Child of Eden

As you must be aware, I am a big gamer. Been playing video games since the Atari 2600, actually completed the original Contra game in two lives (died once at the boss at the end, ugh), and have owned nearly every Nintendo system up to the Wii (can't see any games I want to play on the Wii U). I am presently embroiled in the Xbox 360 where I am definitely an achievement hunter, though a friend of mine calls me a achievement whore, which is completely untrue since I really enjoy playing the games but the achievements give me an extra layer of play. I've only had the Xbox since December 2011, but I'm doing all right for a veritable newb on it.

Anyway, what I'm coming to you on here is a game called Child of Eden.

Pictured: What Dante saw on his way down.

This game boats Kinect controls on a rail shooter that is reminiscent of the old Mind's Eye videos. It's a visual trip and rather enjoyable to watch. However, as a Kinect game, it was a nightmare to play. Normally, Kinect games can wear you out because of their physical nature (some more than others). This one just left me sore. That was last January (as in 2012).

However, since I took on a mantle of achievement hunter, I started going through all the games I'm stuck with and reborrowing/renting them to see about getting a few more achievements here and there. My Mixer friend had this game and absolutely hated it as well. I did some reading and found someone loved the game Rez HD, which was the precursor to this game and made by the same developer, and they played through this one as well. They really liked it, but played it all with a controller instead of the Kinect. When they talked about the Kinect controls, they indicated that it was interesting, but recommended using the controller the first time. I figured I'd give it a try, and my friend was all too happy to be rid of it.

I read up on the achievements, popped it in and had a go.

Mmm, trippy...

It was easier to play, but man, it is a very difficult game. I haunt a site called trueachievements.com, and that site gives what's called a true achievement ratio based on how many gamers have acquired a particular achievement versus how many have started the game (started is defined as having at least one achievement). Generally, the higher the ratio, the harder it is to get the achievement.

Child of Eden has some of the hardest achievements among every game I currently have started, which is 96 of them as of the time of this writing. Yeah, out of 96 games, Child of Eden dominates the upper end of the scale. Sometimes, this just indicates that people start games but never finish them, but in the case of this game, I believe it. not only is it devilishly hard just to finish a level (on normal, by the way; there is a hard level as well), there are achievements for hitting every enemy and getting persistent multipliers on every level on both difficulties.

I tried variously going for all enemies and high score on level one. Have yet to do it. There is an achievement for gathering all collectibles. This one involves playing all five levels...12 times each. I really should have included that one in my dumb achievements post. Talk about artificially extending gameplay.

What do I think of the game itself? Well, the graphics are gorgeous. The actual game mechanics are nice and easy to learn. When I set the difficulty on free play (can't die), it's kind of nice. But man, trying to play the game itself is nightmarish, probably because I keep getting wiped out. And go ahead and try the Kinect, but expect to play the game with the controller.

Images from Child of Eden