smash 64 since that’s the first game in the series. You can’t expect the refined gameplay you’d find in the fourth installment in a series. For example, the number of characters in TMNT is far less than the number of characters in Brawl, but if we see three more games in the TMNT series, I’m sure the characters count will meet and possibly exceed that of Brawl.

Now I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with TMNT. I think Turtles fans will enjoy it and it does have some depth for possible competitive play. However, I don’t want reviewers and competitive Smash players to immediately write the game off without taking into account that it’s the first in the series. It’s difficult not to directly compare TMNT to Brawl, but I don’t feel it’s a fair comparison given the history of the two franchises.

Getting back to the gameplay, I’ve read some comments on Smash Boards about how some players feel the game lacks depth and will cater to novice players without offering much for competitive play. This is not a review, so I won’t offer a definitive opinion on the matter, but as a competitive player I feel that this game is focused on TMNT fans as opposed to the tournament scene. Aerial combat takes a back seat, and ground combat at higher levels of play is more about evasion than anything else. There’s down falling and other high level techniques from Brawl, but many of them can’t be used in the same way you’d use them in Brawl. Essentially, you can’t play TMNT at high levels like you’d play Brawl at high levels. There are no chain grabs, and the combo system is very different, etc.

I will be keeping a close eye on the reviews for TMNT as well as looking at what the competitive Smash community thinks of the game. I think reviewers will try to compare this too much to Brawl, which shouldn’t happen, but inevitably will. I also think that competitive players will try to play TMNT like Brawl instead of looking at it as a brand new game. I look forward to seeing what the competitive community can do with it though. You’ll have access to complete frame data in the guide, providing a lot more knowledge at release than you got with Brawl or any other Smash game.

I’ll keep an eye on the Smash Boards thread for TMNT and try to post another blog answering some high level questions before the game releases. However, the frame data in the guide should give competitive players a lot of insight into the game.

P.S. The glow around the characters is not an issue. There’s no reason to complain about it.

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East India Company Free eGuide Previews

Are you ready for East India Company?  The game releases tomorrow, but you can prepare with free strategies while you preview the eGuide today!

Download East India Company Preview for Free!

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First Four Chapters of Overlord 2 Guide

Overlord 2 places you in command of a horde of minions as you spread your evil throughout the land and work towards conquering the people. This is not an easy task. Our guide will help you learn how to control your minions and progress through the campaign to dominate or destroy the lands of your realm.


Download the first 4 chapters free
!

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Rich DoD, Poor DoD

There’s a great financial lesson in Dawn of Discovery that is especially timely today: If your assets are greater than your liabilities, you’ll be rich. Conversely, if your liabilities exceed your assets, you’ll be poor.

So what are liabilities and assets? Well, an asset is anything that makes money, and a liability is anything that costs money. In Dawn of Discovery, houses are assets; each one generates a steady stream of tax revenue that goes directly into your pool of gold coins. Production buildings are liabilities, because they cost money on a regular basis.

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Houses make money.

As you play Dawn of Discovery, you’ll build more houses and production buildings than you can possibly keep track of. Fortunately, there’s a handy figure in the bottom left corner of the screen that tells you exactly how you’re doing financially; this is the balance figure. It subtracts the money you’re spending from the money you’re making. If it’s positive, then you’re making more than you’re spending. If it’s negative, then you’re spending more than you’re making.

This is the most important piece of information in the game. Every financial decision you make begins with the balance number. For instance, let’s say you’re making way more money than you’re spending, and you have a balance of +500 gold coins. You have a wide enough margin there to build any production building you want. If you build one with a maintenance fee of 10 gold coins, you’re still 490 gold coins above breaking even. On top of that, you’re regularly adding about 500 gold coins to your savings. You’ll be rich and powerful in no time!

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Production takes money.

If, on the other hand, you have a balance of -25 gold coins and you build an extensive production line that costs 250 gold coins in maintenance fees, then you will have a balance of -275 gold coins. This will quickly chew through your savings, and then you will go into debt. So, you have to finance those production facilities with new assets. That sounds fancy, but all it means is that you need to make more money if you want to spend more money. To do that, simply build a bunch of houses to increase your tax income. Once you’re above a balance of +250 gold coins, you’ll be able to afford that facility without tipping your balance in the wrong direction.

To learn more, you could read an econ textbook…or you could just check out Prima’s ridiculously informative Dawn of Discovery strategy guide!

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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Chapter 3 Walkthrough

In the third chapter of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood you’ll have to face the sheriff in the first of many showdowns. Find out how to kill your opponent in this and every showdown with part 3 of the official walkthrough.

Includes a map with locations of all Secrets, Money Bags, and Weapons!

cojch3

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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood – Chapter 2 Walkthrough

In the second chapter of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood you’ll head to the McCall family Homestead. Check out the strategy for getting through the homestead with your brother alive.

Start exploring Atlanta, GA with part 2 of the official walkthrough.

Includes a map with locations of all Secrets, Money Bags, and Weapons!

cojch2