Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
- Offline: 48/50 (940/1000)
- Online: 2/50 (60/1000)
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 30-40 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 (2 recommended).
- Number of missable achievements: None (Mission Select).
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: Yes (only achievements that specifically mention difficulty in the description).
- Glitchy achievements: Yes (see "Saves" in Roadmap for info).
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: None
- Is there DLC? Yes, Stasis Interrupted DLC
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10
- Time to 250: 3-5 Hours
- Glitchy/Missable/Unobtainable?: "I Don't Got All Day" and "We Are Leaving!" [G]
Introduction:
"All right sweethearts, what are you waiting for?" (Apone) You know every line and can quote the movies from memory. Now it's time to see if you have what it takes to be in their universe! Welcome to Aliens: Colonial Marines, where not only will you play as a marine but can experience multiplayer as a Xenomorph. (That's just so much fun to say, Xenomorph!) *cough* Excuse me, what were we talking about? Oh right. The achievements for this game aren't as difficult as they may appear. Thankfully experience is earned for your marine through all game types making the time needed to get the full 1,000 faster. Also several achievements can be earned using multiple methods in the campaign or multiplayer (even private matches). This roadmap is broken up into three easy steps to help make your triumph over this game even easier.
Saves:
This game unfortunately doesn't have a traditional save system. If you look for your save file, you won't find one. This game saves into your cache. Unfortunately, if you clear your cache it will wipe out your progress. For those online, it also will make a server side save for your profile which can cause various problems such as ranks being reset. Ultimately, this means any achievement that requires tracking could not unlock or outright stop tracking (as is the case with my game) for apparently no reason and with no possible recourse at this time. The most succesful method so far has been to recover your profile, but even that is no guarantee. Good luck to all the completionists out there.
Step 1: The Campaign:
While it is possible to get all of the campaign related achievements in one playthrough, I wouldn't recommend it. Personally I'd try for 2 playthroughs, especially since the achievements unlock on Recruit difficulty and the difficulty level achievements stack allowing you to unlock "Not Bad For a Human" when you finish your Ultimate Baddass playthrough. The extra playthough will add more experience towards your marine's rank and gives you more opportunity to work on the campaign section of challenges.
Your first playthrough on Recruit should be used to knock out the majority of campaign related achievements. This includes collectibles, mission specific tasks, etc. Doing this will also help you become familiar with the levels' layouts and controls for your next playthrough. Use "restart checkpoint" to your advantage if you miss something or wish to farm a location.
Your second playthrough on Ultimate Badass is a lot easier with friends, especially reviving each other. Take advantage of your knowledge from the first playthrough and check the guide below for useful tips.
Step 2: Multiplayer:
A large portion of the achievements appear to be intended for multiplayer but can be unlocked in various game modes, even campaign. Most of your time will likely be spent trying to level up your marine for the related achievements as well as finishing all of the challenges. The guide will have effective boosting methods listed for all of these. Private matches on XBL (offline requires a system link, split screen versus doesn't work) are very effective and can help unlock several achievements.
Step 3: Cleanup and/or Boosting:
Anything you may have missed or need help with, now is the time to polish off that 1000! Achievements can be earned in private matches as well. Organize boosting parties or find partners using THIS THREAD.Campaign allows you to use mission select to work on a specific level's achievement. Restarting checkpoints is a great way to boost kills and work on campaign and/or marine challenges.
Step 1: Playing the DLC
Start the DLC on the hardest difficulty so you do not have to play through it more than once. You should get all of the achievements in this one playthrough unless you miss something or an achievement does not pop. I Don't Got All Day and We Are Leaving! have been reported glitchy but replaying the level again on recruit seems to unlock the achievements just fine. You should get all of the audio logs, shoot the umbilical without missing and kill all the lurker in mission 2, and destroy all samples in the gas rooms in mission 4 to avoid replaying any level.
Conclusion:
Other than taking time to boost or grind out the leveling related achievements, this game is a quick 1000. Help from friends will have you saying "Game over, man. Game over!" because you've done everything so quickly. So now you just need a deck of cards to pass time until more achievements are added with DLC.
[x360a would like to thank Grifter Reborn for this Roadmap]
[x360a would like to thank littlejay for the DLC addition]