Achievement Unlocked 11.08.08: Secrets Made Public

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 11.08.2008

Who would have guessed that getting Smackdown versus Raw 2009 a week early would prove painful for 411mania's Rod Oracheski? Find out why, plus see some footage from Gears of War 2 and the Left 4 Dead demo, in this week's Achievement Unlocked.



The pursuit of Achievements has provided gamers, including myself, with a wide variety of experiences. One I never expected was celebrity - after a fashion at least - but that's what happened when I picked up Smackdown vs Raw 2009 at Wal-Mart, just over a week ahead of release.

Getting the game home, Sunday night, I fired it up and immediately checked out the Create-A-Finisher mode - I'll provide some impressions on the game in This Week in Achievements, but for now let's just get through this story.

After making a Finisher or two, I fired up the Exhibition mode and saved a short replay so I could check out the game's Highlight Reel feature. Creating a Highlight Reel unlocked an Achievement ('Lights, Camera, Action!') but I didn't think too much about it - not realizing it was one of the secret Achievements.

I fired up the 360 the next day and unlocked a few more Achievements, including '5 stars' for getting a 5-star match rating in Career mode, and 'Hot Tag' for performing a hot tag in a tag team match, then winning - both secret Achievements.

And that's when 'it' started.

The messages.

"What's the secret Achievements?"

"Hey man what r the achievements?"

"Hi m8 would you mind telling me the achievements?"

All told, I received around 30 messages that day - all asking about the Achievements. Some wanted to know about the Achievements in addition to where to find the game, but they all wanted to know those hidden Achievements.

And then, just when it had died down, I unlocked the 200 G secret Achievement ('The end of the road' for completing the Road to Wrestlemania mode with each Superstar) and uncorked a flood of messages. Everyone wanted to know how I got that one, and how difficult it was.

I asked one how he even knew I had the game and he tipped me off to MyGamerCard and the leaderboard for the game.

And the questions kept pouring in.

Let's put this into perspective. Gears of War 2 also appeared on my Gamercard a week away from the game's launch, yet it has drawn only a few scattered questions. Though it might be an indicator of how rabid wrestling fans are, and make no mistake they ARE, I think it has more to do with how rabid Achievement hunters have become. Gears of War 2 has no secret Achievements to unlock, after all, and every question I fielded about Smackdown vs Raw had to do with those secret Achievements - rarely about the game itself.

With more people getting hold of Smackdown as other stores break the street date (Check your Wal-Mart and/or K-Mart - they're notorious for it!) the questions have died down, but it was interesting to experience while it lasted.

If you've ever been one of the first to unlock a hidden Achievement, did you experience the same flood of interest?



The biggest news in Trophies this week is that Fallout 3, which was earlier denied to be getting a Trophy-support patch, will now...be getting a Trophy-support patch. At least that's the story according to Eurogamer, who got it out of Bethesda's Pete Hines.

It's going to happen, just not sure when. We'll let folks know when we have something more definitive.

It's unlikely the Trophies will be retroactive, so if that kind of thing matters to you and you were considering Fallout 3 then you might as well wait until the patch. Chances are good that you can get the game cheaper by then as well, so it's a double bonus!

Once again, Sony would really benefit from making Trophy support at a game's launch a requirement. Weeks- or months-late patches that add in non-retroactive support are a poor replacement for having those Trophies in there at release.

One game that will have Trophies from the release date is Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, a game that currently wavers between 'definitely getting' and 'maybe a rental' as they continue to cut and change in order to get the Teen rating they want.



Now let's get down to those Smackdown vs Raw 2009 impressions...

SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2009

Let's get the negatives out of the way first.

While the game has taken some good strides forward in the area of gameplay and in one area of user-created content, it's taken a huge hit in just about every other area of user content. Outside of the Create-A-Finisher, it's nothing but removal after removal.

Create-A-Belt? Gone. Create-A-PPV? Gone. They've even removed the ability to trade CAW online, something that was a big feature last year for those who just don't 'get' the creation system well enough to do the picture-perfect CAW that some can produce.

It's not likely many people would want to trade CAW this year, however, with the changes to stat management...and by "changes" I mean "removal" of course. You can't assign stats to your created superstar at all. What this means is that to use him against someone like Batista when playing against your friends, you are utterly unable to do enough damage to matter.

In one of my videos, which I'll embed at the end of this section, I show Batista being hit with a Finisher five times - and getting up immediately after each. After recording that clip I continued the beating, stopping only after Batista - after eating 60+ Finishers - was still getting up at the count of four. I can see making CAW weaker...but 60 Finishers aren't enough to put down Batista? Incredible.

The graphics are marginally better once more (though the goofy faces made in reaction to a goozle or kick to the gut are pretty laughable) and the animations flow much more smoothly than in the past. The way the characters interact still isn't as smooth as what TNA managed in their first year though, so...

Hey, here's an idea - how about trying a new engine finally? Update those animations? Some of them have been the same for years now, and we notice that kind of thing.

Matches are a lot shorter than last year, even though the AI tends to be a bit more aggressive this time around, with a remarkably short build to having a Finisher. Signature Moves add some moveset depth, though they seem to be poorly implemented. You get a Signature Move queued up by storing a Finisher, so...why would you do that? A more 'realistic match flow' implementation would be to build first to a Signature Move and then, by using that move, you become able to build to a Finisher.

If it sounds like I don't like the game, that's not the case. I don't like some aspects of it, but it's definitely the most fun WWE game to come out in quite some time. The roster is packed, with more coming via DLC (and some already ready...which I'm fine with, providing we're going to actually download the new wrestlers - not a 108kb unlock key).

CAW and CAF are both awesome, with CAF probably the best thing added to the series since Ultimate Control Moves. You can only create moves that start from the Groggy Front (or in a front lock-up) position, so hopefully that will be expanded on next year.

You can find more video here. I'll continue to update with new CAW footage, and there may be something going with the Wrestling section for WWE PPV's - more on that later.


THE AMAZING DAVE

GEARS OF WAR 2

Every issue that I had with the original game, the so-so presentation of what could have been a pretty interesting story and repetitive gameplay being chief among them, Gears of War 2 fixes in a big way. The storyline is a lot more prevalent, and has twists that some saw coming but will still probably take most by surprise, even including a side story element with Dom and the search for his wife.

As for the gameplay, if you didn't like the 'stop and pop' nature of every single level in the original (sans the driving level I suppose) then you'll be happy to hear that there's a lot more variety this time around. Some levels even open up to allow some run-and-gun action and while there's still a vehicle driving level this time around it's not as out-of-place as it was in the first game, plus you encounter some other 'vehicles' of a sort as well.

It's an epic (no pun intended) action movie in video game form with very few rough spots. One is the new screenshot mode, which isn't nearly the replay theater that Halo 3 brought to the console. You can't save your replay and then take screenshots - instead you need to fly around a camera while the match goes on (generally while waiting to respawn) and try to take shot during the action. Unless you set up shots ahead of time, trying to frame up a great picture can be a frustrating experience.

But that's really my only complaint about the game, which even minimizes the texture pop-in that the underlying engine is known for by having them fade in as the scene comes up instead of popping in dramatically. I still don't understand why they don't just keep the screen black for that half-second it takes, putting some text on the screen to distract us perhaps, but whatever - it doesn't really detract from the game at all.

As for additions, Horde mode is an absolute BLAST to play with friends - even in same-room splitscreen it shines. The difficulty ramps up quickly, but it never really felt unfair at all. In the gameplay side of additions, the new finishers are nice - dangerous (as you're vulnerable while doing them) but nice. I was a little skeptical at the addition of the shield for deployable and portable cover, but it works really well. You feel pretty badass holding off a wave of enemies with a pistol and shield, but watch for the guys flanking you!

One last thing - be sure to watch the credits...

Click to play

LEFT 4 DEAD

I've admittedly had limited time with this one, but I'm already impressed. While there's a place for the slow-moving zombie terror, there's also room for the fast-moving undead made popular in recent films. What's more terrifying than a zombie horde shambling towards you, intent on eating brains? A zombie horde running towards you, leaping over cars and scrambling along walls. Creepy.

The game looks really nice - not super detailed in the texturing, but the environment has a consistent overall art style (like most Valve titles) and is populated with a surprising number of objects and enemies. Things look like they should, which is generally pretty rare in video games - no matter how 'realistic' they aim to be. Usually things shine more than they should, or there's no dirt or grit to be found - not so here. If you're in a regular house, it's going to look like a regular house. Out on the streets you'll see garbage, cars, etc... Valve is good about the details in their games, and you can already see that here.

When I saw the warning about how setting off car alarms would summon zombies, I just had to do it and see how many we'd pull in. I was surprised at the numbers when the first wave came, and more surprised that, when I turned to the left, I found even more in another pack.

I've had limited time with the multiplayer, but what I've played has been rock-solid. Hopefully the gameplay stays just as solid when it hits retail channels and the servers are flooded with people looking to kill some zombies.

The only downer - Expert mode is hard as hell, but Advanced mode feels too easy afterwards. Hopefully the final game will allow some tweaking there.

Click to play

If you can't get that embed to work (it's a little wonky, I know) then you can download the source .wmv file HERE (just right click and save). It should play on your 360 if you stream it, or on your PC if you want to go that way with it. Those who prefer YouTube can check it out here once it's done processing.

Note that the video was captured offline in single-player, partly because the recording 360 is stuck offline at the moment due to networking issues (routing cables or getting a better wireless router...decisions, decisions) and partly to avoid pop-ups during gameplay. When playing with friends you'll find they don't bunch up the way the AI does - there's more 'watch your quarter' style play and a lot of frantic communication as people begin to get overwhelmed.

One particularly nice touch is that you can, at any time during a multiplayer game, hit Start and choose to 'Take a Break' - assigning the AI to take over your character while you answer the phone or hit the bathroom. You might want to avoid this when playing on the highest difficulty (unless you really suck at the game and need the AI to do the tough parts) but it's a great way to keep the game going while someone has a 'potty emergency' to deal with.

Until next week, I'm out.