Product Description

New opponents, new weapons, new game play: an entirely fresh challenge! The Official Resident Evil™ 4 Strategy Guide is the definitive supplement for what may easily be the best game ever. Countless insider hints, intelligent strategies and tired and trusted tricks from the pros make this work indispensable for Resident Evil™ fans. Every detail is clarified, every secret unveiled. And there’s more: the meticulously researched content is complemented by exclusive artwork, a stylish design and a removable giant poster. This strategy guide is the ultimate collector’s item!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #273910 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Very good guide!
I'm writing this as a dual-review to point out the differences between the future-press guide with the red cover and the Bradygames one with the blue cover. Both have similar content but they differ in one main way.

If you are looking for a guide with the basics of the game, tips for doing a speedrun and good guides on the extras of the game ie. Assignment Ada and Separate Ways I would advise you to get the future-press guide. It gives very good tips from taking down enemies to the fastest way to go around a bend (this makes a big difference on speedruns). The enemies chapter in this guide is excellent breaking down the Ganados into every type from the dynamite throwing types to the rocket launcher types. It gives an excellent guide to the basic game system and how best to order your attache case. The guide gives a full walkthrough on the target practice mini-game you will find at certain points in the game. It also gives an excellent guide to all the bosses in the game. Another thing is that you can download videos of some of the strategies using codes that you input into their website. Although this is good enough it is quite awkward as you have to input a different code for every single different strategy and I don't know why they didn't just include a DVD with these strategies with the guide.

The only real bad thing about this guide (though it is a BIG bad thing) is that the walkthrough of the main game is quite poor. I found it a little hard to follow at times and the maps in my opinion aren't that great.

Now if you are looking for a great guide to the main game I would advise getting the Bradygames guide. It uses double the pages to go through the game than the future-press guide does. It's step-by-step instructions bypass the future-press guide by far. The maps are also better quality and much easier to follow using a different picture for all the different kinds of bullets/shells/items. The future-press guide uses words instead of pictures and although this isn't terrible it still makes it hard to find certain things you may be looking for. The enemies chapter in the bradygames guide is good enough but does not break the ganados into all the different types. Also it has no walkthrough for the target practice mini-game.

Two more things... the future-press guide doesn't give a good guide to the Mercenaries mini-game. I think the Bradygames one is a lot better as it shows where the all important 30 second bonus kill times are while the future-press guide does not. Also both guides have cool double-sided posters included.

Overall:
(All Ratings are out of 5)
________________Future Press__Bradygames
Enemies Guide:____****__________****
Weapons Guide:___****__________****
Key Items Guide:__*****_________*****
Maps:___________****__________*****
Assignment Ada:__*****_________***
Separate Ways:___*****_________****
Bosses:__________*****_________****
The Mercenaries:__***___________*****
Main Walkthrough:_***___________*****
Other Extras:_____*****_________****

Overall:__________4 Stars_______4 Stars

At the end of the day it depends on what you want. If you have the money and love the game buy both guides. If you want a guide for everything except for the Main Game buy the future-press guide. If you want it mainly for the Main Game get the Bradygames guide. In my opinion the Bradygames one is slightly better due to how good the maps and the Main Game guide are.

Hope this review helps and good luck with your purchase.

Massively detailed and very nicely packaged
A game such as Resident Evil doesn't lend itself well to having guides written for it, as the to-ing and fro-ing for items/villains/bosses etc all has to be accounted for. There is the added danger of accidentally putting spoilers in, which has to be avoided at all costs!

Happily, this guide pulls it off with panache. It is divided into sections covering character control, weapons, bosses, "normal" emeies and, of course, the all-important walkthrough. The presentation is excellent, replete with colour photos detailing what to do and where to do it. It leads a player through the game without giving too much away too soon.

One minor gripe, though, is that some of the English text appears to have been translated (badly) from another language (probably Spanish). However, this doesn't occur often enough to detract from an otherwise excellent book.

RE4 deserved no less than an outstanding guide to accompany it. Exhaustive and beautifully presented... here it is.

A very useful tool
I first played RE4 without the guide, but loved the game so much that I wanted to complete it again so I could get all items, extras etc. I strongly recommend playing through the game without a walkthrough when you first play it. The guide will spoil the story & make things too easy on 'Normal' Setting. Only use the walkthrough for 'Pro' setting.

This guide is very comprehensive. There are detailed descriptions of all enemies & Bosses with strategies to defeat / avoid each one. There are maps for every area with all items, save points etc. There is also a section about weapons which gives valuble info on upgrades & where to find free guns. Add to this walkthroughs for the main game & sub-games (essential for the Mercenary missions) & you've got everything you need... almost.

I found that a couple of the strategies suggested for certain parts just get you killed on the hardest difficulty setting. Also, there are a few bits that require more detailed info than you are given. The 'Hall of Water' part could definately do with being extended. Finally, the guide seems to assume that you have a limitless supply of flash grenades & if you use them as often as the guide tells you to, you'll end up without one when you really need it.

Despite the flaws, this is a must buy for anyone who has RE4. It's brilliantly laid out with loads of original artwork & pre-production scetches of characters & enemies (plus a free poster of El Gigante & Leon). Refreshingly, the text is well written & easily understood. Not the garbled mess you often get with walkthroughs. Some parts of the game can get confusing but the guide will tell you where to go & what to expect (very useful for getting quick-time events right 1st time).

In short: Highly recommended.