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The Best Achievements And Trophies Of 2014
Whether you love them, hate them, or forget they exist until they pop on your screen and interrupt your game, achievements and trophies are a (literally) required feature of all PlayStation 3, 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Steam games.
I fall into the love camp, and these are some of my favorites from 2014. The achievements and trophies I find most interesting aren't the ones that mark your progress in a storyline or reward you for attaining a certain number of headshots. I like the ones that force you to think outside of the normal functions of the game or reward you for doing something weird.
To see 2011, 2012, and 2013's best achievements and trophies, hit the links.
Dark Souls II
I know I've said I don't typically like achievements that are awarded to everyone as part of normal play (and this one certainly is), but it's the perfect way of letting you know what you're in for. I suppose, technically, you could get through the game without getting this achievement, but that person is some kind of weird super human.
This is Dark Souls - Die for the first time.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
Lords of Shadow 2 came up short of our hopes for the sequel to the excellent 2010 Castlevania reboot, but it did have this clever callback to old-school Castlevania games.
Classic Flavor - Cook a chicken in the old style.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Nearly every achievement in The Stick of Truth is related to farting or poop, or some combination of the two. There are, however, a few achievements with weird requirements, and I particularly enjoyed the one outlined below.
Heisenberg - Defeat the Meth Tweekers while wearing the Evil Cartman goatee and the bald cap.
Infamous Second Son
You can absolutely avoid this trophy in Infamous, but why would you?
Everyone's a Critic - Take out 10 street musicians.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Shadow of Mordor's achievements are all pretty straightforward attached to number of kills, etc., but I like this one because it basically demands you become a conniving jerk.
No Power in Numbers - Help a Captain survive a Recruitment Power Struggle, and then kill him and all his new recruits.
Sunset Overdrive
The core of Sunset Overdrive's humor is breaking the fourth video game wall, so it's not surprising that many of its achievements get in line with that sense of humor. The Overachiever achievement is awarded for starting a game and the hyperbolic Ultra Mega Kill achievement is given for killing pigeons. The Appreciation achievement? I just like when developers include that one.
Overachiever - You earned an achievement.
Ultra Mega Kill - That was a lot of pigeons.
Appreciation - Watch the credits all the way through.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
The Master Chief Collection had a lot of achievements – 450 to be exact – and there are a couple of weird gems in there. I particularly like the ones from the original Halo that ask you to not jump or climb in vehicle while completing a few speicifc levels. The best has to be the No Smoking achievement, though. When Keye's throws down his pipe, if you stare at for a few seconds, you get an achievement.
How Pedestrian - Halo CE: Complete Halo without entering a vehicle.
No Smoking - Halo CE: Disapprovingly look at Captain Keyes' abandoned pipe.
Feet Firmly Planted - Halo CE: Complete a level without jumping.
The Crew
I don't think anyone is going to complain about a Back to the Future reference. I'm certainly not going to.
We don't need Roads - Burn Nitro at exactly 88mph (141 km/h).
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Speaking of movie references, how about a reference to Batman Forever, the Batman film that will always be remembered as being slightly less worse than Batman & Robin. Also, it's nice to know that all the real-world celebrities that appear in the game like to get together and hang out.
Now THAT'S impressive! - Find and destroy a hidden Riddler Trophy.
The Green Room - Find the hidden celebrity party.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
A popular first-person shooter meme, spinning around 360 degrees and firing off a sniper round without zooming in for a kill is an impressive feat, and you finally get credit for pulling it off.
360 No Scope - While airborne, spun 360 degrees then got a kill with a Sniper Rifle without using the scope.
The Lego Movie Videogame
What better way to live out your dreams of pretending to be Liam Neeson, than playing as the character he played in The Lego Movie and performing his memorable chair kick move.
Grrrg! - Smash a chair as Bad Cop.
Fable Anniversary
Getting yourself or others drunk in video games is always entertaining and I appreciate how you can either do a tremendous amount of work, or simply become pure evil to get the Open Saysmemiddlefinger achievement. I also appreciate the transparent marketing behind the See The Future achievement, which I absolutely went through the effort of unlocking.
Open Saysmemiddlefinger - Open all the Demon Doors, or show a closed Demon Door what you think of it.
The Drinking Game - Drink until you vomit, or 'help' a friendly villager get drunk.
See The Future - Connect Xbox SmartGlass to Fable Anniversary, isn’t technology amazing!
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