DLC #77 - Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale - Fearless

Not so Fearless...

A solitary trophy compliments the only DLC package from Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, and it's one of the easiest trophies you could possibly wish for.

The single trophy in this package, "Fearless", awarded for performing a Level 3 super with Nariko on Fearless, can be earned within a mere couple of minutes.

All you need to do is follow the exact same method for unlocking most of the similar super stage-specific trophies in the main game list, and loading up practice mode on the Fearless stage with Nariko selected, before dropping in a dummy opponent and just casually rattling off attacks to build up your super bar to level 3.

Complete the action by offloading the super attack, and that's it. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, and you've officially completed one of the easiest DLC packages in existence.

Platinum #65 - Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 3/10

Just incase the rating didn't give it away, this is one of the easiest trophy lists you can possibly ask for, and despite a total of 56 trophies, which is a generous amount for any full disc game, there aren't many easier lists out there than the one produced here.

Aside from being unusually high in volume, it's also pretty bland and uninspirational too, with a whopping 20 trophies allocated to beating the arcade mode with every single character in the game.

Not only is the arcade mode incredibly easy, it's also very samey from character to character, and even though  you can comfortably beat each arcade run in around 30-45 minutes, it still becomes a bit of a slog when you realise you'll have to do it for every single one of the game's 20 characters, and this alone will collectively take anywhere between 12-15 hours.

You can choose to play through the arcade mode on the highest difficulty, which is Legend, and you will need to at least once for the "Legend" trophy, awarded for completing the arcade mode on legend. Apart from that though, there is no need to speed extra time on something that will already take you around 12 hours as a bare minimum, so it's best just play through on Rookie difficulty and blast through each characters run as quickly as possible.

Another 14 trophies in this list are dedicated to performing character specific level 3 super attacks on certain stages, and where you can, you can unlock these during arcade mode playthroughs. Otherwise, it's just as easy to open up a practice match, drop-in a dummy opponent, and just generate your attack bar to level 3 by freely hitting them, which will take no longer than a minute or so for each character.

Thankfully, there is a bit of a challenge to be had from this list, and it mainly comes from the Multiplayer side of it, which a small collection of trophies that can potentially frustrate your attempts of an easy Platinum trophy.

The "This is Living" trophy, awarded for winning a match-made online game without dying, is by far the stand out trophy in this list, and could potentially take alot of trial and error to unlock. The best way to approach it is through a 2 v 2 match, and not does this reduce the opponent count by 1 by teaming up with someone, there is also a chance you can be teamed up with a good partner whose quality will assist you in unlocking this trophy.

In reality, it's best to just avoid your opponents, because you will more than likely be killed if you try and slog out with your enemies for 3 minutes. This is obviously a difficult balance to keep when you take into account the fact that you will still need to win the match to fulfil the trophy requirements, so a sense of urgency and willingness to jump in often enough is also present. With a good partner aiding you, you will get it eventually, but you might need a good stroke of fortune and a decent enough fighting partner who is prepared to win the match with minimal assistance, and it is, without doubt, the hardest trophy in this entire list.

The "Triple Kill" trophy, awarded for earning a triple kill in a match-made online game, requires you to wipe out 3 opponents with a single super attack, and although not as hard as the "This is Living" trophy, you'll still need be prepared to endure a bit of trial and error to unlock it. You can actually choose a small selection of characters whose level 3 super attack is an automatic triple kill, including Toro, Parappa the Rapper and Spike, which can make this trophy considerably easier. However, it can be tough generating enough attack points to reach level 3 within the short time limit, especially against better/higher levelled players, so you might need to be patient.

Most level 1 and 2 super attacks in the game won't be strong enough to knock out 3 kills at the same time, so it's better to just focus on trying to accumulate enough points for a level 3 super, and even then, the automatic triple kills cannot be countered or reversed by other players, so as soon as you get yourself into a situation where you can earn a level 3 super attack, it's plain sailing from there if you have the right approach beforehand.

The only other trophy that might trouble you in this list, is the "Three For One" trophy, awarded for earning a triple kill with a level 1 super attack. There is alot of trial and error attached to this trophy, mainly because level 1 super attacks are rarely strong enough to knock out 3 opponents at once unless they're all in very close proximity.

With that being said, certain level 1 super attacks are stronger than others, but there is still a massive element of luck to unlocking this trophy regardless. There is a good chance you'll eventually unlock it through the multitude of times you'll have to go through the arcade mode playing against 3 other opponents, but it all depends on situational circumstances and just activating the attack at the right time. There is no real concrete way to unlock it, which will make it frustrating for those that might struggle.

The rest of the trophies in the list relate to dabbling in various game modes and pulling off meagre tasks that will take next to no time to complete, involving the practice mode, combo tutorials and character customisation.

All in all, this is one of the easiest Platinum trophies available in the Playstation library. It's a big list, but there are trophies up for grabs in every direction, and as long as you can stomach slogging through the games very mundane and dull arcade mode 20 times, and manage to knock off the slightly tougher trophies without any relative difficulty, there is a very minimal challenge present.

Even with the slightly tougher trophies, a sub-20 hour time estimation for completion is a very realistic timescale. It could tip over that barrier depending on how much success you have with the harder trophies in the list, but 25 hours should be the absolute maximum for most players, and this still remains one of the easiest lists in the entire Playstation catalogue.

Notable Trophies -

Triple Kill - Earn a triple kill in a match-made online game
Three For One -  Earn a triple kill with a level 1 super attack
This Is Living - Win a match-made online game without dying

Hardest Trophy -

This is Living
Win a match-made online game without dying

Platinum #64 - Hitman : Blood Money

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 5/10

Although this list really isn't dissimilar to the 2 previous titles in the HD trilogy, it is without question the easiest list of the trio, not the mention the lowest in quantity too, with just 25 trophies, including the Platinum trophy.

The "Professional Mode Complete" trophy, awarded for completing professional difficulty, is really no different of a challenge to the previous games. The AI is significantly improved in this title though, and given the fact it makes enemy behaviour easier to predict, it does actually make it a less frustrating experience in comparison to before.

The challenge of Professional mode is roughly the same standard though, but added gameplay mechanics such as a notoriety bar and more intelligent enemy AI can increase the difficulty curve somewhat. Even still, there are only 13 missions in the game and a single run through from start to finish should be no more than a 12 hour experience, though it could be slightly longer if you're trying to achieve many Silent Assassin ratings (which you will need to do at least 5 times, and maybe more for the "High Roller" trophy).

On the subject of Silent Assassin ratings, the "5 Professional Silent Asssassin Ratings" trophy, awarded for achieving 5 Silent Assassin ratings on Professional mode, isn't terribly demanding, and although you will need to be shroud and clever in achieving them, you can afford to pick out the easier levels in the game in order to obtain 5 Silent Assassin ratings. It is important to try and get a Silent Assassin rating on every level though, mainly for reasons attached to other trophies in the game, but some missions can be very tough to get a Silent Assassin rating on, especially on Professional difficulty, where the requirements are heightened in comparison to easier modes.

With 13 missions with a Silent Assassin rating available to them, you do get a nice selection to choose from, just incase you do stumble across the odd mission or two that is too frustrating to beat with a Silent Assassin rank. A stark contrast to the previous game in the trilogy, where you needed to obtain a Silent Assassin rating in every mission in the game.

The "High Roller" trophy, awarded for accumulating $5,000,000, requires you to amass earnings of this total at any one time. Although it isn't clearly stated in the trophy description, you will need to have this amount of money on hand at any one time, and is not just a general cumulative total across the game.

This is important to note for a few reasons; First, and more importantly, the fact that earnings from replaying missions will decrease drastically after the first time you've beaten them, and although you can go back into missions and beat them again for additional funds, you only earn a fraction of what you earn first time round (which can easily be almost $900,000 if you nail the mission perfectly). If you get yourself into this situation, be prepared for a bit of a grind.

Secondly, even though the temptation to upgrade weapons and equipment is strong (especially given the fact there are a selection of trophies awarded for fully upgrading various weapons), it's better for the interests of unlocking this trophy to hold back until you hit $5,000,000. You shouldn't need to upgrade your weapons at all, especially if you're going for Silent Assassin ratings, and spending money on upgrades will only take you further away from the milestone you need to achieve. It makes much more sense to accumulate $5,000,000 first, and then spend all of it at once on upgrading your weapons, and if you follow this method, things will be much easier.

It is also important to point out that higher difficulty levels will pay out more money, and there are other ways to additional bonuses within missions, including successful hits on extra targets, achieving a better overall mission rating and damage/noise control. You can also be deducted funds for certain actions, such as leaving customised weapons behind in levels, failing to retrieve you suit and causing too much mayhem, so there are a variety of things that can impact your overall payout too.

The "All Firearms Collected" trophy, awarded for collecting all firearms displayed in the hideout, holds exactly the same principles as before, with a series of guns to collect by carrying them out of levels successfully. 

However, where this previously would have been considered one of the tougher trophies in other titles, it is made much easier by the addition of ICA boxes. These boxes, which can be found in every level, allow you to place weapons inside of them, and finish missions without having to worry about extracting them and being caught in the process. Not only is this ideal for larger, non-concealable weapons, which are usually notoriously hard to smuggle out of levels, but you can store as many weapons as you want inside them, meaning you can bag up to 5 weapons in one swoop for your hideout when you extract from a level.

The ICA box negates the need to constantly go into levels extracting weapons one by one, especially in the case of non-concealable weapons, which can also blow your cover and fail the mission for you. It saves a tremendous amount of time, and is a much more efficient and hassle free way to collect all the firearms you need to unlock the trophy.

The other trophies in this list are mostly just progression based, or stackable on top of anything relating to Professional Mode, and there really isn't much you can't unlock by just playing through the game naturally.

Professional Mode isn't terribly difficult, despite the heightened AI intelligence in comparison to previous games, but achieving Silent Assassin ratings will require a pinch of extra skill and awareness, though the fact you only need to achieve 5 of them across the games 13 missions does quell the overall challenge somewhat. There are a number of things to watch out for when accumulating $5,000,000 dollars, but collecting all the firearms is made so much more easier by the addition of ICA boxes, it's only really worth mentioning at all because of how easier it is in comparison to collecting weapons in the previous 2 games.

On top of this, the game itself is relatively short, and even any additional clean up afterwards shouldn't take much longer, and a 20-25 hour completion time is a modest estimate.

Notable Trophies -

Professional mode complete - Completed Professional difficulty 
5 Professional Silent Assassins - 5 Silent Assassin ratings awarded on the Professional difficulty
High Roller - $5,000,000 have been accumulated
All firearms collected - All firearms collected and displayed in Hideout

Hardest Trophy -

Professional Mode Complete
Completed Professional Difficulty