Fallout New Vegas: Prima Official Game Guide [Paperback]

First off, the guide is pretty good, as in it does what most previous guides have done with the expectations we generally have. There is a lot of information that is packed into it.

However, there are a couple of problems with the guide that have bothered me since buying it, and I was a big fan of the guide they created for Fallout 3. Unlike Fallout 3, the makers of this guide decided to go cheap and developed a guide that didn't have zone maps included in it. Usually, the huge map is broken up into 9 major sectors, and you have a copy of that sector in the book itself. Instead, they decided to include one large map, and you are expected to refer to the map in order to figure out where anything is. This is massively impractical for anyone who buys a strategy guide, because most people aren't going to want to keep unfolding out this huge map every time they want to figure out where something is. And if you decide to hang the map on the wall (which is a two-sided map, so you end up only able to look at one half of the included map, meaning it's impractical for hanging up unless you're a moron or have too much money and decide to buy two strategy guides just so you can look at the content by hanging it up on the wall). Usually, I like to have the strategy guide right next to me while I'm playing, but a huge fold out map is ridiculous whenever I want to look up where I am in the game. Honestly, going the cheap route was the wrong way to go with this product.

Several bits of the information are just wrong. Not sure why, unless they made changes after the strategy guide was developed, but it just feels sloppy.

With all that said, it's still a pretty extensive map. Just don't allow your in game life to rely on it because you might be looking for refuge and suddenly discover it's just not there.

Fallout: New Vegas is an enormous game. It is quite easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of side quests available (not to mention item hoarding, and exploration). While this game is new, there are very few resources available. This guide has all of these resources that you would be searching for on the internet.

The guide contains:

- Information on creating characters
- Information on Ammo, Items, Guns, Perks, Companions, and Crafting
- Full Bestiary
- Main Quest Walk through
- Full Side-Quest Walk through
- Detailed maps, and "Tour of the Mojave Wasteland" (breakdown of all locations and what they contain).

Pros:
The information on building the ideal character is very nice. The info on all of the perks, attributes and items are extremely helpful. This entire section is called "Training" and has plenty of knowledge available whether you're a veteran or are new to the series. There are charts that explain how each crafting item is made and where the items can be found. It also explains the different ammo types. There is no lack of detail in this section.

The walk through's are excellent. The main quest is sorted from the side quests and is broken down into three acts. The walk through design is almost flawless. Whether side quest or main quest, they both have detailed flow charts with all possible actions if you don't feel like reading through the details. So if you're doing a quest and don't feel like comprehending loads of information, this gets the job done well.

If you're the type who enjoys reading many details on the quests, this is available as well. So you can choose between if you feel like reading a simple flow chart, or reading full details on the quest.

It also contains information on how high of attributes you need to pass barter, speech, intelligence etc challenges.

The back of the book has full maps of each location and what items are available at these locations.

Cons (if you can call them that):
Some of the walk through's leave out small details that you need sometimes (such as "One for my Baby" quest: it does not inform you that you must wait until a certain time before a certain action can be taken).

Some of the maps in "Tour of the Mojave" do not contain the items listed. While most of the time it is accurate, occasionally it is wrong.

The guide feels rather cheap, which it $15, but I'd still expect better quality (amazon sells it for $15, many stores sell it the same for $25)The book's pages feel rather cheap. They are thin (similar to a magazine or catalog). The binding is rather weak and towards the front and end of the book it is more severe.

Overall:
This guide is excellent. It will help veteran players (such as I) and novice players find their way through the enormous game. I could see this becoming obsolete within the next few months as the Fallout: New Vegas wiki is completed. Nevertheless, this is out now, and is highly accurate.

LOVED:
- Art section in the back. Had some great pictures of the posters you see throughout the game.
- Detailed fold out map. Printed on both sides, with every collectible, point of interest and easy to read grid format.
- Quest TREE! Shows the entire quest line and options. Saves so much time... as oppose to the Borderlands guide which just listed it by mission number and just casually mentioned a quest had a pre-req with no page number to find said pre-req. In the FNV guide, it'll let you know exactly what your actions lead to. Even has some alternatives.
- Suggested character builds. I went with a generic build in FO3 since I didn't really know any better. Avoided the mistake this time and went with the suggested power armor and weapons build the guide had. It'll keep me on track for the perks I want late game. There are quite a few suggested build types so you are bound to find one to fit your style of play.
- Layout of all towns and shows you what items are to be found in each building.
- Has a warning for every game play change between FO3 and FNV.

NEEDS WORK:
- Towns are sometimes listed without their zone coordinates. This happened to me early one while looking for the detailed map of Goodsprings. Eventually found the coordinates and flipped the appropriate page.
- The pro's and con's of each faction could use more detail. There is an intro piece on each but I had to go further into the walk-through to see how exactly siding with one side cut off others, including sub-factions. I went with NRC because... well I'm from California. Wish I had more of an idea of what I was getting into.
- Missing at least one of the Free Quests. I ran into one in Goodsprings that was not listed. It was the typical damsel in distress ruse from FO3 so I knew what was coming. Though, it would've been helpful to know there are few items at the end that worth it.

DISLIKED:
- Length of art section. Wish it had a few more pages.

This guide is definitely worth the price and a must have for people who want to experience the entire game. It is high quality, easy to follow, and very informative.