Time for a relaxed, weekend Guest Writer submission. Over to Boomshanks to tell us about the ten (sort of) games he would most like to earn the platinum trophy for.
As most of my friends will testify I have a thing for trophies, and since I’m no athlete I’ll settle for the virtual ones(still hoping for the Hall of Fame Sony, if you’re reading this). It’s that ultimate quest for the platinum or 100% on a game that keeps me busy for longer than I care to admit. With me it’s more about quality than quantity though as my measly 4 platinums might tell you. Looking at those incomplete percentages on my trophy list every time can get to me though and I can’t deny that there are some games that I would truly love to have a platinum trophy on. Which games are those you ask? Well they’re the following ten* of course.
This might scare a lot of people away but I just had to include this on the list. See some games just have it all. Amazing graphics, great gameplay and a huge replay value. Top that off with one of the most creative trophy lists ever and you have a winner. I always enjoy it when developers really take their time creating a trophy list and don’t go with the non-original “Get this many kills” or “Complete this many chapters”. Fortunately the developers of this game were better than that. Look, there’s even a trophy for completing the game on Hard.
All sarcasm aside though I heard this game was one of the worst ever and was terrible to play so maybe getting the platinum is an achievement after all (no pun intended). You can’t deny however that when making a list about trophies, Terminator Salvation is a game that immediately springs to mind. Now it’s time for the real contestants.
9. Assassin’s Creed 2 **
Some platinum’s are extremely hard, some extremely time-consuming and some just downright fun. The platinum of Assassins Creed 2 easily falls in the last category. It is in no way difficult but that’s exactly where its charm lies. I know a lot of people whose first platinum was for this game and I can see why. This is what people who normally wouldn’t really go out of the way for trophies want.
The game itself is very enjoyable. It doesn’t really get difficult but it always gives you lots of things to do within an incredible setting. The platinum is pretty much the same. It encourages you to try some new tactics with weapons you might not have tried before or explore places you otherwise wouldn’t visit. The best thing is that there is no grinding required. The only trophy that requires a bit of time is the one where you have to collect 100 feathers. Even this is a breeze though and I never found wandering through the city a drag with the lovely atmospheric music in the background.
8. MAG
When you make a massive action game within the genre massive action games and you call it Massive Action Game people know exactly what to expect. And you get exactly what you expect, unless you’re one of those teenagers who is used to playing Modern Warfare 2, but they should all be banned from online gaming anyway.
MAG has an interesting trophy list to show. Like many people I cringed when I saw you had to get to level 60 with all three factions. When I had my hands on the game however I realized that it all wouldn’t be so bad. You level up pretty fast and putting in these trophies stops everyone from staying at SVER because, you know, it’s hard to fight a war when there’s only one faction. Like the previous entry these trophies encourage you to get the most out of the game which is always a plus. It also has one of the best images for a platinum trophy ever. Have you seen it? I should have put it on the list just for that.
Eventually the people who get this platinum are the people who thoroughly enjoy the game and play it a lot, hint: me. In the end the whole trophy list can be bogged down to practically only five trophies, getting level 60 with all three factions and collecting all medals and ribbons, but I couldn’t care less. I love collecting medals. They make me feel important.
Creative trophy lists are few and far in-between. When LittleBigPlanet was announced though everyone knew we’d be in for a treat. Surely the men who made the cutest and most creative game of the century could make something wonderful of the trophy list? Well, they surely did. When you first play the game you’ll be bestowed with bronze trophies for simple things like dressing up your Sackboy and placing a sticker. These trophies encourage you to go all out with wacky creations and play the game with friends and have fun.
The tagline Play, Create, Share is also perfectly incorporated in the trophy list with a gold trophy for each. For the platinum you have to play every level on the disc without dying (which is actually quite hard), create levels which are hearted by other people and play other people’s level and heart them. It’s all about loving. It’s also the perfect way to get people into creating levels which results in some of the best creations I’ve ever seen. A game like LBP, which rewards a platinum trophy for living its tagline is clearly one worthy of a notion on this list. I can’t wait to see what they do with the sequel.
6. Rock Band 2
When you get a mere bronze trophy for completing a song on Expert guitar with 100% you know you’re in for a tough list. The good thing here is that the list is not only tough, but also enjoyable. To me, Rock Band 2 will always be the ultimate party game and I have played, and still play it to death with my mates. Nearly all trophies can be obtained with 4 players in split-screen. Most of the trophies will be gained in the course of the main story. You also have to complete a song with 100% on Expert on every instrument though. And those aren’t even the hardest trophies yet.
Of course I’m talking about the two golden trophies here. The first, appropriately named the Bladder of Steel award, requires you to play the Endless Setlist 2 in one go without pausing or failing. The second requires you to complete it on Expert difficulty. For those of you who do not know: the Endless Setlist 2 is a setlist which contains all songs on the disc, which are 84! That’s about 6 or 7 hours of work. The setlist can become absolutely brutal on Expert with the later songs. Having the platinum for Rock band 2 means you truly are a master of the plastic instruments.
Fancy a challenge? Then this is the game for you. As most of you will know this game is extremely difficult and has an extremely steep learning curve. See when you die in this game you can still go on, only with less maximum health. The way to get back to life is to defeat bosses. You’ll find that even the regular enemies kill you a lot though, and the bosses are even harder. Furthermore when you die, which you will, all your souls, which are used to get upgrades and such, will be gone. To add to the pain all regular enemies will respawn as well which means you have to go past all of them again. Get the picture?
It’s very hard to complete the game, let alone do it three times. See to acquire all trophies you have to complete the game multiple times. You can do this with the New Game+ feature where nearly all of your stuff carries over. Unfortunately the difficulty goes up every time you do New Game + making the third play through absolutely punishing. With all those other easy platinums laying around it’s nice to see one that makes you work for it, and work hard you shall. It’s definitely achievable, but where it stands now I can only dream of it.
* Ok, 9
** I’m actually cheating a bit here as I already have this platinum. I just had to include it because I thought it was so much fun to get.
jacklum
2 trophies away from 100% on Wipeout (including Fury trophies). Beat Zico, which I got within a tenth of a second of, and Zone Zeus, where I think I was in the low 60s. I should have got the Beat Zico one once, but I bottled the last barrel roll off the narrow ledge and went off the track. Doh.
Wouldn’t mind getting the Mirror’s Edge one – I was up to 35 stars in the time trials, but still had most of the speed runs to get.
Origami Killer
Same with mirrors edge, i was in the 40’s on time trials and did 4 speedruns, then my ps3 had ylod so cba now
freezebug2
Great read CB, and one on your list that I will never get the platinum for is LBP. I just can’t get through that last level with the big wheel without dying a few times….plus my level creation skills are a bit pants.
Rocket_345
Thats my problem aswell
freezebug2
Sorry, I should have said Boomshanks and not CB, as the author of this great read.
Boomshanks
Haha thanks. If I ever get the LBP platinum it will be partly thanks to Crazy_Del, Teflon and you
spurs78
I’ve got to say I’ve only got one platinum, for cod waw, that was a real grind playing through veteran, I could have cried when it pinged up at the end.
clank250
I have a long list as well which i was going to get this summer, but didn’t. I wanted to get the GOW 1 & 2 (just the glitched Boss Batch 3 trophy in GOW 2… annoying), Dead Space, Uncharted 1, DA:O and quite a few others. It didn’t happen. Played too many PC games. Oh well, I’ll probably never get these platinum’s with the games that are coming out within the next few months. Kind of sad really.
lewis815
Feels a warm glow with my Wipeout Platinum :)
spooferbarnabas
Good read. I absolutely can’t stand the plat image for MAG, it’s completely out of sorts with the other trophies (i don’t have it, but i’ve seen it)
Boomshanks
That was my initial reaction as well, but it’s kinda grown on me
Roynaldo
Nice article dude. Really good read.
As for my plats. I have 10, mostly really good games like Dead Space and Uncharted and FFXIII.
The ones i dont have but want are ACII. Told my TV to f**k off when i saw it wanted the feathers for a trophy.
Resistance 2 i wanted but didnt like the competitive MP so just gave up after i got all the coop ones.
Right now im playing Dragon Age: Origins. Ive played for 13 hours and only got 3 or 4 bronze trophies! Now THAT is a trophy list to die for!
solidsteven
you better get all the dlc for the plat including that rip off awakening otherwise good luck. i have only 56% done and that because of dlc otherwise i probably be a few trophies short of it.
tonycawley
only took me about 2 hours to get all the feathers, easy when you use that feathers website guide thing. One of my most enjoyable platinums AC2 was.
Kitch
The hardest Plat in the world is….. Warhawk. How many people have that?
freezebug2
It would be interesting to see which platinum people think were the biggest grinders, although great games…..for me I can name several, Fuel,Just Cause2, The Saboteur. The actual games are ace but to get the platinum took some grinding. :0
R1MJAW
Totally agree about JC2 and Saboteur, awesome games. Katamari Forever joins that list … collecting all 4143 different items was brutal.
Games i’ve recently platinumed … NFS Shift, MNR, Split Second, Wipeout HD and Katamari Forever (out of a total of 23 platinums).
minerwilly
Another shout for The Saboteur , vastly overlooked and a fantastic game . Bought it for £10 used in Blockbusters last week.
aerobes
I’ll go with minerwilly on this, The Sabobteur was actually one of a few games which actually brought me back from a six month lull in gaming.
A superb game and developer Pandemic will be sadly missed.
moshi
I have 0 platinum’s and don’t feel a ounce of shame in that. I remember a time before games had trophies and it was all about enjoying a game and just completing it which I still do to this day
Flaming Turkeys
Yes…YES!!! OH YES!!! Take me back to the days when I played games for fun. Seriously, I loved those times. Now I (and I’m sure many others) don’t play fantastic games simply because they don’t have trophies. You know what I miss the most? Having to quit the game to send someone a message. I just miss the old days :(
Kitch
I agree. I’ve just bought “The Club” a good game with zero trophy support.
spooferbarnabas
Trophies help me get the most out of a game, many are incredibly enjoyable (burnout) and without the trophies I wouldn’t do half the stuff I could. That’s my opinion anyway :)
spooner_22
Agree spoofer…I buy a game coz I think I will enjoy it, not coz of trophies, but trophies do help me get more out of the game for sure. Some are really fun to get too. But it’s not like it bothers me if I can’t platinum the game, I just do what I can if it’s fun enough. That’s the point of trophies I think.
moshi
I do play a game fully though, I explore every area etc, complete all side missions but I wouldn’t miss out any more enjoyment if I didn’t kill 100 enemies with with a Chinese burn than if I grinded away over and over till I got that Ping. There are just to many games to play and not enough time to play.