While I hold a respectable Gamerscore at present (clocking in at just under 20,000) my numbers are chump change to some of you achievement fanatics out there. Now it appears Microsoft is attempting to poke the bull!
Hoping to play upon the obsessive compulsive nature of some gamers, Microsoft has recently posted a list of what they are calling the “Five Hardest Achievements” on the Xbox 360. This will likely motivate those who’ve not yet achieved these feats to dust off their old consoles for one more go ‘round.
Here is a quick rundown of the list they recently posted to the Xbox Wire, to help you get started on this daunting quest:
Game: Gears of War
Achievement: “Seriously…”
Gamerscore: 50
Picked by Gamerscore maestro Stallion83 as the single hardest achievement he earned in his long quest to get 1,000,000 Gamerscore, this one involves killing no fewer than 10,000 people in ranked multiplayer sessions. Ten freakin’ thousand people. And in ranked matches, no less… so you know you’re not up against total newbies. The serious moniker is apt, indeed.
Game: Halo: Reach
Achievement: “A Monument to All Your Sins”
Gamerscore: 150
When you’re getting a massive 150 Gamerscore for a single Achievement, you know it’s no joke. This one requires you to complete every mission in the game, on Legendary difficulty, by yourself. That is to say, sans assistance from co-op buddies, and versus extremely tough enemies who can essentially one-shot kill you if you make the slightest mistakes – through every mission in this massive game. Good luck with this one.
Game: LIMBO
Achievement: “No Point in Dying”
Gamerscore: 10
Ten!? Ten measly points? Well, don’t complain too much; LIMBO is an Xbox Live Arcade game, after all, and those tend to be a little less generous with the Gamerscore. Meanwhile, if you managed to get this Achievement on your first playthrough of the game, you are a gosh-darned lying son-of-a-goat, is what you are. Memorizing the game’s puzzles sufficiently to get this one on any playthrough at all, though, is pretty impressive – hats off to those who got it.
Game: Duke Nukem Forever
Achievement: “Balls of Steel”
Gamerscore: 25
If you managed to play the pinball minigame within Duke Nukem Forever long enough to achieve 1,000,000 points, you earned this Achievement – which was quite an accomplishment, since the pinball game was extremely difficult to control, and filled with chance occurrences. While 25 Gamerscore might not seem like much of a prize, this is one of those Achievements that’s cleverly named, so the smile it brings to your face is its own reward.
Game: South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense Play
Achievement: “MANBEARPIG!”
Gamerscore: 20
No, not South Park: The Stick of Truth. This is the first “South Park” game, a super-fun, multiplayer tower defense title. This achievement required you to take on the toughest level in the game, on the hardest difficulty… using no towers. Yes, this sounds insane in a tower defense game, but you were allowed to use walls and to throw snowballs, damaging your enemy manually. Still extremely hard, but a raucous good time, and one of those rare Achievements that’s both extremely difficult and extremely fun to get.
If you are indeed able to acquire some of the ridiculously difficult achievements (or already have), come back to the comments section below and tout your accomplishments! We promise to be impressed!