A Week in the Life of a Halo Reach Credit Addict

On Monday morning, I sure look fine. I do my thing during the day and plonk myself down in front of the Xbox in the evening. I boot up Halo Reach and bring up the challenges menu. The daily ones – kill 75 enemies, earn two killing sprees, etc. – aren’t bad, but it’s the weekly one that’s most intriguing: earn 77 Revenge medals.

Revenge!

Getting such medals isn’t too difficult: all you need to do is kill the player that was responsible for your last death. It’s not a common occurrence, but not so rare that you hardly see it. This weekly challenge is perfect: it’s not so difficult that you won’t  bother attempting  it, but requires a fair degree of playtime to achieve. The healthy 7777 credits only serve to make it more tempting.

Being the Halo nut that I am, I immediately delve into it. I suit up with a couple of Halo buddies and jump into Team Slayer. We play for a couple of hours and I manage to rack up about 20 Revenge medals. Not bad for a night’s worth of playing.

The next day, we do the same. Several games and numerous kills later, I’ve racked up about 40 medals altogether. The rate I’m going at, I’ll have completed this challenge well before the weekend. Piece of piss.

It’s during Wednesday’s session that I remember I’m going to a television conference in Edinburgh that weekend. Deciding I should go and pack, I say goodbye to my pals, shut off my Xbox, lug my suitcase out the cupboard and get to work.

The weekend is fantastic. I take part in a vast number of activities and make a huge number of great new friends. I sit through several fascinating lectures from industry figureheads such as Google boss Eric Schmidt and some of cast and crew of The Only Way is Essex (fantastic!).  I meet professionals in the TV industry including Miranda Hart

Such fun!

Bronagh Waugh and Jessica Fox from Hollyoaks

It's Cheryl and Nancy!

And my personal hero, writer and producer of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat

Right: Scriptwriter. Left: Fangirl.

All set to the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the country.

On Sunday, we all say our goodbyes and head for home. I sit on the train, reflecting on the weekend with a smile on my face.

It’s late when I arrive back at the house. I’m pooped; unpacking can wait ‘til tomorrow. I say a quick hello to the Guinea pigs and turn my Xbox on. I boot up Halo, bring up the challenges menu and…

Shit, the weekly challenge. In the flurry of activities over the weekend, I’ve completely forgotten about it. If I didn’t get it soon, all that work would have been for nought. The counter sits at 40/77. I check the clock: I have a few hours left. I can do this.

I barge into Matchmaking, anxiously waiting to get into a game. I make a handful of Revenge medals at a decent rate, but not one that will have me reaching the target number before the end of the night. No matter how focused I try to be, I’m simply not making enough to reach 77 when the clock strikes twelve.

Resigning myself to the fact that I’m not going to complete the challenge, I suddenly remember: they don’t change until 1100 GMT, do they? I still have a chance!

I race to bed, set my alarm for eight o’clock and descend into morbid slumber. When I awake, I throw on my dressing gown and race downstairs. I root myself into the couch and power Reach on once again. I have three hours to get 37 medals.

Let's do this.

I start ploughing into games, giving it my all to reach the magic number before the countdown  concludes, centering on getting my revenge. As the morning passes and the hours go by, I maintain a steady rate of medals per game. I keep on pushing as the minutes tick away.

With an hour left to go, I have ten more medals to get, but for some reason, my attainment rate has slowed rapidly. I’m lucky if I manage to get even one per match. I power my way through each game as my total very slowly increases. 42… 43… 44…

I press the Guide button and check the top corner of the screen. 10:40. 20 minutes to go. The next match was my final chance to get the remaining medals I needed.

It starts off well: my team takes an early lead which we maintain through the entire match. I’m a machine, racking up the kills and getting my Revenge medal count up. My total increases rapidly, jumping from 44 to 49 in a matter of minutes.

But then the medals stop coming. As the kill count gets higher and the end of the game ever closer, I just wasn’t getting the medal I needed. The team score gets ever higher, reaching the penultimate number quickly. Resigning myself to the fact that I haven’t completed this week’s challenge, my heart sinks. Sadly I spot an enemy in the distance, aim at their head and pull the trigger for the final kill of the game…

Which earns me the final Revenge medal I need. My joy is palpable: I rejoice at completing my mission at the eleventh hour. I beam at the screen as I see 7777 space cash being deposited into my armoury. I sigh and relax into the couch as the clock hits 11, beaming with satisfaction and relief. It was touch-and-go for a while, but I manage to achieve my goal. I’m a true space marine.

The Spartan Victorious

I get up to turn the 360 off when I pause to see, purely out of interest, what the new weekly challenge is. I open up the menu and read the final paragraph:

‘Complete The Pillar of Autumn, Legendary, All Skulls On (LASO) – 17777 cR’

Fuck that.

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One response to “A Week in the Life of a Halo Reach Credit Addict”

  1. […] Originally published on Ready Up on 21st September 2011. […]

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