Now That’s Not What I Call ‘Dedication’

As well as being a fan of video games, I’m also a fan of irony. Except when it happens to me and mine.

One of my top games of 2011 so far (my ‘to play’ list is still rather long it has to be said) is Crysis 2. Stunning visuals, great controls, and an online multiplayer mode so captivating I’ve still yet to drag myself away from it to give the story mode a real go; Crysis 2 is almost a complete bag of goodness! Now I’m no stranger to glitches, I’ve ranted about it long enough with my peers on this site of ours goodness knows how many times, yet it still boggles my mind to think that when developers of a title can spend months doing great, great things to make you want to buy a game, they’re not prepared to do something very small to help you out once you’ve already forked out your dough.

If only achievement unlocking was as fun as the game…

Gamers, I am talking about Crysis 2’s achievement unlock ‘Dedication’ for playing online over a 6 month time span. Now, it’s a bit of sneaky if not clever one really as many gamers will undoubtedly get swept up in other titles over the space of half a year and, unless they have very little in their games collection that is new, will be very unlikely to still be playing it frequently enough to remember the achievement. Crysis 2 has, however, become a bit of an old faithful of mine; the game that I will happily shove into my CD tray every few weeks or so, batter some people online, go invisible for a bit and generally have a dandy time (apart from when I get my arse handed to me of course).

So you see, the dedication achievement was one that was quite clearly in the sights of my gaming buds and beau, and although we weren’t actively tracking it down, we figured ‘hey we’ll unlock it eventually’ as it needed little more than playing an online match 6 months after your first to unlock it. So, come October, when my pal NoNeilMoment was online, sure enough came that loveable sound of ‘bah-dink’ and he had been rewarded for his loyalty. Now, to say we have a bit of healthy competition between us is a little understated, but after the other half saw Neil had been graced with 25g that he hadn’t, the battle was on to get his share. In went the disc, up came a game, after a few minutes of online carnage he waited in anticipation… but no Crysis scented cigar.

Seems that the Dedication achievement has joined the club of glitching achievements, not uncommon but not really acceptable in the long run. After all, why offer an achievement if you’re not sure if your gamers will even get it? Needless to say there has been more than a few unhappy campers popping up all over the globe complaining about the lack of reward for their faithfulness to the game, along with a handful of similar complaints regarding other glitchy features.

Now my real gripe here is not so much with the glitch itself (they happen, let’s face it) but more-so the continued lack of response from EA and Crytek. To encourage people to stay faithful to a game and not trade in for the next big title is fine, to make mistakes or have programming not quite work can be resolved, but failure to address gamers’ problems, no matter how small, should never really be accepted by the people that play. It may be the case of 25g, but the ethics involved are much greater.

No doubt both companies will be happy to shove their next big titles down our screens as and when they become available, but to expect loyalty from your audience, but show no real ‘Dedication’ of your own to their experience is a little off. It’s nearly Christmas for goodness sake! Surely a fix could be put in people’s stockings by the 25th? After 2 months of online complaints, rants and in some cases spectacular hissy fits by irate gamers, it doesn’t look ho-ho-hopeful to have an official resolution any time soon!

*insert sad face and a new game into your console, I think we’re flogging a dead Rudolph here people!*

The reality of 'dedication' from Crysis 2

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