Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

For some, achievements and trophies are meaningless trinkets, with no care as to how they get them or what they mean.  I will admit right now that this column is not for you.  This column is all about looking at games solely on their achievement or trophy level.  What does it take to get the trophies or achievements in a game?  How much time will you invest in this game that is completely crappy?  I plan to pick one game each week and look at it from an achievement standpoint.  My goal is to help people that want to boost their score by hitting the games that will boost them up the ladder.  To use this column, you will have to be able to eat the shame of having Avatar the Last Airbender or Hannah Montana the Movie on your gamertag.  If you can handle that, continue through the jump to enter the world of easy, shameful achievements, with our inaugural title.

This week, we look at Avatar the Last Air Bender: The Burning Earth.  Yes, the other Avatar, not the blue one, but the Nickelodeon animated series that was ported to the Xbox 360 in game form.  This title sports a whopping five achievements, but what merits it for the first article is the fact that every achievement in the game can be found within the first 80 seconds of the first level of gameplay.  By standing on the left side of the first bridge you find in the game and just pressing the green A button repeatedly, you will continue a combo with the endless stream of enemies.  Complete a chain of 50 enemies in a row and you will have the final achievement in the game.  The achievements are awarded at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 combos.  It is 80 seconds of your life that you will not get back, but you can have solace in the fact that you can send it back as a rental, and that you are 1000 points richer in your gamerscore.

The Skinny:

Ease of Achievements – A+
Shame Factor – A-
Time Needed for All Achievements – A+

Overall Grade: A+