Wanting What You Can't Have

I will be the first to admit that I am addicted to achievement points. I don’t mind picking up a twenty dollar title at Wal-Mart if I know I will get some replay value out of it or add a couple hundred points to my achievement score. However, sometimes achievements can drive me absolutely insane. Case and point, I purchased Major League Baseball 2K7 for the Xbox 360. I figured it would be a good buy because of the longevity of season modes in sports games and the competitiveness in online play. So far the game has turned out to be a stellar purchase for overall game play.

However, one thing is driving me bat crazy(no pun intended). Because I like achievement points so much and have been known to go to silly extents to get them, I am attempting to do the same for MLB 2K7. Completing a 162 game season does not bother me. Waiting for the one special game where I get a player to hit for the cycle for a secret achievement is fine. Nevertheless, there is one achievement that seems impossible if at the very least improbable for me to get. For 10 lousy stinking achievement points, there is a secret achievement titled “Rail Lean Catch”.

To complete this feat, you are supposed to make “an acrobatic catch leaning over the foul territory railing”. It seems simple enough. Just wait for the ball to go foul at just the right angle and eventually you will get the opportunity to rack up 10 points! Complete hogwash! The game’s camera angle system projects a top down view of the field at such an angle that it is impossible to see your players when a foul ball is going off to the stands down the third base or first base line. The line of site is so bad that it destroys any chance for you to send a player over near the rail to make a catch. You literally cannot see any of your players in this instance. Terrible!

I know this is just one example of a poor design of the achievements in relation to the developer’s design of the game. I have scoured the internet thinking maybe I am just doing something wrong, but I have yet to find a source of solace for my dilemma. None the less, the point of achievements is for players to be able to achieve them. Xbox knows that players take their player scores seriously. If people are willing to cheat to raise their score and Xbox support is willing to ban them for it, then I do not feel as silly for this post as I normally would. People just tell me to walk away. Forget about it. It’s just 10 points. But sometimes it is those things that you can’t have that truly make you want them the most.