ALL THAT GLITTERS: TEN MEMORABLE PS TROPHIES
Achievements and trophies are the single most positive addition to gaming in the last fifteen years. A running road map of our successes and milestones, they represent different things to different gamers. For some, collecting is practically a sport, whereas others choose to ignore them entirely. Between these two poles, there’s a lot of us who enjoy testing the challenges the lists pose, especially when it allows them to get more out of the game in question. In a sense, they’ve become what hi-score leaderboards were to gaming in the eighties and nineties.
Recently, I acquired my 10,000th trophy. It struck me how synonymous they’ve become with gaming habits over the last ten years or so. I decided to draw up a list of trophies that have stayed in my mind, each for a different reason. I stress: this is not a definitive list of the ‘best’ trophies. They are the ten most apt to illustrate how trophies have benefited my gaming experiences. I hope you enjoy what follows and I’d love to know some of your most memorable moments with trophies and/or achievements, in the comments at the bottom.
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH... SOME GAMES GET BETTER
Featured: Remember Me (PS3) - "MemHunter Elite"
Featured: Remember Me (PS3) - "MemHunter Elite"
One of the most positive aspects of trophies has been rekindling an interest in beating games on their higher skill settings. A generation earlier, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find the motivation to return to anything save the finest of titles, post-completion. Trophies have changed all that. Games that might previously have been considered short, have seen their lifespans benefit considerably, if the trophy parameters are good. There are countless examples of games that have made for a more complete experience on harder difficulties. Resistance 3 featured a fantastic campaign that’s all the more satisfying and fraught on its Superhuman setting, whilst much the same can be said for the likes of Dead Space and the Uncharted series.
However, the finest difficulty-related trophy belongs to Remember Me. Capcom’s futuristic sci-fi adventure had its flaws and proved divisive amongst gamers. However, I found the harder playthrough not only allowed me to appreciate the game’s unusual design, but the increased challenge made learning the fantastic custom-combo system paramount. In effect, it encouraged you to spend time mastering the game’s strongest facet and used the increased difficulty to emphasise its versatility. One sequence of moves might work against a certain kind of enemy, but success demanded continually adapting to the changing tactics and defences that new foes brought to the table. Whilst the combat wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, extended play proved extremely rewarding, and it’s the kind of intelligent challenge a lot of us would happily see more of.
Notable others: Uncharted: Golden Abyss - “Charted! - Crushing”; inFamous - “Hard Finish”; Resistance 3 - “Brutal”.
However, the finest difficulty-related trophy belongs to Remember Me. Capcom’s futuristic sci-fi adventure had its flaws and proved divisive amongst gamers. However, I found the harder playthrough not only allowed me to appreciate the game’s unusual design, but the increased challenge made learning the fantastic custom-combo system paramount. In effect, it encouraged you to spend time mastering the game’s strongest facet and used the increased difficulty to emphasise its versatility. One sequence of moves might work against a certain kind of enemy, but success demanded continually adapting to the changing tactics and defences that new foes brought to the table. Whilst the combat wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, extended play proved extremely rewarding, and it’s the kind of intelligent challenge a lot of us would happily see more of.
Notable others: Uncharted: Golden Abyss - “Charted! - Crushing”; inFamous - “Hard Finish”; Resistance 3 - “Brutal”.
BETTER OFF WITH TWO
Featured: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) - "Star 69"
Featured: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) - "Star 69"
Co-op. It’s great to play with a mate, and there’s been a glut of games that have encouraged the pursuit in recent times. For sheer satisfaction, it’s hard to top Modern Warfare 2’s Special Ops mode, and the Star 69 trophy that demanded you beat each mission on Veteran difficulty. On your own, this would have proven an almost insurmountable feat, but fortunately, the mode was clearly designed to test your cooperative skills. A fantastic, frenetic test of teamwork, attaining Star 69 saw friends revelling in explosive combat assaults, coordinating hostage rescues via slow-motion breaches, and working together in some hold-your-breath stealth sections where clinical timing and precision were demanded. There’s even a small handful of missions that see one player man air defences, whilst the other progresses on-foot.
Notable others: Army of Two: The 40th Day – "Total Fist Bump Destruction".
Notable others: Army of Two: The 40th Day – "Total Fist Bump Destruction".
LAUGH-OUT-LOUD FUNNY?
Featured: Resident Evil 5 (PS3) - "Egg on Your Face"
Featured: Resident Evil 5 (PS3) - "Egg on Your Face"
Every now and then, you’ll stumble across odd little touches, or amusing incongruities in games. In recent years, developers have taken the opportunity to use trophies to draw attention to Easter eggs and gaming’s long-time overlooked comedic sensibilities. Often, it’s the satisfaction of finding something a little off the beaten track, such as Another World’s UFO death, or playing through Final Fantasy VII in such a way as to secure Cloud a date with Barrett at the Gold Saucer. Whilst the Saints Row and Grand Theft Auto series’ have produced an ample share of quotable hilarity, the trophy that afforded me the most glee belongs to Resident Evil 5. Having equipped a rotten egg (your guess is as good as mine), I was jumped by a Majini and, in a moment of blind panic, I launched the egg in what appeared to mimic a grenade-slinging motion. Somehow, said egg hit my hapless assailant right between the eyes, seeing him crumple to the floor like he’d been struck by an Npower gas bill. It’s not a very high-percentage survival tactic, but it stayed with me for its surreal, comedic qualities.
Notable others: Saints Row IV – "Experimental Tech"; Another World – "Secret UFO"; The Saboteur - "High Diver".
Notable others: Saints Row IV – "Experimental Tech"; Another World – "Secret UFO"; The Saboteur - "High Diver".
CLASSIC MOMENTS
Featured: Final Fantasy VII (PS4) - "Roundtable Destruction"
Featured: Final Fantasy VII (PS4) - "Roundtable Destruction"
I’m not a massive advocate of perpetual re-releases. However, the introduction of trophies has at least offered us another reason to relive the best and most vivid moments of our childhoods. I needed little encouragement to return to Flashback’s outstanding New Washington level, resplendent as it is in the 2018 25th Anniversary PS4 release. Okami HD retouched one of the finest games of the 21st Century and was a joy to experience. Scoring by far the most nostalgia points however was Final Fantasy VII’s Roundtable Destruction trophy. Available courtesy of the network PS4 release, Square’s classic RPG saw you spending an age breeding a Gold Chocobo. It recalls a time when you regularly questioned whether the almost mythical-sounding rewards you’d heard whispers of were real, or just a playground stitch-up. The trophy pops as the sum total of your graft – the devastating, game-changing Knights of the Round materia – comes into your possession.
Notable others: Flashback 25th Anniversary Edition - "City Explorer"; Okami HD - "Top Dog".
Notable others: Flashback 25th Anniversary Edition - "City Explorer"; Okami HD - "Top Dog".
THE LONG ROAD
Featured: Horizon Chase Turbo (PS4) - "Look Mom, No Hands!"
Featured: Horizon Chase Turbo (PS4) - "Look Mom, No Hands!"
Individual trophies can serve as a nice memento at the culmination of an epic (and hopefully fulfilling) journey. Granted, some of them take things too far (10,000 online kills, Resistance 2, really?), but games as diverse as Need For Speed Rivals and Assassin’s Creed: Rogue have offered mountains of gameplay before finally yielding their trophies. Horizon Chase Turbo’s Look Mom, No Hands! trophy will, for many, prove the last climb peak to be scaled in the Himalayan-like quest that is earning the game’s platinum. Merely to unlock the Endurance races, you’ll need to beat the enormous World Tour and reaching the final endurance event will likely take months of play. Spanning 109 races, it’s something my partner Julie and I conquered in one day, with the help of several breaks, a walk and many counselling sessions (not really).
Notable others: Need For Speed: Rivals – “Gold Master”; Assassin’s Creed: Rogue – “Achieve full synchronization”.
Notable others: Need For Speed: Rivals – “Gold Master”; Assassin’s Creed: Rogue – “Achieve full synchronization”.
WIPEOUT HD
Featured: WipEout HD (PS3) - "Elite Campaign Legend" & "Zone Zeus"
Featured: WipEout HD (PS3) - "Elite Campaign Legend" & "Zone Zeus"
WipEout HD. Where to even start with this beautiful, evil game? One of the earlier titles to feature trophies, this futuristic racer was amazing, but was also notorious for its merciless trophy list, which featured at least FOUR hellish and equally morale-sapping challenges, of which I managed to conquer two. Here’s a quick rundown: Beat Zico, which casually required a single lap of near-perfection, something I missed out on by a few hundredths of a second. Zone Zeus, reach level 75 on the increasingly eye-shredding Zones mode, something that left me physically shaking when I achieved it. Elite Campaign Legend: beating the game with Gold awards on Elite difficulty, the last tournament is murderously frustrating, but I did manage in the end. By the time I’d checked out Arcade Perfect – winning a race on all track layouts, on Elite difficulty, Phantom speed including the blood-curdling reverse variants – I’d extracted every last shred of play I could from the game, and limited my losses. But would I have got as much out of WipEout HD without these shiny incentives? Probably not. Phew, needed to get that off my chest.
Notable others: WipEout HD – Bling Brigade.
Notable others: WipEout HD – Bling Brigade.
HI-SCORE HEAVEN
Featured: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (VITA) - "Beat Andy"
Featured: Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (VITA) - "Beat Andy"
Hi-Score trophies have been surprisingly few and far between, especially when you consider the sheer number of retro-related projects that have flourished over the last decade or so. The focus has seemingly shifted more towards progression and difficulty-related tasks, but nevertheless, there’s no finer badge for the committed gamer than beating a score challenge. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, an outstanding shooter that suited the Vita to a tee, offered a raft of “beat the developer” scenarios, of which I’ve (so far) bested only one: Beat Andy, in what amounted to a high-stakes game of chase where the aim was to survive for as long as possible, without allowing a veritable legion of foes to make contact with your craft. As moreish as this and the Pac-Man Championship Edition games are, it’s easy to see how a single, innocent-sounding trophy goal might turn into an afternoon’s session.
Other notables: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - “2,000,000 points”.
Other notables: Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - “2,000,000 points”.
SELF-IMPOSED LIMITS
Featured: Dead Space (PS3) - "One Gun"
Featured: Dead Space (PS3) - "One Gun"
The success of trophies that impose optional limits on the gamers varies considerably. Some are arduous and fail to add to the enjoyment (they were an absolute blight in Resident Evil: Revelations 2 and Prototype). Others introduce an interesting new take on the game in question. Lone Survivor played quite differently when the player was challenged to complete the game without firing their gun for the Pacifist trophy, and meant that an awareness of hiding spaces and escape routes became an art unto itself. Engineering a situation in which the killer escapes justice for Heavy Rain’s Perfect Crime trophy is extremely clever, because scenes had to be tackled from a completely different mindset. Dead Space’s One Gun trophy added a fresh but manageable twist on EA’s sensational space horror shooter, challenging the player to beat the game using only the initial Plasma Cutter weapon which, after a lengthy period in its company, turned out to be a good all-rounder.
Notable others: Lone Survivor: Director’s Cut - "Pacifist"; Streets of Rage 2 - "Hard Win"; Heavy Rain - "Perfect Crime".
Notable others: Lone Survivor: Director’s Cut - "Pacifist"; Streets of Rage 2 - "Hard Win"; Heavy Rain - "Perfect Crime".
ONLY A BRONZE?
Featured: Earth Defence Force 2025 (PS3) - "All Normal Cleared (Wing Diver)"
Featured: Earth Defence Force 2025 (PS3) - "All Normal Cleared (Wing Diver)"
Ooof. This is the video gaming equivalent of tough love. We’ve all been there: mumbling to ourselves that we’re not addicted to trophy hunting, before spending the better part of a week playing something (invariably) rather rickety in order to fill that bronze trophy-shaped gap on our virtual shelves. Developers have an occasional, somewhat sadistic habit of awarding bronzes for herculean feats of difficulty or persistence. Like when an RPG casually slips in the old “open every treasure chest in the entire world” chestnut.
But here’s the thing: fair or not, they’ve kept me playing, in circumstances where without that distant dangling carrot, I would surely have given up. Twenty-something levels into Earth Defence Force 2025, I reckoned the insect terminate ‘em up was gearing towards a grand finale. Forty levels further along, I wondered if it ever planned on ending. Another twenty more I got my answer as, after felling a devilish UFO the size of a city, I attained a bronze trophy for finishing the game. Beating it on Normal difficulty did not, however, stack the trophy for an Easy completion. That would require another eighty-odd levels, and for once, I knew when to call it quits.
Notable others: Watchdogs - “Social Lubricant”; The Hungry Horde - “50 shades of green”.
But here’s the thing: fair or not, they’ve kept me playing, in circumstances where without that distant dangling carrot, I would surely have given up. Twenty-something levels into Earth Defence Force 2025, I reckoned the insect terminate ‘em up was gearing towards a grand finale. Forty levels further along, I wondered if it ever planned on ending. Another twenty more I got my answer as, after felling a devilish UFO the size of a city, I attained a bronze trophy for finishing the game. Beating it on Normal difficulty did not, however, stack the trophy for an Easy completion. That would require another eighty-odd levels, and for once, I knew when to call it quits.
Notable others: Watchdogs - “Social Lubricant”; The Hungry Horde - “50 shades of green”.
COLLECTING WITH PURPOSE
Featured: Republique (PS4) - "The Spymaster"
Featured: Republique (PS4) - "The Spymaster"
Around the turn of the millennium, collectibles became the go-to source for easy longevity, to such an extent that you started to wonder whether there was any purpose behind their inclusion in some games. However, trophies offer something of an incentive to comb the levels looking for them and whilst many collect quests remain rather arbitrary, some are inspired. For a prime example, look no further than the excellent (and sadly overlooked) stealth adventure Republique. During the course of the game, you’ll have the opportunity to pickpocket and pilfer all manner of “banned” real-world literature, as well as modern video games reimagined in floppy disk format. There’s a broad range, from Gravity Rush to Thomas Was Alone and Hotline Miami, each with a quick description from your mysterious hacker friend. There’s loads of them to find and gaming aficionados will find it tough to resist seeking them all out.
Notable others: Fallout 3 - “Vault-Tec C.E.O.”; Kick & Fennick - “Gear Collector”.
Notable others: Fallout 3 - “Vault-Tec C.E.O.”; Kick & Fennick - “Gear Collector”.
What trophies or achievements have been memorable to your experiences? Let us know in the comments!
Trophy information and statistics courtesy of PSNProfiles.com, and correct as of 14/6/19
Trophy information and statistics courtesy of PSNProfiles.com, and correct as of 14/6/19