P20: Achievements Guide -- Overview

Achievements Guide -- Overview

It is not really clear how much Achievements contribute to the popularity of a game these days, but what is clear is that gamers tend to respect it more when a game developer takes the time to make a set of Achievements for their game that are both challenging and interesting.  With Arkham City we get a mixture of both, as the Achievements are sensibly divided into three basic groups -- story-related Achievements that will come automatically as you play the game, challenge-based Achievements that you will have to seek out, and the standard optional Achievements that you can unlock for doing things in the game that, while not specifically story-related, nonetheless factor into the process of being the Batman.

Some of the optional Achievements are miss-able, and one in particular -- Story Teller -- is a date-based Achievement that takes about a real-life year to legitimately unlock!  We address some of the aspects that relate to that in the individual section for the Achievement, not here, as this is more of an Introduction type section rather than a details thing.  But it does serve a purpose...

There has been a lot of discussion within the Xbox communities in recent months about Achievements and the phenomenon of the Achievement Whore, the purpose behind them, and the spirit of their presence in the community of gamers at large.  The general consensus is that Achievements are a flawed system, but that when they work properly, they are also one of the best ways for gamers to judge the skills of other gamers.

Some gamers view Achievements as the end-all and the be-all for the games that they choose to play, often approaching their game play sessions with designs that specifically address unlocking them.  What I mean by that is that some gamers -- a very small percentage really that is estimated to be around 1% of all Xbox 360 gamers -- go to extremes to unlock the Achievements associated with the games they play.  The remaining 99% represent a mixture of casual to serious in their approach, while a significant percentage simply do not care one way or the other.

The following guide sections deal with the individual Achievements that are NOT part of the story line in the game (those come naturally and do not require guidance outside of what you already will find in the main guide), and are presented here to assist you in the process of unlocking each Achievement.  Simple enough, right?

We do not judge gamers, and your motives and play style with respect to Achievements does not factor into the strategy that was used in creating this guide or each of the individual section.  We do assume that you are approaching the subject of Achievements with the same respect and legitimacy that we do, and that they are not your primary motivation for game play or the use of this guide.  It cannot be said any fairer than that.

The following Achievements are covered in the P20 Sections of this Guide:

P20A: Pay Your Respects (5 GS)
P20B: Catch (5 GS)
P20C: Story Teller (10 GS)