Pacific City Achievements

After a couple dozen hours of Crackdown™ bliss, it is clear that there is just as much fun to be had chasing down achievements as there is eliminating the three gangs. Achievements typically built in to the primary campaign, but Crackdown goes the extra mile by using achievements to reward the player for searching out alternate activities.

Co-op makes all the difference in the gang achievements.

This guide will focus on several of the more challenging achievements that can frustrate even the most dedicated Crackdown player. Keep these tips in mind and you should earn all 1000 gamerscore in no time. Good luck.

High Flyer
Scaling the enormous Agency Keep is a daunting task, so you should leave it until after your character has developed. You will not be able to scale the keep until you have at least a three star agility rating. Even then, it will be a challenge without the four star agility rating. Be patient, and the challenge is much easier. Here are a few more tips:

• Entrance: When spawning at the Keep's garage, the entrance to the outside of the Keep is just above you. Look for a hole in the ceiling you can jump through.
• Agility Races: The most efficient and rewarding way to familiarize yourself with the Keep is participating in the nearby agility races. Not only can you knock these races out of the way for the Over Our Heads achievement, but they'll teach you several key paths to reaching the top of the tower.
• The Three Pillars: Once you're near the halfway point in your ascent, you may feel like you have reached an impasse. Check around the sides of all three towers to find platforms that will let you continue your climb. Start with the shortest tower first.
• To The Top: You only earn the High Flyer achievement for climbing the tallest of the three towers. You can reach the mid-point of the tallest tower by leaping to it from the neighboring tower.

Get up high to spot those orbs.

Base Jumper
Once you reach the top of the highest tower, you can immediately earn the Base Jumper achievement by jumping off of it. Get to the edge and look down, and spot the small pool in the Keep courtyard. You can earn this achievement by simply landing in the water, but this pool is closer than the ocean. Get a good running start, make sure not to clip the railing, and hold the left stick forward for the longest jump possible. If you execute it properly, and you steer on the way down, you should earn this achievement without any trouble.

Car Stunts
There are a variety of car-specific achievements in Crackdown, like Front Flipper, Timed Stunt Driver, Hazardous Hangtime, and Driving High, these achievements all have a couple of tips in common.

First, most of them will be unachievable without a three-star driving rating. Secondly, use the Agency SUV, not the super car, to perform the stunts. The SUV gets a lot more airtime than the super car, and is much more maneuverable in midair, and takes the ramps like a breeze.

Airtime Assassin
This achievement is earned by picking off five gang members while you're in the air, and it's easy to assume you need to do it with a gun, but that's not the case. It's much easier with a grenade launcher or a rocket, or even a thrown grenade. Simply find a closely knit group of thugs and let fly.

It should take just one or two shots, but if you're having a hard time, you can wait until the Cleansing at the end of each gang war. After you defeat the gang leader, the remaining members will riot in a select location. It's a snap to earn this achievement then.

Start juggling!

Rampage
The description for this achievement simply tells you to "wreak havoc in sixty second increments," which is a bit vague. However, if you open up the Achievements menu in-game (press Start, select Achievements under Agency Info), and look up Rampage, you'll note a series of secondary goals required to unlock the Rampage achievement. They are:

• Blow up 25 gang-controlled vehicles in 60 seconds.
• Kill 15 gang members with your bare hands or thrown objects in 60 seconds.
• Shoot and kill 15 gang members in 60 seconds.
• Use explosives to kill 25 gang members in 60 seconds.
• Use a vehicle to kill 10 gang members in 60 seconds.
• Pop 20 tires on gang-controlled vehicles in 60 seconds.

For most of these, the best opportunity again comes when Cleansing an enemy gang after defeating their leader.

Intel Master
If you're ambitious, you can hose yourself over before you earn this achievement by killing the gang leader before identifying all the kingpins. You can still go straight to the gang leader if you like, just spend some time exploring the city to identify all the leaders first.

Juggling
The rocket launcher plays the central role in both these achievement. Provided you can get three or four direct hits on an airborne car or enemy, this achievement should be a snap. Here are a few tips to make this even easier to accomplish:

• Make sure you fire at your target at the apex of their airtime, just before they begin to fall back down.
• Use the Firefly rocket launcher, which some Shai-Gen carry. It only requires reloading after five shots, and it tracks your target as well.
• Tossing an enemy off a building will buy you some extra time, giving you some leeway in case you miss a shot.

For Car Juggler, take a look around the city for a building, such as a parking garage, that you can drive through to reach the top of. Then, pick up the car, for which you need at least a three-star strength rating, and hurl it off the building. It should be easy to pick it off with your rocket launcher on the way down.

Article by Ryan Treit