Week of 30 Jul 2023

weekly blog
Written By Shane Medina

I only jumped into Maquette quick on Sunday before departing my hotel located just South of Atlanta and hitting the road. It was for using the perspective manipulation to escape the map, so it took a few minutes and I didn’t touch this again the rest of the week. I know that when I do it’ll be a quick completion, but I quickly got distracted when I settled back into being home…

Achievements unlocked: 5 (+1) | Completion: 23%

…But first, I decided to knock out The Solitaire Conspiracy! I didn’t have a whole lot left to do, except to hit level 15 (and thereby complete the campaign) and reach wave 15 in Countdown mode. The latter is the one really “hard” achievement in the game since you have to race the clock for once. In every other instance, you can’t really fail, so this really is the one difficult task in the entire game. It’s mostly about the luck of getting a good draw in later waves to get through it quickly, but I of course managed to get it after a few tries. Fun game! I only have one more of this developer’s game on Xbox to do, so I’m gonna keep an eye out for any sales.

Achievements unlocked: 20 (+5) | Completed

So, as we returned from our roadtrip/cruise, TrueAchievements announced a new event: Genre Bingo! Each player is given a 5x5 Bingo card where each square is a different game genre. You daub the space by earning an achievement in a game of that genre. When it comes to a game with multiple genres, you daub the spaces in the order the genres are listed in the Game Information box. So, if the game has “Action-RPG, Strategy” listed, the first achievement would daub the Action-RPG square, while the second would then daub the Strategy one. This means that if you played strategically enough you could squeeze a handful of games for the whole board.

I decided to, instead, make this a tough little challenge and decided I’d start a brand new game for every space! Even better, I’d make them all Xbox 360 games I have in my backlog. Most of the ones I have left are ones I’ve been actively avoiding, so I knew this would be interesting. Let’s go genre-by-genre!

 

Action-Adventure

Starting on Tuesday with one of the most prolific genres, and fittingly probably one of the easiest games I started this past week: LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. I’m not a huge fan of the LEGO games because the completion almost always drags on as I have to replay levels so much that it just becomes mind-numbing. It’s not like the games are challenging in any way! The achievement I earned was for completing the first level in the Crystal Skull campaign within 5 minutes. This was easy enough, and only took a second attempt to get the level down. Easy enough.

 

Roguelite

Next was one that…the Xbox 360 actually has VERY little representation in. And by “VERY little”, I mean literally only one title: Spelunky. And considering how notoriously difficult that game is, there was no way I was touching that with a 60-ft pole. I decided to break my self-imposed rule this one and (hopefully) only time and start a later-gen game instead. I went with the highly-acclaimed Vampire Survivors, and this game is so much fun! I legit had trouble putting it down multiple times throughout the week and is one of the few games from this event that I actually played enough to have any real opinion on. 

 

First Person Shooter

Another very popular genre on Xbox, I had plenty of choices to work with. I chose the Gearbox-developed Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, which I’ve heard isn’t too bad of a game. Even better, there’s a date-related achievement for loading up the game on September 17th, so I can grab that soon! The achievement I earned this time was just for suppressing an enemy, which is pretty hard NOT to get on the very first enemy. Quick and moved on.

 

Action Horror

It was back to the Russian metro for the next genre, as I started the Japanese version of Metro 2033! Since I had First Person Shooter daubed already, this would work for this one instead. This is another genre I didn’t have a whole lot of options with, especially since I’m trying to keep it to my Game Collection. It was this, Doom II, or Dante’s Inferno. I’ve been meaning to get back to this second-to-last version of Metro 2033 so this it was! First achievement is for killing an enemy, which actually didn’t pop after killing a good few nosalis before it finally popped. I’m in a hurry here!

 

Shoot ‘em up

One game I’ve wanted to get to for a while is Space Invaders Infinity Gene, but while it’s technically backwards compatible there is an achievement you can’t get on any later-gen consoles. This achievement is for playing a ripped playlist while in Music Mode. I figured this would be good for this genre, so I loaded up the currently hooked up Xbox 360 on Wednesday and… couldn’t get any of my wife’s extensive music CD collection to rip! The music would play, but the ‘Rip CD’ option wouldn’t work. I tried a few CDs before realizing that it might be because the Xbox 360 I was using was NTSC-J encoded. Sure enough, switching to one of my NTSC-U consoles worked first try, allowing me to load up Music Mode 10 times to the tunes of Ozzy Osbourne and get this daubed. This is probably one of the games I’m most worried about; it’s short, but these older arcade games (or different takes on them) can be a rage-inducing pain to get the completion in. And here I started two… but more on that in a minute.

 

Strategy

Next was a game I actually wanted to play: Orcs Must Die! I love me some tower defense, and I’ve always heard good things about this one. There’s even a third game on Xbox One! The first achievement is for killing 1000 orcs, but I didn’t wanna wait that long so I instead let the orcs beat on my rift until it was down to 1 health, then won. The solutions made it sound like this would be tough without some later upgrades, but I did it right off the bat! Looking forward to this one.

 

Real Time

I purposely did this one AFTER Strategy, since many RTS games are a strategy title first. Real-time strategy games can be a bit of a pain on consoles, and I actually started Praetorians - HD Remaster first, but just wasn’t feeling it. I switched over instead to Halo Wars, which is a little more action-packed and exciting. I managed to get two achievements, since I beat the first level and earned a gold medal. I’m just that good! This has a sizeable amount of online stuff I have to do for the completion, so I’ll definitely start looking for help with that.

 

Action-RPG

Another genre with a bounty of options, I decided to go with Blood Knights, which I’d put off before. Almost did again, as just like last time the opening sequence glitched on me and I couldn’t proceed. A second new playthrough obviously worked, as I played through the first level and snagged the initial achievement during a story event. This game is mighty scuffed, so I’m assuming I’ll be running into another glitch or seven during my completion. Hopefully nothing too bad.

 

Sports

One of the most concerning genres due to my distaste for the games, but SEGA Bass Fishing bubbled quickly to the top. Like most of these, I really didn’t deliberate much before just diving into something. The main factor behind this choice is that, even if I despise it, it’s short. It’s more of an arcade-y title, so hopefully there’s some fun to be had.

 

Management

Yet another game I’ve been putting off for some time, I figured Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants would be a good choice for this one. After digging in and getting my first achievement (for buying a vessel) I’m actually a little worried about this. The mechanics of the game are very dense, so this is either going to be a chore to decipher, or pretty easy once I get the hang of it. Either way, I own all the DLC and am gonna finish it one way or another.

 

Adventure

Most adventure games are gonna be on the easier side, but my options are limited on Xbox 360, since I have played most of what I own. I quite like this genre of games, as a good narrative outweighs any shortcomings the gameplay (or lack thereof) has. I chose the Xbox 360 stack of The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 after doing the Xbox One version back in 2018. I remember this being kind of a drag, which is why I’ve put off doing this one for so long. Again, just had to play a few minutes before getting the first achievement. 

 

Action

Here is that other old game I started that had me worried, as I chose Pac-Man for my action title. All but one of the game’s achievements are pretty easy, but I just don’t like Pac-Man, never have, so even the normal gameplay is a pain. But, that final achievement is for clearing the board of all ghosts with each Power Pellet available. That means you have to gather the ghosts together, grab a Power Pellet, and eat them all before the effects wear off. Four times. Miss a single ghost and it’s a wash. It was very frustrating, but I managed to pull this off after many tries! So, whew, all downhill from here.

 

Puzzle

This is another genre where most of my choices would be some pretty tough completions. Everything from Catherine to Zuma (and Zuma’s Revenge) to Lumines, these are some whoppers. But, I landed on Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, which I almost immediately backed out of. It’s some weird combination of strategy and match-3, and something about the gameplay just… puts me off. It’s not clicking! I hope that when I play it for real I can a better grip on it, because by the time I got the first achievement five matches in I just didn’t like it.

 

Role Playing

If any of these genres would be the most time-consuming, even for easier completions, it’s this one. Like quite a few of these entries, I went with another stack: Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga. Well, it’s technically mostly the same game as Ego Draconis, which I completed way back in 2016, but it packs in some additional content. Like The Book of Unwritten Tales, this is another stack I’ve avoided because my first completion was pretty tiresome. I feel like the last time I did this it was not only boring but also dragged on. And scuffed. Something about flying around on a dragon was gltiched… guess I’ll find out. 

 

Third Person Shooter

My one mistake during this was for this genre, where I absolutely meant for Watch_Dogs to be the daub for another genre instead of this one. But, here it is, so I got my one achievement and moved on. I’ve wanted to play this for a while now, but I’m concerned about the notorious drinking game achievement. Guess I don’t have a choice now.

 

Open World

This is actually the genre I meant to have Watch_Dogs be for, so I instead had to go with State of Decay. I’ve actually tried to start this a few times previously, but getting updates and such for Xbox 360 non-backwards compatible titles is a huge pain. In my case, downloads only work when I have the console hardwired to the internet. So, I toughed it out and finally got the DLC downloaded and the updates installed after waiting forever. Another quick storyline achievement and on to the next genre.

 

Fighting

Another genre I’m super not a fan of, but there are a lot of easy completions left in this genre. I picked NeoGeo Battle Coliseum for this one, and this is one of those couple hours affairs. My achievement for the daub was to get a perfect win in a match, but I continued playing and got the achievement for finishing the game without continuing, too. Figured why not? Hopefully the remaining achievements aren’t too bad.

 

Party

The other game I started that I actually played a good bit of this week is Rio, which I started for this genre. It’s your standard multiplayer minigame collection, but starring the avian stars from the titular movie. I have four controllers to make it even easier.

 

Arcade Racing

The scariest genre on the board were racing ones, which there happened to be three of them. Started with this one, and picked the Mario Kart-esque Joy Ride Turbo. I’m sure there’ll be rubberbanding garbage and annoying collectibles to grab, but for now it was pretty quick to grab the daub.

 

Simulation Racing

Another racing genre right after, I started another XBLA title: Jeremy McGrath's Offroad. Man, I’ve owned all these games for SO long, I’m glad they’re still all completable. Anyway, I was surprised by how good this looked on Xbox One. This is also a delisted title, which is always nice to get knocked out. But there are time trials… ick.

 

Platformer

This is yet another genre that has plenty of options, and many of them are easy kiddie games. I went with Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, which Shawn1991 actually did and (I think?) warned me against doing myself. But, hey, my other options were some less ideal options, so I went with this. The lowest ratio achievement is actually to beat a level without losing a life, so that’s a good signifier of how easy this should be.

 

Automobile

The final “racing” genre was covered by Race Pro, which is even more simulation-y than the game I started for that genre. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever done such a straightforward racing title. I did a single race, and it doesn’t hold your hand a whole lot. Should be an interesting completion… 

 

Turn Based

This genre is almost exclusively made up of the same titles as “Role Playing”, but there was another easy stack I could incorporate into this little challenge I’d made for myself: the Asian version of Enchanted Arms. Yet another stack I’ve had on-hand for some time but avoided due to not enjoying the initial completion I did. I actually had to play this one for a little bit to reach the first achievement, and I definitely am getting flashbacks to how little I enjoyed this one. Blah.

 

Metroidvania

If there’s any genre on this board I like most, it’s this one. I had even completed the vast majority of these games on the Xbox 360, so I didn’t have much to choose from. I went with one I’ve avoided because I was worried about how hard the completion was. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD has a spooky-seeming Boss Rush mode that might be a bit of a challenge to get through. To even get the first achievement, I had to fight my way through a good bit to the first boss. I’m liking what I’m seeing so far, and this was my final daub for a board clear! Event complete!

Like I mentioned, I actually played Vampire Survivors a good bit after getting the Roguelite space daubed, so it deserves its own blog entry. This game is so fun! You pick a Survivor, and then randomly obtain new weapons and upgrades to keep the never-ending hordes at bay. And… that’s simply it. The only input you use is LS to move your character. And it’s so addicting! Once you survive to 30 minutes a grim reaper comes out and just ends you. There are things to collect in some of the levels to either unlock new Survivors or weapons, but this really is a nice and simple game you can play while turning your brain off. It was pretty quick until I could easily last the 30 minutes. Can’t wait to play more.

Achievements unlocked: 41 (+41) | Completion: 22%

Social distance! Stay 6ft away from me, you monsters!

Rio banner

And I decided the first game I’d truly work on finishing up is Rio. Especially since I have to keep four controllers, with batteries, on hand to make this as easy as possible. I started by playing through the story mode, then moved to the Party mode so I could play through and get 1st place in every minigame. This should all be pretty simple, and I have to say the game has a good quality about it. Especially considering it’s a movie tie-in.

Achievements unlocked: 25 (+25) | Completion: 50%

Um, I don’t want this. You can have it.

Highest ratio: 3.28

You OK? (The Solitaire Conspiracy)

Lowest ratio: 1.00 (tie)

Hollow Heart (Vampire Survivors)
First blood (Metro 2033)
A Gift Lure (SEGA Bass Fishing)
Stop the drop (The Book of Unwritten Tales 2)
Young Hero (Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes)
Hello World (Watch_Dogs)
Cannibal Family Picnic (State of Decay)
Win First Race (Jeremy McGrath's Offroad)
First Match (Enchanted Arms)
Lights out! (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD)

as of 06 Aug 2023 @ 22:10 CDT

Shane Medina
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