Open Season

Since I've had most of the week off thanks to my cold, decided to spend the day on wednesday working on Open Season. So another one for the 1k club :) so now standing on 19 games finished.

Open Season
Date Finished: 11/03/2009
Final Achievement:

	Maximum Wild Points Obtained!	100
	Complete the game with maximum Wild Points

It was a cool game which shocked me alot, took about five to six hours to complete so pretty easy 1,000 after Avatar.


P.S. Sorry for the lack of post lately

Update

Still in shock with the fact I've finished both Samurai Warriors 2 and Empires, really did not think I would ever complete them lol. Anyway while I was working on these I finally started a japanese RPG, picked Lost Odyssey and I'm loving it so far, I will post a review about it when I get bit futher into the game. Start of the year I promised myself I would complete at least one RPG since I got so many that I never even given a start too.

Oh yeah! The next two rental games arrived this morning, Bee Movie and Lego Bionicle Heroes. Time consuming but easy 1,000's, well I thought they where until I looked into the lists. Bee Movie as me worried that it could turn out like Bolt/Space Chimps and end up on the pile to never be touched again (Bolt is not on that list...yet). Guess we will see later

Anyway time to get back to it, been sick with the flu the last few days so I'm spending the time just playing games lol :) it's a good cure.

What a week!

I did it!!! Woot!!!

Just finished Samurai Warriors 2 along with it's downloadable content Xtreme Legends, it's taken 32 hours just to get the last 6-10 achievement's but it was worth it. Last night I went all out and got the last five rare swords and did 50 stages of merc mode to finish off the xl achievements then this morning I've been playing Sugoroku mode in the hope to get lucky enough to win, second game and I won by chance :-D So now standing on 18 games finished and this is the first that's above the 1k mark.

Samurai Warriors 2 + Xtreme Legends
Date Finished: 11/03/2009
Final Achievement:

	Okuni Unlocked	50
	This character will become available by satisfying certain conditions in Sugoroku.

Very proud of myself for clocking this game, got to be at least 60 hours plus to clock it

Week Two Report

Well another week as gone and I would love to know where the time went. This week started really good with games completed and two more games having their campaigns completed, really happy with myself. Also on thursday I've started a japanese rpg "Lost Odyssey" so looking forward to having some fun with that this week.

Oh yeah need to give a big thanks to Matt for helping me last night with Gears 2 Horde mode, finally finished the missing 20 levels so clocked two more achievement's worth 50g. Need to do that more often since it was alot of fun, espically when it was just me left against several boomer's lol ran out of bullets and went charging in with chainsaw (didn't even get close).


Week: 2 (2nd - 8th March)
Gamerscore Start: 45,469
Gamescore End: 47,054
Difference: +1,585

Total Retail 100% Start: 15
Total Retail 100% End: 17
Difference: +2

Total Arcade 100% Start: 0
Total Arcade 100% End: 0
Difference: 0

No. of New Games: 0

Game Achievements Increase:
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires - 1,000/1,000 (950/1,000) 95% - 100%
Dawn of War 2 - 460/1,000 (40/1,000) 4% - 46%
Halo Wars - 270/1,000 (75/1,000) 7.5% - 27%
Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends - 1,100/1,250 (1,020/1,250) 81.6% - 88%
CSI - 1,000/1,000 (400/1,000) 40% - 100%
Space Chimps - 275/1,000 (85/1,000) 8.5% - 27.5%
Gears of War 2 - 490/1,000 (440/1,000) 44% - 49%


Not a bad week but I hope to top it this week so wish me luck

Late Post

Sorry for the lack of post's over the last few days, kept meaning too but just got busy/slipt my mind. Anyway on Wednesday I finished CSI :) so now standing on 47k gamescore with 17! retail games 100% completed, really happy with how this week as gone. I will be posting again in a few minutes to update with what's been happening.


CSI Hard Evidence
Date Finished: 4/03/2009
Final Achievement:

	Case 5 - "The Peacemaker"	200
	Solve "The Peacemaker" with any ranking

Halo Wars Review

I had my worries with this game from day one, I enjoy Halo but I was not that impressed with the last one in the series. I am big fan of the novels and the background story, any game with a good story can make me a fan. So anyway with the demo released a few weeks back my worries got worse, I had friends telling me it was rubbish. Well those worries where for nothing...

I am impressed, it came out amazing!!

The story kept me interested, graphics where very good and the cgi cutscene's blew me away (I hope this is what we expecting for Halo ODST). The gameplay itself is very good, at first I was worried with the lack of base building (what's with RTS lately, they all seem to ditch base building) but you realise after a match or two why that's a good thing, there's so much going on you dont have time to guard a ton of buildings...one is hard enough.

For the score I would say a 9, and that's just barely got it. Only reason it got that is I can see myself playing the skirmish games/multiplayer with friends for fun so it does keep you coming back. Reason it failed to get a 10 is the game did not make me want to keep playing none stop and that's what is needed to get a 10 in my books.

Anyway overall I loved it and would recommend it to friends, it's another one to add to the list for game of the year. Well done!



Halo Wars
Platform: Xbox 360
Score: 9/10
Status: Closed

Evening Update

Wow...just wow, yesterday I finished sw2e getting the full 1,000 gamerscore for it then decided to do some Dawn of War 2. This morning I finished the story campaign for it and I've got to say I did enjoy it but man the bugs are annoying.

Now here is the wow...just finished the Halo Wars campaign :) so two stories finished with one game clocked, in just under two days, now that is progress.

Going to make this short since I want to write out some reviews

First Completition

Well I finally did it :) I've clocked Samurai Warriors 2 Empires yesterday, that had to be one of the hardest achievements I've done in my time.

Samurai Warriors 2 Empires
Date Finished: 3/03/2009
Final Achievement:

	Stage: Osaka Campaign	50
	In Empire Mode, play the special stage "Osaka Campaign" and save your game.

Big thanks goes to Jake of Spades who posted at 360achievements (near the bottom of the page) with his version of getting the achievement, worked like a charm.

End of Week Report

Well the first week of my new challenge is over so I thought it would be a good idea to report on what happened, of course since this was the first week not much did happen but you get the idea.

Week: 1 (23rd Feb - 1st Mar 09)
Gamerscore Start: 44,719
Gamerscore End: 45,469
Difference: +750

Total Retail 100% Start: 15
Total Retail 100% End: 15
Difference: 0

Total Arcade 100% Start: 0
Total Arcade 100% End: 0
Difference: 0

No. New Games: 5

Game Achievements Increase:
Halo Wars - 75/1,000 (0/1,000) 0% - 7.5%
Dawn of War 2 - 40/1,000 (0/1,000) 0% - 4%
Space Chimps - 85/1,000 (0/1,000) 0% - 8.5%
CSI - 400/1,000 (0/1,000) 0% - 40%
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires - 950/1,000 (800/1,000) 80% - 95%

Not a bad start to the week but still wish I had got that final achievement in SW2E, going to try it again this week since I found some more tips on how to do it. Hoping to finish CSI this week and maybe if I got the time clock space chimps to but will see.

Later

CSI Review

This as to be the second easiest achievement game so far after Avatar, all you do is complete the game and that's it. You visit the crime scene, gather evidence simply by looking around and using several tools. Do lab tests, speak to suspects and that's it...nothing challenging. I like these type of click and collect games and the story is good, I was getting into it and enjoying finding out who did what.

It also as some nice features to help like tagging which will highlight evidence that's full been investaged so you know if you have finished or not. It can also tag crime scenes so you know you found everything there or not, comes in handy if you not so good or in a rush to get through the game.



Overall it's a good game, not amazing just good and for the achievements I would recommend it to anyone who wants to boost their score.


CSI Hard Evidence
Platform: Xbox 360
Score: 6.5/10
Status: Closed

Update

Monday I started working on some achievements, so far spent most of my time on Samurai Warriors 2 Empires. I finished 3 out of the 4 achievements I'm missing to get a full 1,000, still stuck on that osaka stage but I found some info that might help. Might try it later but really do not want to lose any more hours right now so might try tomorrow/next week.

Last night I started my new rental game CSI, no joke I enjoyed this game so I will be reviewing it later with my full thoughts on it.

Other then that thought I've started Dawn of War 2 on this profile and that's it for the week, so only around 400-500 increase which isn't too bad.

Help Please

I'm trying to get the last achievement in Samurai Warriors 2 Empires and after 10 hours still no luck, it the osaka campaign special. I move Yukimura into the Toyotomi clan then play as that clan, I ally myself with the Tokugawa. I've let them expand over the map and failed, tried only letting them have four area's and failed. Even played as them and half way through Toyotomi get rid of Yuki.

All of the times making sure the Toyotomi only have the first start areas.

I just don't know what I'm doing wrong

New Challenge

Well it was a fun month but now I'm back on Iznic, I will admit it's good to be back :)

So my challenge is pretty much going to be what I thought of first before the Collins UK and that's go for 100k gamerscore. It will be a hard challenge but I'm up for it, I'm doing it for fun in the end so even if I do fail it will not matter.

2009 360 Challenge 2.0
Goal: 100,000 by 31st December 2009
-Progress-
Start. 44,719
1. 50,000
2. 55,000
3. 60,000
4. 65,00
5. 70,000
6. 75,000 (Halfway)
7. 80,000
8. 85,000
9. 90,000
10. 95,000
11. 100,000
- Bonus -
12. 105,000 (Bronze Award)
13. 110,000 (Silver Award)
14. 115,000 (Gold Award)
15. 120,000 (Platinum Award)

Blog Change

Well I've changed the links so they now show my original profile, I have left the collins uk gamertag up at the bottom (something to remember the challenge from). All the posts to do with the challenge are now listed under Collins Uk Challenge since I'm starting a new one with this profile.

Will post in a bit about the new challenge

Now What

At first I thought that I've wasted the start of this year when I could had used to play games I liked and worked on points for my other profile but now that I think about it, if I knew at the start that it would end I would still do this challenge. It's been fun and amazing, some of my old games I've not played in years and playing again made me realise what I'm messing out on.

So what am I going to do now? start another challenge of course :-D I don't stay down

I'm going back to my original profile Iznic, pick up where I left off and go for a 100k! This blog will stay up, just change the link's to my other profile but I will leave the link up to collins uk to remind me what a good time I had with that challenge. Going to have to change my rental list quickly so they don't send any games I've already completed...oh no, I got to redo spiderwick again >.<

Challenge 2009 - Start fresh

Started: 29th January 2009
Ended: 23rd February 2009
Score: 7,726
100% Retail Games: 6
100% Arcade: 0

Oh Well

When I first thought of this challenge I wanted to makesure it was possible, I checked a few arcade games and found they worked on a new profile. For DLC I tested the nearest game which was Samurai Warriors 2 and yes the Xtreme Legends worked. I've just checked the rest of my games and none of the other DLC works, so here is the list that do not work and the cost to rebuy.

Oblivion - 4,480
Perfect Dark - 500
Ghost Recon - 600
Ghost Recon 2 - 800
Halo 3 - 600
Kameo - 400
Lost Odyssey - 600
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - 800
Mass Effect - 400
Gears of War 2 - 1,200

That's not all of them but after checking those few I gave up, anyway that total comes to 10,380! which is around x5 2,100 cards. So that would cost me around £85 ... yeah I think it's safe to say the challenge is over.

Is this the end?

Earlier on I started Mass Effect and to my horror the DLC will not work, so it does look like it's tied to profile not console. The reason I thought otherwise was because some of the arcade games are linked to the console not your profile, so you can play them on any profile.

So I need to check out my other DLC to see if they don't work, if they don't then could cost quite alot to redo. I know I've been getting old games that I've traded in the past but I am using a rental service which so far I've had 6-8 games for only £15, so it's costing me nothing really where's having to replace content for oblivion, mass effect, sam warriors, marvel, gow etc would be insane.

If it is too high then the challenge is over

Mass Effect 2

Cannot believe they already releasing data on the sequel, I loved Mass Effect...in fact it was my game of the year for 2007. After reading the news post on achievement.org I cannot wait, I love the idea that the choices you made in Mass Effect will effect what happens in 2. Might have to do several play through on the first one with different character's alive and dead so I can see all the endings on 2 lol.

If that wasn't enough they now mentioned another DLC for the first one as well :-D happy days! really need to crack open the first one again and work on it ready.

Finally to make things even better they released a teaser trailer..link

It's all too much, they got me too hyped up now lol

Weekly Challenge Report

I'm going to start posting at the end of the week to talk about how I think the challenge is going as well as any thoughts about the future of it.

Last week started off great with spiderwick and narnia finished along with a milestone hit, rest of the week flopped thanks to college work and online gaming. But it's not a problem because the rubbish games where getting to me and I needed a break, I realise now playing that many in a row will put you off gaming for a while if you not careful. I did end the week well thanks to avatar so it means around 3k gamerscore added at least, 3 games completed and 1 milestone for a week's worth. Don't think I can top that any time soon.


Future
I would like to say I will meet the next milestone this week but college is piling it on so not sure, but I am going to start some better games this week. Want to crack open Mass Effect at least and maybe Enchanted Arms, COD2, Dynasty Warriors etc, I know it would mean a ton of games to work on but it would be nice to have some decent to work on.



That's it for this week report, not much sorry but not that much to talk about really.

Time Hollow

Ok let me explain a bit of the history behind this game, about year/2 years ago I saw this game listed in a nintendo magazine. It was reviewing some of the new japanese games and this looked good, problem was no date for when/if it would come out in the west. In the end I gave up waiting, so you can imagine I was shocked to see it on the store shelf a week ago.

Now back to the present, I picked it up friday finally and decided to give it ago. I was shocked, really shocked...it's amazing. At first I was going to give it a 8 out of 10 but after spending the entire weekend playing it and finishing it last night I'm not settled on a full 10 out of 10.

The story was good, as you get closer to the truth the more you want to know. Graphic's are nicely done (I am big fan of anime so it went well with me). The game was split up with anime cutscenes for the important parts which was a nice touch and a opening theme, voice acting for the scenes was very well done. Gameplay is good as well, not too hard which was a nice change but of course this as lead to critics moaning it's too easy etc.


So overall I loved the game and it's now added to my permanent collection, no regrets :) just hope they make a sequel


Time Hollow
Platform: Nintendo DS
Score: 10/10
Status: Closed

P.S. It's added to the game of the year list and I would say it beats Dawn of War