*SPOILER ALERT* it has to do with achievements. On the one hand, I'm probably hugely overrating the idea, but it stands alone in the 'optional challenge I kept at until I got it' category of video games, and as such sort of serves as a placeholder for all optional challenges in general. I don't suppose it's nearly as hard as I make it out to be, but it stymied me for a long time, so if you don't like it, screw you, it's my list.
Achievements (or trophies, or whatever you chosen video game console may call them) are fun, if entirely meaningless little virtual baubles. I don't generally attempt anything out of the ordinary for them, but I admit that it's fun to hear that little alert and see the "Achievement Unlocked" notification pop up at the bottom of the screen. The "out of the ordinary challenge" aspect of them seems to be lost on most games, though. Almost all of the achievements for most games are either stuff that is picked up just by playing through something or grinding based ones like "get every character to level 7 billion".
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| Wait. You actually leveled your characters to level seven billion? That's not even supposed to be possible. That was a joke.All those hours. I'm so sorry... |
Geometry Wars 2 had some actual fun achievements, though. Ones that you can sit down at any given time and try to do, but would evade your grasp. The one I remember specifically was 'Wax Off'. To play, you loaded up 'Pacifism' (a mode where you simply flew around without weapons and tried to evade death as long as possible). To complete the achievement, all you had to do was circumnavigate the entire playing field, touching the wall as you went along - twice.
It started relatively easy. After the first lap, there were still not very many enemies on the field. For the second lap, things started to get dicey. I must have tried two or three hundred times over the course of a few months. I got close numerous times. One time in particular I only needed to hit one last segment to complete my goal, the path was clear....and then it wasn't.
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| Sonofa... |
Finally, one day, everything aligned perfectly. I was able to evade most of the enemies, blow up the ones I couldn't evade, and more importantly, I was able to make progress as I did so. I could see that last segment coming up, only the way was blocked. I had to come at it three separate times, being careful not to push my luck. Finally, I hit the last piece.
Alert noise.
Achievement Notification.
Success.
Haven't played this, but the description of Wax Off reminds me a bit of Qix.
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