
So, prior to Halo 3 landing on store shelves everywhere on September 25th, I got my hands dirty with Fuzion Frenzy 2. Now, for those who want the least exposure to this possible, which is a personal recommendation, you're going to want to do the main tournament requiring you to only dominate 2 planets. Doing that with each character should net you most of the Achievements, including unlocking all minigames, and if you try to mix up what planets you play with the six characters, you can almost play all of them when done. The offline Achievements in FF2 are pretty easy, if you set the AI to easy, and most certainly turn the Announcer's voice volume down to zero.
The online Achievements in Fuzion Frenzy 2 are also very straightforward. The only problem is that you need at least one other human to be playing the game at the time, which right now, is impossible. That being said, Geoff from RoosterTeeth, who was the guest on our 35th Fancast, will be playing with myself tonight at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT, and you're welcome to message me if you want to join in on the festivities. We'll only be playing for an hour or so, but we should be able to get through the custom games and mini games.

Halo 3 hit, and though the Achievements were discovered back in June, actually playing the game verified how well the Achievements were done for the FPS. The Gamerscore balance was overall well done. Being able to complete the game on Legendary nets you a total of 655 Gamerscore, and that's not including skulls or meta game Achievements. The online ones are nice, and although the requirement for them to be acquired in Lone Wolves matches is slightly frustrating.
Currently I have 4 Achievements yet to unlock with 3 of them being multiplayer only. I need "Two for One" with the Spartan Laser, "Steppin' Razor", a.k.a Triple Kill with the Sword, and an Overkill. "We're in for some Chop" can be acquired in Campaign so I can grab it whenever I want. I personally would have liked to have seen these unlockable in ranked Team games, as it still is challenging, but opportunities to kill two people in a vehicle with the Laser is more likely in Valhalla than in an Oddball game on Snowbound. Either way, I'm at 980 Gamerscore in the game and hopefully I'll get them sooner rather than later.
La Boîte Orange (or The Orange Box for those of you in the States) came out last Wednesday, with an unprecedented 99 Achievements. Still topping out at 1000 Gamerscore, and spreading out across 5 different games, or 3 IPs, depending how you look at it., it does another good job of balancing the Achievements around the titles. Portal and Team Fortress 2 have been getting most of my playtime from the package. TF2 has nice Achievements that can be acquired in Player Matches as well as Ranked, and promote good teamwork to own n00bs on each map. The obligatory "cumulative kills" Achievement is present, though only requires 1000 kills, which in fact requires you to play the game. They also have some for specific classes as well as an overarching Achievement for playing a complete round as one class. I also appreciate the ability to completely customize the controls to make the transition from on FPS to another a little less jarring. You can even give a command multiple inputs, such as reloading with both RB or X, depending on whichever you do by habit at the moment. I still need to work my way through Half Life 2's 3 components.

On October 1st, I was awarded MVP status by Microsoft. At that point, I felt I had accomplished virtually all that I wanted to with this Achievement Streak that I've been plugging away at. Given that, I felt it would actually be a good time to answer the question I posed to myself in late November of 2005. The only problem was that I kept playing games and getting Achievements throughout the week. Once Friday, October 5th, rolled around I got into a game with some friends to play some Co-Op on Halo 3. Now, this included one friend of mine that I've gotten at least 6 of the 9 meta game Achievements with. He asked if I wanted to do one of the levels with scoring on, and after a moment's pause, I decided we should just play for the rest of the night on through midnight. It was a lot of fun, and when 11:55 PM rolled around we had just defeated Guilty Spark, entering the last chapter of Halo 3's campaign: 'The Way the World Ends." I felt that was fitting. We continued to play past 12:01 AM of the 6th, thus bringing my consecutive streak to a close. So, as it stands the record I set was for 681 days, from November 22nd 2005 to October 4th, 2007. Sure, the number isn't anything special, but definitely nothing to scoff at. It feels quite liberating, actually. And I'm grateful that something that started out so simple has gotten the acknowledgement it has.

Email: david [at] xbox360fanboy [dot] com | Subject: Achievements
MSN: [email protected] | AIM: Knuckles Dawson
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-15-2007 @ 7:09PM
colin said...
its a sad day ... :(
Reply
10-15-2007 @ 7:10PM
OBM said...
Fusion Frenzy 2 is really simple but frustrating at time, I found a guy in an online game and from there we just 'boosted ' each other to get the rest of the achievements. An easy 100 to say the least, but not enjoyable in the slightest in my opinion.
Reply
10-15-2007 @ 7:24PM
Dragod said...
I used to always play the Fuzion Frenzy demo on the Halo: Combat Evolved disc... It's a fun party game.
Reply
10-15-2007 @ 7:31PM
zourskittles said...
Wow, this is an interesting post. You start of talking about getting these easy achivements like usual than you blast us with the MVP news than you tell us your streak has stopped. Good job Knuckles my man, good job. Anyone up for 682 days?
Reply
10-15-2007 @ 7:46PM
jabbertrack said...
I was wondering when it would end...
But seriously... congrats dude... that is quite an accomplishment!
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10-15-2007 @ 7:59PM
lharmon said...
I need the mongoose achievement and the freakin MVP achievement. How the hell do you get that MVP one?
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10-15-2007 @ 8:27PM
colin said...
@6, in a ranked team game, you have to be the mvp of your team ... i.e. get the most kills
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10-15-2007 @ 8:49PM
SoxFan13 said...
Hey nice job man. Is this the end of Achievements 101?
Reply
10-15-2007 @ 10:28PM
DjDATZ said...
Congrats on getting MVP status Knuckles! :D
It's a sad day when you finished up your achievement streak. Oh well, you'll still be known as an achievement whore to me.
I'm still following your column and playing the games you've whored. I'm thinking of renting Superman Returns soontime...maybe after midterms are done on the 27th.
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10-15-2007 @ 11:05PM
Zack said...
@ 6
Are you joking? The MVP one is one of the easiest to get.
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10-15-2007 @ 11:48PM
Taylor said...
2 for one is so hard to get unless youve done the language cheat on your xbox but i just got the steppin' razor the other day so the lazer is the only one left.
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10-16-2007 @ 12:04AM
dynamik123 said...
Congrats on MVP dude.
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10-16-2007 @ 2:32AM
Mitch said...
The realization that you hadn't gotten an achievement made MY stomach turn... T'was a sad day. Time to start over.
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10-16-2007 @ 2:57AM
darkzero63 said...
And I was happy when I hit 1555...
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10-16-2007 @ 6:01AM
colin said...
speaking of halo and achievements ...
heres the scenario ...
i played all the way up through cortana on legendary (co-op), then halfway through cortana, my coop partner has to leave. so i finish cortana by myself on legendary and go on to finish the final level ...
no achievements ...
i go back and check and it says i haven't played cortana on legendary .... i am very disappointed because i HATE that level ... a lot. i'm a sad panda.
anyway, thats all i need for my legendary achievement. if anyone wants to help, add me.
GT: oo D3ADPOOL oo
i can help you with skulls or whoring for another game or whatever. i really just don't think i can play that level again by myself.
Reply
10-16-2007 @ 7:40AM
bironm said...
I remember how liberating it was when my 70 days played streak came to an end on 360 Voice, I can only imagine how you must feel.
Congrats on the MVP status.
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10-16-2007 @ 8:22AM
xenocidic said...
damn,..,. well I guess now that you've hung up your towel, I can start in on topping your record. see you in 682 days...
i guess it's too late now but wouldn't 730 have been a good number to shoot for (2 years) ...
oh well ! maybe now you'll have time to write more articles, it's been pure dustin and richard for the past few weeks. not that there's anything wrong with them, but I like some Canadian flavour in my news. (yes - i said flavoUr).
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10-16-2007 @ 9:02AM
J said...
I wonder why Knucles wouldn't like the Lone Wolves achievements? Oh maybe cause he can't boost to get them like he does most of his others? LOL @ people surprised you stopped you accomplished your goal of becoming a Microsoft MVP and made a few gullable idiots think you did this for a "streaK" so theres nothing more to prove.
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10-16-2007 @ 9:14AM
Bravo6 said...
I just wrapped up the H3 achievements lastnight, 1k/1k! Sportin' my katana and my nerd-cred is through the roof now!
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10-16-2007 @ 9:25AM
DjDATZ said...
J stop hatin' just 'cuz you can't do something as grand.
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