Guitar Hero 5!
Apologies for the lack of interesting blog content, but I’ve been busy rocking out with Guitar Hero 5. I’m generally addicted to video games, but I’ve been hooked by Guitar Hero 5 since I first bought it on a whim 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t even that impressed with the song list, but Xbox has discovered the secret of hooking gamers like me – achievement points. Even though I’ve beaten the game, I’ve gotten a lot more replay value out of it by trying to get achievements. Each Xbox 360 game has ~1000 Achievement points you can get, typically by doing simple tasks that are accomplished in the normal course of the game, plus some other achievements that require a lot of skill (beating a game on the hardest setting, finding a bunch of secret items, etc.)
So, with Guitar Hero 5, one achievement is to get 808 stars, which means you have to play almost each song perfectly and get all of the bonuses on a particular instrument. I have 707 stars right now and the last 101 is going to be the hardest. So, that’s what’s taking the longest amount of time, plus finding friends who want to play with me for the band achievements.
Luckily, there’s an entire gamer community devoted to getting all the achievement points for every single game. Aptly named Xbox 360 Achievements, I’ve been trolling their forums and gamer guides for help. It’s incredible the devotion some people obviously have to this pursuit – gamers getting together to boost online team achievements, analyzing the easiest ways to get an achievement, and providing tips on the harder ones to fellow gamers.
The hard part for me is to decide when it’s time to give up playing a game simply to try and get an achievement versus enjoying it. I had an incredibly frustrating time trying to find some stupid flags in Assassins Creed a few years ago, and after staying up late into the night just for a stupid flag, I made the conscious choice to try and balance games with normal activities. I find myself slowly realizing I’m doing the same with Guitar Hero…but maybe after I get all these stupid stars.
hahah meanwhile your gf will look for new activities to occupy her now free time
I wish that I never used guitar hero – I really should be spending additional time along with my wife and children nonetheless it is simply too much fun.