Rating: 
Summary: How to Hire the Freeman Group
Review: If you want to learn to write, pick any Writer's Digest book on the topic of your choice and you'll be fine.If you want to design a game, I recommend just about any other book with the word "game" in the title. You won't learn any of that here. On the other hand, if you want to know how to hire David Freeman and the Freeman Group, this book is for you. In general, there are 2 types of "How to" book: 1) "How you" books, which actually try to teach you something; and 2) "How I" books, which explain how the author will do what he does as soon as you hire him to do it. This is definitely a "How I" book. Finally, any book that sums up the plot of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as "Two Major Characters Change Places" (capitalized because this is one of the vaunted "1500 Emotioneering Techniques") is not going to teach you anything useful.
Rating: 
Summary: Deep and Interesting
Review: Mr. Freeman has captured, in a delightfully readable way, enough practical techniques to help me master my craft (and inspire my art) from here until I cack. My disclaimer: I am a playwright and a choreograher so I am jumping genres here. That disclaimed, I devoured the book and am now going back section by section, rewriting my current script utilizing his methods for creating deep and interesting characters, plot structures, dialogue, etc. Mr. Freeman makes the claim, and I concur, that it is the subtle things, not easily discernable, that raises the magic and artistry and captures the audience. He teaches carefully layered "deepening and interesting" techniques, i.e. "simple ways to create complexity" that he says will bring the players to your game and develop a loyal following for your product. I believe the book is improving my competency by (the cliched) leaps and bounds. (Freeman suggests "find the cliche and throw it away".) We shall see what audiences think when my next play opens!
Rating: 
Summary: fluff
Review: The book has some good ideas -- but they are incomplete. If you want The Rest of the Story you will need to pay Freeman for his services. Example: Freeman says he has a list of over a thousand character traits for creating characters. If he has such a list, it wasn't included with the book. The pages in the book are beautiful; it is a well-crafted book -- just like a fancy brochure. Caveat emptor.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, if you really need it...
Review: This book deals with techniques game writers can use to grab players attention. In cluded in the book are all the techniques the beginning writer can use to make their game more interesting. It does NOT cover anything about game design, but then again, it wasn't meant to ;) Too many games suffer from boring, cliche scripting; make your game different, and buy this book! It's the best career decision you'll ever make...
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing!!!
Review: This book feels like a big PR piece for the writer who sounds like an egomanic. He does not even seem to understand the whole idea of game play! Some sort of washed up screenwriting teachier trying to apply his ideas to game development. I found this book almost unreadable - the ego and references to his life really get in the way. You have to really sift through so much attitude and filler to get to any points that are generally covered in most screenwriting books - but far better.
Buy this book if you want an expensive ad for David Freeman.
Rating:
Summary: Very disturbed by the reviews here
Review: This book has about 10 anonymous, 5 star reviews that all sound the same. I'm VERY suspicious that these are fake reviews.
I've read parts of this book and I understand why most of the non-anonymous reviewers have problems with it. While it has some interesting aspects, it doesn't go very in depth and the amount of ridiculous buzzwords (like Emotioneering) make it hard to swallow.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK DELIVERS WHAT IT PROMISES.
Review: This is THE book everyone at my game company is reading. I like:
1. The tons of techniques for creating emotion in games (weaving emotion right into the game designs -- these techniques go far beyond "writing")
2. The excellent examples showing how to use each technique.
3. All the impressive art.
4. Freeman's humor. (He's very funny, in a left-field kind of way.) Freeman knows his stuff, since he uses these game design and writing techniques in games he's worked on for Ubisoft, Sony, Activision, Microsoft, Atari, Vivendi Universal Games... Errrg! I've had TWO of these books swiped off my desk by others at my company. Therefore, be warned, Freeman's book contributes to crime. If you want recommendations, check out the back and front covers. This book has been endorsed by Wll Wight (The Sims), Scott Miller (Max Payne), Mike Morhaime (Warcraft; Diablo), Raph Koster (Star Wars Galaxies, Chief Creative Officer for Sony Online), and Warren Spector (Deus Ex). That should tell you something about the importance of this book. If you want to know how to create emotion in games, stop reading this review. You should be reading Freeman's book instead.
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK DELIVERS WHAT IT PROMISES.
Review: This is THE book everyone at my game company is reading. I like:
1. The tons of techniques for creating emotion in games (weaving emotion right into the game designs -- these techniques go far beyond "writing")
2. The excellent examples showing how to use each technique.
3. All the impressive art.
4. Freeman's humor. (He's very funny, in a left-field kind of way.) Freeman knows his stuff, since he uses these game design and writing techniques in games he's worked on for Ubisoft, Sony, Activision, Microsoft, Atari, Vivendi Universal Games... Errrg! I've had TWO of these books swiped off my desk by others at my company. Therefore, be warned, Freeman's book contributes to crime. If you want recommendations, check out the back and front covers. This book has been endorsed by Wll Wight (The Sims), Scott Miller (Max Payne), Mike Morhaime (Warcraft; Diablo), Raph Koster (Star Wars Galaxies, Chief Creative Officer for Sony Online), and Warren Spector (Deus Ex). That should tell you something about the importance of this book. If you want to know how to create emotion in games, stop reading this review. You should be reading Freeman's book instead.
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