Everyone expected Xbox 360 to deliver a slew of next-gen features when it launched, but no one expected that a little concept called achievements and a Gamerscore would literally change the way we play games.
Here at the OXM, we know that some achievements can make a game better — like how making it through a level in Call of Duty 3 without firing a shot for the Close Quarter Combatant 100-point achievement made a nearly forgettable game fun for a moment. We also know the pain and suffering of enduring controller-throwing quests to unlock the holy grail of achievements, like trying to find all the hidden orbs in Crackdown for the Orb Hunter achievement. Ugh.
With that in mind, our new, website-only column The Scoreboard is designed to look at games from a different perspective than our typical 10-point review. We want to give you the skinny on which of the newest games every month deliver the best and worst achievement experience, the easiest and hardest points, and which games are worth your overall gamerscore-fluffing while. Look for updates twice a month!
Without a doubt, this anime-inspired action/adventure game has garnered the most achievement-related news this month after some intrepid achievement-hound figured out how to unlock every achievement in the game by standing in one corner and hitting B for a minute or so. I reviewed the game in the Holiday 07 (and gave it a 7.5, it wasn’t bad!), and played through only unlocking four of the five achievements after hours and hours of play. Having watched the video on YouTube, we had to try out the trick. Sure enough, we had unlocked 1000 points in less than two minutes.
Best achievement – One with Combat (300 points): Achieve a hit counter of 50. Unlocking this using the suggested trick was like gulping down ice cold mojitos after being lost in the desert for a week, especially after playing through the whole game and feeling like I’d never unlock this. Also, how often do you find one achievement that yields 300 points, at least one that doesn’t require you playing (or simming your way) through 30 years of football?
Worst Achievement – One with Combat (300 points): Achieve a hit counter of 50. If you play the game without the trick, this could take you the whole game to unlock, and then you still might not do it. Bummer.
Easiest Achievement – Um… all of them.
Hardest Achievement – With this tip, none of them.
Time Investment vs. payoff – Using the tip, it’s an 11 out of 10.
Overall – 11 (out of 10) Speaking sheerly in terms of achievements, Avatar is the unicorn of gamerscore-obsession. Forget Madden, Open Season, Pimp My Ride, and Cars. There’s no game that will boost your gamerscore by 1000 in 120 seconds flat like Avatar . Our only concern is that you'll miss the game if you don’t stick around to play it after unlocking everything, which we recommend, because, for its genre, it’s a good game.
From a pure achievement-perspective, Guitar Hero 3 was a bigger challenge, and therefore a bigger let down than Guitar Hero II. Sure, you can get points for playing through on all the difficulty levels, but they’re measly — case in point, you only get 20 points for the Right Hand of God achievement, which you unlock for beating the game on Expert, the most difficult level. That includes beating the friggin’ devil, Lou, in a Battle Mode face-off that is unbelievably expletive-inducing when played on Expert. Bottom line, you can play through the whole game on Expert, unlock a few note-streak and multiplier achievements along the way, and end up nabbing less than 300 points. Lame.
Best Achievement – Tone deaf (5 points): Beat any song on the expert difficulty with the game's sound options turned down to zero. This achievement epitomizes what Neversoft did with Guitar Hero 3 — making a music-centric game that focuses on everything other than the music — case in point, this achievement for beating a song without the volume on. Still, we wouldn’t have tried if it wasn’t for the lure of those 5 points and the bragging rights, so it technically changed the way the game is played.
Worst Achievement – Buy a Guitar Already (15 points): Play through a career on the Hard or Expert difficulty using a standard controller. Seriously, this is taking a cool idea way too far. Maybe task gamers with beating 5 songs with a standard controller, but the whole game, for 15 lousy points? Meh.
Easiest Achievement – Ready to Rock (5 points) Complete the tutorial. You can bag this in 10 minutes without thinking, albeit for only 5 points.
Hardest Achievement – Tie between The Inhuman Achievement (15): Complete “Through the Fire and Flames” on Expert, and Meet Your Maker (20): Beat one of the creators of Guitar Hero 3 at their own game. Both of these are ridiculously tough, just for different reasons. If you can beat that immeasurably fast Dragonforce tune, well, this Bud’s for you. Trying to get the Meet Your Maker achievement is especially hard because the odds of just popping onto Xbox Live and facing-off against some Neversoft dev dudes are slim to none, at least for most of the masses. Not a smart idea for an achievement, boys.
Time Investment vs. payoff – For the average Guitar Hero player, you’ll play the crap out of the game and barely break the 200 points mark. In short, play for fun, not for points.
Overall – 5 (out of 10) Though playing through a song with no volume or the entire career with a standard controller offers a totally different take on the game, the average Guitar Hero player won’t be able to goose their Gamerscore with GH3. Additionally, many of the achievements task you to do too many things outside of the parameters of the regular gameplay, which can sometimes be good, but in this case, is lame.
Call of Duty 2 was one of the first games to separate the boys from the men when it came to achievements. While most players have around 200 or so points for beating the game on normal difficulty and completing the tutorial, only the most elite players were patient enough to beat each of the 10 missions on Hardened for another 200 points, much less on Veteran for the whole 1000 point pie. We’re happy to say Call of Duty 4 is way easier on your gamerscore patience and if you play it right, you’ll be unlocking achievements every 15 to 45 minutes or so. Still, in true Call of Duty fashion, there are still plenty of unreasonably challenging obstacles to be faced-off against (thanks Infinity Ward, you bastards).
Best achievement – New Squadron Record (20 points): Complete the cargo ship mockup in less than 20 seconds. You know you’re playing an Infinity Ward game when you run into a challenge like this one minute into the game. Running the cargo ship course in under 20 seconds will take you a bunch of tries, but it’s hella rewarding hearing that “ba-gum” sound unlock once you do. Infinity Ward, we love you and we hate you.
Worst Achievement – Down Boy Down (20 points): Survive a dog attack. Maybe it is too reminiscent of the hand-to-hand rifle scuffles in Call of Duty 3, or maybe it is just too predictable, but fending off a charging dog just didn’t do it for us, especially not doing it a bunch of times in a row.
Easiest Achievement – Daredevil (10 points): Kill an enemy while blinded by a flashbang in the single player campaign. You can unlock this on the first real tango you see, who happens to be a drunken soldier stumbling through the first lower hall you storm into on the ship. Because it doesn’t have to be an enemy flashbang, throw the flashbang yourself, get all blind-like, and spray the hall with lead. Achievement unlocked in 20 seconds of gameplay.
Hardest Achievement – Deep and Hard (90): Complete the game of Hardened or Veteran difficulty. It goes without saying that one of the premiere gamerscore challenges around this month will be beating Call of Duty 4 on Veteran, though it’s nowhere near as hard as doing the same on Call of Duty 2.
Time Investment vs. payoff – It’s decent considering you can play the game at any difficulty level to unlock at least half the achievements. Our suggestion is to play through once on the default setting and then go back after the Veteran achievements if you have the patience and stamina for it. Doing so will at least nab you roughly 500 points.
Overall – 8 (out of 10) You’ll be unlocking achievements progressively, giving you a decent sense of gamerscore accomplishment, and you can feel good about grabbing a good helping of points without going into teh 1337 territory if you don’t want to.
Best achievement – Enemy of the Poor (5 points): Grab and Throw 25 harassers. Even though it’s only worth 5 points, you know you love manhandling those damn pests who keep getting up in your cookies. Enough with you!
Worst Achievement – Any Defender of the People achievements (20 points each). Complete every free mission in Acre, Damascus, and/or Jerusalem. Three words: 210 side missions. All divided into the endlessly repetitive subcategories of interrogating, pick-pocketing, saving citizens, and reaching all the high points. To unlock these, you have to do everything. Bah! We would have rather seen an achievement for offing Garnier de Naplouse, the Hospitalier Leader in Acre, without being touched by those psycho bald dudes that keep trying to knock you off balance. Those guys suck!
Easiest Achievement – Welcome to the Animus (20 points): You’ve successfully completed the Animus tutorial. Like it says, you’ll unlock this just by starting the game. Play another 10 minutes for the Hero of Masyaf achievement for another 20 points. From there, points get doled out much more slowly.
Hardest Achievement – Any of the Keeper Achievements (10-25 points). There are over 400 flags to find scattered around all the territories, and though they’ll gross you a total of 105 points, since when is flag-collecting a cool hobby for assassins (as Paul mentioned in his review)?
Time Investment vs. payoff – Considering you can play through the game and unlock around 300-400 points without going into all the side quests, it’s not bad, but it isn’t great either. It will take you significantly more time to do every investigation and finish every side quest before offing the allotted dudes and finishing the game.
Overall – 7 (out of 10)
Best achievement – Never Give Up (30 points): Get three personal revenge kills in a Fragile Alliance session. If you’ve played Kane & Lynch’s multiplayer mode, you know Fragile Alliance is all about one decision…to backstab or not to backstab. To get this achievement, you have to have been betrayed 3 times in one session, which sucks, but is tolerable if you find a way to kill the sumbitch traitors and ruin their game. Nice!
Worst Achievement – Behemoth (10 points): Stop the roaring beast. This wasn’t a bad achievement outrightly, it was just attached to a goal in the game — shoot the driver out of this 3-story tall tractor truck — that is close to impossible until you figure out the one place to stand to get the shots off. Let’s just say it took us more than a few tries, during which we verbally blasphemed half a dozen times. The key to unlocking this? Standing on top of the van next to hole you’re defending.
Easiest Achievement – Impact (20 points): Escape from death row. You’ll do this just by playing through the first mission of the game, which isn’t particularly hard.
Hardest Achievement – Crowd Control (30 points): Surgical precision in the nightclub. We played the game on Morphine difficulty, which is the toughest, and trying to escape from the nightclub while defending Lynch and taking out all the flash-light-toting guards was hard enough. Trying to accomplish the same feat without hitting a single innocent club-hopper, who run directly into your line of fire every second or so, is damned near impossible. Maybe on the lower difficulty (Aspirin, anyone?) this would be easier.
Time Investment vs. payoff – It’s about average. The game is relatively short and entertaining enough and even if you’re not going for specific achievements, you’ll unlock about 300-ish just playing the game and a bit of the multiplayer. If it were longer, it wouldn’t be as worthwhile
Overall – 7 (out of 10) Kane & Lynch is fun, pretty simple and straight forward and, with a little effort, will yield a manageable 500-ish points in under 10 hours.
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So what are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree on our take? Let us know in the comments below. Also, send us your best, worst, easiest, hardest, and overall score on your favorite game, and we just might pick it to run in our Reader Scoreboard, which we'll run once a month. Oh, and you’ll get a swanky OXM t-shirt to boot!
Ghostx187
April 07, 2008 at 7:53pm
Oldguygamer, Your gamerscore and achievements are locked together with your gamertag and your XboxLive account or user account. You can delete the save data for any game and your gamerscore will still be there as long as your account is regestered.
K1NG KHAOS 91
March 24, 2008 at 5:32pm
For the "Meet you're maker" achievement I got my first GH3 match on XBL
oldguygamer
March 22, 2008 at 12:20pm
From the oldguygamer: I'm just atarting to become interested in the achievement and gamerscore things. I play games on other platforms as well, so this took some time to get my attention. My questions: Where are my achievements and gamerscore saved--On my system or XBOX Live? What happens if I buy a new system--will I start over from zero on both achievements and gamerscore? If all this is saved on my system, can I save it to a memory card and transfer to another system? I have a second system (still in the box for now) that I plan to install in the next room. If my achivements and gamerscore are on XBOX Live, I could conceivably log on to either game system and both would add to my achievements and gamerscore independently. I understand that individual gamesaves would be unique to each system.
ROBBMAC
January 21, 2008 at 10:06am
Mile High Club on Veteran is easily the hardest achievement I've attempted on the 360 in 2007. That level alone is harder than the sum of missions in COD4 on Veteran.
AfroNinjaZack
December 12, 2007 at 7:17pm
I agree with Pachoey. Achievement scoring has definitely been affecting what games I decide to buy. However, it's still not as big an influence as how fun it is. For instance, I would not buy Act Zero just increase my score a few points(Played it at my friends house for five minutes and thought it was TERRIBLE.) Gamertag: AfroNinjaZack
Pachoey
December 12, 2007 at 2:52pm
Dude, I'm glad to see you guys doing a column like this cause I feel like the factors behind my decision to purchase a game as of late have been firmly ensconced in said games ability to ratchet up my gamerscore over say, other less compelling aspects such as, story or gameplay. If there was a game, say, that just let you click a button to raise your gamerscore - I'd so be there. Me and Marlee Matlin.
chops228
December 11, 2007 at 2:55pm
This is a good column. But I sorely disagree with one thing. Pimp My Ride is in no way shape or form and easy game for achievements. I have a 70,000+ gamerscore, so I have played a lot of games. Out of all of the games I have played, Pimp My Ride was probably one of the toughest. First of all, the game is just god aweful so trying to get all of the achievements is a huge chore. Seriously, Pimp My Ride is the worst game I have played in my life by far, which is hard to belive because I got all the achievements on Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. Second, the game randomly freezes a lot(seemingly more when you are close to finishing a level which takes about an hour). So, after you spend a good amount of time playing through the level, the game freezes and you must completely start over. Third, the game is just hard to figure out. If offers no help or guidance on what you are supposed to do. Without the Perfect Pimpage that is floating around on the internet, all 1000 points would be near impossible.
Axe Argonian
December 09, 2007 at 12:03pm
Alright then,I see your point. But when you review Mass Effect's achievements,I hope you go all Rambo on those Ally achievements. Playing through the game ALL OVER AGAIN doing ALMOST ALL of the quests with each team mate just isn't fun. Well,if you want the Conversationalist achievement in THE fastest way,just talk to Lucy every night from Day 1 to Day 6. Not to mention,you can just skip most of the investigation missions and just do the ones necessary to do those fun assassination missions. But you're right.Getting an achievement for dodging psychos while trying to kill Garnier would've been fun. But please let those Mass Effect Ally achievements have it when the time comes. P.S. Lol,have fun trying to get BioShock's new achievement. Axe Argonian out.
JaRocketeer187
December 09, 2007 at 10:14am
Wow, I never knew that about the Avatar game. You should have added Over G fighters. I was amazed how easy it was to get, I think it was 100 points for each mission completed.
Dan OXM (not verified)
December 08, 2007 at 1:32pm
I'd like to thank Axe Argonian for this fanboy drive-by.
Casey OXM
December 07, 2007 at 8:51pm
OK, Axe Argonian, first of all, the name's Casey. Second, I like Assassin's Creed, but I must've completed a Defender acheivement, having done all the shizzle in Acre to do, with one citizen left to save, done that and then unlocked it. Anyway, you have to admit, the way the game is set up, achievements-wise, you have to do alot o' crap to unlock stuff like Disciples of the Creed, Conversationalist, and yes the Defender achievements. C'mon, any way you slice it, the save citizen quests still suck, so I wholeheartedly stand my the Worst Acheivement score I gave it. Besides dude, where's the love? Why the big Axe to grind? OK, ok, I couldn't resist.
Axe Argonian
December 07, 2007 at 9:55am
The Defender of the People achievements were only earned by completing the Save Citizens quests ONLY. Here,look at this link,Casey. You might learn something and become a TRUE achievement-wise gamer. http://www.xbox360achievements.org/achievements.php?gameID=277 There! Complete all of the free missions that are DEFENDING. Why is it called "Defender of the People" Corey? What do the pickpocketing and informant missions have to with DEFENDING? Ask the guys on these forums. I got the achievement for JUST saving citizens. Corey,you've been PWNED.
Axe Argonian
December 07, 2007 at 9:45am
What a lie! You don't have to complete the 210 quests in Assassin's Creed! Casey,you just don't like this game. The Creed part was bull,because you only need to complete all of the SAVE CITIZEN quests in each district in order to get the achievement.Nothing more,nothing less. It's that easy.Casey,edit that and stop making excuses to dislike this great game.
dartvader1171
December 05, 2007 at 9:44pm
the GH3 achivements truly are too hard. however, the "Meet Your Maker" was my easiest achievement. now, this will be hard to beleive, but my second online game was against this absolutely terrible guy who quit after totally blowing the first 50 notes of a song, giving me the win. he just so happened to be a creator of GH3 so i was sorta saying,"WTF?" My gamertag is Dartvader117 if you want to see that i have it for yourslef. im terrible at the game by the way
Lan115
December 05, 2007 at 3:25pm
I couldnt agree more with the GH3 part... Neversoft must have been REALLY drunk when they came up withe the achievments :/
oO Z3R0 Oo
December 03, 2007 at 5:19pm
Yes it is the same. I got it today from a friend who already beat a developer.
djpotatohead
December 03, 2007 at 1:29pm
if the "meet your maker" achievement is anything like the "beat a developer" achievement on Project 8 then it is a viral achievement. So it might get easier to get down the road.
ethanjude
December 03, 2007 at 11:41am
Cool new feature, guys. During the first 6 months or so of my 360, I enjoyed achievements, but no where near as much as I love them now. Achievement points: How Microsoft tells you when you are done playing a game!
ScreechSkater
December 02, 2007 at 12:32am
This Scoreboard is a very welcomed addition to OXM Online. I dunno who this Casey guy is, but he definitely knows what he's talking about, especially with Avatar. I'll be renting that one to fluff up my gamerscore, and definitely checking back here for each new scoreboard. Keep up the good work, Case. <3
SoleSurvivor82
December 01, 2007 at 7:44pm
Are you guys serious? The hardest achievement for Call of Duty 4 was NOT Deep and Hard. The hardest achievement in that game is Mile High Club. That's the only one I haven't gotten.
blindmans wrath
December 01, 2007 at 7:25pm
yea its funny cause one day i jumped on GH3 and played this one dude that ended up quiting on me! Then at the end i got the meet your maker achivement! LOL....It was great![url=http://profile.mygamercard.net/Blindmans+Wrath][img]http://card.mygamercard.net/Blindmans+Wrath.png[/img][/url]
GMAN CLAN
December 01, 2007 at 3:57pm
Ha my little 8 year old brother played guitar hero three on his account and got the meet your maker achievment on his third match. i've played through AT LEAST 200 mathes and never got the achievment. Gah that pissed me off!!and yes GHlll is EXTREMELY hard to get achievements on. Neversoft went a little over the top with em this time.----My Gamertag is GMAN CLAN. Check me out on xbox live!
Rovert
December 01, 2007 at 12:53pm
actually there is a minor glitch in getting the "buy a guitar already achievement" all you have to do is restart the game with just a standard controller (assuming you've beaten the game on hard) then go to your profile where you have beaten it on hard and it will automatically unlock this achievement
saktapking
December 01, 2007 at 11:27am
I agree that Guitar Hero 3's acheivements are whack. They took what was fun about GH2 and completely ruined it in that game, Activision sucks. I also think that COD4 on veteran is waaay harder than cod2, one shot one kill is harder than anything you face in COD2.
MitchyD
December 01, 2007 at 12:50am
I thought a lot of these were backwards... I found killing a dog (yeesh. Sounds harsh!) much easier and more fun than the "Daredevil" achievement in CoD4. Also, the "Tone Deaf" achievement is whack lame. -- http://www.nukoda.com -- Gamertag: MitchyD88
ItchyTasty
November 30, 2007 at 9:23pm
Yes! Great idea for an article. All I need to do in Assassin's Creed are the flag achievements and the templar one, but I don't think I'll waste my time with those. As for COD 4, I got tired of dying so many times on Veteran difficulty that I started over on Normal just to finish the game. I also suggest that you play through on Normal first then go for the achievements on a second playthrough, the game stops being fun at about the third act if you don't.
PaperLantern
November 30, 2007 at 5:38pm
I would say the hardest CoD4 achievement is definitely the 'Mile High Club' achievement, for beating the epilogue on Veteran. It is HARD. You have one minute to do it, and you HAVE to follow an exact formula, and use your flashbangs at the right time. So many things have to go right for this to happen. here is a video on youtube of a guy doing it pretty well (it took me roughly 150 tries to get it): http://youtube.com/watch?v=FbYXV0UivpM&feature=related So tough.
Master Devwi
November 30, 2007 at 4:56pm
Cool article! I look forward to future installments.There is one thing I don't agree with, though. The Hardest Achievement in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. "Deep and Hard" is... well... hard, but it's definitely NOT the hardest. I have 1,000/1,000GS in Call of Duty 2 (it only took me 4 days - two on Normal and two on Veteran (check my Gamercard for proof)), but I still can't get the final achievement I need in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - the "Mile High Club" achievement. That would have been my pick for the hardest achievement in the game. You can unlock "Deep and Hard" without beating "Mile High Club" on Veteran.
