Achievement Unlocked 6.27.08: What Just Happened?

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 06.27.2008

411's Rod Oracheski takes a look at those Achievements that come out of nowhere to take you by surprise.



Played quite a few new games (or at least new to me) games this week, and noticed something interesting about some of the Achievements I was getting - I didn't see them coming. It's an increasingly common experience, as new games move more and more away from the predictable lists of the past.


Everyone has experienced it - playing along, minding your own business when *bing* the Achievement sound rings out and the pop-up appears at the bottom of the screen.

How many times have you had no clue what you just did?

I was playing Timeshift, for example, and had an enemy stick me with a grenade. Before it went off, I reversed time - cool power! - and up popped the 'Get It Off Me!' Achievement. Not knowing the Achievement was there ahead of time made that sequence a little more rewarding, though I'd recommend avoiding the need to save yourself that way altogether.

A few minutes later, confronted with a pool of water and a source of electricity, I jumped off the ledge, freezing time in midair. I hoped to have enough time to swim to safety on the other side, and was surprised to land on the surface of the time-frozen water, unlocking the 'Look What I Can Do' Achievement.

While having an Achievement unlock at the end of a level wasn't a surprise, it was nice to see the Achievement for completing that level on a lower difficulty also unlocked. I don't mind replaying a game on a harder difficulty, but doing it on an easier one is often a mind-numbing experience.

Putting aside the old for the new, I fired up Battlefield: Bad Company and was surprised by two Achievements: 'Home Wrecker' and 'The Hypochondriac.'

Before the destruction, click for after.

I had figured there would be an Achievement for destruction, but I really didn't know I was blowing out walls at such a crazy clip. Destroying 200 walls to unlock 'Home Wrecker' came very quickly, though I suppose it makes sense.

The first thing you do in a game that features destructible objects and terrain, after all, is try to destroy the objects and terrain... It's probably the biggest reason a MMO can never feature player-destructible buildings and landscape - inside 20 minutes of the servers first going live the entire landscape would be a smoking wasteland.

Not long after I picked up 'The Hypochondriac' - another 'out of the blue' Achievement, this time for using the healing hypo 50 times. I like the name of this one, and it's one that you'll pick up through the course of normal play - another trend I like to see in Achievements.

In other Achievement-esque news, some screens of what is purported to be Sony's version of the Achievement system have appeared on the Internet. The screens are pretty underwhelming though, completely separate from the regular UI and lacking information. It's doubtful that's the final version though, so keep your eyes peeled for more on that front.

Extending last week's discussion of player types, it's probably worth mentioning - since at least one reader completely missed the point - that these archetypes aren't inherently negative or positive, they're just indicators of how you play. If you've ever played outside the developer's intent, whether that's inputting a cheat code, using a glitch, or powerleveling to trivialize boss encounters, then you have some 'points' into the Cheater archetype.

There might not be many points, and you might not like to admit that they're there, but that doesn't mean they're not there. I doubt there are many gamers, if indeed there are any at all, who wouldn't have some points towards that archetype.

It's a matter of perspective, in the end. Using a cheat code or powerleveling, it's all the same in the end - you're trivializing content. Whether it's because you didn't have the skill or didn't have the time, or simply because you just wanted to get past that boring part and get into the good stuff - it's all the same.

There's a point of distinction worth making, of course. Those that venture into the Cheater archetype in a single player game only impact the content they're experiencing. You're only hurting yourself, in other words, so it's really nobody's business but your own. Those that do it in multiplayer, whether competitive or cooperative, also impact the gameplay of others - venturing into the Griefer archetype.



Everyone's been saying E3 is dead but, while it's true that the show is no longer the powerhouse it once was, that doesn't mean there won't be some major games there, and perhaps a few major announcements as well.

Here's a quick listing of the games I've seen listed as being shown in some form - whether playable or not - at this year's event:

• Alan Wake: The tech demo last year, with the hurricane-force winds, was pretty cool.


• Aliens: Colonial Marines: I'm hoping for something as good as the Jaguar game.


• Alpha Protocol: Looks good so far, and the developer has some history.


• APB: A Crackdown MMO? I'm sold! Without superpowers? I'm still interested.


• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts: Platforming elements lead into LEGO-style vehicle building. Sounds awesome.


• Borderlands: Little known about it, but the development team is promising a lot.


• Dark Void: The vertical gameplay looks good.


• Dead Space: Scary and in space - and it's not a Bioshock clone.


• Doom 4: Hopefully this one doesn't require flashlight mods.


• Fable 2: If Peter delivers half of the vision for the first game, it'll be amazing.


• Fallout 3: I was a big fan of Oblivion and Fallout 2, so this one is near the top of the list.


• Far Cry 2: Hopefully it's more of a game and less of an engine demo.


• Gears of War 2: Bigger, badder, and better in every way? Colour me interested.


• Half-Life 2: Episode 3: Supposedly going to be shown for PC and Xbox 360.


• Halo Wars: The latest footage was interesting, but I'm not sold on a console-based RTS yet.


• InFamous: Not much known, but super powers in an open world setting has worked before...


• Killzone 2: Looks good, hopefully this time they show off the AI improvements.


• Left 4 Dead: A multiplayer-centric game that changes every time you play? Really looking forward to this one.


• Madden NFL 09: They swear it's better this year...really! It's the same things they said they were fixing last year, but it looks like they're really doing it this time.


• Mafia 2: Great first game, sequel looks amazing already.


• Mercenaries 2: World in Flames: Wasn't overly impressed by the first video, but it's looking better as of late.


• NHL 09: One-handed dekes are in! I can't wait to see what I can do this year after pulling off this in last year's version.


• Prince of Persia: A graphics overhaul is key to a series revamp. Hopefully this one disposes of the bad taste left by the last one.


• Prototype: Again with the super powers in the open world.


• Resident Evil 5: They swear it's not racist, and the latest video even had white zombies because killing white people is OK.


• Resistance 2: Hopefully adds the excitement that was missing from the first game.


• Saboteur: What I know is interesting, and makes me want to know more. E3's hopefully the place.


• Saints Row 2: Is this the game that picked up all the humour that the GTA series lost?


• Splinter Cell: Conviction: Supposedly rebooted, I'd like to see what Ubisoft is thinking for the series now.


• Spore: The creature creator might have killed some of my enthusiasm for this one.


• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Latest videos have shown less of the creepy stormtrooper hugging when you Force toss them.


• StarCraft 2: The return of the RTS king.


• Too Human: Two-player mayhem, with Diablo-style armor collection? I'll see you in line.


• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning: Looks like WoW might have some real competition.

Oh, and Blizzard's going to have Wrath of the Lich King there, along with whatever else they're currently teasing on their website (assuming that's not Wrath of the Lich King).

That looks like a pretty amazing lineup to me, and that's without any of the surprise announcements that E3 has - in the past - been known for. If none of those titles interest you, there's always 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Until next week, I'm out.