Tale's from an Achievement Whore

OMG, what have I done?

2011-08-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

So, yea I've been slacking on the blog-post front as of late, but that doesn't mean I haven't been gaming (been sweating to Wipeout In the Zone), writing killer deal articles or even doing some video pod-casting by way of Avatar Kinect. So, without further delay, I present the first episode of the latestchattycast.x in it's two-part glory!

17 Day Score Streak

2011-07-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

360voice recently added a scoring streak badge. I'm currently on a 17 day scoring streak. In this time I've played Duke Nukem Forever, Truth or Lies, Bulletstorm, Shaun White Skateboarding, Hasbro Family Game Night, Portal 2, You Don't Know Jack, Red Dead Redemption, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Wipeout In the Zone, Child Of Eden, and Comic Jumper unlocking at least one achievement in each game.

Red Dead Redemption held a 4x XP weekend, which I was able to go from level 28 all the way to 50 and unlock a few multi-player related achievements as well. I managed to 1,000 Truth or Lies using the ever-so-popular fan method. I also purchased what I think is my Game-of-the-Year, Child of Eden, which makes the best use of the Kinect sensor to date.

Hail to the former King, baby!

2011-06-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

So I finished as much as I could in James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace before I had agreed to ship it off on Goozex, and since I didn't want to pull the stuff like the guy who agreed to send me Shaun White Skateboarding and finally confirmed it as shipped a whole week after the date he promised, I didn't finish the single player campaign in Bond. The other big reason I didn't finish the campaign is I started the campaign in Duke Nukem Forever, and since I grabbed this from Redbox, I wanted to give it my full attention this weekend.

So far, I think I made the right decision by renting Duke. It is not as great as I had hoped, it feels dated, and the game play is just not doing anything for me. And I'm not even complaining about the multitude of technical issues that just should not be present in a modern-day game. I hope it gets better, and I hope I do find it brings it up a notch like I so desperately want it too. But so far, it seems like Duke is a lot of walking and platforming between a few combat elements. None of which feel particularly challenging even on Come Get Some difficulty.

End of a Streak

2011-06-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

So I had a nice little streak going since June 16th where I had earned at least one achievement per day. This probably could have continued for a few more days if it were not for a stupid quick-time-event in James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace that caused me to rage-quit the game in frustration. For some reason I could just not get the timing of that fight down. I'm going to attempt it once again tonight, and if I can't get it I will just go ahead and trade this away on Goozex. Even though I'm only two levels in, I can see this is a bad game so I'm not going to waste my time suffering through it. Especially when I've heard decent things about James Bond 007: Blood Stone.

I knocked out a few sets of Portal 2 co-op, as well as finishing the single player of Enslaved: Odyssey To The West. I'm really glad I finally forced myself to finish Enslaved. I don't typically go for those type of games, but this one actually kept me interested and the combat didn't seem as combo-heavy as say a Devil May Cry title.

I also finally let several other games go that were just sitting on my shelf, and I look forward to getting some new blood in their place. I think I'm going to try and play more games I actually have been meaning to check out, and less achievement fluff for a little while. Don't get me wrong, I still can't pass up an easy game to auto-pilot to 1,000 points like Truth or Lies though.

Kinect Fun Labs completed

2011-06-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

The gadgets contained in Kinect Fun Labs are awesome little examples of what the technology can do. My only complaint is about the somewhat repetitive nature of the achievements, which turned into somewhat of a grind to get the full 200 for all four gadgets. I'm not really sure what else I will start on next, a lot of real-life things are starting to cut into my gaming time, but hopefully I can continue to sneak in some time for gaming at night. The achievement posts may not come as quickly as I'm not really chasing achievements so much as I'm just playing some games for fun, and if I get some points that's just a bonus. I looked over the achievements for Duke Nukem Forever, and while that game is currently getting panned pretty hard by the critics, I will probably pick it up as soon as someone drops the price down into the $30 range. I will be playing it for mainly nostalgia sake, but I have to say I applaud Gearbox for not putting in any obvious multi-player only achievements in that list.

Singularity completed, Kinect Labs started

2011-06-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

So I finished up Singularity last week before I had to travel for a few days for work. Great game. I really wish I had gotten into this game before the multiplayer community died, I would have liked to check out those modes. Since I couldn't ever get into a game I simply traded the game away and didn't worry with completing the achievements for this game.

Kinect Fun Labs. Wow, four mini games with 50 gamerscore each. An easy, and free, 200 with only a few "grindy" ones. I finished up Kinect Me, which was pretty accurate considering my lighting issues that my Kinect has always complained about, is a fun little photo-booth style app that scans your face and clothing into an Avatar-like body. Googly Eyes lets you scan objects in and make puppets that you can put googly eyes on, and make little videos to share. Build A Buddy is similar, but you make little "buddies" that you don't puppet around the app.

These games are great little tech demos to show off the power of the Kinect. However, with releasing some titles that are now giving away only 50 gamerscore, is it now the time to start clamoring for Xbox Live Indie Games getting the same ability for their paid versions? Fifty gamerscore seems like a good amount to allow these independent developers to have, and only in the paid versions.

Long Weekend

2011-05-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

So I've been working slowly through the single-player portion of Singularity and I'll have to say I'm digging the atmosphere. This game reminds me a lot of Bioshock, with the dark-creepy atmosphere. I really dig the time-line flashbacks that are presented in-game. I think that's a really good touch to present story elements in a way that flows with the overall story and atmosphere of the game. As far as the achievements, it seems like they almost left checkpoints in that the testers exploited for the weapon based achievements. Almost all of the achievements for gun-specific kill counts can be performed at almost the next checkpoint after you get the weapon. All you have to do is restart checkpoint to your hearts content and grind them out. Some of these can even be done the instant you get the gun (here's looking at you Drive By).

Overlooking that slight ability to cheapen some of the achievements, the game throws them at you pretty liberally in the single-player portion, and there are several story based achievements, a handful of collectibles, and a few miss-able ones. A pretty good mix I must say. I'm not sure what the multiplayer population is for this game, so I doubt I'll get many (if any) of those before this one goes out for trade on Goozex.

Blogging Catchup

2011-05-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

So, I've been behind on my blogging duties the last few days. But I've notched up several achievements over the weekend and the past few days. I started working on some multiplayer achievements in Red Dead Redemption in a quest to help some fellow True Achievement users. I also started knocked several achievements out in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. I've had this game for a while, and just pop it in from time to time when I feel like playing an easy relaxing game. I also just started working on Limbo via the 3 pack - LIMBO, Trials HD, Splosion Man disc I got from Gamefly. This game is freaking awesome and I know I'm WAY late to the party on this one, but it's still great none-the-less.

Steaming Pile

2011-05-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Well You Don't Know Jack Jack Pack 3 DLC is in the books. So now all that remains is waiting around until July 4th to get Turncoat legitimately. I don't know why I feel so strongly about doing that achievement legit, I guess because the game came out with ample time to try and do this one legit I didn't see the need to date-glitch it. Also, since JP3 just came out, and it's only a month or so until this can be done legit, I'll just wait. I've got a few other games I need to make some significant progress on, and get off of my gaming shelf.

You Don't Know Jack

2011-05-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

So I knocked out the You Don't Know Jack Pack 2 DLC last night, and I wake up this morning to see Jack Pack 3 is released! Hooray! So this game can now actually be completed if you want to jump in your time machine to get the "Turncoat" achievement. I still plan to get this legit on 7/4/11, so this game may end up being completion #51, or I might get one or two in before July 4th rolls around.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to tackle next. It is currently a toss up between Enslaved: Odyssey To The West, Singularity, Darksiders, or doing Portal 2 co-op. To be truthful, it will probably be all of them in some sort of rotation over the next couple of weeks. I'm currently trying to get to 115,000 gamerscore by July 1st, as well as getting to 160,000 TrueAchievement score by the same day. So not only do I need to pick up about 60 gamerscore per day from now until then, I have to pick up some challenging achievements too so that the TA ratio doesn't drop too fast and erode any progress on the TA score front.

Space Channel 5: Ulala?

2011-05-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

So finishing up the games in the Dreamcast Collection that I had a desire to play, lead me to attempting a Space Channel 5: Part 2 run. Man, I just could not get the hang of the timing windows in this game. I never played this game back on the Dreamcast, so I can't say if this version is harder than the original, but the True Achievements ratio shows it's been difficult for more gamers than myself.

I did, however, near completion #51 on SEGA: Bass Fishing. I might have entertained a completion if I had not needed to grind out about 236 more catches. I did manage to nab all of the achievements except the catch 500 fish one, so I feel pretty good about that.

Crazy Taxi was completed for completion #50, as well, and to be perfectly honest that game seems a lot harder than it is to 100%. When I first started the Crazy Box challenges I questioned my ability to play Crazy Taxi. I think I could complete that whole challenge section in one sitting after learning the tricks, and more specifically, how to properly execute a Limiter Cut. That is definitely the key to finishing stage S-S.

Amazing Driver

2011-05-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

After as much trouble as I had reacquainting myself with the controls to Crazy Taxi (courtesy of the Dreamcast Collection), I did not expect to knock out section 3 of the Crazy Box as well as all but the last Special section last night. This looks like a really good candidate for completion #50 this weekend, as all I have is the lap around the city to finish off (as well as maybe grinding out a few games to unlock the avatar shirt for 5 hours of gameplay).

Crazy Taxi & Bass Fishing

2011-05-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

So I started chipping away at some of the games on the Dreamcast Collection last night, and I got about half-way through the Crazy Box challenges in Crazy Taxi. Man, does this make me wish for a Jet Grind Radio port to the XBOX along with some Chu-Chu Rocket. I spent hours back in the Dreamcast days playing Crazy Taxi, Jet Grind Radio, Chu-Chu Rocket and Ready to Rumble. I never did play much of SEGA Bass Fishing, but I tackled the arcade mode on the XBOX last night unlocking 3 achievements there. I'm not sure if I'll complete either of these games, Crazy Taxi is the closest as I'll only have to knock out two more sections of the Crazy Box, and Bass Fishing requires a "catch 500 fish" grind for one achievement. Anyway, this disc collection can be found pretty darn cheap right now, and you get 4 decent XBLA titles it's definitely worth checking out.

112,000+ & Matt Hazard laid to rest

2011-05-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

So I finally knocked out the story in Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard, and this was a pretty decent game. Probably a little cheap in places on the Maximum Hazard difficulty, but using the code to unlock that difficulty is the only reason I got all three difficulty achievements. If I had unlocked that difficulty the normal way I doubt I would have done a second play-through.

Lunacy

2011-05-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

So I finished Portal 2's single player over the weekend, and I still hold to my previous comments. Portal was such a better game all around. I felt they drug out the game-play maybe an hour and a half too long with the "story". The ending felt contrived and out of place considering the rest of the game. It was a good game, just not the great game some people were making it out to be.

I tried to get my wife into some of the split-screen co-op with me, but after a few puzzles she hit me with "Is this all it is? This is boring..." and "is she [GLaDOS] going to talk the whole time?"

This is from someone who doesn't play a lot of hardcore games, but sees me play plenty of games. She wasn't even that interested in the story or the game play. I'm sure I am in the minority still, but this game is far from Game-of-the-Year material, and I really hope that is evident by the time those lists roll around.

I'm not Cave Johnson

2011-05-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

I picked up Portal 2 on sale this week and started in on the single player almost immediately. I have to say, while the game is good, it's just not the same as the Portal we all loved from The Orange Box. Things feel a bit too "on-rails" versus the first game. The jokes seem forced in some areas, and even though I'm not done with the single player, I just don't think I am going to be as satisfied as I was with the original game upon completion. Hopefully the co-op addition can make up for that, most people have suggested it does.

The Final Table

2011-04-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

So after finally getting my head around the fact that I can't play normal poker hands in the last pro-takedown tournament in Full House Poker, I got the Final Table achievement to pop last night on my fifth attempt. Just a little tip that I found helped me, as soon as the game starts pause the game and select sit-out. Walk away for about 15-20 minutes. You will post blinds and fold out of every hand. This helps you let the AI take each other out, and when you come back you should have 3 or 4 open seats. This is a good time to come in and start playing "poker". You will want to call basically every hand. By doing this you should be able to use a few other strategies against the AI and walk away with the victory pretty easy. The AI will hang play Ace-rag hands a lot, and they seriously overvalue any pair they get. You can tell what they have if they bet anything over half of the pot, they have a strong hand. If they are betting minimums, they have nothing and if you have any sort of hand keep playing them. You will have to re-raise them continually to get any sort of decent pot, and sometimes they will even fold out at this point. One other thing to keep in mind, if they ever check on the turn or river card (and a straight draw is on the table) pop out a small minimum bet. If they come back with a re-raise get out of there as they have a huge hand. I won lots of hands with low pairs and low two pair hands, and once I started using these strategies instead of regular poker strategies I cam out a winner. If you haven't unlocked it previously, you will also unlock Rollin' as the pay-out for winning this tournament is 500,000 credits.

Sandlot Slugging

2011-04-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

So I completed as much of Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers as I felt like. I'm missing three achievements that I just didn't feel like holding onto the game another day to get. I got 915 out of 1,000 on that game, so I feel like it was a worth-while rental for a couple of nights of play. The story is stupid easy after the first game and you have a couple of power hitters on your team. You basically end up finishing every game by the 2nd or 3rd inning if you turn on the Mercy rule (which you should for a miss-able story achievement). I probably could have gotten the other two achievements and just missed Decked Out, but I honestly just did not feel the desire to play this for a third night. I've got enough other things on my shelf to dive into, so I just got this one back in the mail. I hope to finish up Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazzard this weekend, and also get a little deeper into Singularity.

Reason #243 I'm not a Completionist

2011-04-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Achievements that are more about luck and replaying a mini-game than skill. Much like the hot-potato mini-game win that is required for the Decked Out achievement in Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers. I'm all for some easy achievement games, but when there is one achievement in there that is particularly difficult, or relies on luck more than skill, I will skip it. It's not worth my time to grind on that mini-game for hours just to get the stars to align where my guy gets 3 rounds won before the three other CPU players. Heck, I thought it was going to happen once, I got up 2-0-0-0 and then lost SEVEN STRAIGHT ROUNDS and ended up having to retry all over again.

Other than that once specific mini-game win, this game is not that difficult, and is pretty decent for an arcade baseball game. The Bigs 2 it is not, but it is not horrible either. I can assure you this will not be #50 on my completed games list. No chance I'm going back to replay 2+ hours of story mode to get to the point to spend who knows how long playing that blasted mini-game again. No sir, I'll take my 980 points and send this one back to Gamefly.

110,000 Gamerscore

2011-04-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

While it is no where in the realm of accomplishment that is Stallion83's, I broke the 110,000 Gamerscore barrier last night while playing Blood Bowl and popping the Solid-gold Thrower achievement. I don't know why, but this was a milestone I had hoped to break at the end of March, but I just hadn't been scoring enough points regularly enough to break it then.

I also got some matches in the Gears of War 3 multi-player beta, and I will have to say that multi-player feels more like Gears of War than Gears of War 2 did. The sawed-off shotgun is going to be a famous (or infamous) weapon depending on which end of it you are on. I also liked the retro-lancer, but I feel the inaccuracy of the gun needs some tweaking. I do think they hit the leveling on the head this time with lots of skin unlocks, and other various reasons besides just pure XP to keep you playing. I know I'm working towards unlocking Thrashball Cole permanently, and possibly the Gold retro-lancer skin depending on how I feel after getting Cole unlocked for the retail game.

Kill with Glitches!

2011-04-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Bulletstorm should not still have game breaking bugs in it two months after release. I'm sorry, but this is down right ridiculous. So, I popped my Bulletstorm disc back in this weekend and decided to head on into Act 2 (yea, I only played Act 1 when I got the game, then got sidetracked with some other titles). I had held off on progressing because I had heard of game-breaking "Ishi-walking-on-air" glitches, and figured if I waited a month or so those should be ironed out. Wrong. I guess @therealcliffyb and gang are not worried about this game since the Gears 3 beta launches today. So, yea, I was greeted with this same exact bug in Act 2 that LtMkilla encountered.

Back Taxes

2011-04-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

So I finished up the main disc based achievements of You Don't Know Jack except for the Turncoat achievement last night. I'm not to worried about using the off-line date adjustment method just yet, because the game can't be 100% completed until JACK PACK 3 DLC is released. I'm actually planning on reminding myself to play this game on July 4th, just to unlock that "legit", I just would like to have the 7/4/11 time-stamp on my achievement. (Not that I'm looking down my nose at anyone who already did the date adjustment method, I just don't really care since I can't 100% the game at this point either way.) I really do not understand why they added all of the DLC pack achievements to the game when all of the DLC was not even available. All it did was keep the game from being completed right out of the box. However, I have enjoyed the franchise's glorious return so much that I even bought the game again when the iOS version came out. I'll have to say I'm a little disappointed that wasn't a universal app for both iPad and iPod/Phones, but you could still have both versions for under $10 so I guess there is not that much of a reason to complain. Overall, I'd rate this game as GREAT, and I really hope they keep pushing out DLC and keeping the game fresh. I could even stand to buy a yearly edition of this with some basic changes to the gameplay for the budget price they released this one at. They do need to fix the JACK ATTACK issues over Xbox Live though, that is really the only issue I've had with this otherwise fantastic game.

Another Ambush!

2011-04-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Movie tie-in games, what to say? However, Megamind: Ultimate Showdown happens to be one of the better ones I have played. While the game is clearly geared toward the younger generation of gamers, it actually is a pretty decent platformer. While the boss fights seem to get easier as the game goes on, it is constantly throwing achievements at you for simply playing the game. The only tricky achievements are the boss fight ones that require you to not die during the encounter, and even these are not that difficult. In fact, I managed to get through almost all of the last boss without taking ANY damage.

The game is relatively short (approximately 5 hours to complete the game), so it is definitely a rental over a purchase in my opinion. There is essentially no replay value (unless you have little ones) and there are several noticeable areas where the game could have used a little more polish. Overall I would rate this game as GOOD (borrowing from Stallion83's scale).

OMG

2011-04-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

What have I done? I guess this space might be used to talk about some games I've played, and what I'm currently up to. I have no idea. This idea very well might fizzle out before I do anything useful here. However, I think it's time to find an outlet that is a bit bigger than 140 characters for some of my gaming exploits.