Rating: 
Summary: Fun fun fun
Review: I am a newbie to AOE both 1 and 2. I've had both games less than three months but I love them and am learning fast. I have Steven Kent's "MS PRESS Inside Moves Strategy Guide to AOE 1" and that is what prompted me to pick up this one for AOE 2 -- BIG MISTAKE.Whereas Kent gives incredibly detailed and useful advice and information that reveals hours of (fanatical) research (he even tells readers how to do their own experiments using the scenario editor), it is obvious, even to a casual reader, that Walker's advice consists of unresearched superficial assertions, no doubt deduced from looking through the user's guide. Unlike the Kent book, there is almost no detailed, in-depth information comparing and contrasting the units, the strategies, or the pros and cons of various technology research. Playing some of the walkthoughs only confirmed my suspicions that either Walker does not know how to explain himself thoroughly, (though he writes reasonably clearly) or he has never, not once, tried his own advice to see if it worked -- I suspect both suppositions are true. What were you thinking MS PRESS? I trusted you to hire an author that would be a credit to a great MS game. I'm going to bet that the Ensemble Studios book is much better -- given that they are the direct creators of the game and the other reviews of their book here.
Rating: 
Summary: The Kindergartener's Guide to Brain Surgery
Review: I am a newbie to AOE both 1 and 2. I've had both games less than three months but I love them and am learning fast. I have Steven Kent's "MS PRESS Inside Moves Strategy Guide to AOE 1" and that is what prompted me to pick up this one for AOE 2 -- BIG MISTAKE. Whereas Kent gives incredibly detailed and useful advice and information that reveals hours of (fanatical) research (he even tells readers how to do their own experiments using the scenario editor), it is obvious, even to a casual reader, that Walker's advice consists of unresearched superficial assertions, no doubt deduced from looking through the user's guide. Unlike the Kent book, there is almost no detailed, in-depth information comparing and contrasting the units, the strategies, or the pros and cons of various technology research. Playing some of the walkthoughs only confirmed my suspicions that either Walker does not know how to explain himself thoroughly, (though he writes reasonably clearly) or he has never, not once, tried his own advice to see if it worked -- I suspect both suppositions are true. What were you thinking MS PRESS? I trusted you to hire an author that would be a credit to a great MS game. I'm going to bet that the Ensemble Studios book is much better -- given that they are the direct creators of the game and the other reviews of their book here.
Rating: 
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: I am a rookie at AOK, so I thought this book might help me improve. I have played the game for only a couple of weeks and almost all the tips given here were things I had already learned in the course of playing the game. This book adds very little to the knowledge base of the manual and/or that which one obtains by playing a few campaigns. I felt it was a real waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: I am a rookie at AOK, so I thought this book might help me improve. I have played the game for only a couple of weeks and almost all the tips given here were things I had already learned in the course of playing the game. This book adds very little to the knowledge base of the manual and/or that which one obtains by playing a few campaigns. I felt it was a real waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Book does not add much value for experienced player
Review: I bought this book along with the game itself, so I read it from a beginner perspective. I would say that a novice would get some value out of it, but it would be of very little help to a player with any experience. My main criticism is that about half the book is devoted to descriptions of how to play the various civilizations. The author went into far too much detail on this. It would have been much better to talk about general strategies that apply to all the civilizations, and then maybe devote 10% of the book on some of the unique features of each civilization. I spend a few days going through this book while learning how to play the game. Afterwards, I bought the Prima's Unauthorized Strategy Guide and found it to be much more useful. I find myself referring to the Prima guide all the time to refresh my memory on certain aspects of the game (eg. before I play a civilization for the first time). I never refer to Walker's book. I got a sense that the author did not play Age of Kings thoroughly and in depth, and that the book was written too quickly.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for beginners...
Review: I found this book in a Italian bookshop in the Italian Version. I found it honest and useful if you want to start understanding more about this fantastic game. I agree it isn't for advanced gamers and that's full of common sense things, by the way I recommend it to those that are new to strategy games and want to discover the beauty of game without too much help from the outside...
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Spiffing!
Review: I must say that I disagree entirely with others who have written a review for this strategy guide. I think that it's great that the author gave so much information on each civilization; that way you can become an expert in one area. His advise is great and it works, and he seems to know a lot about the game. I do, however, agree that he should have written more general tactics, but a lot of the general tactics he explains when writing about the civilizations. His walkthroughs for each campaign and scenario are fantastic and prescise, and if I were you I would buy this guide in an instant. (By the way, I was about in the middle of between expert and novice when I bought this book.)
Rating:
Summary: Written by a guy who never plays the game
Review: I'm an expert online Age of Kings player.. I saw this book in a store and read it there.. Even though I only flipped through and read maybe 1/4 of the book, I was laughing like mad till I was finished. This book is a clueless waste of money. Go for the Sybex or Prima book, both of which are written by real experts with whom I'm personally acquainted. I'm quite sure the only good review was written by the books publisher, who more than likely hasn't played this game a day in his life.. it takes MONTHS to become an expert, you can't write 20 strategy guides a year and be an expert on all of the games.. so Mark Walker chooses to be an expert on none.
Rating:
Summary: What a joke
Review: I'm quite certain that "five star" review was written by the book's author. Anyone that's played the game online would laugh at this book. For a *real* strategy guide you should definitely get Prima's book or Sybex's book. Sybex's book had substantial input from top gamers and Prima's book was entirely written by top gamers. Who's ever heard of this author? He writes books--he doesn't play games. Good grammar dude! Now go write a dictionary and leave us gamers alone.
Rating:
Summary: Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings
Review: The Guide is Informative, the only thing wrong, in my opinion, is that it has no cheat codes.
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