I have the Platinum Trophy for Modern Warfare 2

Shortly before the release of Call of Duty: black Ops over a year ago, I made a bold declaration that I would ‘Platinum’ Modern Warfare 2.  That is, complete 100% of all achievements.

Now, I’m going to level with you here.  When I made that announcement, I didn’t really expect that I would do it, although it would give me the incentive of public humiliation if I didn’t.

Continue reading I have the Platinum Trophy for Modern Warfare 2

I’m going to ‘Platinum’ Modern Warfare 2

Yep, you heard it here first.  For those of you that are of the Xbox persuasion, I guess it means that I’m after 100% of achievements.  But it’s not going to be easy.  My biggest hurdles are the special ops missions, which present an interesting bunch of scenarios: some are almost too easy (hello Wardriving, Armour Piercing) whilst others verge on the ridiculously tough (big shout out to Snatch & Grab and High Explosive).

You may be thinking Modern Warfare 2 is yesterday’s news- been there, done that, next.  Well, up to a point.  You see, as much as I hate to say it, I’ll just spit it out anyway- all the games that have come out this year haven’t really interested me.  Any games that I might go for, will only be bought once they’ve come down in price.  One of the few games coming up this year that I will most certainly buy at full price, will be Call of Duty: Black Ops.

But until that time, Modern Warfare 2 has sustained me throughout most of this year, with the single player campaign completed on veteran, and the online multiplayer to dip in and out of.  And of course, special ops!  So that’s what I’ve been up to with my gaming.

Taking Liberties

Yes, I own GTA IV, but have I really played it yet?  Absolutely not.  At the time of GTA IV’s release, I was happily engrossed in playing Race Driver: GRID.  At the back of my mind from previous experience of past GTA titles, was that each games requires an enormous investment of time.  An investment I wasn’t willing to make without Trophies.

You’re probably thinking “Yes, Los Havros has really done it this time.  He’s finally sold himself out, putting thoughts of Trophies before the game itself”.  Fair enough, but this is my rationale for doing this.  The only game that I’ve been willing to play through for possibly the 4th or 5th time for Trophies has been Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.  Yet Uncharted has nowhere near the number of hours of gameplay that GTA IV has.

If I had already played through GTA IV, I doubt that I’d start from scratch again just for Trophies.  I’ve even seen quite a large number of posts from gamers who have stated exactly that.  Secondly, my time is precious these days.  I don’t actually have enough time to play each game in turn for 100% completion.  Even a game that I have actually completed like Uncharted, hasn’t been completed 100% as I haven’t collected all the Trophies for it yet.

So I suppose either over the Christmas period or through 2009 I vow to make a start on GTA IV by completing as much of the story as I can, and see how far through the Trophy system I can make it.  This isn’t a cast iron promise though, as something may inevitably crop up (there’s also the new ‘easier’ patch for PixelJunk Eden to consider).  But there you go.  I swear that after I’ve finished my degree I’ll be king of the jungle gym… of gaming.  Possibly.

Anyone got any games they haven’t yet started, but they’re going to have a decent crack at this Christmas?

A golden opportunity for Codemasters

I feel that Codemasters are missing out on a golden opportunity.  How so?  I’m referring to Trophy support and downloadable content; what I’m on about will all become clear very soon.

Codemasters are driving game veterans, having developed the Collin McRae Rally series over a number of years now.  They followed up their great series with the launch of DiRT on the PS3.  Then the subsequent development and launch of Race Driver: GRID- essentially the latest game in the TOCA Touring Car series, was a stroke of genius.  I’m only guessing here, but GRID surely reached a large audience.  I was a gamer that had played the TOCA Touring Car games and didn’t particularly like them, but GRID changed that. The visuals, the style, and the sublime handling.  Hey, I liked the handling! (some people would argue the handling was lumpy).

What has made things turn sour for PS3 users, is the fact that GRID won’t be patched to retrospectively support Trophies.  Everything’s been quiet on the GRID front for months, and then a mysterious downloadable content pack is available to purchase on the PlayStation Store.  It’s called the “8-ball pack“, and for £6.29 you get 8 cars.  Yup, for all that money, you just get that.  Let’s have a look what the competition have done…

Criterion Games, the developers of Burnout Paradise, have toiled away at and released Trophy support, and numerous downloadable content packs (all free!), and are only going to charge for their next pack because it adds a whole new island to the game.  It is probably even in the territory of an expansion pack.

This is why I don’t get this comment:

We’re currently not planning to retrospectively support PSN trophies – it’s not a trivial thing to add to a game.

Source.

This is where I believe that Codemasters have missed a golden opportunity.  The fans want Trophies, and the developers want a return on investment (ROI), so why don’t they patch the game for trophies, chuck a couple of cars in to sweeten the deal, then offer the pack up for purchase on the PlayStation Store?

You may think I’m making a big deal out of this, especially because there are many games out there that were released before Trophies came out and haven’t been patched such as Resistance: Fall of Man, The Orange Box, and many more.  But none of those games have just had a downloadable content pack released!  If they’re willing to develop new content packs, then why not Trophy support?

Sure, there will be a development team working on DiRT 2, but GRID is a franchise now in it’s own right and they could have kept interest in the game for far longer than they have done, just by following Criterion’s example.  But I digress.  I’ll conclude by admitting that the main reason I’m so upset about this is that GRID is one of my favourite games, and I’m just irritated by the attitude of the developers in this case.

Grand Theft Auto IV PS3 Trophies this Monday

Grand Theft Auto IV PS3 Trophies this Monday– As a gamer who hasn’t spent much time on GTA IV at all, this is the incentive I need to sink some hours into it.  With many gamers who have already completed GTA IV not fancying playing through it again for the Trophies, is this a stroke of good fortune for me or what?!

GTA IV gets Trophy patch

GTA IV gets Trophy patch– I must admit, this news really took me by surprise.  Considering such games as Race Driver: GRID and Resistance: Fall of Man were not going to be patched, I had resigned myself to the fact that GTA IV would also not be patched.  Sooo….. this is great!

Trophies: The Hunt Is On

(Note: I was originally going to call this post “Gentleman, start your engines” but due to equality issues and the phrase having nothing to do with trophies, it was scrapped.  That’s your dose of trivia for the day!)

Well, enough games are now out there that have trophy support.  First I had a ‘blast’ on Super Stardust HD, which was the first PS3 game to have trohpy functionality, and now I’m engrossed with PixelJunk Eden (need to complete those gardens!).  My next target will be another play-through of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which I am really going to relish.

I suppose my future targets will be Warhawk and LittleBigPlanet, which I both like, really need to buy!  This is especially true for Warhawk, seen as it has had several free updates.  I’m one of these people who try to hold out on buying certain games till they come down in price!  Several games I want though are stubbornly remaining at quite a high price.

That’s besides the point though.  What I really want to say is good luck to all trophy hunters!  I’ll be collecting trophies myself, though not at the frentic pace of some of you.  I’ll probably mention something more about trophies a few months down the line.  Till then!