09
Apr
February treated us to the wonderful Street Fighter IV (and Halo Wars, which I have only managed to play the demo of so far). March on the other hand didn’t really seem to bring anything new to the table that I was interested in. For a large number of gamers, Resident Evil 5 was at the top of the ladder. For me, I decided to go through some of my older games and pay them a visit.
Blue Dragon
This Japanese/turn-based RPG was purchased well over a year ago (maybe even 2). On my original play through I just couldn’t seem to connect with it. Maybe this was due to the game not meeting my expectations, or because I was suffering from some sort of gamerscore addiction.
RPGs take time to complete, and not many of them offer easy/quick achievements. The developers want you to undertake multiple playthroughs and explore every last inch of the land for that final collectible. I on the other hand have never quite been the patient type, so a game that requires as much dedication as this was unfortunately overlooked.
That was until this month. I felt I was finally ready to sit down and play through a game such as this. It was a tough choice between Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, but after much thought I finally settled for the lighter and more cartoonish option (with the intent on playing Lost Odyssey afterwards). Infact, part of my decision was based on the assumption that Lost Odyssey is better, so playing an enjoyable yet inferior game first will make the overall experience less disappointing than if I had decided to play them the other way around.
So, Blue Dragon is an excellent and very enjoyable turn-based RPG adventure for the Xbox 360. That’s all very well, but what game has been consuming most of my time this month..?
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2
Off all the online FPS games I have played, Rainbow Six games have always been my favourite. The “taking cover” mechanic really enhances the game and the controls feel really fluid.
This month (erm, march) I have been spending most of my time on this awesome game. It features numerous interesting multiplayer game modes and an experience system that unlocks new gear for your character. It’s also the only FPS (I think?) that allows you to scan your face using the Xbox 360 Live Vision Camera, how cool is that?
My aim is to reach the full 1000 gamerscore with this game. So far I’m just above 800 points, so not far to go now.
26
Mar
First there was Avatar, then there was My Horse and Me2. Now there is Disney Sing It with Hannah Montana not too far away.
There is no denying that earning achievements and boosting gamerscore is extremely addictive. There is a huge community of competitive gamers eager to get to the top of leaderboards whether they be worldwide, or just amongst friends.
This led me to wondering, how far will you go to boost your gamerscore? Would you risk the ridicule of friends to get that extra 1000 points?
Those of you who have looked on my Xbox 360 profile will have noticed that I have earned 1000 gamerscore on Avatar and also played my fair share of other “kids games”. I sort of have an excuse as my girlfriend has kids who own an Xbox 360, but that doesn’t really mask the fact that I would still have played the games if she didn’t.
The game I received most comments about from friends was Disney Sing It. I got quite a grilling for having that on my profile eventhough a lot of them are “achievement whores” too. I must say though that I don’t chase after gamerscore as much as I used to. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of games purely for the enjoyment of the gameplay and story, but I am still tempted to go that extra mile sometimes to grab a couple of points.
What I’d like to hear are your stories, the readers of this blog. What games are you most ashamed of playing? Do you only play games that have easy achievements? Have your friends ever mocked you about certain games on your profile?
20
Mar
I stumbled across 360voice after viewing one of my friend’s Xbox 360 motto. I was curious as to what the site was about (although obviously it was something Xbox related), so I logged onto my PC and gave it a visit.
360voice is a site that tracks data about your Xbox 360. Upon signing up you add your gamertag and within a few days it begins displaying various statistics about your achievements, how often you play, and any challenges you have accomplished.
The great thing about 360voice though is that each day your Xbox 360 automatically blogs something about you (or it) whether you play or not (in quite a humorous manner).
360voice also has a great community where players arrange gaming nights and help each other complete games and obtain difficult achievements (where possible). The site even has it’s own form of “achievements” called “badges” which are earned by accomplishing various criteria such as playing/finishing certain games, winning competitions, and playing for a number of days.
Check it out today and get your Xbox blogging!
+ For those interested, you can track my profile here.
26
Feb
It’s been almost two weeks since my previous gamerscore update and I feel I haven’t done so well this time. Whilst I’ve been playing a few games, I seem to have been distracted by other hobbies lately. That said, let’s see what I’ve been up to.
Lego Indiana Jones
Not long to go now with this game. I managed to bring my gamerscore up to 940 out of 1000. Not bad really, with only a few achievements left (which will be quite boring and repetitive, especially the one where I need to disarm numerous enemies). I should be able to 100% Lego Indiana Jones if I can gear myself up to finish up on the loose ends.
Scene It? Box Office Smash
With the new Scene It downloadable content me and my girlfriend have been playing this quite a bit recently. We played it quite a lot before, but it’s nice to have some new questions and clips to watch. We also managed to get what I would consider to be the two hardest achievements in the game requiring a score of 300,000 and 330,000 with DLC, bringing the total gamerscore for this game to 1100 out of 1250.
Burnout Paradise
I couldn’t wait for the release of the new Ultimate Box edition, and I wasn’t disappointed! This version of Burnout Paradise contains a lot of (or all of) the previous DLC on disc, saving some room for quite a small hard drive (yes, even on the elite. Why don’t Microsoft release a huge and cheap drive? Well, we all know why. But I wish they would do it!). Anyway, the game still looks gorgeous and is very exciting and fun to play. I love the takedown game modes and exploring the huge map. I haven’t had time to play this as much as I’d like to, sporting only a measly 185 gamerscore for this game.
Recent Gamerscore Summary:
- Street fighter IV – 130/1000
- Fuzion Frenzy 2 – 25/1000
- Scene It? Box Office Smash – 1100/1250
- Dawn of War 2 – 35/1000
- Lego Indiana Jones – 940/1000
- Lord of the Rings: Conquest – 85/1000
- Burnout Paradise – 185/1050
Total Gamerscore: 33,610
14
Feb
Play during Maw’s six meal times: Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dunch, Dinner, and Midnight Feast.
There are some Xbox 360 achievements that really make you wonder how on earth you will be able to unlock them. I’m not on about daunting achievements like the Gears of War “Seriously?” task, but more the ones that tease you with little information.
Thanks to the great site x360a.org, I was finally able to find out how to unlock the Maw “Six Meals a Day” achievement.
You can mess around with the time zone setting on the 360, load up a level and then quit out so it saves. Keep changing time zones and doing this until the achievement unlocks. You can stay connected to Live while you change time zones. Alternatively, you can keep playing the game at various times of the day until it unlocks.
TIMES: Try 8am, 10am, 12pm, 4pm, 6pm, 12am.
As an added tip, I have heard that this “cheat” only works offline, as the clock can automatically correct itself using the Xbox Live timing.
I hope this helps a lot of you in obtaining the final achievement of this awesome game!
