rwilde |
Posted on 07/25/05 @ 06:07 PM
This utility is a microsoft word document that briefly covers several areas of AoK like playing against the computer, spawning units, mod packs etc.
THE UTILITY implies that you will become an expert by reading, but after reading through it, I think its utility is fairly minimal. You won't actually become an expert at all, but most likely remain a newbie, and perhaps a slightly confused one.
The guide itself contains the following layout
1. Introduction
2. Hints & Tips
3. Death Match Strategies
4. How to become an expert
5. Cheats
6. Scenario Design Tricks
7. Trigger Designs
THE PROBLEM is that each section is very short and barely touches on the topic before moving on. The best way to learn these many areas are reading in depth articles, playing online, reading old topics at the forums, watching recorded games, not cheating, playing good campaigns, tinkering with the editor and downloading high scoring utilities.
THE PRESENTATION is quite good, with an easy to follow layout, introduction, contents, and a nice title at the top. The spelling/grammar isn't perfect, which affects readability a little. The first section "hints and tips" is very specific, regarding making villagers and defense, and should be under another section.
The rest of the sections are very short, and therefore contain little information in each. The triggers section is the worst, only explaining how to spawn units and doing it very poorly. The cheats area shouldn't really be in the guide, it will only tempt newbies to cheat, and remain newbies for ever. It doesn't even contain all the cheats either.
This utility can't be rated in quite the same way as I normally would because it is text and not a map. Although the idea and presentation are good, I still don't think it is in the top 50% of utilities, and so doesn't earn a rating of 3. The guide is simply to short, and although that may make it more readble for your stereotypical newb from the Newb-Realms of Feupholphlath, who doesn't like reading a large amount of text, or have a particularly long attention span, they aren't going to learn a lot, and would be better learning each area in the ways suggested above.
All in all this utility tries to explain all of AoK in a couple of pages, and inevitably fails. |