AlwaysGaming

My name is Brad Tramel. I'm a video game journalist and college student, but I find time for all this social stuff, too. If you like what you read, follow this page to see all of my editorials, reviews and previews. You can find the entirety of my writing over at Gameblurb.net or by following @bradtramel on Twitter.
Happy gaming, everyone.

The 5 Worst Achievements Types

Let’s face it, there has always been a bit of an achievement hunter in all of us. Until just before I wrote my most recent blog, I was one as well, and my achievement sabbatical has encouraged me to think of the worst achievements out there. Even ones that seasoned achievement hunters won’t want to see. Here’s a list of types that range from irritating, to exhausting, even to impossible.

5. Multiplayer

To some gamers, multiplayer just comes naturally. Along with the help of a $200+ headset, modded controller, Kontrol Freeks, 72 inch HDTV, and their tryhard sweatband, they’re easily capable of racking up a crazy amount of kills each round and claiming their title of MVP. To others, it’s a bit harder to compete online, especially without implementation of a well designed ranking system. Aside from online multiplayer’s grueling nature, some achievements can be tiresome in themselves. Achievements like Gears of War’s “Seriously …” require players to accumulate a ridiculous amount of online kills, in this case 10,000. It’s estimated that if a player averaged 1 kill per round, it would take a whopping 400 gameplay hours to accumulate 10,000, and that’s not counting time spent in multiplayer lobbies waiting for a match to start! This is but one example of many ridiculously tough multiplayer achievements.

4. The Pointless

These achievements really don’t make you feel like you’ve achieved a dang thing. For example, The Simpsons Game features the easiest achievement of all time, entitled “Press START to Play,” No trickery here, it’s really that simple. But to be fair, it’s probably satire on achievements as a whole. However, some games don’t just fork over a single achievement in a short amount of time, they’d rather give you every achievement in the game. For example, Avatar: The Burning Earth only has five achievements, all of which can be obtained in the opening minutes of the game. This crappy Avatar game reigns supreme when it comes to easily completed games, but some iterations of Madden and other EA Sports titles have featured similarly easy achievements.

3. The Impossible

Yes, there are in fact many unobtainable achievements. Either due to a glitch that hasn’t been patched, poor development, or, most commonly, an online server has been shut down, making said game’s online achievements truly impossible to get. (Unless you cheat, of course.) EA has been most commonly scrutinized for this, choosing to shut down their online servers shortly after a new iteration hits store shelves. Thanks, EA.

For a full list of unobtainable achievements you can check out this thread here.

2. Timed Achievements

Some of the worst achievements in gaming are timed. There is no more stressful, irritating feeling than having to race against a clock or AI. Even if they aren’t necessarily tough to do, this type of achievement takes valuable focus away from narrative. For example, Grand Theft Auto IV’s “Liberty City Moment” challenges players to beat the story mission in under 30 hours! This achievement isn’t tough by any means, but it may feel like a punishment to those who would rather explore Liberty City to it’s fullest. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood did this as well, implementing rewards for those who managed to receive “full-synchronization.” All missions are coupled with arbitrary challenges, usually time constraints. 

1. Collectables!

In my opinion, collecting random items is the worst of the worst. I honestly think that developers throw these in as fillers, last-second garbage that adds “replayability,” or, in other words, busy work. Being told to collect X amount of gems, feathers, coins, or bananas is a product of lazy development and we shouldn’t tolerate it. Of course, there will always be the completionists out there that add fuel to this type of development, but games, and the gamer, deserve better than this. I’d rather see achievements that are creative and inspiring, even if they’re easier to do. Take note, developers, collectables should be the first type of achievement you work on getting rid of, for good.

  1. bradtramel posted this