The Video Game Critic

I know there's quite a few 360 owners on here and I was just wondering what you thought about the Achievements system.  I thought before I got one that I wouldn't really worry about trying to get the achievements but I have found it much more addictive than I thought it would be.

There are some people who just rent loads of games and then also cheat to get some of the multiplayer achievements quickly but I have found I don't really worry about total overall score.  Instead I have found myself actually picking certain achievements when I first get a game that I feel represent a reasonable skill level rather than just people putting in large numbers of hours into the title and then I make getting those my goal.  I think this is especially important given that some games reward their achievements pretty easily compared with others.

I have found it actually makes me play the games more too. like in Perfect Dark Zero.  I completed it through on Agent difficulty level which as anyone whos played Goldeneye or Perfect Dark will know offers very little challenge.  In those previous games I went make every once and awhile to complete each level on higher difficulty settngs and did it gradually over the months.  However the thought of someone seeing my scorecard and knowing I hadn't completed the game on Secret Agent or Perfect Agent is quite an embarassing idea so I have really made a concerted effort to get through the game on the harder settings.

And I have found it has made me appreciate the game a whole lot more.  Just like their earlier titles the harder difficulty settings offer so much more gameplay and areas to go through which I would not have fully explored without the achievements.  The Achievement system has also made me play through GRAW on hard which is not something that I would normally do, so immediately it has more than doubled my single player value for that game.  Same with trying to tackle the hugely intimidating World Xplorer mode in RR6 which normally I would have only done over a long extended time period.  It made me decide to master Hexic too.

So has anyone else found that Achievements have actually improved their enjoyment from the games?

I think it is cool. I don't go overboard with it or take it too seriously but I do find myself spending more time on games to get certain achievements. I love that the 360 Dashboard keeps track of the games you have played along with the games your friends have played (you can compare them too!).

Oh yeah, I completely agree.  Heck, I'd never have even finished Perfect Dark Zero unless it was for the achievement points.  Likewise, Oblivion kept me going to just unlock one more achievement, and then another, and then another.  Those damn things are as addicting as crack.

Here's a fun site that blogs your 360 usage.

http://www.360voice.com/

It only tends to actually grab data against actual games and not demos.  Regardless, it's still cool to see your achievements grow/graphed out.

Thanks for the link to 360voice.  I can't get my 360 online at home so I'm going to wait on that one till I move it.  My Achievements as of yesterday though :

http://live.xbox.com/member/averybluemonkey

I'd be interested in seeing what other people on this board play/have if anyone cares to share .

Sounds good to me.

http://live.xbox.com/member/actraiser

I see I have a lot of catching up to do with you guys .

Would be awesome to play with you guys when I move, I notice we have a couple of the same games (I just acquired Kameo yesterday).

I played the demo of Saints Row and I wasn't that impressed. I thought the graphics looked like an old X-Box game and the gameplay is exactly like GTA. I do like the gang storyline and the driving mechanics are much better then GTA, but I could live without all of the profanity. I think I'll pass when this one comes out or at least wait till some reviews come out.

I tried the Saints Row demo for about 10-20 minutes before heading out for the evening on Monday.  It seemed way too similar to GTA, not that that's a bad thing.  However, I've no interest in buying it, but might add to my gamefly queue.

Have you guys tried the Table Tennis demo?  I figure I'll just keep it on my harddrive and leave it there as a time killer when friends visit.