The Scoreboard #13

Ticket to Ride

Best Achievement: Canadian Content (25 pts.) In an Xbox Live match, connect all Canadian cities to win. – In our April 2008 issue, game-scribe Susan O’Connor wrote “We’re hardwired to ascribe rationale and logic and motive to any situation we find ourselves in” when referring to stories in a particular story-light game. In Ticket to Ride, the amount of possible hilarious Canadian stories to ascribe to this Achievement are endless: a Winnipeg train robbery wherein the bandits are after the final supply of maple syrup on this side of the Canadian Shield; building an illegal trade route for delicious French fries, gravy and melted cheese during the Poutine Prohibition; or simply getting the heck out of Montreal and to Calgary, away from the French... It’s all great! On top of that, the badge is a pretty cool little maple leaf, which in itself deserves “honours”. Oh yes, also Gamerscore.

Worst Achievement: The Ticket Master (20 pts.) Keep all 5 Destination Tickets at the beginning of a 1910 Mega Game and win. – The Ticket Master wouldn’t be so bad, if not for one little thing. It’s an alright Achievement – heck, it’s a downright good one. The challenge is there, and it requires a skilled player to execute on it. The problem? You need to buy an unavailable DLC pack to unlock it. Same goes for the Au Naturel Achievement, which requires another DLC pack to unlock its 15 points.

Easiest Achievement: Basic Training (5 pts.) Complete the Tutorial. – The tutorial, like most instructions, is simple and requires little to no effort. Reading comprehension is optional. It is worth checking out to learn to play anyway, since many of Ticket to Ride’s Achievements require you to, you know, win.

Hardest Achievement: Loco Motive (30 pts.) Complete 8 or more Destination Tickets during a single match. – Talk about one heck of a workload. It’s a huge risk to take on 8+ Destinations, let alone wrap ‘em all up, but if you manage to pull it off, the reward is proportional both in-game, and in-Gamerscore. If you’re lucky, you can manage to connect three, four or more routes on the same coast, which will make your life a great deal easier. Who knew building train routes could be so... intense?!

Time Investment vs. Payoff: 4 (out of ten) – Expect to spend a good amount of your day playing multiplayer, and let’s hope you’re winning matches repeatedly. If you’re not kicking all sorts of train-engineer ass, the Achievements will remain locked up in the yard till you can prove your worth. Play smart, and play plenty, and you’ll be fine.

Overall: 6 (out of ten) – Aside from having Achievements that are restricted to unavailable content you’ll probably need to purchase, Ticket to Ride is a good Arcade romp. Don’t expect to get many points if you aren’t doing well, as mentioned, but it’s fun to learn the game. If you’ve purchased it, and you’re in to these kinds of games, you’re bound to spend a lot of time behind the game pad anyway, so the goods will come in due time to those who are patient.

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