Achievement Unlocked 09.05.08: Unexpected Disappointments

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 09.05.2008

This week in Achievement Unlocked, 411mania's Rod Oracheski takes a look at four upcoming games. Two have decent lists, while two other, and higher profile, titles sport disappointment and failure. Plus a few more PS3 games get Trophies, or get shut out.



This week we'll take a look at four upcoming games (Fracture, LEGO Batman, Gears of War 2, and Fallout 3) with Achievement lists of varying qualities, a look at some more PS3 games that will/won't have Trophies, and then close with looks at Castle Crashers, Mercenaries 2, Disgaea 3, and Too Human (yes - again).



There are, as I mentioned above, four Achievement lists to check out this week with a couple in the group that are surprising disappointments. Let's leave those until the end, though, and hit up one that's not all that bad: Fracture.

The name is probably familiar to you if you follow games at all - it's that LucasArts game that's been 'coming' for quite some time now. You know, the one with the terrain deformation that was so amazing when it was first shown off, but seems kind of less impressive at this point.

Yeah, I'll admit it - I was pretty psyched for Fracture when it was first introduced, but I've kind of fallen out of love with it since then. That's what happens when you show off a game and say "OH, IT'S GOING TO BE AMAZING" and then kind of disappear off the radar for 6-10 months. The recent stuff does look better, though, so maybe I'll get back on the bandwagon before October, when it hits shelves.

All that aside, the Achievement list for Fracture actually looks pretty good - you can check it out here, thanks to Xbox360Achievements.org, but here's a few of the better ones:

• Von Helsing: Crush an enemy to death with a spike
This one is either a poorly-spelled reference to van Helsing, of Dracula-spiking fame, or a very strange Gundam 0800 one. If it's the former, then it's a pretty clever one. If it's the latter, then...uh...I don't get it.

• Open Sesame: Successfully open a physics or hinged gate for the first time in single player.
Great name, even though the task associated seems fairly routine.

• Clap On/Clap Off: Successfully used a TD switch for the first time in single player.
Another seemingly simple task, but man that name makes me laugh. They should play the jingle when you unlock it.

• Han Shoots First: Kill an enemy by using TD and forcing them into the beam in single player.
Again...and yes, there's a pattern in this one...a seemingly ordinary event for an Achievement, but a killer name makes it memorable.

• Use the Force ... Field: Kill someone by forcing them into a shield.
OK, you know the drill. Great name, you'd almost think there was some kind of Star Wars connection here... Oh, right.

Next up is LEGO Batman - a surprisingly good Achievement list for a game based off a license. I didn't think much of the LEGO Star Wars games, but trying out the Indiana Jones one showed how fun they could be and now I'm looking forward to this one.

It helps that I'm a Batman fan (though who isn't these days?) and the game seems to be made by people who know the license pretty well - something made obvious by the Achievement list. There are references to other comics, Batman history, etc...

The game has quite a few good Achievements, here's just a taste of some of the better ones:

• Justice League: Unlock all the Hero characters
Great name that will appeal to comic fans, and an associated task that you're going to want to accomplish anyway.

• Unbreakable: Finish a level without dying, with no extras.
The name, in a LEGO game, makes this one. Sounds achievable, to boot.

• 0000001 00000011: Build the giant LEGO Robot
I almost dropped this one, simply because the name doesn't actually say anything in binary - at least as far as I could tell.

• Who needs curiosity?: Defeat Catwoman 9 times.
Great title, given the connection to the feat you need to accomplish. One of the ones that make you laugh when it pops up unexpectedly.

Now two of the disappointing ones: Gears of War 2 and Fallout 3. Don't get me wrong, these games aren't total disappointments in terms of their list - I just expected a whole lot more from them. Gears of War 2, for example, is the follow-up to one of the best Achievement lists in the 360's first year...but what did they deliver?

The list - the real one - is now available, and it falls flat. Almost half of the Achievements are unlocked simply by beating levels, with variations on difficulty and single-player/co-op status. Disappointing. There are three more that are simple collect-a-thons (5/20/41 collectibles), as well as a handful of 'killed [x] enemies with [x]' ones.

That's not to say they're all bad, of course. Three stand out above the rest:

• Variety is the Spice of Death: Kill an enemy with every weapon in the game (any mode).
Good name, and an Achievement task that's not only doable, but one that's interesting.

• Seriously 2.0: Kill 100,000 enemies (any mode)
I know, it's boring, but it's also a great twist on the first game's 'Seriously' Achievement.

• Kick 'Em When They're Down: Perform all 11 unique executions on a downed enemy
Another great name, and the task is one you'll want to do anyway - a good mix for any Achievement.

Fallout 3 is primarily disappointing for those who were looking for originality. Keep in mind that I'm only talking about the Achievement list here. The game itself looks better with every video. I was underwhelmed by the E3 footage, at least until seeing it in high def - where you could see all the cans on shelves and other small details. Now that I've checked out the four or five videos on Xbox Live Marketplace, I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

Oh yeah, back to the Achievements. As I said, it's kind of disappointing with a slew of substandard tasks to complete. The list has a slew of good names, but is almost completely 'completed [x]' style Achievements.

Here are a few that stood out:

• The G.O.A.T. Whisperer: Took the G.O.A.T.
A dead-easy Achievement, but it's saved by a pretty funny name.

• Doesn't Play Well with Others: Killed 300 people.
An achievable task, and a great name. One of the better ones for Fallout 3.

• Psychotic Prankster: Placed a grenade or mine while pickpocketing
Hands-down the best Achievement in the game, the only one I'd call truly inspired both in name and deed.



Not really much in the way of Trophy news this week, aside from a few more confirmations and denials of support.

Fallout 3, for example, won't be including Trophy support at launch, something Pete Hines, Bethesda's VP of Marketing (but let's not hold that against him) finally confirmed in an interview with PSU.

Like other developers, they left the door open for 'future support' so PS3 gamers can hope for the best. After seeing the Achievement list, however, you're not missing much. I don't really understand how they don't have time to implement a Trophy list in the time remaining, given the way most developers seem to be just doing a copy/paste routine - maybe they plan something unique. Judging by the Achievement list, however, I wouldn't count on it.

In other Trophy news, it's been confirmed that Dead Space will have Trophy support, while Lego Batman will not. Another game that was just too far along in the development cycle before Trophies came out. Those will, presumably, become fewer and fewer as time goes on.

That's it so far as Trophy news goes. How goes your collections? Are you bothering to go out of your way for Trophies, or have you staved off the addiction?



I really played only a few games in the last week: Castle Crashers, Mercenaries 2, Disgaea 3, and Too Human. Castle Crashers is fun in a group - my wife and I played it in local co-op a few times now. It's pretty mindless, but it works out decently well. It's a much easier game than Alien Hominid, so if you were turned off by the difficulty there, don't be afraid to give this one's demo a shot. The game might not be as difficult, but the Achievement list is downright ridiculous. Don't expect 200/200 on this one!

Huh, the idea of how many Achievements you should reasonably expect to get in a title seems like it has potential for a column - maybe next week. Back to Castle Crashers, the online was broken in the first day or two though that appears to have been largely sorted out. It seemed like they underestimated the popularity of the title, as even their website was taken down by traffic.

Kept playing Mercenaries 2, which is a decent update to the Xbox/PS2 original, and it's a fun little title but I can see it getting old pretty quickly. The graphics aren't stellar, aside from the explosions, though that might be a tradeoff for the amount you can see while in a helicopter. The use of physics in the game is interesting - replaying a level that has logs rolling down a hill you'll actually notice it's different every time, and it's always entertaining to see what happens to a vehicle that's driving over C4 when it blows up. I'd guess most people will get everything they're going to out of the game in a rental weekend, but if you loved the first one it's probably worth a buy.

Disgaea 3 has been decent, with the same quirky humour from past games. It's a little disappointing that the developers still hold to the old camera controls, however. With more complicated board layouts, it would have been nice to be able to get a better view of the fight than the simple 'spin the camera' controls allow. Like Mercenaries 2, the graphics here aren't anything to write home about - though this one looks even more like a nice last-gen game than Mercs does. If you were into the series in the past, it's probably worth a buy - first timers should definitely rent it though.

Too Human has kept me playing, and that probably says more than the review - that I really do mean to get to - ever will. Took my Bio Engineer to 31 on one playthrough of the game's story mode, and I was surprised to find it really played a lot differently than I had pictured. I expected the healing class to have OK damage, but to rely heavily on its healing to make it through - totally not the case. Sure, the healing is a nice bonus, but I found I really only used it to clear status effects like poison or slow - the Bio Engineer is a beast with a two-handed weapon. I'd put it up there with World of Warcraft's Shadow Priest as one of the most powerful, and fun, healers in gaming.

Also checked out the NHL 09 demo on Xbox Live Marketplace to compare it to the PSN version - seem pretty much the same, which is a nice change from last year. The gameplay in the regular mode seemed a little different on offense - not much, but some tweaking. A lot different on defense, however - huge difference in the hitting, with no more 'lock-on' checking. Last year's game 'felt' different from the demo to the retail shelf, though, so I wonder if they'll be tweaking this one a bit more as well.

On my desk for the next week is Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, a sequel I'm hoping does well. It's a kid-friendly game that adults can play as well, exactly the kind of game we can hold up against all the 'all video games are evil' attacks from uninformed government types. I'm also hoping to track down Infinite Undiscovery at some point. I'm not entirely sure what to expect from it, but the early footage all seemed promising.

Until next week, I'm out.