Achievement Unlocked 10.17.08: Adding Some Mystery

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 10.17.2008

411mania's Rod Oracheski takes a look at some surprising Achievement lists, talks about an RPG that just might redefine how Achievement lists are made, and looks at the difference between a bad Trophy list and a good one.



This week in Achievement Unlocked we'll take a look at a big-budget game with a disappointing Achievement list, a low-budget game with a surprisingly good one, and an RPG that might redefine how companies approach Achievement lists in the future, plus a look at the Trophy lists for NBA 09 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.

This list should be shoved in a pit.

Mirror's Edge

Well..there's nothing 'edgy' about this list at all - that's for sure. While it has decent size to it, 44 Achievements in all, it's chock full of bad Achievements. Finish the game on any difficulty but Hard and you'll have unlocked 11 Achievements (250 Gamerscore) - all 'Beat chapter [x]' style ones. Beat the game on Hard, and you'll get a 12th (80 Gamerscore) for managing it. In addition, there are another 10 Achievements (100 Gamerscore) dedicated to beating chapters below the Speedrun time.

It's disappointing that they didn't do more Achievements related to movement - whether that be speed or combinations of moves. There are a few that reward players in this way, however. 'Vrooom!' is awarded for maintaining sprint speed for 30 seconds, while you can get 'Up, over, under, onwards' for stringing together a jump, coil (over obstacle), and slide (under obstacle). In a game that's so focused on movement and exploration of 'lines' through the environment, why not award Achievements in a matter more consistent with that?

Achievements could have been awarded for finding alternate lines through the level, or for finding ways to get to certain spots. For a game based on Parkour, rewarding people for thinking outside the box of what 'normal movement' through the level should be seems like it should have been a natural.

It's apparent, based on Achievements like 'Bag lady' (20 Gamerscore) for finding three hidden bags in one chapter, that there's an exploration element here - and including more Achievements based on that would have really improved this list.

It's nice to see a couple of Achievements that reward gamers for doing things they wouldn't normally do - namely 'Pacifist' or 'Test of Faith' and the way they encourage non-violent gameplay. A bright spot on an otherwise dull list.

The modern-day budget title looks pretty good.

Secret Service

It's not often that a game will receive the label "budget title" and still hold my interest, but Secret Service is - at least so far - one of those rare titles. I haven't seen any gameplay yet, which will likely be the acid test, but the screenshots revealed so far look pretty good - especially considering the "budget title" price tag. It seems like a game doesn't need to look 'budget' these days.

The Achievement list isn't a budget effort either. There are 48 Achievements, with only 10 being 'completed [x] level' laziness.

A number of Achievements are dedicated to the 'outside the box' gameplay experience, including 'Bow to No One!' for completing a level without crouching, 'What Are You, A Cat?' for beating the game without using nightvision, and 'From The Hip' for finishing a level without using gun sights.

Even the fairly typical collect-a-thon Achievements get some decent names. Collecting 10 cell phones while unlock 'Some Of Them Still Have Minutes' while 35 and 50 will net you 'Haven't Found a Color I Like' and 'Opening a Local Wireless Store,' respectively.

That sense of humour carries over into other Achievements as well. Use the Stun Gun or Taser on 35 enemies and snicker as 'Don't Tase Me Bro' unlocks, or zap someone with the Taser from behind and get your own 'Awful Surprise' to match the one they got.

A little mystery is good.

The Last Remnant

And finally, from an unlikely source comes an interesting twist on Achievements - mystery. The Last Remnant features a short list (only 22 Achievements in total) but it's unique in that none of the Achievements are spelled out for you.

For example, instead of being told to "recycle 25 pieces of equipment" to unlock Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the text simply reads: "Do you recycle? Try taking apart lots of equipment." Or to unlock 'The Lone Fighter' you need to "defeat the monster that appears from a certain quest."

It's possible, not knowing how the game plays out, that these Achievements will be by the book 'finished this section' ones, where you unlock it simply by playing through the game - but I have to admit that they intrigue me. Other games could easily do this, guiding people to Achievements by thinking about the game - not just playing it to complete a task.

An Achievement for beating a certain boss before killing any of its guardian minions, for example - is it more interesting to approach that fight knowing you need to do that to unlock it, or to read "an accomplished warrior knows to strike at the head of an opposing army, and let the rabble flee where they will" and figure out how to get that Achievement for yourself?

There's potential here, I just wonder if anyone else will see it and try to do it better. An Achievement list that's made up of good names and descriptions that hint towards what the associated task is instead of spelling it out - that's an interesting idea.



The Trophy List for NBA 09 came out and at 28 Trophies it's short and not very good. The list doesn't have much in the way of individual challenges - getting dunks or raining in three pointers, instead filled with defeating teams on [x] setting - though it's nice to see they are very specific about your minimum settings for those. Too many sports games are made easy fodder for Achievements/Trophies, simply by turning down the difficulty or length of quarters. None of that here.

The names are pretty brutal. Online 25 Gamer Winner, The Life - Story #1/2/3 Completed, Franchise - Win 3 NBA Finals, Player Progression - Advance 5 to 90+ They couldn't come up with anything better than those?

Online 25 Gamer Winner is a Gold Trophy, and they couldn't think of, for example, Broadband Baller? Replace the advancing five players to 90+ with 'New Kings of the Hardcourt' and winning three NBA Finals could have been 'A New Dynasty' easily enough. Weak list - some of the tasks are decent, but there isn't a name that received any thought in there at all.

Compare that to the Trophy List for Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and you'll see what I mean. Not only is it a larger list - at 50 Trophies total - but the tasks and names have obviously had a lot more thought put into them.

'The Money Shot' for doing a Boost Explode over the finish line? Brilliant. I'd have made that unlock after doing it once, since 10 times seems a little excessive, but the point is still valid - it's funny, it's inventive, and people will want to do it. It's a little disappointing to see some online-only Trophies, but that's more and more common on lists for both consoles these days.

Two games, two lists, and two clear examples of how good, and bad, a Trophy List can be.



My leveling in Warhammer Online stalled out this week as I just queued up for RVR Scenarios to try and raise my Renown level. I tend to like PVP more than PVE, which makes the choice of Order a good one - queues for Scenarios pop almost immediately, no matter what time of the day or night I log on. My Engineer is level 21, renown rank 16 or so. Having a blast, no pun intended, using my variety of land mines and turrets on defense, though the class is a lot weaker than most when on offense.

I've been playing quite a bit of Saints Row 2 and while it's not as polished as GTA IV, it's definitely a lot funnier. Insurance Fraud is a bit more over the top this year, which is actually a bit of a let down - it was funnier to be crushed by a car and then realistically (ish) fly off into other vehicles. Getting launched 200 feet by a vehicle while in Adrenaline Overdrive is almost too much.

Despite that one qualm, it's a lot of fun to play 'pass the controller on death' mayhem with friends. Trying to cause as much havoc as possible before dying can lead to some really bizarre happenings. I'll hopefully have a video up later in the weekend showing some of the strange things you'll see.

Until next week, I'm out.

Oh yeah, there was that Call of Duty beta key to give away... Congrats to Drue Phoenix on that one. Send me an e-mail, Mr. Phoenix.