- Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10
- Offline: 12 [200]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 200: 8 hours [without game update]
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Number of missable achievements: None!
- Glitched achievements: None!
- Do cheat codes disable achievements: No Cheats
Crystal Quest can be made much easier by playing without the Xbox LIVE update. The reason for this is because in the update the achievements were changed and made around 5x harder.
Introduction
Welcome to Crystal Quest! This arcade game as 12 achievements worth a total of 200. Although only one playthrough can net you all the achievements, it is indeed very hard. A handful of these achievements are made easier by playing with the difficulty slider set to '10', while others at '5' and another few at '1'. The reason for the 10 is because you get a lot more points and more enemies appear on the screen when compared to 1.
Playthrough #1 - Difficulty set at 10
Set your difficulty slider right up and start a game. Be sure not to hit anything as anything will kill you. As you reach 250,000 points (without the update) you will unlock three achievements worth a total of 40 (65 if you do not use a smart bomb). Following the achievement guide for "Life-saver" and "Apocalypse", complete what is required and by the time you are done you should have the achievement "Crystal Ninja". This playthrough will net you 105
Playthrough #2 - Difficulty set at 5
Setting your difficulty slider down to 5, we set off on our second playthrough. Playing to wave ten, you can get the "Treasure Hunt" achievement (collect the large crystals) and "Navigator" (avoid all the mines). See the achievement guide for more information on the achievements. Level 10 is around the time you will have both achievements.
Playthrough #3 - Difficulty set to 1
Again, set your difficulty slider all the way down to 1. This is the most time consuming portion of Crystal Quest and you will spend a good amount of time playing the game all the way up to level 60. While going for 60, you will gain a large amount of smart bombs. Keep these and once you reach 30 of them you will gain the achievement "Smart-aleck". Remember, you can die whilst going for the "Marathon" achievement, but if you die when you have no lives you will, erm, die.
Final Achievement
You will have noticed you still have one achievement. This achievement is based solely on luck and requires you to complete the first level in less than 5 seconds. Yes, 5 seconds. As the crystals spawn in random locations, you will only get this if all the crystals are bunched together. If not, exit the game and start again.
Conclusion
Well, that's it! This may not be the longest and hardest arcade game to finish, but it surely isn't the easiest and fastest! Invest some good amount of time into this game and you'll be happy with another completed arcade game on your card.