Rating: 
Summary: Decent
Review: After messing around with tutorials and articles from the web about isometric game programming for some weeks, I decided to look for a book that teaches some real knowledge. And because most of the people at GameDev.net loved this book, I was willing to spend a small fortune consisting of 75 Euros here in Germany.Unfortunately I was to be disappointed. Concerning the game programming I was taught almost nothing new, the tutorials I saw on the web before obviously did their work. When things were about to get interesting - the chapter was considered finished. The author just shows a way to solve a problem, but doesn't come up with general thoughts. Line-Of-Sight calculations are not handled at all, whereas I think this would have been one of the most interesting topics, especially in multi-level maps (which aren't handled off either). This book should have been titled "Introduction to Isometric Game Programming". Somehow I've got the feeling that this book is aimed at younger people that have just started programming games, and it's been written in a rush... and last but not least: the price is simply outrageous.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice for the ABSOLUTE beginner...
Review: I bought this book because LaMothe was the editor, and i thought he actually made at least some suggestions to the writer. I won't take your time, so here it is:
Good:
-Covers everything needed for a basic game, for beginners.
-Couple good ideas, like mouse-mapping, path-finding
Not Good:
-Part I:First 230 pages are about windows programming, an ISO book should not cover 'my first windows program' topics...
-Part II and III:This supposed to cover the ISO stuff, from basic to hardcore (only the basic is there)
-Part IV:World generation and Path finding (the only good stuff in the book) Recap: The author handles the subject as Civilization II was the ONLY ISO TYPE GAME, and Fallout, Diablo does not exist, however the introduction states you will learn the secrets of creating games like NOX (Diablo clone). Explanation of seamless tile generation is lame (not the real deal), does not cover any of the 'interesting' topics, like: wall transparency, rendering of large objects, different types of scrolling (character centered, character framed), and so on... Suggestion:
-If you want to write a small, turn based strategy game (definetly with flat tiles), and you are a beginner with programming and windows, buy it.
-If you want to write a Fallout or Diablo-like ISO game, do not buy this book, you can get all the basic info this book cover from the net... I think i will write a similar 'book', and put it to my webpage, only that will cover all the stuff this one left out... Edocecrous
System/Game programmer,
Mynergy
Rating: 
Summary: The Fog is Lifted
Review: I enjoyed this book so much that I just couldn't put it down for two readings. Mr. Pazera manages to cut through the dense fog that usually surrounds books like this. The examples are many and well written. The style is witty but to the point. Here is an author that I would truly like to meet in person. He tackles a subject that could be a tangle of math and myth and puts in plain english and a lot of well commented C. It is such a joy to study, that I can hardly wait to put the code to use in my own projects. I look forward to mare books in this series from Prima publishing.
Rating:
Summary: The best on the topic!
Review: I have 3 game programming books, including this one, and this is by far the best one! It is suitable for those with little game programming experience and basic to intermediate understanding of C++, to those who have programmed for years, but have not explored the isometric style yet. I loved the author's style. It introduced new topics, explained them very thoroughly, and applied practical applications to them! In my other two books, I had the habit of becoming bored, skipping ahead in the book, and getting confused! One example of this style in this book is when learning pixel plotting and line drawing. Mr. Pazera teaches the basics, then combines it with the mouse functions to create a very simple, but functional, paint program! I would recommend this book to anyone who has a basic to intermediate (or advanced) knowledge of C++ but who has not explored the realm of isometric game programming. Congratulations on a job well done, Mr. Pazera!
Rating: 
Summary: Very frustrating book
Review: I have to recommend against purchasing this book, even for absolute beginners. The book leaves out far too much important information, focusing instead of aspects of isometric game programming that most programmers could figure out themselves in a few hours (or via a search on google).
For example, consider object selection. The author spends 23 pages on "simple object selection" - basically, figure out which tile a user clicked in and then figure out which units are in that tile. However, the really tricky part of object selection comes when objects are taller than one tile (which is very typically for isometric games; that's what creates the illusion of depth). The author only provides 7 pages on this topic and the lead-in paragraph here is "Since I spent a great deal of time on simple object selection, I can only really give you an overview of pixel-perfect object selection..."!
This is a common occurance throughout the book. For example, the important concepts of "fog of war" and "fine object placement" are mentioned, but no algorithms or code examples are provided.
As a beginner you may think this book will be worthwhile anyway, but trust me, it won't - you'll very quickly want to start working on more complicated concepts and this book will provide only frustration in those areas.
In a few sections, the book admits that it doesn't provide algorithms for real-time strategy type of games (which require complex object selection, fine object placement, etc.). Most of the examples seem to focus on traditional turn-based stategy games (think Civilization). So - if you're implementing a Civ-like game and not interested in branching out beyond that, this book may be worthwhile (hence the two stars instead of one), but if you're anything like me you'll want to expand your horizons beyond that and this book will leave you very frustrated!
Rating:
Summary: A decent book
Review: If you have never done any C/C++ for WIN32, don't expect to know just what the heck Mr Pazera is talking about. Although, if you haven't any other books in your library related to _C/C++_Game_programming_, and are die-hard to learn ISO-HEX; start here - and STUDY LIKE CRAZY! By this I mean memorize the first few chapters. It is detrimental to the rest of the book. Although it's still best to start with some knowlege of C/C++; it's not imperative in this book if you are diligent. Have fun, enjoy, and Good Luck!:>
Rating:
Summary: This is really BIG!
Review: Isometric games are my favorite! Coding it isn't a very easy task and this book are a God's hand in my keyboard. Fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Most Useful I've seen to date
Review: OK, this is not a book for raw newbies. Given that, the basic gloss-over of directDraw and Win32 is a bit redundant. However, I found the directSound chapter useful, as most books ignore that aspect. Given that, I will admit that I already know my way around DirectX and my current Iso project, being in Java, I didn't really need the DirectX parts. However, Ernest provides some WONDERFUL helper functions for budding DirectX programmers and doesn't hide things in yet ANOTHER framework. When the book gets into the guts of Iso programming, things really take off. Don't expect to glean everything out of it in the first read (which, unfortunately, too many think is possible). Read it until you get the basics down, and refer to it from then on. Since reading this, I've come a LONG way toward my own Isometric engine, and am still impressed with the information I can glean from it daily. I refer to his book at least once every couple of days. Ernest has always been a great help to the game programming community with his online tutorials and forum on GameDev.net. This book takes his knowledge and skill and passes this information on. In a world where most game programming books are simply C++ tutorials filled with a few examples, it's good to see all the theory in building an engine in one place. Get the sequal out, I'll pick it up too. Richard Ashkettle (aka Eboz)
Rating:
Summary: Readable Reference Book
Review: Solid step-by-step delivery of what it takes to create ISO games. The first section is devoted to DirectX. Although it is long and doesn't mention much about ISO specific topics it lays the foundation for the following work. I assume this intro is really meant for ramp-up, refresher and reference. (Not so much fun to read page by page, but invaluable when actually coding.) The middle chapters carefully build on each other to create a full iso-engine and game framework. This includes design choices like tile navigation, scrolling issues and image strategies. The last section includes bonus items and "must haves" like mini-map, world generation and fog of war. My favorite part of the delivery of this book is watching the calls to DirectX slowly disappear below the surface as they are wrapped in higher and higher level functions. I also enjoyed the personality the author injects into his descriptions. There were some sections where the code is "fast and loose" but remains informative. This was an enjoyable peek into the world of ISO programming and will be my starting point for any isometric programming I do in the future. Dinged one star for costing over $..., which is my arbitrary price ceiling for books - I paid list price.
Rating:
Summary: Solid and Accurate
Review: This book contains good examples of concepts, covers a broad range of items, and the code included with the book actually works! Unreal. I recommend it to anyone just getting started in this topic.
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