Which game has done achievements best?

No this isn't another which is easiest, hardest, shortest, longest (delete as applicable).

We have all played games which have stupidly easy achievements (Avatar, Press START in The Simpsons Game, Off the Boat in GTAIV), and likewise others which require a huge amount of time to get them for very little benefit (Seriously in Gears, Rank 1 in GRAW/Quake 4/Chromehounds), but what are the games that have done achievements well?

What games do you feel have got the balance right? They aren't stupidly easy, and aren't punishingly hard. They also don't make you end up grinding away for hours to complete it for the sake of an achievement and end up resenting the game afterwards.

I'll start off by nominating Mass Effect

Firstly most of the achievements are linked to things that you will do naturally while playing the game. They don't involve finding 500 hidden orbs, laptops with intelligence or dog tags that serve no purpose - you use the skill because you need to use the skill, not because its something you need to do X times for the achievement. By restricting the skills each character can have, the achievements encourage you to play with different setups and experience the game in a different way.

Secondly, the achievements actually reward you with something in-game instead of just boosting your gamerscore. Get the pistol kills achievement, you become better with the pistol. Get the Rich acheivement and new elite items become available at stores. Completing the game unlocks new abilities for future playthroughs giving you more variety during character creation.

So what games do you think have done achievements well?

Gears of War-i think most of the achievements aren't so hard in this game but are just a little time consuming and i think the achievements are pretty fair in my opinion but i just hate the way the online achievements glitch.But its pretty fair and i think this achievement system for gears of war should go to all shooters some achievements in campaign and some in online its all good.

To be honest, I am not a fan of online achievements, because you get people playing only for those achievements rather than playing the game. I can't bear getting screamed at on Gears because I "stole" someone's kill, or on Halo where you get people asking in the lobby if you will help them get x achievements. To that end, I quite liked the achievements on COD4, I felt that they were all achieveable, and they encouraged me to play through the game more than once - I now have them all with the exception of the cripplingly difficult Mile High Club one! :P

I will also nominate Viva Pinata. They were easy achievements to get, and yes there were some very simple ones on there which didn't challenge at all, but the quest to get all the achievements meant that I spent more time with that game than I would ordinarily do and as a result of that extra time spent I fell in love with the game!

To be honest, I am not a fan of online achievements, because you get people playing only for those achievements rather than playing the game. I can't bear getting screamed at on Gears because I "stole" someone's kill, or on Halo where you get people asking in the lobby if you will help them get x achievements. To that end, I quite liked the achievements on COD4, I felt that they were all achieveable, and they encouraged me to play through the game more than once - I now have them all with the exception of the cripplingly difficult Mile High Club one! :P

I will also nominate Viva Pinata. They were easy achievements to get, and yes there were some very simple ones on there which didn't challenge at all, but the quest to get all the achievements meant that I spent more time with that game than I would ordinarily do and as a result of that extra time spent I fell in love with the game!

wavey_gravey

nah its probably more fun for the online achievements yeah but its pretty annoying when people on a halo lobby ask f you can help then in an achievement but people get pissed off when 1 person just doesnt do it and about COD 4 achievements i found pretty simple just beat the campaign on veteran and you get most of the achievements the only one i found challenging was the mile high club but i really thought they should of badly put some online achievements for cod 4.

I think the Orange Box has some of the most varied achievements, given that each game doesn't repeat the achievements that came before it. Some are easy, some are hard, some take time, etc.

For a game to have really good achievements, it should be for things that you might not get playing the game normally, but if you play normally you should be able to get a lot of them.

i liked cod4's some were simply beating that level on veteran, and they had some random ones like saving the farmer etc etc...i got all 1000 of the points! i feel most proud of the mile high achievment :D

i also liked bioshocks achievments and halo 3's wasnt bad either.

I think the achievements in Bioshock are pretty well done. Jaforbe

Oooo yes, I agree with that as well. I loved that game!

Yup, everything you guys said. Except that those are all 07 games...lately games have garbage achievements. There is no in between, it's either something so simple, "beat a level" or something so stupid or hard it's not even worth it.

I put 30 hours into Saints Row, and got practically nothing. I pop in Dead Space for 3 hours and I'm up 200 gamerscore. I wish it was consistent...

GTAIV has some interesting achieves that has you explore alot of its gameplay elements. Oblivion was well done being that they were fair and you get all from playing the game. COD4 was also another fun one. I found COD4 vet to be terribly easy after playing COD2 on vet.

• Bioshock
• Rainbow 6 vegas 2
• PGR 4
• Oblivion

It's a shame that some games get them wrong, I played Devil may cry 4 all the way through and only got like 100 gamer points, to get a decent score would take far to long. game is pretty good, the achievements are horrible.

Dead Rising gets it right for me. Unique and fun to get, will make you play the game a different way to get them. Same as Mass effect, it rewards you playing through the whole game as a good guy, then a bad, and using all your powers. Other games that get the balance right are Bioshock, Ninja Gaiden 2, Condemned 1, Gears (for the most part, some of the online achievements are horrible), Halo 3. Orange box.

Games that get it wrong, Dead or alive volleyball 2, Virtua fighter 5, Condemned 2, Guitar hero 3, PD0, you could play those games for weeks and only get a couple hundred points.

I have to say the orange box has the best achievements, but then Valve were allowed twice as many so I'm not going to say TOB. Saints row 2 seems to have some good ones. Gears of war is an obvious nominee, but they're pretty generic.

I think achievements should be achieveable, with say 50-100 points for beginners, 50-100 points for hardcore fans, and then the rest divided up between SP and MP, because, face it, the xbox IS the online console at the moment.

I thought ME's achievements sucked the life out of the game, playing it through 3 times felt like a chore at times (especially since the side missions are so repetitive) I think Halo 3 had some good ones, but the extremely lucky lone wolves ones were just stupid...

COD was way too easy, just beat the game on veteran, do a sorta difficult epilogue and then faff around with intel and training times.

Crackdown gets my vote, the achievements FEEL like you've actually achieved something, there are some creative ones, some rewarding use of the internet to find orbs(though i didn't bother) and those that rewarded just playing the game.

I think the achievements in Fable II are really apt. I mean, every achievement holds some significance or are humourous or whatever. None of them are overly hard or repetitive and they're all easily (with enough effort) attainable and a lot of them encourage you to utilise the whole game. Best set of achievements in my opinion.

I will also nominate Viva Pinata. They were easy achievements to get, and yes there were some very simple ones on there which didn't challenge at all, but the quest to get all the achievements meant that I spent more time with that game than I would ordinarily do and as a result of that extra time spent I fell in love with the game!

wavey_gravey

MLB 2K7, GTAIV and NHL 08/09 all have achievements that are fun to get without being too easy or too hard.

• Burnout Paradise
• The Orange Box
• Crackdown
• Dead Rising

By far The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion & The Shivering Isles

Each and everyone of these achievments were not extremely hard to get, were time consuming.

Get in the dark brother hood go from murderer to listener, each rank up getting an achievment

Same with the mage's guild, from apprentice to archmage.

1250/1250

Bioshock.

Orange Box.

Guitar Hero 2.

Silent Hill: Homecoming

It doesnt make you do random stuff, so you play for achievements.

Beat this boss, get this ending, get this item.

It rewards you for completing the game, not doing stupid tasks.

Bioshock's were great. I thoguht that Orange Box had some good ones, but I'll probably say that that Bioshock, Gears, Kameo, and Call of Duty 4 were good ones.

The worst ones are Guitar Hero 3, and Devil May Cry 4. So hard, I finaly beat Through the fire and flames on expert, and after a year of trying, I texted all my friends. It was epic.