Pharaoh Strategy Guide Review II by Angel Reckless Rodent
Part II is the reason why most people will buy this guide - it's got walkthroughs of every scenario in the game (hmm...that sounds familiar).  But does that make up for the disappointment of part I?  NB - all their walkthroughs (like ours) were done on Normal difficulty level.

Rather than do these by chapters, I think I'll keep myself to making some general points.

Each walkthrough gives you the mission objectives (which appear in the game anyway, and which you can review at any time either via the ratings overseer or by pressing the ankh button on the control panel), and then an explanation of what should be put where.  In the early scenarios, where you receive certain structures for the first time, there is a quick explanation of what each building does.  However, these explanations aren't as good as the ones which appear in the game.

As with our walkthroughs, it gives information about which requests you'll get, but it doesn't give any concrete dates.   I'll forgive the author this - the dynamic requests engine used in Pharaoh renders such dates pretty much meaningless, unlike in C3.  One thing which is perhaps missing is mention of how many companies you should send when you receive a request for troops to fight in a distant battle.

If it's cheats you're looking for, then look somewhere else - since they haven't been released yet, you won't find any mention of them in the strategy guide.

Conclusion

So, is this book worth your $12.99, Can.$ 27.95 or £12.99?  If you've looked at the information available on the Internet, then you won't find anything new in here.  In fact, there are quite a few things you can find on the web that aren't mentioned in the book.

However, perhaps the main problem that this strategy guide faces is the fact that the manual provided with the game is so comprehensive.  Perhaps the most telling fact in all this is that the manual weighs in at a hefty 270 pages, the strategy guide has only 180.  If you still haven't read the manual, then I must urge you to do so - it's hugely impressive and will give you all the information you need to the point and concisely.

Without a doubt, this book will sell well, merely because many people want to get a different perspective on things.   The walkthroughs will go down well with those players who do not have access to the Internet.  However, I feel that I simply cannot recommend it to people who are reading this - simply check out the links page and you'll find plenty of sites out there with all the information covered here, and much more besides.

Reviewed by Angel Reckless Rodent