24th May: GS Update

This past couple of weeks has experienced plenty of gaming, with a lot of work fro my Degree in the middle (priority was probably in that order, it probably shouldn't have been!) but here we are for another GS update.

Go ahead... call me a wussy... but I almost started crying when borandi turned me on yesterday. 96,089 points of raw gamer score are making you jealous! That is a profit of 175 points over last time! That puts us above 96,000 points! He rallied Hexic 2, Civil War finishing 3 achievements, Guitar Hero II, Army of Two™ winning 4 achievements, KUF: Circle of Doom, Jewel Quest acquiring 4 achievements, GTA IV, and afterwards, there were some awkward stares and silence... you know how it is.

Oh and it is time for a gamerscore challenge update... listen up... Here is the link: check it. 4 other people are throwing down in this challenge. If I do the math correctly, it means that 4 players X 5 days means a whole lot of trash talk! That doesn't matter though because borandi is beating them all! Number one baby! It's good to be in the lead, but there's still 2 days left in the challenge and 4 challengers looking to eclipse our achievements with some of their own.
There have been two major targets this week: the application of my new turbo controller, and going after some more 360 badges.

Well my Hori Turbo pad arrived, and my general impression is that it's quite good. The turbo features are such that you can set each of the ABXY to either 13 or 26 button presses per second when you hold the respective button. Also, the D-Pad is infinitely better than the normal 360 pad. The analog sticks are looser, which make it a bit difficult in aiming in FPS games. The LT+RT buttons are smaller, so easier to press in games which just require pressing, but a bit worse for driving games, as you don't have the range of pressures you do with the normal 360 pad. Also, every so often the controller disconnects from the 360 (even though it's wired), and when chatting online, the 360 wired headset doesn't stay connected to the controller. So overall, it's good for games that either require the turbo buttons or offline gaming, and not on FPS or driving gaming. Saying that, I've applied it to DDR Universe and Track and Field (despite having 200/200, but I broke most of my records).

With respect to 360voice, I've started posting on the forums over there. Good bunch of people for the most part - the odd idiot who doesnt read or engage brain, but you get those everywhere (and they will be removed soon, mwhahahaha!). On the badge front, I got my 50 watchers badge thats to some posting in the 'watch me' forum. Thanks to the Turbo Pad, I got my 1* Music badge (along with completing GH3 on hard) and I also got the 1* FPS badge with some Army of Two. I'm still going after the 1* Sandbox badge with GTA4.

So what about the games?

Bionicle Heroes 900 -> 940 of 1000 47 of 49 Achievements Well I'm almost at the end of this game. I completed the story mode, so now I can go after 100%. On the way, I got enough money to unlock the 3rd special stage, and get a couple of 'Destroy X' achievements. All that's left is the '100%' achievement, and the 'Collect 5million' money achievement.

Jewel Quest 0 -> 60 of 200 6 of 12 Achievements Looking at my badge calculator over at 360voice, I noticed I was only 220 GS away from my 1* Puzzle badge. After looking at all the games for the badge, I compiled the list of best games to buy in order to get the badge depending on it's average GS earned/player according to MGC. Jewel Quest came top, so I bought it. It's essentially like Bejeweled and Puzzle Quest, though you have to clear items from every square of the board at least once. For the full achievement set, you have to go through the story 5 times - each playthrough being more difficult than the last. I'm almost at the end of my first time through, about 7 stages from the end.

Guitar Hero III 400 -> 430 of 1000 39 of 59 Achievements Well, as mentioned above, I managed to complete Hard on GH3 - a monumental achievement in my eyes. After having so much trouble with One and Raining Blood, I managed to do both in the same day, leaving only Lou's final battle left. And that final battle takes the biscuit. Lou gets all the power ups before you do, and the song is difficult enough that anything like Whammy or Double Notes totally screws you over. I tried well over 50 times, then managed to get it by getting two boosts that I don't normally get. General consensus is that the best way to beat Lou is to use a Whammy on his green note streak.

GTA IV 375 -> 540 of 1000 33 of 50 Achievements I'm now 70% into the game from the 100% completion statistic. Achievements wise, I got the 500k money achieve, deliver 30 cars by text, explode 10 vehicles in 10 seconds (use a long vehicle, block a bridge, wait for lots of cars, shoot in the air to get people out of their cars, arrange them if necessary, then launch a grenade in the middle, then wait with the rocket launcher to pick off a couple more), killed 20 criminals via the police computer, and a couple of story achievements.

Army of Two™ 225 -> 340 of 1100 14 of 41 Achievements Thanks to DDR Universe, I had my US 360 out, so I decided to go for my 1* FPS badge on 360voice. Also, I've been neglecting the Army of Two story, so I marched through to Stage 5 (out of 6) and it was rather fun. Nothing much else to say.

Civil War 525 -> 545 of 1000 30 of 50 Achievements I initially started on Civil War to get my FPS badge, hoping that the achievement for '750 kills' would unlock. So I finished the story (I was only 2 stages from the end), then redid the stage where I got most of the kills. Amazingly, I only got 10 more - it seems that I need 750 kills, only counting the highest kills on each stage. Thats a balls achievement. It's a balls game as well - being shot through shrubbery from 2000 ft with a pistol by the AI on easy is pointless.

Lost Via Domus 0 -> 125 of 1000 6 of 30 Achievements I got LOST from LoveFilm this week. Word is that it's an easy 1000. I only did the first couple of stages, and with an online guide, it is fairly easy. A bit of a stupid game though. Imagine CSI, but less fun and more frustrating.

DDR/DS Universe 400 -> 900 of 1000 27 of 32 Achievements Aha - the gold mine for the Turbo pad! Beforehand I got to the final area boss, and he was kicking my arse. So I pull out the turbo pad, and after some initial working out how to use it, I finished the story mode. Using the pad, and some online help, I was also able to unlock all the extra tracks, and do the 3rd, 4th and 5th set of challenges for achievements. With hindsight, I could have made 840GS without it given enough time - all it requires is a lot of the quest mode items. But now, according to MGC, I'm in the top 50 in the world...? Chances are I won't ever get the full 1000GS as it's bloody hard from here on out.

Lost Odyssey 235 -> 360 of 1100 6 of 42 Achievements Using my guide, I'm now onto the 3rd disc (it approached unexpectedly, I must say), having played just over 20hrs. It's still an awesome game, I recommend it to everyone!

Test Drive Unlimited 630 -> 670 of 1000 35 of 46 Achievements After watching lots of Top Gear (A very popular car show) again, and watching my favourite ever car on some tests - the Koenigsegg CCXR - it was time to break out a game which has the car. Well TDU has a couple of Koenigsegg cars, and I bought one in it a while ago. So I decided to lots of A-rank races with it. On the way, I got the '60 gold cups' achievement.

FIFA Street 3 0 -> 1250 of 1250 32 of 32 Achievements I got Fifa Street 3 from LoveFilm this past week. Online, it was rated as 5-12 hours completion, and the DLC is only 300MSPs. Well I got most of the offline ones fairly easily, then finished the game with Undefy, Haly x3h and Sofa King 10k. The game is ok, better than NBA Ballers, but worse than NBA Street Homecourt. The achievements are very easy - the one that takes the time is the 25 online ranked wins, each win takes 5 minutes = 2hrs per person. Other than that, Game Complete!

The Club 465 -> 535 of 1000 31 of 50 Achievements I got out The Club due to mingo21 getting it. I haven't actually played it since the weekend it came out. It's a shame really - I would have played it more if it had some better online modes - they dont really cater for players that aren't that good =D Well we boosted a few online achievements - Win a DM without dying, Capture 25 flags, Kill 25 foxes. There's a few others we can boost as well.

Stranglehold 235 -> 400 of 1250 23 of 55 Achievements I've been seeing Stranglehold near the bottom of my 'games with 1250GS' list for a while now, so I took it out of it's shrink wrap (my last play on it was a rental) and completed the main story. ZachSP8 10k is going to help me boost the online stuff when we get time. I will also need to complete it on the hardest difficulty to get the GS. The DLC is majorly overpriced, at 1200MSPs for a few maps. 300MSPs like Fifa Street 3 would get them a sale from me. 1200MSPs is stupid. You hear me? STUPID!

Ridge Racer 6 5 -> 17 of 1000 3 of 36 Achievements A game I've been neglecting, I did a few races offline and then boosted some online with ZachSp8 10k. It's basically a drifting game (so far), and I'm winning most of my offline races.

======================
(Note the following is 3 weeks difference, as MGC was playing up last GS Update:

GamerScore:	91442 -> 96139
Zone:	Pro

Completed XBLA:	23 / 56
Completed Retail:	44 -> 46 / 199
GS Completion %:	43.78% -> 45.28%

Country Rank:	88 -> 73
World Rank:	601 -> 534
Completion Rank:	1,319 -> 1,072

Overview of the 360 RPGs

Here's something I wrote as a reply to a 360voice forum post that might be of benefit to RPG fans who have a 360 but not sure what game to get.

My overview of the RPGs on the 360:

Arkadian Warriors: Nice XBLA title - fit into the size window by having the dungeons randomly generated. Action style combat, though nice and easy to complete.
Blue Dragon: Took 96hrs for a complete playthrough to get all the achievements (with a guide, I'm a fan of official guides that rock). Created by the FF team (story and music) and art done by the Dragonball Z guy. It's quite fun if you like FF and/or DBZ.
Enchanted Arms: Graphically great, not so good storyline. 35hr completion (achievements for completing the game), can get boring in places, so it's a bit of a grind.
Eternal Sonata: Not properly played yet (no decent guide, the official one is crap), but still RPG style battles in an action environment. A new idea, implemented well, with a good storyline. Requires two playthroughs minimum for 1000 GS. A cross between FFVIII and Blue Dragon, though much shorter.
Lost Odyssey: IMO, a new standard in J-RPGs for the next gen consoles (I still love Chrono Trigger). I'm ~22hrs in and now on the 3rd disc, so I dont see it being more than 60/70hrs for the full 1000GS. Excellent 'blow your mind' story, great graphics, excellent lip synching etc. Every so often the town visits break the flow of melee combat, but still an excellent game.
Marvel Ult. Alliance: Almost completed the GS in this, just imagine Marvel characters + action combat + A levelling system. To me, a bit boring, but it has its fans.
Mass Effect: Too much dialogue, but good implementation of FPS/RPG type elements. I'm a JRPG fan, so meh.
Oblivion: Nice FPS/RPG type game as well, but see Mass Effect. My g/f has spent 160hrs on the game, and only done 10% of the story, as she has tried to visit EVERY dungeon in the game.
Phantasy Star Universe: Played the originals on Dreamcast, so I loved this. 35hr completion - some action elements and an average story, but nice graphics and combat system.
Two Worlds: Like Oblivion, but a small notch worse. I quite liked it, as it incorporated new elements to that type of game, but it tried to incorporate a lot very quickly, and wasn't fully developed.
KuF: A retail version of Arcadian Warriors basically - better graphics, but pure dungeon grinding with a small hint of a story. Online play though, which is a bonus.

Top 3 IMO:

Lost Odyssey
Phantasy Star Universe
Blue Dragon

(Because I prefer JRPGs over games like Oblivion and Mass Effect)

(NSFW) Zero Punctuation - GTA IV

The bleating followers of ZP's reviews force him to go after GTA IV. Watch, as the bile pours from every orifice. Or does it?



By the way, Niko is Serbian. We know this, as one point in the game, it's either Roman or Niko comment on how their Serbian native tongue is rusty.

HalyCopter

Just a shoutout to a random who I boosted with this week - Haly x3h. Go visit her website, and marvel at this piece of work.

Belated Update

Sorry, no update on Sunday. It'll be a couple of days (probably) before another one. It's the last few weeks of my Degree, so along with procrastinating with the 360 and work, I've not had time for much else. BBIAB =D

NBA Ballers Story Mode Guide

I created the following guide during my second playthrough.

It displays an overview of the moves, and goes through every chapter in each episode telling you the way I did it.

Example:


It's in PDF format here (110k).

12th May: GS Update

A few odd games this week, nothing too focused.

Like a king on his throne, borandi said 'awaken' and for him I did comply. 92,872 points represents the size of our growing kingdom. Ok, enough of this Monarchy stuff. That is an improvement of 220 points over last time! He rocked out to Football Manager 2007 picking up 1 achievement, NBA Ballers:Chosen One finishing an amazing 7 achievements, BioShock winning 1 achievement, and then I told him to keep playing but he didn't... out of spite I think.

Did I mention the gamerscore challenge that borandi is competing in? There's so much action in this one, you may pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!!111! Witness the spectacle. There are 4 other people playing along as well... they better watch out. Currently borandi is holding the number 2 spot in the group... decent. With only one day left though, we need to make that last big push!

360voice had a big badge update this week. I lost a few badges as a result - 1* Music, 1* FPS, 1* Sandbox. But also gained a couple - 50% completion and 2* Party. The music badge is a bummer, as almost 1/2 the games are US only which I dont have yet. The sandbox badge is a bit annoying - I was hanging on by 5pts, then they added both GTA and Bully to the genre, but only got 300 on GTA.

I also wrote a guide on NBA Ballers, but more about that later.

Guitar Hero III 390 -> 400 of 1000 37 of 59 Achievements After several weeks on and off, with the aid of a mirror, I redid Easy mode on a new band on Lefty Flip in order to get the 'Hendrix Reborn' achievement. Now it's a case of doing as many tracks as possible across all 5 bands to get the 100million points, $350k and 250k notes achievements.

NBA Ballers:Chosen One 0 -> 1000 of 1000 20 of 20 Achievements NBA Ballers was one of the LoveFilm rentals this week. Imagine NBA Street Homecourt, without the fun moves. It's basically a set of 1 vs. 1 matches for story mode, and 3 hours to complete. Another 3 to complete again for that achievement, then 25 wins online and a few other specific skill achievements. I made a guide over at x360a.org, which I've set to be posted here in a couple of days. Not a fun game by any stretch, though. Game Complete!

BioShock 275 -> 285 of 1100 25 of 51 Achievements In a minor attempt to get my 1* FPS badge back, I thought I'd fire up some BioShock. But it was 3am, so I got as far as getting the Jackpot on the one-armed bandits.

Football Manager 2007 9 -> 204 of 1000 18 of 50 Achievements Nothing much to say here. I started a game with max players in top positions at various clubs, then went on holiday and left the 360 on for around 15hrs this week. As a result, a lot of achievements pop up.

GTA IV 325 -> 375 of 1000 25 of 50 Achievements A couple of achievements on GTA. Enough story missions complete to get access to all the islands, and a set of 5 flips in a car. About 50% of the game complete.

SAMURAI WARRIORS 2 XL 0 -> 50 of 1250 1 of 29 Achievements I noticed a few people have the full 1000 on this game, so I put it in. Only a small dabble, I played the minigame from the main menu and won for the achievement, but also started a few of the story missions.

Scene It? LCA 445 -> 770 of 1000 33 of 42 Achievements I did aim one evening to try and finish Scene It. With Wiki and IMDB at hand, and a digi cam, I took photos of each question then paused it, then looked online for the answer. The main achievement on this game is getting 60 correct answers without getting one wrong. I think I got to around 28 before one of the questions was the picture of an actor and he looked more like the wrong guy than the right one. That took 70 minutes to get that far. So I just finished the Long Game and put it away.

Army of Two™ 80 -> 225 of 1100 10 of 41 Achievements Another attempt to rekindle my 1* FPS badge. I went after some weapon achievements, thanks to the guide over at x360a.org. It involves replaying the first mission over and over again, as there is a point where 120 guys spawn 2 at a time, and you have infinite health and ammo.

LEGO Star Wars: TCS 100 -> 210 of 1000 11 of 42 Achievements Another part of my semi-interested runs at the next Family badge. Like the other LEGO Star Wars, this is just as boring and uninteresting. A few achievements from going through the first episode, nothing much else.

PES2008 235 -> 260 of 1000 10 of 28 Achievements One achievement - the 100 assists one. I'm around 10 or so games from finishing the English league.

Geometry Wars Evolved 20 -> 30 of 200 4 of 12 Achievements Aha! Geometry Wars was one of my first ever games I got an achievement in. It's ridiculously hard. But I managed to get the 'get 250k points' achievement.

======================

I'm not putting up the MGC stats this week. There's been a mixup over there and some of my games that used to be there aren't showing. It should be fixed up by next week.