instruction books

[Worgen]

I just got prototype and while its so far a pretty kick ass game I was very disapointed with the book, Im one of thoes freaks who actualy likes a good instuction book with games and lately Ive noticed that more and more publishers are either skimping or just essentualy having a card with some basic instructions on it.

So Im curous what escapist thinks of instuction books and what games youve found that have ones youve really liked, I guess my faves were from the lunar games, working designs always did great books

 

[VitalSigns]

I completely back this, Instruction books used to have good info on all characters, weapons, maps, back story etc. Now there weak. I can get that a well written instruction manual doesn't make or break a game but it was something that games on last gen consoles put together much better.

 

[squid5580]

Man I have given up on instruction books. Most include half the important info you need to know then they fill it up with 4 pages of credits and 2 blank pages for notes. A waste of trees IMHO

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

I never have even bothered to read one since... damn I can't remember when.

 

[Hazy]

You will never get a better Instruction Book then Manhunt's (Written as a buyer's Catalog) or Earthbound's (Written as a Faux Traveler's Guide to the World of Earthbound.) I mean, The thing was a bloody Strategy Guide!

 

[quiet_samurai]

It's called a training walkthrough which usually is at he beginning of most games, and the fact you can usually bring these training sessions back up through the pause menu makes instruction booklets obsolete. The only reason they used to have them was because old school games didn't have enough memory for additional content like this.

 

[Jodan]

Ive always like the ones that were basically little art books

 

[theSovietConnection]

X3: Reunion had a good instruction book, about the last good one I've gotten

 

[Zeekutar]

Perfect example of a game NEEDING a full instruction book:

Homeworld 2

granted the game itself was not as good as the originals but when the previous 2 games had about 50-100 pages of backstory each, you knew what the hell was going on.

Flash forward a generation with Homeworld 2 and they throw you into a galactic struggle that is vague and means almost nothing to you. The worst of it is, they had the whole backstory written, including a FULL explanation of the first 2 games and even thousands of years before those.

Alas, the desire to save a few pennies on a game that cost $50+ made a lot of people wonder what anything in Homeworld 2 was all about.

Instead you get the dreaded 6"x9" card that has some keyboard commands that you never use, and a game that COULD have been better than the first two if it weren't so vague and confusing.

Oh, for the days of my childhood, when purchasing a game meant reading the instruction book and backstory on the ride home from the mall.

 

[Mirroga]

GTA 4's Instruction booklet was the best thing I've seen even. It immersed me better than the actual game (which was shitty).

MGS 4's Instruction booklet was also great, considering it was actually helpful and informative, with additions of nice style for a booklet.

 

[Neotericity]

Brother's in Arms "training manual" was interesting, there was a few more clever ones, but they seemed to have slipped my mind.

 

[GyroCaptain]

Kameo had an instruction booklet introducing characters, items, and so on, but left out things like shops. I mean, uh, grr; testosterone, manly games.

The Halo games had decent instruction manuals, and most games from Ensemble and other RTS games give you a good briefing and reference.

 

[thiosk]

There should at least be a freely downloadable PDF of the booklet, if not an actual physical book.

Everything needs documentation, even though, if you havn't figured out an FPS by now, i don't know what to say, exactly.

Spoiler

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

I love the enclosed instruction books!

 

[randommaster]

The instruction bool;et is a good place for art that you won't find elsewhere in the game, especially 3D games that don't use handdrawn illustrations.

Also, the instruction book usually tells you a few things that the tutorial doesn't.

 

[Worgen]

nintendo usualy does good books but lately they have been craming in other languages in them so the books are huge but repeated like 3 times

 

[megapenguinx]

I like a good booklet for more complex games. However I haven't read one in ages, not since SSBB first released.

 

[RnAoDm]

Bring back the instruction booklets and lose the training portion of games. People new can have a quick read. Veterans that pick up controls like a second nature can learn as they go.

One thing that annoys me mostly with FPS games is they always start with the "use left stick to move" or "Something is moving above you, time to flick the right stick up!" Some games allow the tutorial to be skipped which is great but others force you through it even on repeated times through after completion.

Perhaps introduce a common control systems tutorial on the ps3 menu or 360 menu. Then only put the learning sections into games that stray from the basics.

 

[RheynbowDash]

IMHO, Oblivion had the best written instruction book, even if you had the Non-Collector's edition, it gave great detail.

Kind of off topic: I am SUPREMELY anal about instruction books, if a game doesn't have the original box and instruction book with it, I won't buy it. No matter how bad i want the game.

 

[The_Deleted]

I hope we don't lose the instruction booklet. Some of 'em smell great.
I'm still pissed we lost the inlays from DVD's.

Kind of off topic: I am SUPREMELY anal about instruction books, if a game doesn't have the original box and instruction book with it, I won't buy it. No matter how bad i want the game.

This too. I found a copy of Killer7 a while back. Got it home from the shop (CEX) and found no booklet. Haven't looked at it since and probably won't until I find a copy with the booklet.