In January there is a Subscribers/Staff completion challenge, with the only prize being a few shiny forum awards and the like. However, I'd like to put up a decent showing and maybe even do quite well though it has to be said that the timing is fairly appalling if truth be told. In recent times I've been focusing on finishing up any number of games that were close to completion so that has left my list of games 'to do' looking a heck of a lot thinner.
With that in mind, and the fact I still want to finish off three games prior to hitting 300k, here is my plan of attack. First and foremost I'm hoping to complete Lego Lord of the Rings, Halo 4 and Halo ODST in order to get my 300 completions and then I can do plenty of prep work for the competition.
After those three are out of the way I plan on NEARLY completing as many games as possible ready for me to fire them up again in January, unlock one achievement, and snag an easy completion. There are actually a fair few games that I can potentially do this on and my quest has been helped immeasurably by a number of recent arcade games that are super easy. Here are some of the games I have in mind for my sneaky attack:
Tomb Raider Legend - just need to do the DLC, the last achievement is for completing it on Hard so I can leave my save before the last boss and finish it off in a few minutes.
Ghost Recon Future Soldier - more DLC. I'm hoping to mop up the online achievements this weekend which will only leave me with the extra single player missions to do. I plan on doing two of the three on Elite difficulty, getting all other achievements/challenges done and then I can go back, play one level, and complete the game.
Fighting Vipers - easy arcade game. Can unlock all bar one achievement in an hour, if that.
Virtua Fighter 2 - easy arcade game. Can unlock all bar one achievement in an hour, if that.
Sonic the Fighters - easy arcade game. Can unlock all bar one achievement in an hour, if that.
NIN2 Jump - can complete everything bar the survive for 3 minutes achievement, which should take me......3 minutes.
SVC Golden Axe - complete everything bar one achievement.
SVC Monster World - complete everything bar one achievement.
SVC Alex Kidd - complete everything bar one achievement.
SVC Streets of Rage - complete everything bar one achievement.
3D Ultra Mini Golf - do all achievements but leave ONE medal. Then just play that hole, pick it up and I'm done.
Cloning Clyde - complete all bar one achievement (probably leave one level to do).
Interpol - can leave one achievement or do entire game in a few hours. Either/or.
Dead Space Ignition - game takes a few hours, or just leave one achievement.
ilomilo - need to finish the game off, can leave one co-op achievement until last.
Shinobi - game takes a couple of hours or can leave one achievement.
Streets of Rage 2 - game takes a few hours or can just leave one achievement.
Secret of Monkey Island 2 - game takes a few hours, or I can leave a save right before the end.
Unbound Saga - game takes a few hours or leave one achievement.
Track and Field - game takes an hour or so, skill dependant though.
So twenty games right there but this is really just the tip of the iceberg, as I also have a bunch of Sonic games I could aim to complete and a few other games that are easy but may take a bit more time. I think if I can work on this list and get them all within an achievement of being done in the next month (very possible) then it will give me a massive day one haul to potentially drop. Not only will that give me a chance at glory, it will also be hilarious to see other peoples reactions.
You'll notice that most of these games are arcade titles, mainly because they will take far less time/effort to complete and because I have an absolute BUTTLOAD of games I've bought on XBLA and never gotten around to playing. This will help me out and give me an excuse to actually play through some of the games I've missed out on. Win win. I may also buy a few other arcade games that I know I can polish off quickly (like the Wallace and Gromit games, Duke Nukem etc) though that may come down to whether there are any good sales over the festive period. Fingers crossed.
I'm also hoping to start/finish some easy retail games I've got laid around the house as I really want to purge my collection in view of the fact that a new console is only a year or two away and, once it turns up, the chances of me playing through all of these old games will be negligible. Games I've already started (like Condemned 2) will also be high up the priority list.
With that in mind I'm going to do a general cull on my horde of retail stuff. I'll probably sell/trade in any games that I've not started that have online achievements or massive amounts of grinding to do. I'll keep any games that I can feasibly complete in single player, not to mention any RPG titles as I'm somewhat of a collector. The rest can go though, and hopefully a more manageable collection will mean I have more inclination to play the games that I choose to spare.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Halo 4 - same old or new and fresh?
I've spent a fair bit of time playing Halo 4 over the past couple of weeks. Not as much as I would have thought though, as the game is fairly short and sweet assuming you know what you are doing (and by that I mean: have played any other Halo game before). Be prepared for a few spoilers if you want to read on. Fair warning.
My first impression of the game was pretty good as I played it in four player co-op on Heroic difficulty. Playing any game in co-op is always a blast, regardless or sometimes in spite of the game itself, and this was no different. Though I will say that the on rails vehicle sections involving the Ghost (across the crumbling planet) and jet thing were frustrating due to bizarre checkpoints, insta-death areas and the fact a Ghost can seemingly flip itself on a perfectly flat surface. Good times.
Anyway, I loved the combat, the new weapons and the auto-sentry. It is also a lovely looking game and the storyline and ending were all really well done too. I will say that the game should scale to the number of players though. Having four people makes things an absolute joke on pretty much every difficulty and that's a shame. If you play Legendary difficulty solo, then a couple of Promethean Knights can be a challenge - do that same section with four guys and they are dead before you even know they were there.
I also did the first two lots of Spartan Ops in co-op as well, and we breezed through them all on Legendary. Again making the argument that a team of four pretty much breaks the campaign/Spartan Ops stuff. It's like an official cheat code or something. Having done all of that I just had the online stuff and my solo run of the campaign to finish off. By this point though I really liked what I'd seen, things were familiar enough to make me feel at home whilst offering enough new tweaks and enemies to keep me interested.
The online modes were more of a mixed bag, but that generally comes down to your own skill set and who you end up playing with. I played a bit of SWAT (as I'd enjoyed it on Reach) and found myself getting hammered by players far better than I will ever be. Some guys were ranked at level 50+ within days of the game coming out and after a month or so they will probably be the only ones left too, meaning it won't get any easier. Still I finished up a couple of matches to unlock some challenges and then moved on.
Next up was Capture the Flag, but again my team seemed unable to communicate or work together. I did well personally, defending the base and saving the flag from capture multiple times, but we lost time and again. It seems no one talks anymore and party chat has killed the ability to play team based multiplayer games with strangers. Instead it was just five people running around doing their own thing. So when you end up against a team with at least two people actually working together you get stuffed.
Bored of that I then moved onto Dominion.
Best. Mode. Ever.
Finally, here was a mode that gave you simple rules and pretty much forced you to act like a team regardless of communication. I did plenty of matches on my own but also played a bunch of games with friends with equally good results. In the space of a couple of days I went from having 1 online win to my name to having over twenty (along with the achievements) plus a bunch more challenges done.
I love that defending bases is as important as attacking them. I love building turrets and snagging power weapons when they drop in. I love plasma stunning mechs and blowing the crap out of them. I love that you can win a match in just over a minute if you are quick/good enough. I generally love this mode and, if I continue to play Halo 4 online, this is the mode I'll be going for. After a few days playing I think I've won about 75-80% of my Dominion matches and even when I've lost it has been a close run thing and still plenty of fun. Long may it continue.
After getting the online stuff done I then went back to doing my solo Legendary campaign. The game is much more challenging and interesting on your own, and tactical use of weapons often comes into play. That being said I'm not sure if it is the 'hardest' Halo ever as some people claim. I pretty much breezed through the whole game without too much trouble and even the last few sections, that contained multiple Knights, weren't too bad in my opinion. On the first few levels I even had some of the skulls on so I could complete certain challenges and it didn't make things that much trickier.
What I did find, was that if you kept most enemies at a distance (and this is especially true of vehicles like Wraiths) you can pummel them mercilessly without much response. The AI can be a bit dense, and if I used a Lightrifle and sentry combo I could easily deal with Knights from afar without fear of reprisal. It almost feels like cheating when you find a safe spot, kill everything in sight and then move on.
Having polished it off today, I was pretty happy with the game as a whole. It's great in co-op (but too easy) and playing it solo gives you much more of a challenge. The online arena is as great as ever, and I love Dominion (did I mention that?) in particular. I also like doing the challenges and Spartan Ops stuff as well, but feel like they are a touch too easy even on your own.
As it stands I'm a rank 26 in terms of my Spartan, and I should be able to get over 30 easily with the challenges (I'm currently at 19 and need at least 25) and Spartan Ops left to do. How much time I spend on the game after I complete it in a couple of weeks, depending on how hard the last Spartan Ops achievements are, will probably depend on whether my friends are playing the game or whether any future DLC turns up with achievements.
Don't get me wrong, I like the game, but I have a bunch of other titles to play too.
If I can get this bad boy done, along with Lego Lord of the Rings (another superb game), then I'll just need one of either Tomb Raider Legend and Halo ODST in order to hit 300 completions. At that point I'll be a couple of hundred points away from 300k as well. Hurrah!
My first impression of the game was pretty good as I played it in four player co-op on Heroic difficulty. Playing any game in co-op is always a blast, regardless or sometimes in spite of the game itself, and this was no different. Though I will say that the on rails vehicle sections involving the Ghost (across the crumbling planet) and jet thing were frustrating due to bizarre checkpoints, insta-death areas and the fact a Ghost can seemingly flip itself on a perfectly flat surface. Good times.
Anyway, I loved the combat, the new weapons and the auto-sentry. It is also a lovely looking game and the storyline and ending were all really well done too. I will say that the game should scale to the number of players though. Having four people makes things an absolute joke on pretty much every difficulty and that's a shame. If you play Legendary difficulty solo, then a couple of Promethean Knights can be a challenge - do that same section with four guys and they are dead before you even know they were there.
I also did the first two lots of Spartan Ops in co-op as well, and we breezed through them all on Legendary. Again making the argument that a team of four pretty much breaks the campaign/Spartan Ops stuff. It's like an official cheat code or something. Having done all of that I just had the online stuff and my solo run of the campaign to finish off. By this point though I really liked what I'd seen, things were familiar enough to make me feel at home whilst offering enough new tweaks and enemies to keep me interested.
The online modes were more of a mixed bag, but that generally comes down to your own skill set and who you end up playing with. I played a bit of SWAT (as I'd enjoyed it on Reach) and found myself getting hammered by players far better than I will ever be. Some guys were ranked at level 50+ within days of the game coming out and after a month or so they will probably be the only ones left too, meaning it won't get any easier. Still I finished up a couple of matches to unlock some challenges and then moved on.
Next up was Capture the Flag, but again my team seemed unable to communicate or work together. I did well personally, defending the base and saving the flag from capture multiple times, but we lost time and again. It seems no one talks anymore and party chat has killed the ability to play team based multiplayer games with strangers. Instead it was just five people running around doing their own thing. So when you end up against a team with at least two people actually working together you get stuffed.
Bored of that I then moved onto Dominion.
Best. Mode. Ever.
Finally, here was a mode that gave you simple rules and pretty much forced you to act like a team regardless of communication. I did plenty of matches on my own but also played a bunch of games with friends with equally good results. In the space of a couple of days I went from having 1 online win to my name to having over twenty (along with the achievements) plus a bunch more challenges done.
I love that defending bases is as important as attacking them. I love building turrets and snagging power weapons when they drop in. I love plasma stunning mechs and blowing the crap out of them. I love that you can win a match in just over a minute if you are quick/good enough. I generally love this mode and, if I continue to play Halo 4 online, this is the mode I'll be going for. After a few days playing I think I've won about 75-80% of my Dominion matches and even when I've lost it has been a close run thing and still plenty of fun. Long may it continue.
After getting the online stuff done I then went back to doing my solo Legendary campaign. The game is much more challenging and interesting on your own, and tactical use of weapons often comes into play. That being said I'm not sure if it is the 'hardest' Halo ever as some people claim. I pretty much breezed through the whole game without too much trouble and even the last few sections, that contained multiple Knights, weren't too bad in my opinion. On the first few levels I even had some of the skulls on so I could complete certain challenges and it didn't make things that much trickier.
What I did find, was that if you kept most enemies at a distance (and this is especially true of vehicles like Wraiths) you can pummel them mercilessly without much response. The AI can be a bit dense, and if I used a Lightrifle and sentry combo I could easily deal with Knights from afar without fear of reprisal. It almost feels like cheating when you find a safe spot, kill everything in sight and then move on.
Having polished it off today, I was pretty happy with the game as a whole. It's great in co-op (but too easy) and playing it solo gives you much more of a challenge. The online arena is as great as ever, and I love Dominion (did I mention that?) in particular. I also like doing the challenges and Spartan Ops stuff as well, but feel like they are a touch too easy even on your own.
As it stands I'm a rank 26 in terms of my Spartan, and I should be able to get over 30 easily with the challenges (I'm currently at 19 and need at least 25) and Spartan Ops left to do. How much time I spend on the game after I complete it in a couple of weeks, depending on how hard the last Spartan Ops achievements are, will probably depend on whether my friends are playing the game or whether any future DLC turns up with achievements.
Don't get me wrong, I like the game, but I have a bunch of other titles to play too.
If I can get this bad boy done, along with Lego Lord of the Rings (another superb game), then I'll just need one of either Tomb Raider Legend and Halo ODST in order to hit 300 completions. At that point I'll be a couple of hundred points away from 300k as well. Hurrah!
Monday, November 19, 2012
An update and probable failure
Or: How I managed to ruin my goal for the year.
Yes, it seems that despite all of my good intentions I am destined to trip myself up and generally make things more difficult than they should be. Basically in order to hit my target of 93% completion before the end of the year I had to resist starting any new games and then I would be able to snag enough achievements to get it done.
Unfortunately I then went and started Halo 4, which wasn't too bad as I managed to grab 43/49 achievements in just a few days AND I'm over halfway through my solo Legendary run plus I only need 8 more challenges for that achievement too. After doing those bits I'll just need the three Spartan Ops tasks once the relevant chapters are released and the game will be done. Yay! Probably won't stay as a completion for too long as no doubt DLC will be en route - but hopefully that will be held off until I hit 300k and my game completion goal. So, Halo 4 was a blip but one that I overcame.
Until I went and started Lego Lord of the Rings. DAMN! I got an early review copy and figured there was no point going through the game twice on two separate accounts so went and threw it on my tag. I'm hoping to complete it relatively quickly but even if I do so AND complete Halo 4 and ODST (giving me the three completions I need to hit 300) I'll only be left with about 300 points to play with (before hitting 300k) and will still need 28 more achievements to get up to 93% completion. That would require me to snag ONLY achievements worth ten points and under from games I've already started. A tough ask.
Barring me scouring my list and picking out 28 such possibilities I really can't see a way to accomplish said feat. So I guess I will just have to hope I get as close as possible.
My current outstanding list (excluding titles I can't get any more achievements on) is therefore as follows:
Assassins Creed: BH – 270/1000
Battlefield 2: MC - 500/1000
Beatles Rock Band – 130/1000
Bladestorm - 150/1000
Boogie Bunnies - 115/200
Borderlands 2 - 270/1125
Call of Duty: B. Ops - 1200/1700
Call of Duty: WaW - 1000/1500
Catherine - 35/1000
Condemned 2 - 50/1000
Disney Sing It HSM3 - 330/1000
Eets: Chowdown - 40/200
Fairytale Fights - 380/1000
Fallout New Vegas - 155/1655
Family Game Night - 1200/1850
Gears of War 3 - 1830/2000
Ghost Recon FS - 1000/1205
Guitar Hero Two - 320/1000
Halo 4 - 700/1000
Halo ODST – 930/1000
Ilomilo - 100/250
Kinect Adventures - 85/1000
Lego Harry Potter 2 - 200/1000
Lego Lord of the Rings - 175/1000
Lego Star Wars TCS - 260/1000
Perfect Dark Zero - 150/1000
Risen - 70/1000
Splinter Cell: DA - 670/1000
Star Wars: Republic Heroes - 365/1000
Supreme Commander - 110/1000
Texas Hold ‘Em - 105/200
The Sims 3 – 150/1000
Tomb Raider: Legend - 1065/1250
Vampire Rain - 650/1000
Where's Wally - 40/200
WSC 2007 - 550/1000
You’re in the Movies - 140/1000
A mere 37 games long - with a few that am fairly close to completing if I could just find the time. I'd like to get this list down to about 30 games (or less) by the end of the year, but I very much doubt I will find the time to do so.
Yes, it seems that despite all of my good intentions I am destined to trip myself up and generally make things more difficult than they should be. Basically in order to hit my target of 93% completion before the end of the year I had to resist starting any new games and then I would be able to snag enough achievements to get it done.
Unfortunately I then went and started Halo 4, which wasn't too bad as I managed to grab 43/49 achievements in just a few days AND I'm over halfway through my solo Legendary run plus I only need 8 more challenges for that achievement too. After doing those bits I'll just need the three Spartan Ops tasks once the relevant chapters are released and the game will be done. Yay! Probably won't stay as a completion for too long as no doubt DLC will be en route - but hopefully that will be held off until I hit 300k and my game completion goal. So, Halo 4 was a blip but one that I overcame.
Until I went and started Lego Lord of the Rings. DAMN! I got an early review copy and figured there was no point going through the game twice on two separate accounts so went and threw it on my tag. I'm hoping to complete it relatively quickly but even if I do so AND complete Halo 4 and ODST (giving me the three completions I need to hit 300) I'll only be left with about 300 points to play with (before hitting 300k) and will still need 28 more achievements to get up to 93% completion. That would require me to snag ONLY achievements worth ten points and under from games I've already started. A tough ask.
Barring me scouring my list and picking out 28 such possibilities I really can't see a way to accomplish said feat. So I guess I will just have to hope I get as close as possible.
My current outstanding list (excluding titles I can't get any more achievements on) is therefore as follows:
Assassins Creed: BH – 270/1000
Battlefield 2: MC - 500/1000
Beatles Rock Band – 130/1000
Bladestorm - 150/1000
Boogie Bunnies - 115/200
Borderlands 2 - 270/1125
Call of Duty: B. Ops - 1200/1700
Call of Duty: WaW - 1000/1500
Catherine - 35/1000
Condemned 2 - 50/1000
Disney Sing It HSM3 - 330/1000
Eets: Chowdown - 40/200
Fairytale Fights - 380/1000
Fallout New Vegas - 155/1655
Family Game Night - 1200/1850
Gears of War 3 - 1830/2000
Ghost Recon FS - 1000/1205
Guitar Hero Two - 320/1000
Halo 4 - 700/1000
Halo ODST – 930/1000
Ilomilo - 100/250
Kinect Adventures - 85/1000
Lego Harry Potter 2 - 200/1000
Lego Lord of the Rings - 175/1000
Lego Star Wars TCS - 260/1000
Perfect Dark Zero - 150/1000
Risen - 70/1000
Splinter Cell: DA - 670/1000
Star Wars: Republic Heroes - 365/1000
Supreme Commander - 110/1000
Texas Hold ‘Em - 105/200
The Sims 3 – 150/1000
Tomb Raider: Legend - 1065/1250
Vampire Rain - 650/1000
Where's Wally - 40/200
WSC 2007 - 550/1000
You’re in the Movies - 140/1000
A mere 37 games long - with a few that am fairly close to completing if I could just find the time. I'd like to get this list down to about 30 games (or less) by the end of the year, but I very much doubt I will find the time to do so.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Slow progress
I've not had much time for gaming this week, and the time I have had has been spent playing Halo 4. That issue is only going to get worse as I now have the latest Call of Duty game sat waiting to be reviewed, so I'll need to dedicate some time to that bad boy and get it done and dusted. If I can.
I think this will be the only COD game that I don't have on my main gamertag, mainly because I only finished off the last game a couple of months ago and have no desire to invest in another series of costly DLC packs just to snag all of the achievements on offer. While the series has been great fun for the most part (though I do feel it peaked with the original Modern Warfare) it just doesn't seem to offer anything new or intriguing. Maybe the new game will change that but I have my doubts. I should also admit that one of the achievements requires you to Prestige and I cannot see myself playing the online MP long enough to bother doing so. Sorry guys - maybe next year.
Anyway, I'll probably be playing COD tonight and maybe hop onto some Halo 4 afterwards in a bid to finish up a few online challenges and maybe get to Rank 20 (sat at 19 at the moment). In fact one of the main reasons I'm happy to play Halo multiplayer over that of COD (or Battlefield, MOH or any other FPS) is primarily because I have a group of friends that love playing it with me. If they were more into another franchise then I probably would be as well, but Halo was our first love and we always hop into the fray together.
As far as my progress with the game goes I just need to win 20 online matches, complete 25 challenges and complete the campaign on Solo Legendary - then I can focus on the last few Spartan Ops missions when the required content is released in a few weeks.
I only started playing online on Monday and it has been tough going. My first three matches were all in SWAT as there was a challenge for getting pistol kills and one for headshots, so I thought SWAT was the best option. Unfortunately, sticking with the magnum made me easy pickings for long range DMR sniping and my KD ratio in those games was shocking. I only played about three games (with one win) but it didn't make for pretty reading.
Since then I've jumped into Capture the Flag matches with me success. Well, more success for me personally but not for my teams. In the four matches I played I came top of my team in three of them but I didn't pick up a single victory - losing by a single capture in EVERY game (bar one, when we got hammered). I guess getting to 20 wins will not be the walk in the park I had hoped, but if I stick to team games I should get there eventually. I certainly don't plan on hopping in FFA modes, as I suck when working as a lone wolf so wouldn't want to shame myself. I'm a solid team player though so that is the way forward.
So my next few days will consist of shooting stuff. Them maybe I'll go back to Tomb Raider Legend (boo!) and finish that off.
I think this will be the only COD game that I don't have on my main gamertag, mainly because I only finished off the last game a couple of months ago and have no desire to invest in another series of costly DLC packs just to snag all of the achievements on offer. While the series has been great fun for the most part (though I do feel it peaked with the original Modern Warfare) it just doesn't seem to offer anything new or intriguing. Maybe the new game will change that but I have my doubts. I should also admit that one of the achievements requires you to Prestige and I cannot see myself playing the online MP long enough to bother doing so. Sorry guys - maybe next year.
Anyway, I'll probably be playing COD tonight and maybe hop onto some Halo 4 afterwards in a bid to finish up a few online challenges and maybe get to Rank 20 (sat at 19 at the moment). In fact one of the main reasons I'm happy to play Halo multiplayer over that of COD (or Battlefield, MOH or any other FPS) is primarily because I have a group of friends that love playing it with me. If they were more into another franchise then I probably would be as well, but Halo was our first love and we always hop into the fray together.
As far as my progress with the game goes I just need to win 20 online matches, complete 25 challenges and complete the campaign on Solo Legendary - then I can focus on the last few Spartan Ops missions when the required content is released in a few weeks.
I only started playing online on Monday and it has been tough going. My first three matches were all in SWAT as there was a challenge for getting pistol kills and one for headshots, so I thought SWAT was the best option. Unfortunately, sticking with the magnum made me easy pickings for long range DMR sniping and my KD ratio in those games was shocking. I only played about three games (with one win) but it didn't make for pretty reading.
Since then I've jumped into Capture the Flag matches with me success. Well, more success for me personally but not for my teams. In the four matches I played I came top of my team in three of them but I didn't pick up a single victory - losing by a single capture in EVERY game (bar one, when we got hammered). I guess getting to 20 wins will not be the walk in the park I had hoped, but if I stick to team games I should get there eventually. I certainly don't plan on hopping in FFA modes, as I suck when working as a lone wolf so wouldn't want to shame myself. I'm a solid team player though so that is the way forward.
So my next few days will consist of shooting stuff. Them maybe I'll go back to Tomb Raider Legend (boo!) and finish that off.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Good and bad
Well despite a few niggles and last minute distractions I had a fairly good weekend chipping away at my target (or targets - I seem to have so much to do all of the time, ha ha). I managed to finally sit down and polish off the last of the Bioshock 2 DLC, which I thoroughly enjoyed for the most part.
Before I did that, I actually managed to Re-up for the second time on Gears 3, so I then spent an hour or so grinding out the last five matches I needed for the online Zeta Squad achievement (for using a character in MP). I actually ended up doing pretty well in games too, which was a surprise after not playing for so long. So as well as knocking out two achievements I had a bit of fun.
Back to Bioshock 2 and The Protector Trials were a bit hit and miss, as I felt there could have been a few less missions on the whole. It just felt like you were going through the motions on some of the trials and could get away with using the same tried and tested tactics assuming you had certain plasmids. I have to say that it did give me a new found respect for the Insect Swarm ability - so if that makes the jump to Infinite then I'll be abusing the hell out of it. It pretty much stops enemies from doing much of anything and can even damage them over time at higher levels. Totally beastly. Use it with a decent gun or even some mini turrets and you are golden.
Next up was the Minerva's Den DLC which I'd heard nothing but good things about. In truth it didn't feel like a massive departure from either of the first two games' main campaigns but that is not much of a criticism. I enjoyed the plot and spent plenty of time thoroughly exploring the new area and using all of the little sisters to harvest as much ADAM as possible, I even enjoyed the quirky hidden mini-game that you have to play for an achievement. As DLC goes it is like a mini, self contained Bioshock and works really well because of it.
In between doing all of that I also found time to jump into Halo 4. This time I didn't do as much damage to my overall completion percentage as I had done with Condemned 2 (which I still need to go back to) as I managed to get three quarters of the achievements done and dusted in a fairly lengthy sitting.
I actually played the first level or so on my own, late Friday night, as I'd just finished off the Trials on Bioshock 2 and saw it was nearly midnight. So I figured I had enough time to get through the first Halo 4 campaign mission and then do the Midnight Launch achievement at the start of mission two. Thankfully it was as straightforward as I had hoped, so I then hopped into some solo Spartan Ops just to see how it fared. I did the first mission on Legendary solo and it was fairly easy stuff, plus it managed to get me up to Rank 5 in one fell swoop. I then tinkered around and got a bunch of the easy five point stuff (changed tags, names, taking a screenshot, uploading a video etc).
Next day, I joined up with Rich, Cosmic and Kimi to tackle a co-op run through on Heroic. We absolutely blitzed through the game and managed to get it done in about five hours and ten minutes (I say about - that was the exact time). With four players there was pretty much nothing standing in our way and we sailed through the whole game, even watching all of the cutscenes and finding all of the terminals as well as doing all of the level specific achievements barring two. It was a pretty thorough undertaking.
With time to spare we then jumped into four player Spartan Ops and cruised through all five of the initial missions, on Legendary no less, in under an hour. This racked up all the Spartan Ops achievements that were currently available to boot. Considering this was meant to be the 'hardest Halo to date' that certainly does not seem to hold true when it comes to co-op as there are no extra enemies when you compare it to the solo experience - which seems like an odd decision really.
I then got one of the two mission specific tasks I needed this morning, and I should be able to get the other one later on tonight (fingers crossed) plus we should all be meeting up to do the next batch of Spartan Ops which should have another achievement ready to be attained. After that I'll need to do the campaign on solo Legendary and then pay some attention to the MP in order to rank up to level 20, win 20 matches and complete 25 challenges. Nothing I can't handle I'm sure. Theoretically I could have the original 1k done by Xmas at this rate - so here's hoping.
So my current gaming will be Halo 4, Tomb Raider Legend (to finally finish the awful Anniversary DLC) and maybe Gears 3 when I have some spare time. On Gears I just need to sit down for a few hours and grind out all of the Horde fortifications for the last two achievements, that will leave me with Seriously 3.0 which I have no plans to tackle EVER. So that will be another game put to bed. Yay! Tomb Raider is pretty dull but at least I should be able to get through it given the time and inclination. Then I can focus on Halo 4 and maybe even ODST if I can find the time.
After all of that I should be there or thereabouts when it comes to hitting all of my goals for the year, but time will tell.
Before I did that, I actually managed to Re-up for the second time on Gears 3, so I then spent an hour or so grinding out the last five matches I needed for the online Zeta Squad achievement (for using a character in MP). I actually ended up doing pretty well in games too, which was a surprise after not playing for so long. So as well as knocking out two achievements I had a bit of fun.
Back to Bioshock 2 and The Protector Trials were a bit hit and miss, as I felt there could have been a few less missions on the whole. It just felt like you were going through the motions on some of the trials and could get away with using the same tried and tested tactics assuming you had certain plasmids. I have to say that it did give me a new found respect for the Insect Swarm ability - so if that makes the jump to Infinite then I'll be abusing the hell out of it. It pretty much stops enemies from doing much of anything and can even damage them over time at higher levels. Totally beastly. Use it with a decent gun or even some mini turrets and you are golden.
Next up was the Minerva's Den DLC which I'd heard nothing but good things about. In truth it didn't feel like a massive departure from either of the first two games' main campaigns but that is not much of a criticism. I enjoyed the plot and spent plenty of time thoroughly exploring the new area and using all of the little sisters to harvest as much ADAM as possible, I even enjoyed the quirky hidden mini-game that you have to play for an achievement. As DLC goes it is like a mini, self contained Bioshock and works really well because of it.
In between doing all of that I also found time to jump into Halo 4. This time I didn't do as much damage to my overall completion percentage as I had done with Condemned 2 (which I still need to go back to) as I managed to get three quarters of the achievements done and dusted in a fairly lengthy sitting.
I actually played the first level or so on my own, late Friday night, as I'd just finished off the Trials on Bioshock 2 and saw it was nearly midnight. So I figured I had enough time to get through the first Halo 4 campaign mission and then do the Midnight Launch achievement at the start of mission two. Thankfully it was as straightforward as I had hoped, so I then hopped into some solo Spartan Ops just to see how it fared. I did the first mission on Legendary solo and it was fairly easy stuff, plus it managed to get me up to Rank 5 in one fell swoop. I then tinkered around and got a bunch of the easy five point stuff (changed tags, names, taking a screenshot, uploading a video etc).
Next day, I joined up with Rich, Cosmic and Kimi to tackle a co-op run through on Heroic. We absolutely blitzed through the game and managed to get it done in about five hours and ten minutes (I say about - that was the exact time). With four players there was pretty much nothing standing in our way and we sailed through the whole game, even watching all of the cutscenes and finding all of the terminals as well as doing all of the level specific achievements barring two. It was a pretty thorough undertaking.
With time to spare we then jumped into four player Spartan Ops and cruised through all five of the initial missions, on Legendary no less, in under an hour. This racked up all the Spartan Ops achievements that were currently available to boot. Considering this was meant to be the 'hardest Halo to date' that certainly does not seem to hold true when it comes to co-op as there are no extra enemies when you compare it to the solo experience - which seems like an odd decision really.
I then got one of the two mission specific tasks I needed this morning, and I should be able to get the other one later on tonight (fingers crossed) plus we should all be meeting up to do the next batch of Spartan Ops which should have another achievement ready to be attained. After that I'll need to do the campaign on solo Legendary and then pay some attention to the MP in order to rank up to level 20, win 20 matches and complete 25 challenges. Nothing I can't handle I'm sure. Theoretically I could have the original 1k done by Xmas at this rate - so here's hoping.
So my current gaming will be Halo 4, Tomb Raider Legend (to finally finish the awful Anniversary DLC) and maybe Gears 3 when I have some spare time. On Gears I just need to sit down for a few hours and grind out all of the Horde fortifications for the last two achievements, that will leave me with Seriously 3.0 which I have no plans to tackle EVER. So that will be another game put to bed. Yay! Tomb Raider is pretty dull but at least I should be able to get through it given the time and inclination. Then I can focus on Halo 4 and maybe even ODST if I can find the time.
After all of that I should be there or thereabouts when it comes to hitting all of my goals for the year, but time will tell.
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Taking care of business
Well, I polished off Bioshock last night - I'd actually managed to get all the way to the end of the game in just a couple of days play, so it wasn't too much of a slog after that. I just had to make it through the Proving Ground area and then beat up the last boss, which was a piece of cake really. I also got the good guy ending for saving all of the Little Sisters too, which was nice.
I have to say that, even the the ending itself is fairly brief, it is still one of my absolute favourites and is a beautiful way to cap all of the things (good and bad) that have befallen you as you make your way through Rapture. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Fresh from my success I decided to jump straight into the sequel. I've already done the original 1k worth of achievements plus the first lot of DLC to boot, so that leaves me with the Protector Trials and the Minerva's Den story to go through.
I've certainly heard good things about Minerva's Den, which is many peoples favourite stand alone DLC and is a well contained story in its own right - by all accounts. So I decided to leave that until last, so that I could finish off my return to Rapture in style. Instead I hopped into the Trials with a touch of trepidation, as I'd always believed they would be quite challenging and frustrating. Happily nothing could be further from the truth, at least so far, as I managed to get through every trial with at least an A ranking on my first attempt.
Actually, I did die on my VERY first attempt as they'd swapped the 'Use First Aid' button from where it was on the first title and I ended up dying without figuring it out. Second time around I looked at the control layout (it was on the d-pad - obviously) and it was smooth sailing from there on out.
I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the trials. While it is nice to use the mix of weapons and plasmids you are allocated in a tactical way, they always feel like a weird horde mode and don't really fit in that well with the overall feel of the game. Maybe if there was a more co-op, or even adversarial, feel to things then it might have come across a bit better. Though it did give me a chance to use a bunch of plasmids that I had criminally overlooked in the campaign so that is a neat touch. I managed to get through 14/18 of the trials so far (there are also 6 bonus trials, but these don't require an A rank so should be pretty easy) with the requisite A rank or better, so I'm hoping to polish the rest off tonight and then move onto Minerva's Den at the weekend.
If I get all of that done then I can move onto Tomb Raider Legend (which I hate) and get that finished off. After that I can look at cleaning up some stuff on Condemned 2 and maybe jumping into the single player as well. We shall see. I also have Halo 4 turning up at some point so I'll be trying to make my way through that bad boy ASAP.
EDIT: Oh yes, I should probably say that in between games I'm ranking up on Gears 3 so I can get the achievement for Re-upping (Prestige, we all know it) for the second time. Easy to boost that with two pads and zero input so I figured, why not?
I have to say that, even the the ending itself is fairly brief, it is still one of my absolute favourites and is a beautiful way to cap all of the things (good and bad) that have befallen you as you make your way through Rapture. Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
Fresh from my success I decided to jump straight into the sequel. I've already done the original 1k worth of achievements plus the first lot of DLC to boot, so that leaves me with the Protector Trials and the Minerva's Den story to go through.
I've certainly heard good things about Minerva's Den, which is many peoples favourite stand alone DLC and is a well contained story in its own right - by all accounts. So I decided to leave that until last, so that I could finish off my return to Rapture in style. Instead I hopped into the Trials with a touch of trepidation, as I'd always believed they would be quite challenging and frustrating. Happily nothing could be further from the truth, at least so far, as I managed to get through every trial with at least an A ranking on my first attempt.
Actually, I did die on my VERY first attempt as they'd swapped the 'Use First Aid' button from where it was on the first title and I ended up dying without figuring it out. Second time around I looked at the control layout (it was on the d-pad - obviously) and it was smooth sailing from there on out.
I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the trials. While it is nice to use the mix of weapons and plasmids you are allocated in a tactical way, they always feel like a weird horde mode and don't really fit in that well with the overall feel of the game. Maybe if there was a more co-op, or even adversarial, feel to things then it might have come across a bit better. Though it did give me a chance to use a bunch of plasmids that I had criminally overlooked in the campaign so that is a neat touch. I managed to get through 14/18 of the trials so far (there are also 6 bonus trials, but these don't require an A rank so should be pretty easy) with the requisite A rank or better, so I'm hoping to polish the rest off tonight and then move onto Minerva's Den at the weekend.
If I get all of that done then I can move onto Tomb Raider Legend (which I hate) and get that finished off. After that I can look at cleaning up some stuff on Condemned 2 and maybe jumping into the single player as well. We shall see. I also have Halo 4 turning up at some point so I'll be trying to make my way through that bad boy ASAP.
EDIT: Oh yes, I should probably say that in between games I'm ranking up on Gears 3 so I can get the achievement for Re-upping (Prestige, we all know it) for the second time. Easy to boost that with two pads and zero input so I figured, why not?
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Return to Rapture
Bioshock is a fascinating game.
I originally played it about three or four years ago (I could look it up I suppose but really cannot be bothered) and was impressed by pretty much every facet of the game. Here was a title that eschewed the tacked on multiplayer experience, at least until the sequel, and gave you something unashamedly provocative and interesting. It may not have had the layered moral choices that had, at first, been promised but there was so much to the game that it didn't seem to matter.
My first play through saw me scour ever last nook and cranny of the game. I went into every room, found every secret, listened to all of the audio tapes and rescued every last little sister. It was a sublime experience and one that I never really thought I'd repeat as, rather like the Sixth Sense, once you know the twist then some of the magic is lost.
However, not long after my initial playthrough an extra DLC achievement was added (for completing the game on Hard with no Vita Chambers) and that has finally compelled me to return under the sea.
My second go at the game is no less interesting, though for different reasons. This time I'm attempting to get through the game as rapidly as possible, taking on a minimum amount of foes and not going anywhere that I don't need to outside of the main story.
What's really interesting is just how much of the game you can miss if you play it this way. All of the little stories hidden away in secret rooms - like the 'porn' shoot in one of the flats, or the suicidal couple that died together or Atlas' base of operations. All of these things have nothing at all to do with the overarching narrative and yet, at the same time, they ALL do. The little subplots and audio messages that you just wouldn't hear if you didn't wander off the beaten path all help to add up to a rich and varied tapestry. Sure, you can make it through the game without them but you'd be missing out if you did so.
Despite myself, I will often go a little out of my way to find audio tapes if I see them, rescue all of the little sisters and find hidden gems regardless. Sure I'm trying to make my playthrough as quick as possible but that doesn't mean it cannot still be as enthralling and entertaining as it was the first time. Piecing together only dribs and drabs of the background story makes for an interesting, if disjointed, story and the big scenes are still as gripping as ever. Meeting Ryan, speaking with Atlas, learning the cruel twist of fate that has befallen you - they all still matter and keep me hooked, even though I know what's coming next.
In that way a good game will never stop grabbing your attention, and this one certainly doesn't, it may just do it in a slightly different way the next time.
I originally played it about three or four years ago (I could look it up I suppose but really cannot be bothered) and was impressed by pretty much every facet of the game. Here was a title that eschewed the tacked on multiplayer experience, at least until the sequel, and gave you something unashamedly provocative and interesting. It may not have had the layered moral choices that had, at first, been promised but there was so much to the game that it didn't seem to matter.
My first play through saw me scour ever last nook and cranny of the game. I went into every room, found every secret, listened to all of the audio tapes and rescued every last little sister. It was a sublime experience and one that I never really thought I'd repeat as, rather like the Sixth Sense, once you know the twist then some of the magic is lost.
However, not long after my initial playthrough an extra DLC achievement was added (for completing the game on Hard with no Vita Chambers) and that has finally compelled me to return under the sea.
My second go at the game is no less interesting, though for different reasons. This time I'm attempting to get through the game as rapidly as possible, taking on a minimum amount of foes and not going anywhere that I don't need to outside of the main story.
What's really interesting is just how much of the game you can miss if you play it this way. All of the little stories hidden away in secret rooms - like the 'porn' shoot in one of the flats, or the suicidal couple that died together or Atlas' base of operations. All of these things have nothing at all to do with the overarching narrative and yet, at the same time, they ALL do. The little subplots and audio messages that you just wouldn't hear if you didn't wander off the beaten path all help to add up to a rich and varied tapestry. Sure, you can make it through the game without them but you'd be missing out if you did so.
Despite myself, I will often go a little out of my way to find audio tapes if I see them, rescue all of the little sisters and find hidden gems regardless. Sure I'm trying to make my playthrough as quick as possible but that doesn't mean it cannot still be as enthralling and entertaining as it was the first time. Piecing together only dribs and drabs of the background story makes for an interesting, if disjointed, story and the big scenes are still as gripping as ever. Meeting Ryan, speaking with Atlas, learning the cruel twist of fate that has befallen you - they all still matter and keep me hooked, even though I know what's coming next.
In that way a good game will never stop grabbing your attention, and this one certainly doesn't, it may just do it in a slightly different way the next time.
Monday, November 05, 2012
Ticking over
Just a quick post, as I really want to update the Wall of Death this lunch time, as I had a semi decent weekend of gaming to get myself back in the proverbial saddle.
After throwing caution to the wind and chucking Condemned 2 on my tag I decided against rushing through the online modes of that by myself and, instead, went back to finish off a couple of other games. I managed to get through all of the World of Keflings DLC last week and, this very morning, I finally put paid to the FIFA 12 DLC.
To be honest you get a lot of gaming for your money (at least if you are going for achievements) as beating every team in the Euro 12 DLC three times is required to complete the mosaic and get all the points. That adds up to 160+ games, even more when you include doing a proper Euro tourney as well, plus an online tournament and a challenge. It's hard to believe that FIFA 12 is now my most played game (according to raptr anyway) with over 150+ hours logged altogether. Though I only signed up to that site after doing Gears 1 and a lot of WSC 2007, so it is not entirely accurate I'm sure.
Still I'm glad to be done grinding through game after game as it has long outstayed its welcome. A shame really, as up until the DLC I'd really enjoyed FIFA 12 on the whole.
I also managed to finish off Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway last night. Many thanks go to Rich and Kimi (who would have gotten all the achievements too if BOTH of our internet connections hadn't died). The beauty of this completion is that I only needed 7 zero point achievements, so it helps greatly towards my completion percentage and total completions while still leaving me with points on the board to play with.
Talking of points on the board here is my plan of attack for now:
Bioshock - 100 points, 1 achievement, 1 completion.
Bioshock 2 - 250 points, 15 achievements, 1 completion.
Tomb Raider Legend - 185 points, 7 achievements, 1 completion.
Which would leave me at 297752GS, 92.75% completion and 298 games complete. So I'd require a further 2248 worth of points, plus 28 achievements (to reach 93%) and two more completions. So far so good.
I'm hoping to get a bunch of those points and even a completion (if I have time) out of Condemned 2. Plus, I still have Halo ODST to fall back on assuming I can find people to help me do the two four player tasks. So they could easily be my two completions if required. I could also aim to get all 28 achievements from various games I've already made a start on and THEN just play two quick XBLA games to finish off with, as I've got quite a few candidates on my tag ready to go. So on the whole things are looking fairly decent. For now.
Halo 4 comes out this week. My friends will all want to play it with me. I can't say no.
There goes my completion percentage again. Crap...........
After throwing caution to the wind and chucking Condemned 2 on my tag I decided against rushing through the online modes of that by myself and, instead, went back to finish off a couple of other games. I managed to get through all of the World of Keflings DLC last week and, this very morning, I finally put paid to the FIFA 12 DLC.
To be honest you get a lot of gaming for your money (at least if you are going for achievements) as beating every team in the Euro 12 DLC three times is required to complete the mosaic and get all the points. That adds up to 160+ games, even more when you include doing a proper Euro tourney as well, plus an online tournament and a challenge. It's hard to believe that FIFA 12 is now my most played game (according to raptr anyway) with over 150+ hours logged altogether. Though I only signed up to that site after doing Gears 1 and a lot of WSC 2007, so it is not entirely accurate I'm sure.
Still I'm glad to be done grinding through game after game as it has long outstayed its welcome. A shame really, as up until the DLC I'd really enjoyed FIFA 12 on the whole.
I also managed to finish off Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway last night. Many thanks go to Rich and Kimi (who would have gotten all the achievements too if BOTH of our internet connections hadn't died). The beauty of this completion is that I only needed 7 zero point achievements, so it helps greatly towards my completion percentage and total completions while still leaving me with points on the board to play with.
Talking of points on the board here is my plan of attack for now:
Bioshock - 100 points, 1 achievement, 1 completion.
Bioshock 2 - 250 points, 15 achievements, 1 completion.
Tomb Raider Legend - 185 points, 7 achievements, 1 completion.
Which would leave me at 297752GS, 92.75% completion and 298 games complete. So I'd require a further 2248 worth of points, plus 28 achievements (to reach 93%) and two more completions. So far so good.
I'm hoping to get a bunch of those points and even a completion (if I have time) out of Condemned 2. Plus, I still have Halo ODST to fall back on assuming I can find people to help me do the two four player tasks. So they could easily be my two completions if required. I could also aim to get all 28 achievements from various games I've already made a start on and THEN just play two quick XBLA games to finish off with, as I've got quite a few candidates on my tag ready to go. So on the whole things are looking fairly decent. For now.
Halo 4 comes out this week. My friends will all want to play it with me. I can't say no.
There goes my completion percentage again. Crap...........
Thursday, November 01, 2012
The 47 games of doom!
I constantly speak about the games on my to do list and it occurred to me that I have more than a few that will never be completed for one reason or another. So here is the overall list OF DOOM that I'm forever working on.
My goal is to complete the vast majority of these games but there are some titles that I can say already that I will never get around to doing. I've bolded the ones in question and will explain my reasoning thereafter.
Assassins Creed: BH – 270/1000
Battlefield 2: MC - 500/1000
Beatles Rock Band – 130/1000
Bioshock - 1000/1100
Bioshock 2 - 1150/1400
Bladestorm - 150/1000
Boogie Bunnies - 115/200
Borderlands 2 - 270/1125
Brothers in Arms - 1000/1000 (Missing seven 0 point achievements)
Call of Duty: B. Ops - 1200/1700
Call of Duty: WaW - 1000/1500
Catherine - 35/1000
Chromehounds - 700/1000
Condemned 2 - 50/1000
Dantes Inferno - 1260/1290
Disney Sing It HSM3 - 330/1000
Eets: Chowdown - 40/200
Fairytale Fights - 380/1000
Fallout New Vegas - 155/1655
Family Game Night - 1200/1850
FIFA 2012 - 1150/1250
Gears of War 3 - 1765/2000
Geometry Wars - 40/200
Ghost Recon FS - 1000/1205
GRAW - 752/1000
Guitar Hero Two - 320/1000
Halo ODST – 930/1000
Hellboy: TSOE - 840/1000
Ilomilo - 100/250
Kinect Adventures - 85/1000
Lego Harry Potter 2 - 200/1000
Lego Star Wars TCS - 260/1000
Madden 07 - 990/1000
Perfect Dark Zero - 150/1000
Risen - 70/1000
Spiderman 3 - 910/1000
Splinter Cell: DA - 670/1000
Star Wars: Republic Heroes - 365/1000
Supreme Commander - 110/1000
Texas Hold ‘Em - 105/200
The Sims 3 – 150/1000
Tomb Raider: Legend - 1065/1250
Vampire Rain - 650/1000
Where's Wally - 40/200
WSC 2007 - 550/1000
You’re in the Movies - 140/1000
Total outstanding - 22,483GS, 47 games, 910 achievements.
A fun list right? There are plenty of time consuming and challenging tasks on my to do list, even amongst the games I am resolved to completing. Titles like WSC 07, Risen, Fallout and Supreme Commander will probably take a few hundred hours between them. Throw in some tough online tasks in Splinter Cell and Perfect Dark, plus the arduous difficulty of things like Catherine and Battlefield 2 and I have a fight on my hands. Still there is nothing on any of those lists that I feel I cannot strive to complete without the right mix of time, patience and skill. Though I am fairly confident that some of these games will sit, incomplete, until the end of time - but I haven't written them off just yet..
As for the rest.........
There are twelve games I'll never be able to complete, and will never even make the attempt to.
A few are beyond my control. The Chromehound servers were shut a while ago, so no more points will ever be possible on that game. Likewise you need a US Xbox 360 to play Scrabble on Family Game Night (plus the servers are closed too, making one Scrabble achievement off limits regardless) as well as to get the last achievement on Madden 07. That one does irk me a little, as the achievement is for importing a draft class from the college football EA title - a game that only came out in the US. Madness. Finally, the last few Hellboy achievements were supposed to be tied to some free DLC. Unfortunately the game tanked and the DLC never saw the light of day - so no one will ever complete that game.
Four are skill based. The Beatles and Guitar Hero games require superb skills on expert difficulty and I'm just not up to the task. Sure I could possibly play the game for countless hours to get that good, but even then I would need a local co-op partner of equal skill to polish them off - I don't know anyone who would be interested so why put myself through it? I tend to play those games for fun anyway rather than points. Spiderman 3 only has achievements left for getting Gold (and Silver/Bronze) on all of the Trick Races, a feat that very few have actually pulled off. The controls and races are supremely broken and the times required have basically been set by developers. With 48 races all required flawless runs with zero mistakes - you can count me out. Finally, Geometry Wars, which is just brutally hard until you get that one perfect run. I do dabble with the game every now and then but cannot see myself ever getting it done. Ah well.
After that we have a bunch of time sinks that I'm really not prepared to grind through. COD: WAW requires me to get maximum prestige for the last two achievements - no chance of that as I hate the MP and it is a minefield of hackers now anyway. GRAW requires hundreds of hours and countless Xbox accounts in order to rank and de-rank your accounts and get up the leaderboards. Plus, the top spots are often occupied by people who constantly boost to stop others getting the achievements anyway. Not worth it. Dantes Inferno is partially time and skill based, as you have to complete 25 supremely tough arena challenges (15 solo, 10 co-op) and they take up way more time and effort than I am prepared to put in. Finally we have Gears 3. I never expected to do either 1 or 2, but I eventually caved and got them chalked off. With this one though I have no intention of buckling. I aim to get to 1900 points and then leave Seriously 3.0 alone as it is a total chore and the only people who do have it are those boosters that have been prepared to grind it to death over a number of months. No thanks.
So of the 47 games I can complete (hopefully) at least 35 of them, and of that list there are probably about 16-20 that are fairly straightforward with a minimum amount of effort required. So here is to having the time and inclination to get them done.
My goal is to complete the vast majority of these games but there are some titles that I can say already that I will never get around to doing. I've bolded the ones in question and will explain my reasoning thereafter.
Assassins Creed: BH – 270/1000
Battlefield 2: MC - 500/1000
Beatles Rock Band – 130/1000
Bioshock - 1000/1100
Bioshock 2 - 1150/1400
Bladestorm - 150/1000
Boogie Bunnies - 115/200
Borderlands 2 - 270/1125
Brothers in Arms - 1000/1000 (Missing seven 0 point achievements)
Call of Duty: B. Ops - 1200/1700
Call of Duty: WaW - 1000/1500
Catherine - 35/1000
Chromehounds - 700/1000
Condemned 2 - 50/1000
Dantes Inferno - 1260/1290
Disney Sing It HSM3 - 330/1000
Eets: Chowdown - 40/200
Fairytale Fights - 380/1000
Fallout New Vegas - 155/1655
Family Game Night - 1200/1850
FIFA 2012 - 1150/1250
Gears of War 3 - 1765/2000
Geometry Wars - 40/200
Ghost Recon FS - 1000/1205
GRAW - 752/1000
Guitar Hero Two - 320/1000
Halo ODST – 930/1000
Hellboy: TSOE - 840/1000
Ilomilo - 100/250
Kinect Adventures - 85/1000
Lego Harry Potter 2 - 200/1000
Lego Star Wars TCS - 260/1000
Madden 07 - 990/1000
Perfect Dark Zero - 150/1000
Risen - 70/1000
Spiderman 3 - 910/1000
Splinter Cell: DA - 670/1000
Star Wars: Republic Heroes - 365/1000
Supreme Commander - 110/1000
Texas Hold ‘Em - 105/200
The Sims 3 – 150/1000
Tomb Raider: Legend - 1065/1250
Vampire Rain - 650/1000
Where's Wally - 40/200
WSC 2007 - 550/1000
You’re in the Movies - 140/1000
Total outstanding - 22,483GS, 47 games, 910 achievements.
A fun list right? There are plenty of time consuming and challenging tasks on my to do list, even amongst the games I am resolved to completing. Titles like WSC 07, Risen, Fallout and Supreme Commander will probably take a few hundred hours between them. Throw in some tough online tasks in Splinter Cell and Perfect Dark, plus the arduous difficulty of things like Catherine and Battlefield 2 and I have a fight on my hands. Still there is nothing on any of those lists that I feel I cannot strive to complete without the right mix of time, patience and skill. Though I am fairly confident that some of these games will sit, incomplete, until the end of time - but I haven't written them off just yet..
As for the rest.........
There are twelve games I'll never be able to complete, and will never even make the attempt to.
A few are beyond my control. The Chromehound servers were shut a while ago, so no more points will ever be possible on that game. Likewise you need a US Xbox 360 to play Scrabble on Family Game Night (plus the servers are closed too, making one Scrabble achievement off limits regardless) as well as to get the last achievement on Madden 07. That one does irk me a little, as the achievement is for importing a draft class from the college football EA title - a game that only came out in the US. Madness. Finally, the last few Hellboy achievements were supposed to be tied to some free DLC. Unfortunately the game tanked and the DLC never saw the light of day - so no one will ever complete that game.
Four are skill based. The Beatles and Guitar Hero games require superb skills on expert difficulty and I'm just not up to the task. Sure I could possibly play the game for countless hours to get that good, but even then I would need a local co-op partner of equal skill to polish them off - I don't know anyone who would be interested so why put myself through it? I tend to play those games for fun anyway rather than points. Spiderman 3 only has achievements left for getting Gold (and Silver/Bronze) on all of the Trick Races, a feat that very few have actually pulled off. The controls and races are supremely broken and the times required have basically been set by developers. With 48 races all required flawless runs with zero mistakes - you can count me out. Finally, Geometry Wars, which is just brutally hard until you get that one perfect run. I do dabble with the game every now and then but cannot see myself ever getting it done. Ah well.
After that we have a bunch of time sinks that I'm really not prepared to grind through. COD: WAW requires me to get maximum prestige for the last two achievements - no chance of that as I hate the MP and it is a minefield of hackers now anyway. GRAW requires hundreds of hours and countless Xbox accounts in order to rank and de-rank your accounts and get up the leaderboards. Plus, the top spots are often occupied by people who constantly boost to stop others getting the achievements anyway. Not worth it. Dantes Inferno is partially time and skill based, as you have to complete 25 supremely tough arena challenges (15 solo, 10 co-op) and they take up way more time and effort than I am prepared to put in. Finally we have Gears 3. I never expected to do either 1 or 2, but I eventually caved and got them chalked off. With this one though I have no intention of buckling. I aim to get to 1900 points and then leave Seriously 3.0 alone as it is a total chore and the only people who do have it are those boosters that have been prepared to grind it to death over a number of months. No thanks.
So of the 47 games I can complete (hopefully) at least 35 of them, and of that list there are probably about 16-20 that are fairly straightforward with a minimum amount of effort required. So here is to having the time and inclination to get them done.
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