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 badlands never looked so good.

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:

• 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 me as I take a look at some spoiler-free in-game achievements and explore the many gameplay possibilities ahead of you.

GUN
Activision's GUN™ tells the tragic tale of hunter/trapper Colton White. At the start of the game, Colton's father figure is killed in a horrible raid, leaving you with little choice but to head out on your own. Armed with a six-shooter and a call girl's name, it's up to you to find the identity of the killers and exact justice in true Wild West fashion.

Compare your achievements with other outlaws.

GUN is a single-player game packed with intense gunfights, rich characters, and tons of side missions. There are many ways for you to earn achievements and boost your gamerscore. Here are a few to get you started.

Achievements

• Mission completion: GUN's story unfolds over the course of nearly 20 chapters. Each time you successfully complete a mission in the main story arc (on any difficulty) you earn some gamerscore points.
• Skill difficulty: Let's say you ripped through the game in record time on Easy. Finish the game on all four skill levels (Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane) to score maximum achievement points.
• Side missions: There are a load of extracurricular missions and side jobs you can tackle in GUN. To ignore all these awesome adventures would be a mistake, so take a time out between main missions and pick up some extra work to pad your point total.
• Collectibles: Find every weapon, weapon upgrade, and vein of gold.
• Card shark: Win the Texas Hold 'em tourney.

As you can already tell, there's a wide variety of ways for you to boost that gamerscore of yours. So jump in the saddle and warm up your trigger finger when you're ready to lay down the law.

Article by Franklin Beans