Treit and True:

Road to Achievements

The more seasoned Xbox 360™ gamers can agree that not all achievements are created equal. You can spend a dozen hours in pursuit of a ten point achievement in one game while surprising yourself with a fifty point achievement in another game in just minutes.

Keep your eyes peeled for COG tags.

What is certain is that the lovely "Achievement Unlocked" message that chirps to life on the bottom of your screen is a treasured one. For my own part, I find myself picking through my friends list on a daily basis to see who's been up to what, and whose Gamerscore I need to surpass.

To further whet your insatiable appetite for Gamerscore, I've decided to take a look at some of the most popular games from the past holiday season, and offer some tips to help you along.

Gears Achievements
No holiday title can compete with Gears of War® for hype, popularity, and acclaim, and while the achievement points won't pile up without an appropriate effort, here are a few tips to speed up your progress.

• Campaign Partners: Find another friend who just picked up a copy of Gears of War, and agree to play through the campaign mode together on co-op. The key here is to play through the entire game as a team, or else you will lose the final cooperative achievement.
• Difficulty Setting: Don't bother with the Casual setting, but hit the Hardcore setting right away. Otherwise, you'll only have to play through each chapter again.
• COG Tags: The thirty COG tags may seem difficult to spot at first, but look for red COG symbols painted on the environment, and you can be sure the COG tag will be nearby.
• Ranked Achievements: Don't focus individually on the ranked online weapon achievements, but let them come naturally as you play competitively online. If you set aside enough time, you should get two or three of these achievements, like 50 kills with a favorite weapon, without too much trouble at all.

Settle one down on an egg. Trust me.

Viva Achievments
Constant experimentation is the name of the game when trying to get accomplishments in Viva Piñata™. You can unlock most achievements without even trying as you play through the game, but there are a few achievements that even the most infatuated Viva Piñata player may not find on their own.

• Cocadile Tears: Earn this achievement by using the tears of a Cocadile to nurture a plant to full growth.
• Cluckles Egg: It may seem natural, but many a Piñata player hasn't thought to settle a Cluckles onto an egg to make it hatch faster.
• Employment: Unlock a new achievement every time you hire a new kind of employee, such as Sprinkling.
• Pigxie Prize: Romance a Swanana and a Rashberry for a surprising result and an achievement.

Unlocking Vegas
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Vegas has ushered in a new era of hardcore tactical shooters, and while the game offers a brutal challenge in and of itself, a few steps of preparation will keep the achievements rolling in.

• Co-op Hunting: Like Gears of War, Vegas rewards cooperative play. Unlike Gears of War though, you can't net offline and cooperative achievement simultaneously. For speedy achievement results, concentrate your cooperative efforts on the Terrorist Hunt missions first and the cooperative campaign second. Be sure to set the time limit to infinite when setting up a Terrorist Hunt match. You don't need to give yourself another challenge.
• Rank Up: The ranking achievements, such as Best of the Best, refer not to Leaderboard ranking, but the military ranking of your character. You don't need to play Ranked matches to earn these rewards, so feel free to stick with your buddies in Player Match to earn the points you need.
• Equipment Specialist: This is an easy achievement to miss when you scour the list, so be sure to utilize every new gadget that comes your way in the single-player game to prevent having to backtrack later on and figure out which one you missed.

Get your terrorist hunt on.

Double Agent Gamerscore
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell® Double Agent™ is chock full of easily accomplished achievements, but there are a few things to keep in mind on the way.

• If Not Hard, Easy: If you're not going to play through the game on the most challenging difficulty, do yourself a favor and play through on Easy. None of the achievements for completing levels require a particular difficulty setting, so you can tear through the game in a hurry.
• Take a Pass: You may look at the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Trophy achievements with a wistful eye, but unless you have a lot of time to spare, leave these goals in the rear view mirror. The A.I. gears up so quickly in these cooperative challenges that only the hardcore should attempt them.
• Hero: In order to achieve the "best" ending in Double Agent and pull down another achievement, you need to save at least two of the three following:
  • Hisham
  • Lambert
  • The cruise ship
• Agent of the Month: As soon as you are able to collect info in the terrorist base, remember this achievement. For full details on how to retrieve them all, check out our Achievements guide here.

Achieving Phantasy Star
Several friends of mine put a lot of time into Phantasy Star Universe without realizing that there are no achievements for playing it online. It may seem unfair, but all 1,000 Gamerscore points are earned in the offline, single-player campaign. Focus on that first, and you can boost your Gamerscore substantially.

The quest for glory in achievements is an ongoing one, and occasionally a helping hand can push us in the right direction, and even help us discover an achievement or two that we were not aware of. Hopefully this quick hitting guide may have provided you a tip or two, but remember that the best source of achievement strategy is found by talking to the good folks on your friends list. Good luck!

Article by Ryan Treit