How To Achievement Whore

As we’ve mentioned many times on the DRULCast, we’re really into Xbox 360 achievements. For me, achievements have completely changed the way I play games. Whether it be playing a game I wouldn’t have otherwise played, spending hours trying to collect a bunch of items, or fight an insanely difficult boss, I do all of that and more just to hear that sound and see my favorite words of “Achievement Unlocked”. Unlocking achievements are simple, however, getting the most Gamerscore for your time is an art. If you really want to boost your Gamerscore, you must find the gems in the Xbox 360 library. Gems can be retail or arcade titles. Also remember that Games for Windows, and Windows Phone games have achievements. So how do you unravel achievements to maximize your Gamerscore? You will hunt, grind, and achieve!

Hunting:
This is probably the most difficult part of achievement whoring, although there are some good resources on the net to help you. The first resource is Stallion83’s List of Easy Completions. Some other games I highly recommend are:

• Avatar: The Burning Earth
• College Hoops 2K6
• Comix Zone (XBLA)
• Korgan (Free)
• Madden NFL 06
• MLB 2K6
• NBA 2k6
• NHL 2K6

These games have super easy achievements and can be completed in less than an hour each. So in about 6 hours, you could add 6000 Gamerscore, that’s great stuff! For a more complete list of games I’ve completed, check out my Gamercard on Xbox.com.

More hunting tips:

• TrueAchievements.com has completion time estimates for a lot of games. This helps a lot when trying to quickly boost your gamerscore.
• Try to stay away from older EA Sports titles that have online achievements. EA has shutdown a lot of their online servers so many achievements for their older titles are completely unattainable. (Click here for a list of EA Sports games with discontinued online). When I’m playing a game for achievements, there’s nothing I dislike more than not being able to 100% the game. Thanks EA.
• Avoid games with a lot of collectibles or side quests that could take up valuable time.
• Avoid skill based games. For instance games that require you to sing, dance, force you to use special controllers to complete, or require online victories.
• On the contrary, pick games that give you all of the achievements for playing right through the story.

Grinding:
This is the fun, or depending on the game, the not so fun part. Some games can be enjoyable (Avatar: The Burning Earth, Comix Zone), while others (Blazing Angels, Fantastic Four), can be nightmares. For this step make sure to use all available guides, walkthroughs, and YouTube videos. Guides and walkthroughs are usually available on TrueAchievements.com or XboxAchievements.com. If videos are more your thing, then check out Maka91, he has great guides! With the resources above, grinding should be a relatively painless task.

Achieve:
This is the obvious step, if you can even call it a step. After grinding, your achievements unlock and your gamerscore goes up!

Well folks, that’s all there is to it! Remember to have fun, no cheating, and Play Till You DRUL!

FAQ:
Why can’t I just play any game I want?
You can but you won’t be able to maximize your Gamerscore. Here’s an easy example:

• truOZ: 39,002
• Shadowbeastboy: 51,660
• sho220: 51,800

Oz has a Gamerscore of 39,002 with 1,913 achievements unlocked. I’m at 51,800 with only 1,806 achievements unlocked. My Gamerscore is 12,798 points higher and I have unlocked 107 less achievements. In other words, my whoring is better than his ;p

Have more questions? Ask them in the comments and I’ll add them to the post.