27th January: GS Update

Various gaming this week - some more easy games, some new ones too. Also, hit 70k gamerscore!

borandi brought the pain yesterday... the good kind... the gaming kind. We are up to 70,262 points of gamerscore. Jealous? He made some progress on Blue Dragon, Hardwood Spades, Guitar Hero III, and before I even realized it, he was finished and I was sad.

And the games:

WAR TECH:SenkoNoRonde	0 -> 120 of 1000 5 of 25 Achievements
Guitar Hero III	275 of 1000 29 of 59 Achievements
Hardwood Spades	40 of 200 4 of 12 Achievements
Blue Dragon	80 -> 110 of 1000 8 of 43 Achievements
Meet the Robinsons	0 -> 720 of 1000 32 of 38 Achievements
Spider-Man™: FoF	350 -> 1000 of 1000 12 of 12 Achievements
Oblivion	1000 -> 1250 of 1250 60 of 60 Achievements
Assassin's Creed	40 -> 60 of 1000 3 of 44 Achievements

I picked up WarTech: Senko no Ronde before Christmas on a whim - a rare enough game, available for 10GBP brand new. I never considered playing it until browsing through the internet, and it came up on a blog of easy games. I peered over the achievements, and a guide, and yes, it looked very easy - play through story mode 8 times, through time attack mode 8 times, play 100 hours, play 1000 online matches, reach rank X online. On this game at least you can do the achievements on 'very easy' mode =D I trudged through two story modes and two time attack modes in 90 mins. The only problem people online have been saying is that to reach the top rank required for an achievement, it requires 230 wins with a boosting partner, at a maximum rate of ~35 an hour. That's some hardcore grinding. Apart from that, looks like some easy GS.

Yes, some more GH3. I recently placed a note on AceyBongos' Xbox blog describing how I feel about GH3:

I've hit a wall on GH3 - a couple of songs from the end on hard mode, where they really hammer the 32nd notes (Iron Maiden and Slayer). Apart from trying to do those, and getting the 200k on Cult of Personality, GH3 has kinda lost my interest. I hope Rock Band brings something new to the 'press coloured buttons in time' genre. All we need is a release date... =D

So yeah, I'll play it for a bit of fun, but not a lot else. I still have the career co-op stuff to do, when I can find someone willing to go through 48 music tracks four or five times.

I've also been trying some Hardwood Spades. It's becoming easier to win, but the streaks and moon shots seem a long way off. The 100 games shouldn't be hard to get though.

YaY for Blue Dragon! I've been neglecting this way too much, so I ploughed ~20 hours into the game in two days. Now I'm at around the part where I was before I reset and starting playing with the guide. I'm at the same level as I was, but I've played 10 more hours but all my characters have almost maxed out all their classes. The achievement I got was the 'Complete Mechat Stage 1: Perfect' which is thought of to be a hard achievement to get. It took me a couple of tries, but with the guide it was easy enough.

I bought Meet The Robinsons, like WarTech, sometime before Christmas. Again, this was meant to be easy GS - and it is. I've been playing through the story mode, and after 6 hours I'm near the end. However I missed a couple of items, and I might have to playthrough the bastard again to get the final achievements. Apart from that, a very easy game. Graphics, sound, gameplay are above the level of a movie of a film, but nothing spectacular. A second rate game - fun for kids, but not much holding it together.

Spiderman: FoF has been a fun game. The levels are simple, fun, and short. There are 20 in the game, and collecting the 3/4 bits per level makes it a good achievement game. The final achievement is to upgrade your whole team - this requires replaying the final stage about 10 times to complete all the upgrades. Apart from that little annoyance, an easy 1000GS. Game Complete!

I completed Oblivion (to 1000GS) in Feb 07. It was an easy game - I wasnt too fussed about the side quests, and ploughed through the game in a little under 35 hours I think. So up comes the expansion, Shivering Isles. This game costs a bomb under the marketplace, but offers 35+ hours more gameplay over the original game. It would do, if you did the side quests. I was able to borrow a mates 'Game of the Year' edition of Oblivion which came with the expansions (Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine) in order to get the final achievements. 6 hours, and some weird storyline, got me the final 250GS. Game Complete!

Aside: I like Oblivion - its a great RPG. It just lacks a few things, like colour (everything seems like a shade of brown), multiplayer, and 360 mods. The PC version has a large mod backing, where people have created their own cities for the game, etc. and made it easier to navigate and so forth. If the 360 had that sort of backing, people would be playing Oblivion more than they normally do! Nellas has got >160hrs gametime, just trawling through the dungeons in the game.

Yes, I rented Assassin's Creed. No, I dont really like it. It's just not enough substance in the game - I have to walk everywhere, be careful that I dont push people over, the controls are a bit sloppy, and it isnt intuitive. I'm sorry guys, this game goes towards the back of my shelf - or back to Blockbusters actually.

Also, I completed Beautiful Katamari, as per the mini update ;)

GamerScore:	68,512 -> 70,382
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	15 / 42
Completed Retail:	31 -> 34 / 157
GS Completion %:	41.72% -> 42.58%

Country Rank:	150 -> 142
World Rank:	967 -> 910
Completion Rank:	2,293 -> 2,007

(NSFW) Zero Punctuation: The Witcher (PC)

This week, ZP takes a look at the PC game 'The Witcher'. I've heard of this game, and not heard many positive remarks about it. Take a look =D

Just a little fun thing I saw

1500 Hard Drive Dominoes:

21st January: GS (mini) Update

Note: Blog 100 =D

Just a mini update, to say I've finally completed Beautiful Katamari!

Beautiful Katamari

1170 -> 1250 of 1250 40 of 40 Achievements

After I wrote the last blog, I needed ~10 more hours to get that final achievement, 'Play for 100 hours'. This officially puts me as the first person in the UK to get the full 1250 GS =D =D.

I've officially put my next focus onto completing Spiderman: FoF, but I've also rented out Assassins Creed again just to get a better experience than last time.

20th January: GS Update

The weeks gaming.... Well to start, there was revision. Lots of revision. Then modular exams. Then gaming. Lots of gaming. Not standard pick up and play, but hard grinding that only comes with the satisfaction of laying on a couch, eating a takeaway, and drinking energy drinks. Proper gaming.

borandi held the Xbox button on his controller down for a few seconds and our adventure began! A gamer score of 68,362 is lighting the way. That is a gain of 1,350 points over last time! That was enough to cross the 68,000 mark! Good stuff! He rallied CSI-Hard Evidence gaining 5 achievements to finish the game, Mass Effect gaining 1 achievement, SmackDown vs RAW 2008 winning 3 achievements, Spider-Man™: FoF adding 5 achievements, and then I needed a nap. Don't judge me! It's a lot of work pushing all those pixels.

Even some completions this week. Awesome.

Beautiful Katamari	1170 of 1250 39 of 40 Achievements
SmackDown vs RAW 2008	865 -> 1000 of 1000 26 of 26 Achievements
Spider-Man™: FoF	0 -> 350 of 1000 6 of 12 Achievements
Mass Effect	170 -> 210 of 1000 10 of 45 Achievements
CSI-Hard Evidence	0 -> 1000 of 1000 5 of 5 Achievements
Hardwood Spades	20 -> 40 of 200 4 of 12 Achievements
MLB 2K7	0 -> 560 of 1000 17 of 33 Achievements
DDR/DS Universe	350 -> 400 of 1000 11 of 32 Achievements

Once again on the Katamari grind. I'm probably 20hrs or so away from the achievement - I had it on a couple of days but like I've mentioned before, I dont like it on for long periods (incase of RRoD) and save every hour or so. But as I look on mygamercard.net now, I'm no.1 in the UK for BK - one person has the 1000, 2 of us have > 1000. If I can get 1250 first, it'll be a great goal to have! Here's a picture:

I have finally completed WWE SvR 08. This game was easier than 07, but sure as hell annoying. I got 865 from rental before, and the last bit was a series of final achievements. It was on offer a while back, so I bought it, and unwrapped it this week. I got the rest of the offline achievements, no problems, however the final achievement I needed was '5 Title Defences against 5 different gamertags in 24hrs'. Basically, it either means be really good (which is almost impossible - everyone online are vets and the lag is horrible) or post on every achievement website possible to get boosting partners. Well, I started at 1am with a friend, then by morning I had a couple other requests. I was on and off all day, checking messages, and getting some matches. However, I turned off the *box once or twice, and also did matches in Rising Star and Free (two different modes based on experience). By the time I had 5 wins, and the achievement didnt pop up, I was a bit miffed. Then on six wins, angry; seven wins, furious. In the end, I decided to leave my 360 on until the matches came, which put me off of Spiderman until this achievement popped. After all that, on my 10th match against a different GT, 23hrs and 55 minutes after my first match, the achievement came up. Game out, onto completed shelf, restore hair from floor to head. Game Complete!

Ah yes, a new game as well. I bought Spiderman: FoF over christmas - mainly because is was cheap, but also I'd seen it was an easy 1000GS. And 'they' weren't wrong. I actually like this Spiderman game - it reminds me of the old ones. More platform oriented, linear based, power-up type (like Marvel: UA) that is fun to play, unlike that crappy Spiderman 3. As I write now, I'm 8 levels in, with lots of various upgrades, and half the achievements. The rest are for completing the game while collecting everything (not hard, maybe 3 to 7 items per level), fully upgrading my last skill, and upgrading all the extra characters. That final one looks like a bit of a chore - possibly doing the final level over and over which is mentioned in some guides.

Mass Effect is a game I should not be putting off - its fun, great story (despite what Zero Punctuation says), and non-linear enough to deserve around 100 hours exploring it. However, the achievements aren't that easy. Like I've mentioned before, the achievements basically require 3 play throughs - I'm 15hrs into my first, probably around 60-70% complete. I've done a couple of side missions, but not many. The achievements I acquired this week come from 'Meeting all species' and '75% total Paragon' (basically means doing all the good stuff, answering nice, etc.).

I have a couple of points to make about CSI: Hard Evidence. The story line is good - typical CSI faire. However, I hate this sort of game. It requires searching each area thoroughly, enough to get several stadia sized headaches. Luckily, this game has a hints system if you get stuck. Even luckier, is that x360a.org has a thorough indepth guide, resulting in a 6.5hr completion time. Now I've been after this game a while (due to the easy GS), however my local rental place has not had it. I walk in after my last exam to treat myself, and there it is on the wall. Paid the nicely sum of 4.95GBP, walked home, then realised my UK 360 is still in for repair. Luckily, the game worked (however Bladestorm didn't, so I took that back and swapped it for Rush Hour 3), and I completed it that day. I would recommend the game for the story line, but not a lot else. Not a lot of replay value. However, Game Complete!

Some more Spades as well, in various 10 minute pick-up-and-play sessions. These were just regular grindy achievements - 500 tricks, 10 wins. I get how to play this game, but a bit frustrated on how its purely luck, and it isnt like Poker where you can force people out.

I got my MLB 2k7 to work! =D =D I trolled a couple of achievement forums, and the problem arises in how the game is saved. Now from the release of this game, there has been an update and a free stadium to download. When you apply the update, the game saves it differently. However, it only loads correctly when the stadium is downloaded. So I hopped onto my US account and got it. I've picked up just over half the achievements - most of the rest require online play, or specific offline play targeted at just that achievement. The online achievements require 'Win twenty 9 inning games online', which is a hellish feat. I'll add this one to the grind pile?

Last but not least, DDR Universe. Now I'm still having trouble with story mode (that final boss battle is a b!tch), but I churned out 10 tracks on freeplay to get the '40 songs cleared' achievement. There are achieves for 50, 60 and all, as well as the various challenges still to do. But you can only play this game a bit at a time.

GamerScore:	66,357 -> 68512
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	15 / 42
Completed Retail:	29 -> 31 / 156
GS Completion %:	41.16% -> 41.72%

Country Rank:	160 -> 150
World Rank:	1,042 -> 967
Completion Rank:	2,517 -> 2,293

Woohoo, top 1000 in the world!

(NSFW) Zero Punctuation: Crysis (PC)

Once again our good friend some guy I randomly got linked to has posted another review - this time, its the graphically awesome, gameplay shoddy, Crysis for PC. For behemoths only.

13th January: GS Update

This week has been somewhat entertaining. On Jan 6th, we had the Microsoft CES Keynote speech, delivered by the one and only Bill Gates (and Robbie Bach). It's Bill's final keynote, and he didnt have much in the way to say about the Xbox 360. No big announcements regarding hardware or packages. All that was said was regards the now 10 million Xbox Live members, and 17 million consoles sold - and they reached that 10 mill target 6 months early. Thinking about it, I dont know one game that has more than 2 million online gamertags associated with it - looking at mygamercard.net, Hexic HD has 1.05 mill, Halo 3 has 1.05 mill (a mere concidence) and I'm a particular world rank X of 1.7 million. Thus a lot of this tags are either SPAM, or just secondary accounts. Currently there are 5 accounts on my system - my main that subscribes, two spares for regional downloads, my girlfriends, and a mates'. Thus it can be clear by '10 million accounts' that maybe 80% of them are SPAM ones. This leads me to another point - 17 million consoles sold, and so few of them go online? Most of the 360 fun is online! Either MS have inflated their figures or just havent got the message out that the 360 is an online console. If they had included wifi as part of the hardware, I could see a lot more 'players' being part of this online community.

As regards the gaming, this week has been so-so. I'm up to my ears in exam revision, thus limited to few games. My 360voice states:

I thought borandi just wanted to listen to music or watch a DVD. Turns out he was there to game. With a gamer score of 66,287, I should have known that was the case. That is an increase of 115 points over last time! He rocked out to Metal Slug 3 acquiring 1 achievement, Omega Five, Hardwood Spades gaining 1 achievement, Scene It? LCA adding 4 achievements, Guitar Hero III, and... hmmm... I forget what else we did...

This weeks XBLA releases were Omega Five and Tron. Omega Five is the side-scrolling blaster (which I bought and think is ok), whereas Tron is the old pre-arcade version of the game (and is crap).

Scene It? LCA	280 -> 445 of 1000 21 of 42 Achievements
Guitar Hero III	275 of 1000 29 of 59 Achievements
Hardwood Spades	10 -> 20 of 200 2 of 12 Achievements
Omega Five	0 -> 40 of 200 3 of 12 Achievements
Metal Slug 3	60 -> 70 of 200 6 of 12 Achievements
Beautiful Katamari	1170 of 1250 39 of 40 Achievements
Marble Blast Ultra	30 -> 70 of 200 5 of 12 Achievements
G.R.A.W.	420 -> 670 of 1000 27 of 43 Achievements

Nellas and I have played about 4 games of Scene It? this week. As a result, we're slowly starting to get the achievements for '25 questions correct about the 80s/90s/Romance/SFX' type of achievement. I also got a couple of 'get all questions correct in this block' and a short game score achievement. When I'm not embroiled in revision, I could go through this for a while making mental notes of the answers (and using some forums) and hopefully try and get 1000GS in this. The hardest achievements (apparently) are getting 60 correct without one wrong, which will take some skill as I'm not a film buff.

I've spent quite a few days on GH3 this week, mainly for one purpose - to get the '200k on Cult of Personality without using star power' achievement. I've been working on it on Hard difficulty - expert contains too many 32nd length notes and I cant press the buttons quick enough. However, I'm getting quite good on Hard, with 940/980 notes hit and getting most of the hammer-on sequences correct. It's just a case of minimising damage - each time you break a 4x streak, you lose at least 5k in points. My best is at 182k, and I can usually get 175k. Thus, I need to just get slightly fewer mistakes on a run through. Hitting all the notes should get me around 199.5k, but as there are quite a few chords and also there's a little trick of using star power at the end which doesnt effect the achievement. More practice needed, though I've probably done it around 30 times this week.

I fired up some Hardwood Spades as a few people on my friends list have the full 200 and I'm stuck with only 10GS. I think I'm getting the hang of it now, randomly getting one achievement, and just need to focus on certain specifics to get the others. More practice methinks.

Omega Five is one of this weeks XBLA releases, which I bought. I've always been a sucker for side scrolling shooters, as long as I can do them. Omega Five is Hard! I've died at the second level boss a few times now, but managed to get all the achievements upto that point. The achievements in this game are more geared towards completing with character XYZ without losing a life/continue. Hard achievements for a hard game.

Another side scrolling shooter, Metal Slug 3, also involves completing level XYZ without dying. After using 71 continues on my playthrough on Hard, I fired up some easy mode and tried that. Several attempts resulted in getting the first level done quick and without dying, however I'll need to grind out the other level achievements. Bleh.

I've done some mild work into getting that 100hr BK achievement. Probably gave around 15hrs while I was revising, though it's hard to tell.

I grinded through some Marble Blast Ultra - successfully completing all the Intermediate levels. I had to redo 4 or 5 to get them under par time, and some of them were frustrating. The Expert levels look impossible, and there's no-one online for the online achievements.

I haven't played GRAW for a while, and I knew I had some easy achievements to do. Last time I played this, I went through Hard getting the story achievements. This is an old game, which if you complete a level on Hard you don't get the 'level complete' achievement for easy at the same time. Thus, this time round, I played the campaign on easy mode for an easy 250GS. Now, the only achievements I'm missing involve serious amounts of multiplayer work. Pah.

GS: 65,762 -> 66,357

GamerScore:	66357
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	15 / 42
Completed Retail:	29 / 154
GS Completion %:	38.96%
GS % (Non-Demo):	41.16%

Country Rank:	160
World Rank:	1,042
Completion Rank:	2,517