Grand Theft Auto IV Achievement List

The official achievement list for Grand Theft Auto IV has been revealed. The list contains 50 achievements worth 1000 GamerScore. Here is the list:

Off The Boat Complete the first mission.	5 Locked
One Hundred And Eighty In a darts game score 180 with 3 darts.	10 Locked
Pool Shark Beat a friend at pool.	10 Locked
King of QUB3D Beat the High Score in QUB3D.	15 Locked
Finish Him Complete 10 melee counters in 4 minutes.	15 Locked
Genetically Superior Come first in 20 singleplayer street races.	25 Locked
Wheelie Rider Do a wheelie lasting at least 500 feet on a motorbike.	30 Locked
Gobble Gobble Score 3 strikes in a row, a turkey, in 10-pin bowling.	10 Locked
Driving Mr. Bellic Unlock the special ability of taxi.	10 Locked
Rolled Over Do 5 car rolls in a row from one crash.	30 Locked
Walk Free Lose a 4 star wanted rating by outrunning the cops.	50 Locked
Courier Service Complete all 10 package delivery jobs.	10 Locked
Retail Therapy Unlock the special ability of buying guns from a friend.	10 Locked
Chain Reaction You must blow up 10 vehicles in 10 seconds.	20 Locked
One Man Army Survive 5 minutes on 6 star wanted level.	40 Locked
Lowest Point Complete mission "Roman's Sorrow".	5 Locked
Order Fulfilled Complete all 10 Exotic Export orders.	10 Locked
Manhunt Complete the most wanted side missions from the police computer.	15 Locked
Cleaned The Mean Streets Capture 20 criminals through the police computer.	20 Locked
Fed The Fish Complete the mission "Uncle Vlad".	5 Locked
It'll Cost Ya Complete a taxi ride without skipping from one island to another.	5 Locked
Sightseer Fly on all helicopter tours of Liberty City.	5 Locked
Warm Coffee Successfully date a girl to be invited into her house.	5 Locked
That's How We Roll! Unlock the special ability of helicopter.	10 Locked
Half Million Reach a balance of $500,000.	55 Locked
Impossible Trinity Complete mission "Museum Piece".	10 Locked
Full Exploration Unlock all the islands.	20 Locked
You Got The Message Deliver all 30 cars ordered through text message.	20 Locked
Dare Devil Complete 100% of the unique stunt jumps.	30 Locked
Assassin's Greed Complete all 9 assassin missions.	20 Locked
Endangered Species Collect every hidden package in the game.	50 Locked
Under The Radar Fly underneath the main bridges in the game that cross water with a helicopter.	40 Locked
Dial B For Bomb Unlock the special ability of phoning for a bomb to be placed.	10 Locked
Gracefully Taken Complete mission "I'll Take Her".	10 Locked
Liberty City (5) After meeting all possible friends, the ones left alive all like you above 90%.	20 Locked
No More Strangers Meet all random characters.	5 Locked
That Special Someone Complete mission "That Special Someone".	10 Locked
You Won! Complete the final mission.	60 Locked
Liberty City Minute Complete the story missions in less than 30 hours.	30 Locked
Key To The City Achieve 100% in "Game progress" statistic.	100 Locked
Teamplayer Kill 5 players who are not in your team, in any ranked multiplayer team game.	10 Locked
Cut Your Teeth Earn a personal rank promotion in multiplayer.	5 Locked
Join The Midnight Club Win a ranked multiplayer race without damaging your vehicle too much and with damage enabled.	10 Locked
Fly The Co-op Beat our time in ranked versions of "Deal Breaker", "Hangman's NOOSE" and "Bomb da Base II".	15 Locked
Taking It For The Team Be on the winning team in all ranked multiplayer team games.	10 Locked
Top Of The Food Chain Kill 20 players with a pistol in a ranked multiplayer deathmatch.	10 Locked
Top The Midnight Club Come first in 20 different ranked standard multiplayer races.	20 Locked
Wanted Achieve the highest personal rank in multiplayer.	20 Locked
Auf Wiedersehen Petrovic Win all ranked multiplayer variations, all races and "Cops 'n Crooks", as both sides.	30 Locked
Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie Kill a Rockstar developer in a ranked multiplayer match.	10 Locked

Bully: Scholarship Edition (XBOX 360) Review

Bully: Scholarship Edition is the XBOX 360 and Wii port of the problem-plagued 2006 PlayStation 2 title Canis Canem Edit (Latin for ‘Dog Eat Dog’) with a few added extras. These extras include eight new missions, four new classes, four new characters, two player mini-games and achievements. Read on to discover whether Bully: Scholarship Edition is a great addition to your collection, or whether it should be expelled.

Players control 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins, a mischievous teenager expelled from at least seven schools, who has been sent to Bullworth Academy boarding school after a falling out with his mother and his new step-dad who are off on a honeymoon for a year. The first cut scene of Jimmy in the back of his car with his mother and step-dad in the front driving to Bullworth Academy is a very good indication of how amazing the storyline is. Bully: Scholarship Edition has great dialogue, some of the best characters you will come across in any game, good plots and hilarious jokes.

At Bullworth Academy, Jimmy must fit into one of the four groups. Greasers, Jocks, Nerds and Preps. Every task or errand Jimmy completes earns and loses respect in each of these groups, as well as earning him money. Tasks and errands involve activities such as putting chocolates into someone's locker and sticking however many kick-me signs on people's backs. Nothing like you'd get in Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. Amidst all the tasks and errands are the various school lessons. The lessons involve completing a mini-game related to the lesson’s subject and each subject is made up of five lessons which get progressively harder. Completing a lesson rewards players with upgrades and clothing which can be used in order to make tasks around the school easier. Personally I don’t particularly enjoy the lessons but there are a few achievements which can be gained from it so it’s worth having a go at them.

The subjects in the game are Art, Biology, Chemistry, English, Geography, Gym, Maths, Music, Photography and Shop. The Art classes involved drawing lines avoiding enemies to create boxes, Biology involves dissecting animals using pins, scalpels, forceps and a magnifying glass, Chemistry requires players to press the corresponding button when it reaches the highlighted rectangle, English involves players to create words out of the given letters, Geography requires players to place the correct flag on the correct country on the world map, Gym is either wrestling (on the odd lesson numbers) or dodge ball (on the even lesson numbers), Maths is simply selecting the correct answers to the questions, Music is similar to chemistry but using the triggers, Photography is simply taking photographs around the school (such as of students for a yearbook) and finally Shop classes involves mending vehicles from bikes to cars by moving thumb sticks and pressing buttons.

You don’t have to attend the lessons if you don’t want to though failure to attend is truancy and if you’re caught by prefects within the school or the police outside of school, you’ll be forced to attend the lesson. Outside of school gives the game its Grand Theft Auto style as players can roam around the streets on a bike or skateboard looking for jobs/tasks and rubber bands (for Jimmy’s rubber band ball). When you’ve got a few minutes spare you could also lock pick a locker by rotating the thumb stick the way the arrow commands you to; flirt and kiss with the ladies (and boys) by giving them gifts of flowers and/or chocolates; finding radio transistors for the hobo behind the old school bus who will reward you by teaching you a fight move; humiliating someone by placing a ‘Kick Me’ sign on their back; giving students wedgies. Alternatively, you could always study in the library... thought not.

Dotted around the game are Arcade machines which are similar to some XBOX Live Arcade titles available. There’s a wide variety from Racing to Sumo Wrestling. They aren’t very entertaining but they can unlock some content so it’s worth having a go. The amount of outfits players can choose from in the game is incredible. There are everyday outfits such as pyjamas and school uniform to more extreme outfits such as a Halloween outfit and a Ninja Costume. Players can even buy more outfits and clothing from the shop in the school and unlock clothing after completing certain lessons.

The controls on the game are pretty simple to get the hang of. Y is your action button to open doors and start tasks/errands, X and B are your attack buttons and A is your run/sprint button. Your weapon can be changed using the bumpers and fired using the right trigger. As you progress through the game, you will learn more combinations for fighting which are just simple combinations of X, B and Y unlike certain XBOX 360 titles with more complicated fighting combinations *cough* Dead or Alive 4 *cough*.

The game is split into six fairly long chapters, completing all the tasks within the chapter allow you to move on and unlocks you an achievement. The achievements in Bully: Scholarship Edition requires you to play the game; a lot so a quick rental isn’t ideal because of achievements such as “SHARP DRESSED MAN” (Collect 250 clothing items.) though as long as you manage to obtain 100% within the game, you should easily be obtain the whole 1000. Rockstar were also quite mean and included an achievement to get 20 kisses from the gents... maybe that is one achievement that should never be unlocked!

Despite all of the great moments in Bully: Scholarship Edition, the game does contain a lot of bugs such as people walking into walls and the odd unexpected freeze. The graphics look horrible compared to some of the outstanding graphics seen in games recently. Players who have finished Canis Canem Edit on the PlayStation 2 will not find this game much different at all. The extra missions are barely noticeable and the multiplayer is very poor as it consists of challenging each other at the lessons playable in single-player. Other than that, Rockstar have done a good job of porting the game from the PlayStation 2 to one of the most entertaining XBOX 360 titles available.

Positives:

- Lots to do to keep you going until GTA: IV

- Lots of fun

- Escaping prefects and the police

Negatives:

- Weak Multiplayer

- Not worth buying if you’ve completed Canis Canem Edit (PS2)

- Doesn't have the hottest virtual school-girl (Hermione from Harry Potter)

Overall: 82%

The Spiderwick Chronicles (XBOX 360) Review

When a game's released based on a recent movie, the majority of the time it's a terrible conversion. Recent titles such as Shrek the Third and The Golden Compass failed to impress, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was a title which boosted faith in the licensed movie-to-game genre. In the latest attempt at trying to have a successful film-to-game conversion we have The Spiderwick Chronicles, originally based on the five books written by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.

The start of The Spiderwick Chronicles sees the Grace family (made up of the mother, daughter Mallory and twins Jared and Simon) move into their new home and Jared discovers a dumbwaiter system behind a wall in the house, which leads to the secret study of Arthur Spiderwick. In the study Jared discovers a book - The Spiderwick Chronicles - written by Arthur and containing information on the surrounding magical creatures and enchantments. Thimbletack, a brownie, warns Jared not to take the book outside of the magical protective Circle of Toadstools around the house as a shape-shifting ogre, Mulgarath, is after it. Thimbletack also gives Jared a seeing stone which allows him to see the magical creatures that aren't visible to the naked eye. Now having the book, Jared's brother Simon is kidnapped by Mulgarath’s goblins having mistaken Simon for Jared and it's up to the three children to work together in order to defeat Mulgarath and prevent him from stealing The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Almost every task in The Spiderwick Chronicles involves players collecting items. Whether its fire salamanders, sprites, parts for weapons or bits for Thimbletack’s house, you always seem to be collecting. The game lacks an inventory system as when you find an item which you don’t require for your task, you have to come back to obtain the item once the task is available. This is frustrating and adds to the repetition. The most repetitive task of all is collecting sprites, once you catch them in your sprite net you have to complete a mini-game where you paint on the paper to uncover the sprite. The mini-game must be completed to capture the sprite in the time limit otherwise it escapes. This would be fine if it was done once or twice throughout the game but it has to be done about fifty times (and that’s no exaggeration). The single player feature that stands out for me is controlling Thimbletack. Running into the crack in the study wall to retrieve the seeing stone, the antique sword and Arthur Spiderwick’s griffin’s acorn is one of the more entertaining features of the generally quite dull game. It’s also made dull because of the constant referring to the Field Guide (which is accessed through the Start button). Without referring to the guide every so often, you’ll lose track of where to go and what to do. And when the guide doesn’t come to your help, you’ll end up wandering looking for a particular object or creature.

The unlockables throughout the game are multiplayer arenas for the multiplayer side of the game. The letters appear in the form of ISL (International Sprite League) at the front door of the house in single-player mode. This is a good way of getting players to finish the short story mode, but it’s also annoying as if you’re looking to try out the multiplayer as it takes approximately 2 hours to receive your first letter. When you eventually get onto the multiplayer, you’ll wish you hadn’t bothered as it is simply collecting sprites and/or killing goblins which you have done in the single-player side of the game. Quite strangely players can play the multiplayer by themselves and there is no online play, just local multiplayer. But don’t be put off by the multiplayer as there is three easy achievements to gain earning you 170 GamerScore.

The achievements in The Spiderwick Chronicles can be completed with ease and the full 1000 can be achieved within 7 hours as they simply require players to complete the game 100%; finding all the sprites, completing all the tasks and playing the multiplayer.

The graphics are average although I was particularly impressed with the house as it has been recreated from the movie very well, but the study, the woods and quarry have all been altered so much they feel totally different. The three main characters haven’t been designed too well, especially the faces, but Hogsqueal (the bird-loving hobgoblin) looks great. The majority of the cut-scenes use clips from the movie itself which I personally feel all licensed movie games should do and it’s a nice addition to the game. The voice-overs in the game are excellent but is spoiled by the lip-syncing of the characters, but all in all the audio is very effective and adds to the atmosphere well.

The controls are different to other games in the genre. At first it feels strange having the A button as attack, although after a while it becomes natural, but only because the fighting combat is button bashing A until you unlock more powerful attacks and this requires you to hold down the A button. The action button is B and when Y is pressed the active sprite power is used. I love the use of the Bumper buttons as you can change weapon and sprite power very quick.

Overall, The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of the better licensed movie games we’ve seen for a while but there is better games on the market. If you are planning on getting the game I recommend first seeing the movie before renting/purchasing the game as the story can be fairly complicated to understand from just the game. The story mode can easily be completed within 7 hours and you will also unlock you the majority of the achievements (with the rest coming from the multiplayer). You are very unlikely to come back to it after completion due to the lack of multiplayer and interest in the story.

Positives:

- Easy 1000 GamerScore

- Great voice-overs

- One of the better movie-to-game titles

Negatives:

- Short story

- Relying on the Field Guide

- Very repetitive

Overall: 63%

Burnout: Paradise Achievements

There are 50 achievements worth 1000 GamerScore

Achievement Name - GamerScore
Achievement Description

Lookin’ Good - 5 GamerScore
Repair your first wrecked car

Watt? - 10 GamerScore
Set a Time Road Rule on Watt St

It’s Showtime - 10 GamerScore
Set a Showtime Road Rule East Crawford Drive

Great Start - 10 GamerScore
Win a Race

Misdemeanor - 10 GamerScore
Collect 5 Billboards

Off the Beaten Path - 10 GamerScore
Collect 25 Smashes

Bottom of the Class - 20 GamerScore
Get your D Class License

Perfect Rage - 5 GamerScore
Get 10 Takedowns in Road Rage without Wrecking

Rising From the Ashes - 10 GamerScore
Repair your car at critical damage in a Road Rage event

Spinnin’ Around - 10 GamerScore
Perform a 360 Flatspin in any car

Underachiever - 30 GamerScore
Get your C Class License

Learning to Fly - 10 GamerScore
Successfully land 5 SUPERJUMPS

Duckin’ and Weavin’ - 10 GamerScore
Win a Marked man without being taken down

The Show Must Go On - 20 GamerScore
Get a 10x multiplier in Showtime

Rampage! - 20 GamerScore
Get a Takedown Rampage

Must Try Harder - 40 GamerScore
Get your B Class License

Parallel Park - 20 GamerScore
Power Park with a 100% rating

Daredevil - 25 GamerScore
Landed a 2 barrel roll jump

Boosting Around the World - 25 GamerScore
Get a x20 Boost Chain

Flying Colors - 50 GamerScore
Get your A Class License

Millionaire’s Club - 25 GamerScore
Score over a 1,000,000 in Stunt Run

Supercharged - 20 GamerScore
Win 25 Burning Routes

Car in a China Shop - 20 GamerScore
Get 500 Takedowns (online and offline)

Paradise Won - 60 GamerScore
Win your Burnout Driving License

All Pimped Out - 10 GamerScore
Win all Burning Routes

Explorer - 10 GamerScore
Find all Events

Paid and Displayed - 20 GamerScore
Visit www.burnout.ea.com to find out more

Bustin’ Out - 20 GamerScore
Collect all Billboards

Totally Smashed - 20 GamerScore
Collect all Smashes

Flying High - 20 GamerScore
Successfully landed all SUPERJUMPS

Speed King - 20 GamerScore
Set a Time Road Rule on every road

Crashin’ All Over The World - 20 GamerScore
Set a Showtime Road Rule on every road

Shopaholic - 10 GamerScore
Find all Drive Thrus and Car Parks

Elite - 70 GamerScore
Win your Burnout Elite Licence

Criterion Elite - 20 GamerScore
Get your Elite License, win every event, find all discoverables and beat every Road Rule

Online Racer - 10 GamerScore
Complete an online Race

First Win - 10 GamerScore
Win Your first 8 Player online Race

Online Champion - 20 GamerScore
Win 10 online Races

Online and Kicking - 30 GamerScore
Complete 20 online Events

Firestarter - 20 GamerScore
Make 50 online Rivals

Just for Pics - 10 GamerScore
Make Your First online Rival

Happy Snapper - 10 GamerScore
Send 5 Camera Shots

Notorious - 20 GamerScore
Send 50 Camera Shots

Hotshots - 20 GamerScore
Get 50 Snapshots in your Lineup

Join the Party - 10 GamerScore
Complete 1 online Challenge

Party Crasher - 15 GamerScore
Complete 25 online Challenges

Party Animal - 25 GamerScore
Complete 250 online Challenges

Block Party - 35 GamerScore
Complete 2 whole sections of online Challenges (excluding PDLC)

Burnout Skills - 30 GamerScore
In 8 Player online Freeburn lead 6 of the Today’s Best Scores

Criterion Fever - 20 GamerScore
Catch Criterion Fever - Visit www.burnout.ea.com to find out more

99th and 100th Arcade Title Reveiled!

This Wednesday marks 100 Arcade releases on the XBOX Live Marketplace.

The first of the two titles is: SHREK N ROLL
Navigate through 16 challenging mazes across four unique environments in Far Far Away’s newest competitive tournament. Test your tilting and rolling skills in Single Player mode, challenge others in Versus mode, or work together with friends and family in 2-player local Co-op mode. The game will be available worldwide with the exception of Korea and Japan this Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PST) for 800 Microsoft Points, and is rated “E” (Everyone – Comic Mischief) by the ESRB.
• For more details on “SHREK N ROLL,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/shreknrollxboxlivearcade/

The second of the two titles is: Screwjumper
“Screwjumper!” allows players to compete with friends locally via a split-screen mode, as well as over Xbox LIVE. The game will be available worldwide with the exception of Korea and Japan this Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PST) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated “E 10+” by the ESRB.
• For more details on “Screwjumper!,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/screwjumperxboxlivearcade/default.htm

Next week has been confirmed as "Undertow" (21st) so it looks unlikely that we'll see Sensible Soccer this month.

XBOX Live Activity (5th - 11th November)

This week's XBOX Live Activity shows no real surprises but I can guarantee it won't look like this next week.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (UU’s)
1 Halo 3
2 Gears of War
3 Guitar Hero III
4 Call of Duty 4
5 Madden NFL 08
6 Guitar Hero III Demo
7 America's Army: True Soldiers Demo
8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
9 Guitar Hero II
10 The Orange Box

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)
1 Mutant Storm Empire
2 Battlestar Galactica
3 EXIT
4 Pinball FX
5 Word Puzzle
6 Switchball
7 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures
8 Bomberman LIVE
9 Speedball 2
10 Every Extend Extra Extreme

Original Xbox Top Live Games
1 Halo 2
2 Battlefield 2: MC
3 Star Wars: Battlfront 2
4 Counter-Strike
5 Madden NFL 08
6 Call of Duty 3
7 Madden NFL 07
8 Rainbow Six 3
9 Ghost Recon 2
10 Forza Motorsport

These lists are based on global unique users connected to Xbox Live or in the case of Arcade, full versions purchased this week. The arcade list is based on full versions purchased.

This Week's Releases

Games For Windows
Gears of War

Nintendo Wii
EA Playground
Endless Ocean
Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots
Tony Hawks: Proving Ground
WWE Smackdown VS Raw 2008

PlayStation 3
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dynasty Warriors - Gundam
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Ratchet and Clank - Tools of Destruction
WWE Smackdown VS Raw 2008

XBOX 360
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dynasty Warriors - Gundam
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
NASCAR 2008 - Chase for the Cup
WWE Smackdown VS Raw 2008