Renzatic on 20/7/2009 at 19:44
Quote Posted by Ulukai
I seem to recall the F-15 Strike Eagle (II, maybe) manual being the size of a small potting shed in relation to any other game manual I owned, with detailed explanations of lift, drag, aileron rolls and how to lock onto a MiG-27 1 pixel wide.
Not a very hard thing to do. Back when F-15 Strike Eagle 1 & 2 were new, a pixel was roughly as large as a good sized fist.
All joking aside, that is probably one of the neater things I've seen recently. If I had the money to spare, I'd get some plywood, a bucket seat, 8 good sized monitors, a big gyroscope, and do nothing but play flight simulators all day long.
Al_B on 20/7/2009 at 20:41
I think with that money I'd rather take flying lessons. If you do go for it then make sure you don't fit the ejector seat like he did or have a very, very high ceiling.
Renzatic on 20/7/2009 at 21:04
Like any sane government official would ever trust me with a pilots license.
Al_B on 20/7/2009 at 21:10
Quote Posted by Renzatic
sane government official
Please don't use words that don't go together - it's confusing.
Zerker on 20/7/2009 at 21:16
The Ultima and Wing Commander manuals are good examples, as are the earlier Blizzard manuals. I'm going to go with Age of Wonders as my example. 186 pages that are almost letter-sized paper full of information about just about every aspect of the game, including an in-manual tutorial, backstory, the editor and complete stats on every unit in the game.
The Sim City 2000 manual is pretty impressive as well. Containing a gallery of city-related artwork, poetry, and a short stories at the end of the manual was a very nice touch.
Al_B on 20/7/2009 at 21:31
Quote Posted by Zerker
complete stats on every unit in the game.
I found that a little off-putting with some games. Manuals that contained details of every weapon, upgrade and creature that you could encounter spoiled some of the suprise. I prefer games where the introduction of these things is as part of the in-game narrative, not by randomly encountering it on the pages of an instruction guide.
Serious Callers Only on 20/7/2009 at 22:01
RAMA came with the book rama II inside the box... awesome, just awesome.
There was a old dog-fighting game, not Red Baron that came with a binded manual, full of photographs and diagrams of the (many, many) planes and war photos and shit.
Brad Schoonmaker on 20/7/2009 at 22:28
Quote Posted by Stitch
You know, as much as I miss those juicy manuals of yore, for the most part they were either unnecessary or a symptom of inferior game design. They typically served to either explain gameplay or convey back story, but these things are better done in-game anyway.
This is probably true of many recent games, but most games I bought from the 90's were awesome on their own merits and if it came with a manual or back story journal, I was really enthused about reading what tidbits there were included.
Terra Nova hasn't been mentioned. It's manual has plenty of extras not otherwise fleshed out ingame. And the illustrations add so much, too.
Shadowcat on 21/7/2009 at 03:33
Yeah, the Terra Nova manual is a good 'un. The amount of effort put into creating the fiction in that game was pretty impressive on all levels, really. Thief's piddly little manual was a crushing disappointment after the Underworlds, System Shock, and Terra Nova (not to mention the Flight Unlimited 1 and 2 although, as discussed, the sim genre does tend to raise one's expectations in this area).
Really great manuals are definitely a lost art. The small packaging nowadays may preclude the extravagant sorts we used to see, but most people just don't even try nowadays :(
Redguard was mentioned already, but I loved the 'history of Tamriel' that came with it. IIRC they reproduced it for Oblivion(?), because it was still the best written description of their game world.
I have a largish box packed full of game manuals, which I now have the urge to peruse when I get home :)
CocoClown on 21/7/2009 at 08:49
Quote Posted by Serious Callers Only
RAMA came with the book rama II inside the box... awesome, just awesome.
There was a old dog-fighting game, not Red Baron that came with a binded manual, full of photographs and diagrams of the (many, many) planes and war photos and shit.
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe? That had a cool ring-bound manual
