Achievement Highlights

Xbox Live® means different things to different people. For some, it is a perpetually raging battlefield where the world's toughest cyber soldiers can test their reflexes in tournaments, matches, and events ranging from real-world sports games to war simulations to fantasy escapes. For others, Xbox Live Marketplace is where it's at for music, video, and game demo downloads.

The weapon is just for show, sorry.

Regardless of your leanings, there is one facet of the premiere online gaming service that can be used and enjoyed by all. That feature is the achievements system.

Every title published for Xbox 360™ has its own unique set of achievements laid out by the game's creators. Depending on the type of game, you can unlock and earn up to 1000 points through various feats of mastery. These accomplishments can vary greatly between genres.

Some of the more common ways to unlock an achievement are:

• Finish the single-player story mode
• Complete the game on the hardest difficulty level
• Play X amount of games, online or off
• Perform feats of mastery (three-pointers in basketball, headshots in first-person shooters, etc.)
• Find every collectible or secret
• Finish every optional side mission or quest

Ultimately, it's up to the developer to break down the total number of gamerscore points and assign them to different achievements for that game. As you pass each in-game milestone and accrue more points, you may unlock secret achievements that are only revealed to you when a required action is performed.

This element of mystery rewards players of a persistent and adventurous nature and encourages them to explore every nook and cranny laid out before them.

Join us as we take a look at some spoiler-free in-game achievements and explore the many gameplay possibilities ahead of you.

Watch out for her sweeps.

Itagaki's Goals
Few games offer up as lengthy a list of opportunities as Dead or Alive® 4, which weighs in at a robust 45 possible achievements. Even more impressive is the variety of said achievements. Team Ninja's title includes goals in every aspect of the game: offline, online, story mode, time attack, survival, single character, tag team, etc. Here's how they break down:

• Making the online grade: Dead or Alive 4's ranking system is fairly simple. From worst to best, it's: F, D, C, B, A, S, and SS. Net yourself an achievement to boost your gamerscore with:
  • Grade B: 20 points.
  • Grade A: 30 points.
  • Grade S: 40 points.
  • Grade SS: 50 points.
• Story mode: Beat the story mode with one character and the game gives you gamerscore props; beat it with every character (including Helena, who you unlock after completing all the other stories) for an ever bigger achievement.
• Secret characters: You get an achievement each time you unlock a secret character. These include Ein, Gen Fu, Leon, Helena, Tengu, and SPARTAN-458 (the Master Chief-inspired character)
• Other secrets: The other secret achievements represent accomplishments you'd rather not have stamped on your record. I won't spoil all the fun, but one of them marks your fifth straight loss online, and it doesn't net you any gamerscore points. Ouch.
• Streaks: Put together an impressive show of 5, 10, and 20 straight wins online and you net an achievement for each. The streaks of 5 and 10 get you 10 gamerscore points, but 20 wins adds an impressive 40 points to your gamerscore.
• Online overall: There are also achievements for some milestones in victories:
  • 10 victories: 10 points.
  • 50 victories: 20 points.
  • 100 victories: 50 points.
• Survival and time attack: It's not just about story and online modes, though. There are also goals to achieve in time attack and survival modes. Both offer Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals, and both offer sets of medals for standard single-character play as well as tag-team play. They are worth:
  • Bronze medal: 10 points for both modes.
  • Silver medal: 20 points for time attack and 25 for survival.
  • Gold medal: 40 points for both modes.
• Ultimate survival: Bronze, Silver, and Gold are quite an accomplishment, but there's an extra bonus for defeating a hundred enemies in a row in survival mode: 50 gamerscore points and an extra achievement.

Come on Bass! Can't lose on your own turf.

Games like Condemned: Criminal Origins, GUN, and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, among others, have quickly showed the popularity of the gamerscore/achievement system. Dead or Alive 4 continues the trend of excellent variety for both the difficulty and the tasks themselves. The journey to the full thousand points may be a long one, but it will definitely be rewarding as well.

Article by Alex McLain