Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10
- Offline: 0/42 (1000)
- Online: 42/42 (0)
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 5-10 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 full 45 min episode, 7 partial episodes, 2 hours for Cozy Critter and cleanup.
- Number of missable achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: Yes
- Glitchy achievements: Possibly "On the First Day"
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: Kinect Sensor Required, Internet Connection
Introduction:
Welcome to the Kinect Nat Geo DVD Road Map / Achievement Guide. This roadmap and guide will be specific to the APP version of this game, since the physical and app version of both games have different achievement lists and requirements for completion. It is highly suggested that the player purchase the physical copy of the game if they intend to play both versions since the DVD copy of the game includes a redeemable code for the online version. The online version costs 30 dollars alone; so purchasing the physical copy with a redeemable code essentially becomes two games for the price of one.
The difference between the DVD and APP versions is that you must have an internet connection to stream the interactive episodes and there are two additional achievements that require up to an additional 2 hours of the Players time.
Abbreviated Walkthrough:
Gameplay for the APP version will be broken down into four segments, which are the perfect playthrough, episode 2-8 playthroughs, party animal cleanup, then the final two WILD episode achievements.
Episode 1 - Platinum badge playthrough:
To maximize time, all general achievements will be earned in the first episode. Then the episode specific achievements will be earned systematically afterwards. Finally, the final two achievements will require the player to “Party Animal Mode” from the main menu to wrap up the list.
Start Episode One: Grizzly Bears and prepare to spend 45 minutes to an hour fully participating to ensure that the Player will earn the Platinum rating medal by the end of the episode. Three activities will provide the “Medal Points” required for this achievement: Photographs, Sidetracks and Go Wild Activities.
Photographs: The episode will prompt you at different times to identify and command the Kinect to take a photo of what is currently going on in the episode. You will get prompted for the very first picture; but for every picture afterwards you will be on your own. Pay attention to the photo indicator on the bottom of the screen, which will indicate if and when a photo needs to be taken. The photos will flip and shuffle when the next opportunity is coming up. As long as all possible photos are taken during each segment, the player will get credit.
SideTracks: The game will prompt a Sidetracks scenario when the player sees the paw prints walking across the screen and yells at the Kinect. There will be three of these in the first episode and will have two decision points in each segment that award points. Get each answer correct to max Sidetracks credit as well. Reference the achievement list for a walkthrough for the first episode’s Sidetracks event.
Go Wild: The meat and potatoes of the game’s achievement list. Every episode has three Go Wild activities, and three achievements that are relevant to the players performance in these activities. Most are very straightforward, but the very few troublesome Go Wild achievements will have additional guidance within the achievement list.
A platinum medal will require a perfect run of all activities before the episode conclusion. In the case where you need to replay a missed section, the player can “rewind” the episode using the traditional controller. Be careful when fast forwarding because skipping too far ahead may prematurely end the episode, requiring the Player to start from scratch.
After the first episode the Player should have all general achievements unlocked as well as the three episode specific achievements for that playthrough.
Episodes 2-8:
The following episodes will be much quicker after addressing all general achievements in the first episode. Each episode after the first has four achievements specific to each episode; three linked to the Go Wild activities, and one general badge achievement for completing the episode.
The third activity will always be a combination of the first two with a bonus “overdrive” ten seconds so if the Player is having any issues with certain achievements such as doing an activity in a time frame, the third activity might be your best bet.
The badge achievement for each episode requires at least three badge ranks be earned before the end of the episode to earn Bronze, the lowest level badge available. This is easily done by earning three badge credits between the three Go Wild activities while tackling the episode specific achievements, then fast forwarding all the way to the end of the episode to reach the final results screen.
Party Animal / Gamemaster:
The final two achievements require playing through “Party Animal Mode” located in the Main Menu. “Party Time” and “Gamesmaster” must be earned in three different mini-game activities. Replaying the same activity will not earn additional credit.
Cozy Critter / On The Hunt:
These two achievements are connected to the Nat Geo WILD Episodes that stream through the app. From the main menu, you have an option to view the currently streaming WILD Episode. While loading, a que will appear, identifying the three episodes that must play uninterrupted. Start and leave the system alone. Return an hour or two later after all three episodes have run its course and both achievements should have been unlocked.
Conclusion:
The game achievement list is fairly straightforward. You will probably learn something along the way as well. The possibility of this series becoming a yearly iteration is very likely.
DLC: Season 2
Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
- Offline: 0/24 (0/750)
- Online: 24/24 (750/750)
- Approximate amount of time to 750: 2+ hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Number of missable achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: Kinect Sensor, Second Person.
Introduction:
Kinect National Geographic is back with new episodes and new mini games. The new episodes act as DLC for the first season (though you do not need to have a pass for for the first season to play them) and include the same altered reality sort of mini games and National Geographic episodes featuring Brady Barr. They are definitely worth watching, but if you just feel like skipping them, you are free to do so without messing up your achievements. While the achievements are all online, that is just because you must stream the episodes, you do not need an online partner. Also, there are 8 episodes in Season 2, though only 6 of them include achievements.
Step One: Play through each episode's mini games:
This is pretty much the only thing you need to do. Every achievement is a one-off affair, and each mini game only takes a minute or so. None of the achievements actually require you to watch the episodes, but they are kind of interesting, so you might want to stick around as you prepare for the next minigame. The only thing is that you will need to play each episode to the end in order to get the achievement for completing the episode with a badge, so don't think you can just quit after getting the achievement you need.
In general, you are going to want to be closer to Kinect when playing this game, since it means that you are going to have to move less, which should allow you to rank up better scores and allow you to get most of the achievements. The only exception is the Close Encounters episode, since "Greedy Guts" is actually easier to pull off if you are farther away from Kinect. The guide below includes tips for each specific achievement, so if you are having trouble, consult the achievement guide.
Step Two: Mop Up:
It's fairly easy to miss a bunch of these achievements. If you do manage to miss anything, whether it be because you needed a break or got disconnected, you can always skip directly to the mini game you need by fast forwarding and then quit out once you have the achievement.
Conclusion:
In the end, the mini games do not change that much from episode to episode, just the way they are dressed up. There are a few challenges in the game, but most of them just come down to repetition.
[x360a would like to thank Ryot Control & Capn Doug for this Roadmap]