If I was able to be one of 36 members of the gaming media to nominate the best games of E3, surely someone will allow me, today, to nominate my pick for best Xbox Achievement of 2008?
Who cares if the year is barely halfway finished? How can there be a better Xbox 360 Achievement than "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2"'s Wax Off?
Let's back up for a second. In my last diary entryI wrote about my Tuesday morning session with "GWRE2." I liked the twin-stick shooter but didn't feel yet that it was the best game in the series.
I hadn't unlocked all of the game's six modes yet. On Tuesday night I did, and the game became my favorite "Geometry Wars," after all. Credit the new game's Pacifism mode, which ensnared me with the best let-me-try-one-more allure of a good bag of potato chips. Pacifism Mode also contains what I think is the best and most smartly designed Achievement of the year: Wax Off.
Let me make my case..
Pacifism Mode is borne from the Pacifism Achievement of the first "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved." That Achievement required players to survive in the high-action flat-screen shoot-em-up for 60 seconds -- without firing a shot. In the new game, the Pacifism Mode disables the player's guns. Movement is the only option as enemies spawn and swarm into pursuit behind the player's ship. The player's only defense/offense is to fly the spaceship through gates that spawn on the playing field. Flying through them detonates the gates and any enemies nearby. This earns you points. I died quickly in this mode on Tuesday night, but that didn't stop me from coming back again and again. Pacifism is my favorite mode in the new game.
While playing Pacifism you can try to earn the Achievement called Wax On. This Achievement, like the Pacifism one from the earlier game, is commendable because it compels you to play the game in a way that may have never occurred to you. Or would you have thought to scrub the walls in "Geometry Wars"? To earn Wax On you must fly your ship along and against the perimeter of the game's rectangular playing field. The border of the level turns green as you "wax" it. Anyone who saw the Karate Kid movie understands what must happen after waxing on: waxing off. Earning the Wax Off Achievement reacquires you to scrub that perimeter a second time.
I earned Wax On. I'm not good enough yet to earn Wax Off. But I do keep trying.
Xbox 360 Achievements don't mean much to me. I seldom hunt them down. I enjoy when I get one, but I like to earn them without trying. Frankly, I'd be fine if they didn't exist. But... if they do what Pacifism in the first "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved" did and spawn a wonderful mode in a new game, then I'm happy. And if the pattern continues and we get Achievement-spawned game modes introducing great new Achievements that could themselves spawn new game modes, then Achievements, to me, will have proven to be worth something.
So, fellow 360 players, have I found the best Achievement of 2008?
Next: An update on "Lock's Quest," most likely, my latest subway-riding DS gaming obsession.
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