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Using cheats and glitches for the Aperture Science achievement


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As many of you know, the Aperture Science achievement is by far the hardest achievement to unlock in the Orange Box. For me personally it is the most difficult and frustrating achievement in any Xbox game I've ever played. It certainly doesn't help that the Xbox controller was not in mind when the challenges were designed.

 

I've seen many people say they've given up trying to get 100% on this game because of this achievement. I'm writing this guide to help people who are more interested in getting this achievement and moving on, as opposed to getting it "legit." Please note that even while employing these methods this achievement will still be incredibly difficult but it should lower your frustration somewhat.

 

Before I go any further here are the cheats for Portal:

 

Create Box - Down, B, A, B, Y, Down, B, A, B, Y

Fire Energy Ball - Up, Y, Y, X, X, A, A, B, B, Up

Fire Rocket - Up, Y, Y, B, B, A, A, X, X, Up

Place Portals Anywhere - Y, A, B, A, B, Y, Y, A, Left, Right

 

NOTE: If you use cheats you MUST save your game right before you complete the level, then start a new game and reload your save. This disables any cheats you used. Otherwise the game labels you a cheater and you won't get a medal.

 

As most of you know, to get the achievement you must get gold medals on three challenges (least portals, least steps, and least time) for each of the six chambers for a total of 18 medals. The first challenge you should attempt is Least Portals because the gold medals are by far the easiest to obtain (even without cheating), you can take your time, and it helps you get a good layout of each level.

 

The second challenge will be Least Steps. This one is considerably more difficult but not as nerve-wracking as Least Time because you can still go as slow as you need to. However every little move you make will count as a step and they will quickly add up.

 

The third challenge is Least Time which is where most vast majority of frustration comes from. This is where the cheats come in handy. Some have said that the cheats are useless for the Least Time challenges but what they likely didn't know is that the cheats can be entered while the game is paused! If you press start and highlight or select certain menu options you should be able to enter each cheat with the game paused. Where you need to be in the menu will be different for each code because of the different button combinations but the goal is to enter the code without going back into the game while you are doing it -- you can experiment to find the best method.

 

The Fire Energy Ball code was especially useful in Chamber 15. I could simply aim the reticle at where I wanted the energy ball to go, pause the game and enter the code, unpause the game and the energy ball goes right where I want it. No wasting time getting the portal sequence right.

 

As for glitches go, this is by far the easiest way to complete Least Time on Chamber 16:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCR2doBNDMU]Portal Chamber 16 Least Time Gold 41 Seconds - YouTube[/ame]

 

The idea is to use portal bumping to get out of the first room while GLaDOS is still talking. If you are quick enough you should be able to shave 15 - 20 seconds off your time.

 

The second useful glitch is used on Chamber 18 to complete Least Steps and Least Time:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb3mVgZP9Jw]Portal Chamber 18 OoB Tutorial - YouTube[/ame]

 

This takes some practice to pull off but it makes the chamber infinitely easier. I'm pretty sure these glitches don't work if you are using the Portals Anywhere cheat.

 

Unfortunately the cheats don't help in some of the toughest challenges, like Least Time challenge in Chamber 13, but they should give you an advantage in about 1/3 to 1/2 off the challenges.

Edited by AtomicThumbs
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