TWP Awards 08: Best Trophies

This summer, Sony finally introduced its rewards system Trophies, and we turned from the sort of people that beat on Acheivement junkies, to rabid Trophy whores (or at least I did). Here we celebrate the best trophy lists so far.



Winner: Warhawk (PS3/PSN)

I think that Warhawk deserves this prize, purely because it pulls off this whole Trophy balance thing perfectly, and also because they patched such an old game when many others didn't bother. The list for Warhawk features a couple of easy bronzes, and then a mix of bronze silver and gold for quirky events in-game, as well as ranking up. But it is the surprise trophies that are the best - when you are playing a perfectly normal frantic game, and just see a random trophy pop-up.



Runner Up: Pain (PSN)

Pain is here because its trophies really seperate the men from the boys -they are bastard hard, and require a helluva lotta commitment to the game.



Runner Up: Burnout Paradise (PS3/PSN)

Runner Up: LittleBigPlanet (PS3)

These two are here because they, like Warhawk, get the balance just right, and use the trophies to encourage players to get involved with the community.



Runner Up: WipEout HD (PSN)

In this list just because you know you've won at life when you acheive 'Trancendence"



Honourable Mention: Linger in Shadows (PSN) & Far Cry 2 (PS3)

Their trophies aren't as great as the rest on this list, but here as honourable mentions because of the sheer WTF factor. LiS' trophies are acheived by messing with the game/movie with the controller, and have useless descriptions. Far Cry 2's are just as unhelpful descripton-wise and sound a lot more epic than they likely actually are.

What Are I Playing

Its been a long time since I blogged here, and although you will likely be hearing much much more from us here in the near future, I thought I’d just update you on what I’ve been playing lately. Although the Wanderer is surviving the credit crunch having spent all his money using illegal means, I’ve taken to new tactics.

Pre-owned games, obviously. I am such a CheapAssGamer (oh snap!). In the past weeks and months I’ve added a significant number of said games to my collection, namely Army of Two, Need for Speed Carbon, Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, SingStar, Rainbow Six Vegas and Warhawk, many of which you will see us talk about in the soonness.

But there is one other way to get PS3 games that’s been eating up my money too –The PlayStation Store. And yes, £3.50 games are an impulse buy. All ye readers (yes, all 0.5 of you) know I bought PAIN when I first got my PS3, but since then I’ve downloaded High Velocity Bowling, Calling All Cars, Super Rub a Dub, flow, PixelJunk Eden, Loco Roco Coccorecco, Pixel Junk Monsters, Super Stardust HD and all the DLC for PAIN. Please no-one calculate how much I’ve spent there. Seriously.

But anyways, enough debt gloating, I’m here to give the verdict on some games I’ve been playing. First up: Burnout Paradise. And more specifically – the Bikes Pack. I honestly think the Bike Pack is better than the original game (or at least as good as). Riding around the city once through the day-night cycle is a thing of beauty, and the sense of speed is like nothing else, even Burnout Cars. Oh and it’s unlikely I’ll stop playing anytime soon: trophies arrive on Thursday. I’ll have more to say on Paradise soon.

I’ve also really got into Warhawk. I bought the game pre-owned on my most recent spending spree and invested in a Bluetooth headset at the same time (okay and the Store convinced me to get the add-on packs too), but in my opinion it is money well spent – Warhawk is easily one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. More fun than MotorStorm? Potentially. I think the best bit of the game though has got to be that it never takes itself too seriously. MAG might take the “woah” victory for online gaming come its release next winter, but Warhawk will always have a fun community to play against. Oh, and jetpacks.

Elsewhere, the PAIN Abusement Park expansion is endless hours of fun, and I’m running through Uncharted yet again for some trophies. And in terms of playing with mates offline, PixelJunk Eden is the winner, followed just behind by Army of Two, which I haven’t really played too much of yet.

And it can only get better: Wipeout HD, LittleBigPlanet, Dead Space, Bioshock, Far Cry 2, Fat Princess, Resistance 2 and Mirror’s Edge are all on their way too. Now, to find some money…

FO