Fallout: New Vegas Collectors Edition Guide [Hardcover]

One thing even the critics of the last two fallout games can't argue with is that they are immense. Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas are much loved for their depth of atmosphere and attention to detail. That legacy is not lost within this game guide. A really great and comprehensive low-down, brimming with hidden nuggets.

The main chunks of the book come down to:

Training -
Which does a great job of explaining your character statistics, skills, perks and points. And showing you exactly how to spend them. How to interact with factions. Keep hold of your manual that came with the game, it is recommended reading.

Factions and Bestiary -
The section chronicals the major factions within the wasteland, what kind of objectives each faction has and what kind of action they undertake. Along with this general information is individual statistics for all the possible adversiaries you may face. Very useful.

Guns & Gear -
Self explanitary really. A List of every single weapon in the Wasteland and their attributes, the gear (Armour, hats all the way through to sunglasses). Finally followed with all the ingestibles, and the positive and negative concequences of taking such items.

Main Quests -
Again, quite self explanitory. This is the guide for the main body of the story, with all its set pieces and faction choices. This sets out in plain English the consequences of the choices you are presented with, the conversation variables you can have and all the problems you may be setting yourself up for at a later date.

Side Quests -
A great low-down on the multitude of side quests that populate the environment and what makes Fallout such a great game to get your teeth stuck in to. This secion describes which facion the side quest is favouring, suggested experience for each quest (a 1 to 5 rating), lists the quests in alphabetical order for easier retrieval and also highlights which side quests are integral to the main quest.

Tour -
This section is to acompany the poster map that is provided with the book. The map gives and overall perspective of the Mojave Wasteland, the Tour section in the book reveals a more detailed look at each part of the map.

Appendices -
Appendix I Details of the various endings.
Appendix II shows the challenges and all their details (how to complete them and what the rewards are).
Appendix III Details the achievements and trophies
Appendix IV Vendors, weapon upgrades and Gambling dens. Showing the name and location of every Caravan player, Gambling den, Healer, Repairer, Trader and Weapon mods can be bought.
Appendix V Crafting locactions. Location of every campfire, Reloading Bench and Work Bench.
Appendix VI, VII and VIII Collectables,
Appendix IX Skill books, these add perminent points to your skills, and are well worth finding.
Appendix X Skill Magazines, adding a temporary boost to skill.
Appendix XI Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Caps, where to find these collectable caps.
Appendix XII Unique Items
Appendix XIII Unique Weapons
Appendix XIV Wild Wasteland Oddities, some of the occurances if you choose the Wild Wasteland Perk.

The book then ends with some great art from the game and giving the game a bit of history and background.

Right at the back you get your pullout map.

This a really great guide, and very much recommended for a Fallout fan, you shouldn't play without it.

The main gripe for me in this is that it lacks an alphabetical index in the back of the book. Also there should be more cross references between quests, places, NPC's and other objects. The Collectors Edition has a nice section of concept art and development notes in the back and it is also hard cover. For price difference between the standard and collectors edition is not too big, which is why I would still buy the collectors edition. The character archetypes, different lists and tables were the most useful part of this book. Another favourite of mine is the pull out map. The main advantage of having a book of this sort is that it is easy enough to find what you need from there rather than browse the internet. For example, if you want to quickly check where a particular unique item is this book makes such diversions from the game convenient.

It is not a masterpiece but well worth the money.

i played fallout 3 without a guide and i got through and enjoyed it, u can do the same with new Vegas but i decided to buy this book and see how i do, not played the game as of yet although flipping through the book makes the game look so immense i am over whelmed by the sheer size and combination of ways to play im almost gonna be spending many hours playing and knowing where the dead ends and useless stuff is i wont waste time, if u love this game or even its predecessors get this book the amount of info and detail in it is astonishing and u get a map well worth using and the art inside is nice and makes u realise the effort put into this game was a labour of love.