With Kingdoms of Amalur put to bed for the time being, I've focused my attention back on A:CM. I have until Ultra Street Fighter 4 comes out (retail) to perfect its base game. Normally, I'd say it wouldn't be that bad, even with the Ultimate Badass run I'll need to do to pull it off. But there's a problem, and it was one I had with Borderlands 2, as well. Here, however, it's made much, much worse and might be one of the things that stops me from getting the full 1000gs out of it.
The achievement is called Distinguished Service Medal and it's for completing every Challenge in the game. Borderlands 2 had one like it, and that was one of the most miserable things to grind out in the entire miserable game. In Colonial Marines, however, you can't just sort the Challenges and start barreling through them.
See, you have three categories of Challenges, and I believe only one from each is active at any given time. The problem there is that you can only complete active challenges. Fire in the Hole is a Challenge that requires you to get 25 Xeno kills with either an RPG, a Flamethrower, or the Smart Gun. You can kill as many bugs as you want, but unless that Challenge is one of your three actives, you will not gain any progress towards completing it.
Thankfully, the internet is full of stubborn assholes like myself who refuse to let the game beat them. There are guides with discussions on the best way to knock out each Challenge as it comes up. And while a lot of them can be self-boosted through a second controller and private multiplayer matches, some will still require you to get your hands dirty out in the field. There are some Challenges that would be almost impossible to get legit unless you got incredibly lucky. One that stands out the most in that regard is called Stand Your Ground - a Challenge you get for landing the killing shot on a Crusher using the Service Pistol.
Pistols are a secondary weapon and are incredibly weak. If you haven't played A:CM, the Crusher is a special Xenomorph that only appears at the 3 and 1 minute mark in a multiplayer match - I want to say TDM, but perhaps you can spawn it in other modes - and you have to seek out a special place to turn into it. I didn't actually know how it spawned until just a few minutes before I started writing this. You apparently need a few kills under your belt, and you have to stay alive for them to count, and then you need to find a special spot on the map that has a 'turn into Crusher' prompt. The Crusher is basically the Tank from Left 4 Dead, to give an indication of how absurd this Challenge is. They expect you to luck out and get the killing shot to a Xeno that's almost invulnerable from the front using the weakest class of weapon in the game.
A lot of the challenges are simple 'kill X using Y' type ordeals, but multiplayer Challenges have an extra layer of difficulty. See, as you play, you rank up. As you rank up, you unlock new gear and add-ons for your gear. This includes weapons. What this means is that someone who is Rank 40 will be much, much stronger than someone just starting out. You can get one-shot as a Xeno by a high-level player, and when it's your turn to shoot guns at him, you can empty an entire clip into him without slowing him down.
The best way I've found to level up the Xenomorph side of things is to play as a Spitter. Find a reasonably safe spot high up - on top of a building with a large enough roof that you can escape if needed - and snipe people with your RT spit attack. As a Marine, well, it's down to sticking with your mates and hoping for the best.
I may not perfect the game before Ultra Street Fighter 4 is released next month, but I'm sure as hell going to put as large a dent as humanly possible into it. It is not a good game, by any stretch of the imagination, and trying to perfect it is absolute madness. Unfortunately for me, it's just the first of three impossibly bad games I've tasked myself with completing this year.
I have a feeling the write-up for this game will be much longer than my Amalur post was.
No comments:
Post a Comment