As games evolve and become more complex, they start out as fun, but they can often be so challenging to the average gamer that it becomes frustrating. If you’re stuck on a level, have no fear, we’ve pulled out 6 of the best gaming guides you can find on the Internet for cheats, walkthroughs, and FAQs.
1. IGN
IGN is the epitome of game guides on the Internet, and usually most people debate whether it or GameSpot possesses the better style between the 2 giants. While GameSpot tries to preserve the old-school feel of the yesteryears with a touch of personality and nostalgia that older gamers can relate with, IGN does away with the human aspect completely and goes for a mechanical and objective image. Its delivery of content is sleek, modern and efficient, all wrapped up in bright lights, perfect sound placement, and shiny packaging much in the same way Apple does.
Having said that, IGN excels where it is supposed to, and that is in its provision of game guides, which are nothing short of effective. They have game guides for almost every game of every console on the planet; and if you need extra help, they also have numerous video playthroughs, specific strategy guides and reviews on Youtube which may give insight into things you may never have realized.
2. GameSpot/GameFAQs
If you’ve been around in the tech industry since 1996, that means you’ve withstood the tech bubble of the 2000s and the recent financial collapse of 2008, which means people think you’re relevant. One of the oldest names in PC gaming guides, GameSpot has managed to maintain its top status in gaming by constantly revamping their techniques to keep up with the competition and what users want.
Their pages are updated daily with game guides, reviews and developer commentary, and the range of guides they provide are truly dynamic – there are guides in the form of videos which walk you step-by-step through the game (hover over the Cheats tab for more options); while its sister site GameFAQs is frequented by elite gamers who write their own ‘wiki’ of guides for gamers to peruse, so you actually have at least 2 or 3 different walkthroughs to consult for any one game.
3. CheatCC
Back in the day, CheatCC (Cheat Code Central) was an absolute behemoth of a game guide collection, with tons of walkthroughs and cheat code databases stored on their servers. It lost its top gun status in the early 2000s by retaining its 1990s grey-against-white look while IGN and Gamespot made major cosmetic revamps, but that doesn’t mean that it lost the terabytes of cheat codes and guides still locked away in its databases; and today, CheatCC is still a household name in providing cheats to gamers worldwide.
Since then, CheatCC has kept with the trends and updated its look to suit modern tastes, while retaining the essence of the game guides that it has long been known for. A quick search for Megaman X3 (a game I played in 1998) reveals that the guides are still there, so if you’re looking for old-school advice, you have some form of assurance that you’re getting quality stuff.
4. 1UP
1UP.com is one of my favorite go-to websites for gaming. Unlike the heavy relevance of user-contributed information that its mightier brethren employ, 1UP seems to write its own guides, so each game’s walkthrough bear the same distinctive style of the 1UP trademark. It also means that instead of being heavy walls of text, the editors have some measure of control over how their guides turn out; as a result, it’s picture-heavy, with some guides having more pictures covering its real estate than words.
As far as usefulness goes, the heavy picture reference makes it easy on the eyes and easy to follow, although the non-traditional style keeps it free of personal bias and hence useful perspectives which many walkthrough contributors usually pepper throughout their work. However, if you’re a fan of clean, convenient help, 1UP will become a favorite of yours soon enough.
5. SuperCheats
SuperCheats does not boast the massive library of walkthroughs that the above established sites have, but where it excels is in quick-and-easy gaming advice, cheat codes and short, helpful hints in the same degree that the bigger gaming sites possess. Perhaps a blessing of its sparser inventory of game guides, it’s an in-and-out, no-hassle kind of place, where you don’t have to wade through deep columns of menus just to find what you’re looking for.
For instance, if you’re just looking for the location of certain hidden items on IGN, you’d have to wade through a huge body of unnecessary text and meticulously hunt for what you’re looking for due to the enormous amount of information they provide – which is good for an overall guide, but less so on a contextual basis.
On SuperCheats, you can search for the name of the game, choose from a menu of perhaps ten cheat items, and they’ll be listed out in a clean, orange-against white interface. And then you’ll be on your merry way again.
6. Mahalo
Mahalo is something like a hand-crafted Google, where answers are provided by humans as opposed to software bots and crawlers searching the Internet. It covers a wide variety of topics, but I’ve never used it much except for its video games section, and for good reason – it’s an excellent nest for video game resources.
Mahalo contracts game editors and freelancers in the industry to write and provide their numerous guides, and everything I’ve seen so far is nothing short of spectacular. What especially draws me is their play-by-play walkthroughs with accompanying thumbnails on the sides, so if you’re the type who switches back and forth between games and reading guides, this is an exciting alternative to the pause-then-play-then-pause-then-play style of video guides, or the boring wall of text of traditional game guides.
Mahalo also makes excellent video walkthroughs, which can be found abundantly on Youtube and other video streaming providers. Their clean narrative, thought-out delivery, simple style and plain useful gaming advice sometimes makes me wonder why they’re not among the top 3 already.
This post was written by Aaron Pek
I use mahalo pretty often. Its good one
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