My 100% List - Part 1 - ABYSS123 Blog -
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My 100% List - Part 1

Achievements - Either you love 'em, or you don't exist. While some enjoy the thrill of finally earning that difficult achievement they've been aiming for, or seeing their gamerscore grow larger than that of their friends and rivals, I enjoy hundred-percenting games. Seeing everything a game has to offer, knowing you've bested all of the challenges the developers could think up, there's nothing better than the satisfaction one gets after completing a game... Okay, there (probably) is, but I digress.

In this feature I am going to take a look at all of the games I've completed, as well as share my thoughts on each of them. This list will be in the order of which I completed each game, starting with the earliest. So without further ado, let us begin!


The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

In late 2006, when I went to purchase a shiny new Xbox 360, there was one game I knew I had to have: Oblivion. It wasn't until I'd poured many hours into the game that I'd noticed I was getting these strange notifications every time I completed certain objectives. Each of these had a point value attached to them, so I assumed these must be the 'Microsoft points' I had heard are required to purchase downloadable items. Shortly after, I learned this was not the case. I wondered what the point of earning achievements was if they didn't do anythingIt wasn't until several months later, when some friends and I got Xbox Live, that I learned the potential of achievements. A system that let me compare accomplishments with friends sounded great! And so began my quest to earn all of the achievements in the game.

The achievement list in Oblivion is pretty uninspired compared to today's lists. All of the game's achievements are earned for progressing through each of the guilds, as well as for completing the game's story line. An easy, if time-consuming list. After completing the game and seeing that sexy "1000" next to the game's title, I knew I had caught the achievement fever, and it wouldn't wear off anytime soon.

Call of Duty 2


After completing Oblivion, I began looking for more games to 'Thousand'. Many games I owned at the time had ridiculously near-impossible achievement requirements, such as to climb to the top of world leaderboards, or to finish an absurd number of multiplayer matches. My search led me to Call of Duty 2. The game had no multiplayer achievements, and all of the achievements were tied to finishing the game on Veteran difficulty. There was one just catch: Veteran was supposed to be insanely hard.

Coming off the heels of having just completed Halo 2 on Legendary for the first time, I figured it couldn't have been as hard as that. I was right. The primary source of difficulty in CoD2 is the infinitely respawning enemies. Once you realize they stop respawning once you get near, the game becomes much easier. There is not much point in killing Nazis before you get close, as another one immediately takes his place. In other words, you need to be a Russian (See wut I did thar?)

CoD 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty 4 is the sequel to 2005's CoD2. In a strange move, Activision decided to go straight from 2 to 4, skipping 3 entirely. This is irrefutable fact. If you say there was a CoD3, you are a liar and a bad person.

Like CoD 2, there are no multi-player achievements to speak of. All of the achievements are tied either to collectibles or to completing the game on various difficulties. The game is difficult for the same reasons as its predecessor, except now your enemies have found a magic bottomless case of grenades. Fortunately you now also have the ability to throw grenades back, so this isn't so problematic.

The standout achievement in the game is 'Mile High Club' which requires the player to complete the game's epilogue mission, a high-jacked airplane, on Veteran difficulty in under one minute. Many shouts were hollered in my journey to earn this achievement, but after an hour and many self-flashbangs I had triumphed over the toughest Modern Warfare, and Infinity Ward for that matter, could throw at me.

Prince of Persia (2008)

2008's Prince of Persia was a game I had no idea existed until I saw it on the shelf of my local Gamestop. Having been a huge fan of the 'Sands of Time' games, I picked it up. What I found was a game significantly different than I had expected, but still a very good game in its own right.

I've heard Prince of Persia criticized by some as being very easy, too easy in fact. These people aren't wrong. It is not possible to die, your enemies are few, and where you are supposed to go is always clearly visible. But none of this means the game's achievements weren't a blast to get. Other than achievement for completing the game's main story, the achievements generally fall into three types: Collecting orbs of light, combat, and the most enjoyable, platforming.

Collecting orbs is exactly as it sounds; you must collect all of the game's 1000 orbs. Fortunately, none of the orbs are very hidden, usually lingering along the different paths through the game. Combat requires the player to perform different combos, as well as defeating enemies in certain ways. Platforming, as I mentioned, is the most enjoyable part of the game. These achievements may require you to race from one area to another quickly, or to climb to the highest point in the game(which unlocks the player a pretty cool Assassin's Creed costume).

There are also achievements for dying fewer than 100 times and completing the game in less than 12 hours. Before completing the game, I collected every orb and earned every other achievement and still earned both of these without rushing, so there is plenty of time do everything without fear of having to go through the game again.


There are many more games I've completed that I would like to share my thoughts on, but there are far too many to get to in a single article while keeping it a reasonable size. Keep an eye out for more of these in the future, in which I'll discuss even better games as well as some of my favorite achievement lists on the 360!

So there we have it; my first blog! I've been wanting to do one of these for a while, but never found the time to do so. I'm new to anything like this, so if you have any suggestions or criticisms, leave a comment below. I would appreciate it! Thanks for reading!