Do PC game makers hate Achievements?
Posted by Brian Vaughn at 9/13/2007 9:10 AM 
Categories: Microsoft, PC Gaming, Xbox 360, Achievements
Categories: Microsoft, PC Gaming, Xbox 360, Achievements
One of the trends that is occurring more often is big PC First Person
Shooters are getting ported over to consoles. Often these games are
developed in unison so that you can market to PC and console gamers at
the same time. On the Xbox 360 we have seen this done for Prey,
BioSHock, Oblivion and Call of Duty 4. These developers have embraced
the console market to help improve sales and reach gamers that would
not buy a PC game.
Not every game has followed this path though. Three big name games that come to mind are Far Cry, F.E.A.R. and Half Life 2. These three games are known for pushing the graphics and game play on the PC and all three where ported to consoles well after their PC release. These games have all release mediocre ports to game consoles*.
One thing these games all have in common is a really horrible set of achievements. It has recently been announced that the redo of Half Life 2 for the Xbox 360 will come with 1000 achievement points spread over 90 achievements. That makes the average achievement only worth 10 points. I understand that the makers of Half Life want the gamers to explore all the different parts of their multi game offering but this seems a bit much.
F.E.A.R.'s achievements were absolutely horrible because you could complete the game and earn less than 100 points. Too many of the points where geared towards the horrible multiplayer portion of the game. That was some of the most lag I've seen in matches I've ever played online.
The problem with FarCry probably was more how horrible the game actually played. It was a bad mix of stealth and super powered ability. You were rewarded for using these skills but got very few achievements for playing the actual game. Again there was an abundance of achievements for multiplayer and again multiplayer in this game sucked. It's no surprise the average gamer score for this game at www.mygamercard.com is 51.66 points.
If you've played these games and have found the achievements a bit of a pain in the but to attain then don't feel bad. I wonder if it isn't just the game developers hurting their own games by forcing people to get achievements by playing their crappy games online. Throw on some horrible multiplayer and let people pass on the single player experience.
These games to me show me that PC game makers hate achievements because you force you to play the crappiest part of their games to earn those points. They don't bother fixing the laggy online play. They just give the games the feel of a lazy port. Hopefully Half Life 2: Orange Box will be an improvement but judging from those stupid achievement point distribution I'm not holding my breath.
* Half Life 2 was originally released for the Xbox.
Not every game has followed this path though. Three big name games that come to mind are Far Cry, F.E.A.R. and Half Life 2. These three games are known for pushing the graphics and game play on the PC and all three where ported to consoles well after their PC release. These games have all release mediocre ports to game consoles*.
One thing these games all have in common is a really horrible set of achievements. It has recently been announced that the redo of Half Life 2 for the Xbox 360 will come with 1000 achievement points spread over 90 achievements. That makes the average achievement only worth 10 points. I understand that the makers of Half Life want the gamers to explore all the different parts of their multi game offering but this seems a bit much.
F.E.A.R.'s achievements were absolutely horrible because you could complete the game and earn less than 100 points. Too many of the points where geared towards the horrible multiplayer portion of the game. That was some of the most lag I've seen in matches I've ever played online.
The problem with FarCry probably was more how horrible the game actually played. It was a bad mix of stealth and super powered ability. You were rewarded for using these skills but got very few achievements for playing the actual game. Again there was an abundance of achievements for multiplayer and again multiplayer in this game sucked. It's no surprise the average gamer score for this game at www.mygamercard.com is 51.66 points.
If you've played these games and have found the achievements a bit of a pain in the but to attain then don't feel bad. I wonder if it isn't just the game developers hurting their own games by forcing people to get achievements by playing their crappy games online. Throw on some horrible multiplayer and let people pass on the single player experience.
These games to me show me that PC game makers hate achievements because you force you to play the crappiest part of their games to earn those points. They don't bother fixing the laggy online play. They just give the games the feel of a lazy port. Hopefully Half Life 2: Orange Box will be an improvement but judging from those stupid achievement point distribution I'm not holding my breath.
* Half Life 2 was originally released for the Xbox.
Comments