Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10
- Offline: 9 (155)
- Online: 3 (45)
- Approximate amount of time to 200: 8-12 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 9 (7 for 1P Puzzle Mode, 1 for Infinity Mode, 1 for CPU Battle Mode)
- Number of missable achievements: 0
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: There are no cheat codes available.
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No.
- Glitchy achievements: 0
- Unobtainable achievements: 0
- Extra equipment needed?: None.
Introduction:
The first thing I would like to note is that if you're looking for this game under "Bust-a-Move Live!" in the Xbox Live Marketplace and cannot find it there, try looking for "PUZZLE BOBBLE Live!" instead. This game has some trouble deciding which of those two names it likes better and depending on your region, it could be in the Marketplace under either of those titles.
Bust-a-Move Live is a fairly simple puzzle game which involves you clearing screens of pre-set puzzles made up of colored bubbles by launching your own bubbles from the bottom of the screen to form combos of 3 or more of the same colored bubbles touching each other. It has multiple game modes and they are described in more detail in the outline below. While some of the puzzles in this game may be quite difficult, the only mode that actually penalizes you for failure is Infinity Mode. If you fail in the 1P Puzzle or CPU Battle modes, you can choose to continue which will allow you to attempt to beat the current puzzle or opponent again. If you fail in Infinity Mode, you can try again, but your time is also reset, meaning you are starting all over again.
Step 1:
The first thing you should do is go to Help & Options in the main menu and check out the "How to Play" section. This is good information for first time Bust-a-Move players and veterans of the series alike, as this will explain all the various game modes, special blocks and bubbles and multiplayer attack types used in the game.
Step 2: 1P Puzzle Mode
This is a good place to start as the initial puzzles you come across are easy, which will allow you to learn how to play the game. There is also no penalty for failure other than having your score reset, but as far as getting all the achievements, that's not going to hurt you.
This is where the minimum of 7 playthroughs comes into play. There are 27 zones to play through in 1P Puzzle mode and every time you clear one zone, you have a choice between two new zones to advance to. Because of these branching paths you will have to play 1P Puzzle mode at least 7 times in order to complete each of the mode's zones.
Be sure to keep track of which zones you play as you go along so you can avoid replaying a zone unnecessarily. Your eventual goal here is to clear all 27 of the game's zones, each of which has 5 puzzles. By the time you're done you will have cleared 135 puzzles.
NOTE: From this point forward, the remaining steps are interchangeable: once you have completed 1P Puzzle mode, you should have a very good grasp of how to play and can do the remaining modes in whichever order you like.
Step 3: Infinity Mode
The second mode is Infinity Mode, which pits you against a never ending wall of bubbles slowly advancing down towards your launcher. Although there is no actual end to this game mode in terms of completing it (it will only end if you fail or quit), you need at least 1 playthrough in which you will need to keep playing for 60 minutes. There is a timer to the left of your playfield you can use to keep track of how long you've been playing and how much longer you have to hang in there.
Step 4: CPU Battle Mode
The third mode is CPU Battle Mode, which pits you in a competitive match against 8 CPU opponents. You will once again be working with a never ending wall of bubbles coming at you, and to win you will have to survive longer than your opponent. You only need 1 playthrough of this mode, because if you should be beaten by the CPU, you can just keep trying again until you do win and move on to the next opponent. Each match will contain 3 rounds, and the first player to win 2 rounds is the winner of the match.
Step 5: Multiplayer
The last mode is 2P Battle Mode, which is the same as CPU Battle Mode except you will be playing against another human opponent. There are no playthroughs for this mode, just matches. Go to Multiplayer in the main menu and play Xbox LIVE matches. You have three goals here: win 1 match, win 5 matches in a row against the same opponent, and play 30 matches.
Conclusion:
Once you have completed all of the above steps, if you are still missing any achievements it is likely because of the poor wording of the in-game achievement descriptions. While there are no achievements that are actually glitched in this game, most of the achievement descriptions given by the developers are either too vague or outright incorrect. This may make it seem like an achievement has glitched on you if you complete the game's stated requirements, but chances are you simply haven't fulfilled the unstated requirements yet. Once you know what they are and give them a try, you shouldn't have any troubles unlocking your achievements. Double check with the guide and see what you actually need to do and be sure you did that.
x360a would like to thank mjc0961 for this Road Map