Bird is the Word

Within the dank corridors and decrepit buildings you explore in Condemned: Criminal Origins™, you encounter countless addicts, thugs, and otherworldly apparitions. Hardened detectives are compelled to press onward to the game's inevitable finale, though many of us will get lost inside the many twisted passageways and abandoned subway systems looking for clues.

Look down. There's a dead bird at your feet.

It's no wonder that a world so convincingly rendered and teeming with civilization's decay sucks you in. Not only are the environments in Condemned stunning to behold in all their grimy glory, but a little feature called achievements is bound to keep you nosing around in the dark long after you've reached the game's conclusion.

I'll show you how achievements work, demonstrate their effect on your gamerscore, and point you to the My Xbox tool so you can view the fruits of your labor even when you're not at home. Read on, young Sherlock Holmes.

Harvey Birdman
Your primary goal in Condemned: Criminal Origins is to prove your innocence; you have been falsely accused of the murder of two fellow officers and are now on the lam. As you complete each chapter and explore new parts of the game, you earn small bonuses which are reflected in your gamerscore. When you are connected to Xbox Live®, every achievement you satisfy is logged for you—and the Xbox Live community—to see.

Well, what have we here?

Monolith, the game's developer, divided up 970 total achievement points across a wide spectrum of in-game accomplishments that range from the obvious (complete a level to unlock the next one and earn yourself 10 points) to the challenging (obtain and use every firearm available).

To illustrate the achievement system, I went through the game's first level and collected every dead bird. I then catalogued the location of each avian corpse and listed them here for your benefit. Consider this my gift to all you faithful readers.

I hope you're wearing gloves …

Dead Birds in the Weisman Office Building

1. As you follow Detective Dickenson into the depths of the abandoned Weisman office, veer off periodically and search the side rooms. The first bird is off to the right (in the corner of one of the rooms) just before you meet up with Officer Becker at the crime scene.
2. The next one is on the second floor resting quietly on the window sill just after you neutralize a druggie.
3. After you lose your gun and acquire a melee weapon, locate the next dead bird in the room off to the left from where you must move the desk that's blocking your progress.
4. The fourth bird is in the area just after where you find the second metal piece (after you kill the pair of junkies that busted through the wall/ceiling, you enter another room and have a creepy vision—continue on). It's in the large open area down the hall—your gas meter goes off to tell you that it's nearby.
5. The fifth bird is under the window where you meet up with Dickenson and get the fire axe.
6. The last bird is on a work table in the "fluorescent" room after you deal with the conduit guy and his pal (who sneaks up on you from behind). You hear the buzz of flies when you get close.

Every time you unlock an achievement, you hear its signature "plink" and a note briefly appears onscreen. Once your points are tallied up and sent off to Xbox Live, you can check your score in the dashboard or at the My Xbox page. You must be signed in to the Web site and have already linked your gamertag to your passport account.

Click "My Achievements" to view all games.

Your most recently played game activity and achievements are all in the My Xbox section. If you want to view your achievements for another title in your collection, click on the "My Achievements" link in the upper right. Select Condemned: Criminal Origins from the list of games to see your total list of accomplishments, individual point allocations, and percent of total game completion.

Not bad, but there's lots more to do.

Now that you know how the achievements system works, it's time to get gaming and boost that gamerscore of yours. Keep checking back for more coverage as Xbox.com digs deeper into this exciting (and addictive) new feature for this and other Xbox 360™ titles.

Article by Franklin Beans