I have some basic Flash knowledge, and would like to brush up on my ActionScript and start learning how to make some basic games.

I almost pulled the trigger on this book, ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University, until I read the following snippet from this review:

Chapter 11 is a Platform Game. You control a character, you run and jump, collect a couple of items, land on a few baddies heads and try to find the exit. It's a very simple game and this is a tiny chapter overall in the book - which I found surprising given that platform games are generally extremely complex when done properly. This isn't really done properly and reads like filler to me. The levels are built entirely within the Flash IDE, block by block. Each block is then 'read' by the AS so a rudimentary collision system can be constructed. The hero and baddies are inserted and that's pretty much it. The jumping of the hero is particularly bad, the collision is also a little suspect. I imagine a younger wannabe Flash game developer would love to create a Flash Mario affair, but sadly this goes about it in entirely the wrong way. You get a platform game at the end of the chapter, sure, but it isn't a very good one.
Can someone explain what he means here, or if he's just full of hot air? I figure if I'm going to take the time to learn, I may as well get it right the first time. The game may be played here.