DLC #32 - LA Noire - A Slip of the Tongue

Car Fraud Investigation time.

Another solid offering of LA Noire DLC.

This episode is very similar to the first in regards to trophy structure though.

There is one gold trophy on offer for simply finishing the case, and then 4 random secret ones for fulfilling specific actions with the chapter. 

I actually managed to miss every secret trophy so had to replay the case in full to nab the 100%, but still highly enjoyable nonetheless.

Not as interesting a case as the Naked City one, imo, but still worth your money, especially if you nabbed the Rockstar Pass.                                                                                                                                                  

DLC #31 - Red Dead Redemption Liars and Cheats

Liars and Cheats was probably my pick of the Red Dead Redemption DLC. The trophies were challenging, but not to the point of turning impossible (Like Kingpin from Undead Nightmare)        
      
If you liked the gambling aspect of RDR, you'll get alot out of this pack, including the new Grand Prix and Stronghold modes which both include trophies tied to them. Poker and Liars dice against humans will always be more challenging, and it was nice to see they attached trophies to those modes too in order to add a competitive edge to them.                                                                                          
The increased competitiveness does heighten the challenge of the trophies though, so watch out for the following inparticular;                                                               

Pa-Pa-Pa-Poker Ace - In a full Multiplayer game, beat the table when the blinds are at maximum
Triple Crown - Get first place in all races in any Grand Prix

Red Dead Poker is tough enough as it is, due to erratic play styles and quitters upsetting the balance of blind introduction throughout the game, but beating the table when blinds are at maximum essentially means you have to win a game that goes right down to the last play.

Being able to get that far is tricky enough, and you do still have to end up winning the game, which can come down to a coin toss as you're forced to play hands you wouldn't necessarily want to play but have to, due to the game being at the highest blind limit.

Another important thing to point out is that you have to win on a full table, which consists of 6 people. It doesn't matter if other players quit during the game, as long as the table started with 6, but you still have to beat 5 other players one way or another regardless. Definitely the toughest trophy in this DLC.

The "Triple Crown" trophy, is slightly easier, but you do still need to win all 3 races in a chariot Grand Prix. If you can get into an isolated lobby and race against 1 or 2 players, you obviously give yourself a better chance of unlocking it, but full lobbies increase the challenge by the tenfold, and it is tough to find only a few other people who are interested in sticking around to finish all 3 races, especially if you've already won the first 2, and thus cannot be beaten by anyone else, due to the points difference.

Most of the trophies are simple enough tasks, but these two heighten the challenge significantly and make the package a worthy 100% to achieve.

DLC #30 - LA Noire - The Naked City

Tackle a suspected drug overdose case.

An OK piece of DLC, even taking 2 plays to nab all the trophies only took around an hour and a half though.

Chances are you'll miss at least 1 of the hidden trophies too, so will have to go through it twice unless you want to look them up and spoil the episode for yourself.
                                              
You get 1 gold trophy for finishing the case, and the rest are hidden and just relate to consequential actions throughout the episode. Easy.

As a side note, I'd definitely consider nabbing the Rockstar Pass off the PSN store, it'll save you about 5 quid if you plan to get all the additional cases, and generally makes for a better deal on the package.

DLC #29 - Red Dead Redemption Outlaws to the End

Grab some partners, grab some trophies.

A free piece of DLC comes to Red Dead Redemption, in the form of Co-operative missions for up to 4 players to tackle, and a clutch of new trophies to achieve too!             
                   
The missions themselves are interesting enough, but I was slightly dissapointed there wasnt really anything fresh/different in the trophies, something that I think it's fair to say we usually expect from Rockstar and their ideas!

That being said though, they are easy enough to achieve. You'll need to Gold medal all missions on regular difficulty, Gold medal them again on advanced difficulty, and that's pretty much it really, it's a very clear cut piece of DLC.                                                                               
There are a couple of other trophies thrown in for a bit of variety, but it's still all mostly completion driven, and definitely means you'll be solely focused on just getting the missions finished to gold medal standard throughout the DLC.                                                                                        
The only real difference between regular and advanced difficulty is the fact you're forced into using free aim on advanced difficulty, so you'll definitely need to make sure that you have a well co-ordinated and skilled team with you if you want all the trophies, so providing you do get into a good group together, there isn't much that'll cause you a great deal of trouble here, though a few of the gold medal requirements will test your skills a bit.                                                                                                                                
Also, I feel it's important to note that the missions are a great source of levelling up, especially for those aiming to achieve rank 50 online and its a blast playing with a group of mates or a well co-ordinated team, which is highly recommended if you want to avoid frustrations.                      

Platinum #32 - God of War 3

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 7/10

Despite this being a medium-sized list in regards to quantity, with 36 trophies in total, there are a ton of progression based trophies, mostly awarded for killing the games numerous characters, and reaching the other odd key stages of note at various points in the story.

The progression trophies alone make up half of the whole list, and you can also grab a further 2 trophies for beating the game, which accumulates to alot on offer for just naturally playing through the game.                                                                
The majority of the true difficulty in this list comes from the "Unhuman" trophy, awarded for beating the game on Titan mode, which provides a tough and gritty challenge to complete.

Despite the game being easily beatable within 10-12 hours, there are some areas, particularly select boss fights that will require some patience and determination to get through, which also does clock extra time on the overall completion of the main game.

Theoretically, you do only need 1 playthrough to grab this Platinum, but it's best done over the course of 2 playthroughs for a few reasons.

Firstly, the games collectibles come in the form of chests that grant additional permanent boosts to health, magic and item upgrades, which you can carry into a Titan playthrough and make Kratos stronger and more powerful, which will significantly help with beating the game at it's hardest difficulty. It is also important to note that the aforementioned chests are missable, as are the Godly Possesions that relate to another trophy in this list, meaning if you miss just 1 at any point, you'll have to play through the entire game again and collect everything, just for the sake of previously missing a single chest, so the second playthrough is a nice insurance policy.

On the note of the collectibles, they come in 4 forms, along with a trophy for collecting all of each, including Gorgon Eyes, Minotaur Horns, Phoenix Feathers and the Godly Possessions. They're not exactly difficult to find, though some are actually invisible and require the power used through the acquisition of Helios' head to appear, so it can be easy to miss some of them if you're not aware. There is also a little bit of leeway, with a few surplus chests dotted around for the benefit of those who do miss some in a few locations, but they don't last for too long, so it's best to be safe and grab them as early as possible. 

The "Maxed Out" trophy, awarded for completely upgrading all weapons, requires a very high accumulation of orbs, and could take you two playthroughs to achieve. It is possible to do it in a single play, but you unlock more and more weapons as the game goes on, which gives you a shorter window of time to gather enough orbs in order to max out the weapons that are given to Kratos towards the end of the game.
                      
Away from the actual story mode, the "Up to the Challenge" trophy, awarded for beating the Challenge of Olympus, is also a tricky one. The challenge is essentially a series of arena based games where you fulfil certain requirements in order to complete them, and although there are only 7 of these to beat, some of them are seriously tough and add an extra hour or two to the lists completion time.

There are smatterings of a tough challenge to be had here, especially when trying to beat the game on Titan mode, and the collectibles can be a little bit tricky to keep on top of, but all in all, even with the recommended amount of 2 playthroughs, you can still achieve this Platinum well within 25 hours.

Notable Trophies -

Unhuman - Beat Titan Mode
Maxed Out! - Completely upgrade all weapons
Up to the Challenge - Beat the Challenge of Olympus

 Hardest Trophy -                                                                                                                                            

Unhuman
Beat Titan Mode

Platinum #31 - Colin McRae : DiRT 2

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 7/10

The Single Player experience is solely emphasised through the DiRT tour, and more specifically, the "Dedication" trophy, awarded for winning every event in the DiRT tour.
                                                         
There are 100 events in total to beat throughout the career mode, and managing a first place finish in all of them will require some top levels of skills, particularly later on towards the end of the career, but practically all the single player trophies are either progression based, or can be achieved along the way naturally.

Although it does depend on how difficult you find the events, you're probably looking at anywhere between 25-35 hours to win all of them, making this trophy the most consuming one in the game by some stretch.

Despite most of them being earned as you progress through the career, there are still a couple of tricky trophies in the process, including the "Full Set" trophy, awarded for driving every vehicle in the game. Although there is an in-game trophy tracker which will tally the vehicles you've used, it doesn't actually tell you which vehicles you've driven, meaning there is a possibility you could hit a wall wondering which vehicles you still need to complete a race in to fulfil the requirements of the trophy, so it's best to keep a physical note, rather than rely on the in-game tracker fully.

The Multi-Player, though nowhere near as time consuming, does still throw up a handful of challenging trophies.

The "Notorious" trophy, awarded for reaching online fame level 30, is just a simple matter of levelling up and accumulating experience points. You earn more fame for beating better players, so it's naturally easier to begin with, but does somewhat slow down later on as you build up experience and hit the higher levels, but it still should take no longer than 10 hours to hit the maximum rank.

The "Rush Hour" trophy, awarded for winning a Pro tour race against 7 other competitors, will prove challenging, since it requires you to beat a full lobby of racers. It does help that the trophy will still pop if players quit half way through the race, as long as the race begins with a full grid of 8 people, you'll unlock this trophy regardless of how many actually cross the line. It will still take some doing to win a race of 8 though. 

The "With Great Honour" trophy, awarded for achieving a cautious impact rating in Multiplayer races, requires you to finish enough races as cleanly as possible, which much harder said than done. It's best to hang back and just casually take a few hard losses, because of the fact most races will involve drivers who will be out to cause mayhem, which will effect your impact rating. Your rating is also very hard to redeem, especially if you reach the more destructive ranks, and given the fact you only need about 4/5 clean races in a row to achieve "cautious", it's worth getting this one done as soon as possible.

It's also worth mentioning the "Tourney" trophy, awarded for taking part in 4 tournaments, which can only be earned after 4 weeks at the very minimum. Each week, the publishers release a new tournament to compete in, and even though they aren't exactly difficult, there is no player influence on this trophy. You just have to make sure you beat the new tournament each week for any 4 given weeks, though it's definitely best advised to knock this off as quickly as possible, as it seems like one of those trophies where supported for the updates could be dropped at any time.

Overall, this Platinum carries a steady challenge. The Single Player portion of the list doesn't throw up many difficulties, and sole concentration on the "Dedication" trophy is all that's really required, given the fact you'll unlock every other trophy along the way, all within the 25-35 hour time-scale for full completion of the DiRT tour mode.

The Multi-Player portion has the more challenging trophies, but doesn't take anywhere near as long as the Single Player, and you can realistically expect to Platinum this game in around 50 hours.

Notable Trophies -

Dedication - Win Every event in the DiRT Tour
Full Set - Drive every vehicle in the game
Notorious - Reach Online Fame Level 30
Rush Hour - Win a Pro Tour race online against 7 competitors
With Great Honor - Achieve a 'Cautious' impact rating in Multiplayer races (Pro Tour or Jam Session)
Tourney - Take part in four tournaments.

Hardest Trophy -                                                                                                                                                  

Dedication
Win Every event in the DiRT Tour

DLC #28 - Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories : The Lost and Damned

Got Wood?

There's nothing too demanding on the trophy front in The Lost and Damned DLC.                           
The package is mostly containing of progression based trophies with a couple thrown in that relate to the side activities of gang wars and bike races.                     
                               
It clocks in in at around 9/10 hours to get all of them, broken down to around 8 hours for the story, and the rest for the other 2 trophies relating to the previously mentioned side activities.         
                  
Nothing too demanding at all, and a very welcome change of pace from the gargantuan task of achieving the GTA IV Platinum trophy.                                                                                                     
It's a kind mix of story driven trophies, whilst maintaining that Rockstar edge we all know and love in their trophy ideas. (See the "TLAD: Get Good Wood" trophy.)                                                      

DLC #27 - Borderlands Secret Armoury of General Knoxx

There's alot to like about this DLC, you get a generous package of missions, a big environment to explore and a difficult, but very rewarding trophy list.

You're looking at a solid 50-odd hour experience here, though that is pretty much all attributed to going through all the quests in the game in order to achieve the "Completionist" trophy. Everything else can be grabbed along the way, and some of the trophies even relate directly to some of the many missions within the add-on.

However, there are definitely two trophies of significant note in this DLC;

Completionist - Completed all Missions in Secret Armoury
Vincible - Killed Crawmerax the Invincible

Completing all the missions for the "Completionist" trophy is what you'll be working towards in this DLC. Given the fact you can obtain most of the other trophies through beating the multitude of quests on offer, it's best just to focus on this one from the get go, because, even though it is a fun journey, it does develop into a bit of a grind towards the end, simply through the amount of time you'll have to spend beating every single mission. 

It's important to note that, even though there are a small clutch of progression based trophies for the main story arc, you'll need to beat both these and all of the side missions. It can get a little bit overwhelming and difficult to keep track of, so you may want a checklist on hand (Believe me, the last thing you'd want to do is think you've beaten every mission, but have infact missed the odd one or two and have no idea which ones you're missing).

In regards to those few missions that carry their own trophy, beating Crawmerax is one of the toughest boss fights you'll ever endure. I'm still not entirely sure he can be legitimately defeated, but there are thankfully a few shortcuts that, even if a little bit hit and miss, are a complete godsend. Even though they still  don't exactly make it an easy fight, given how much health he has and the fact you need to target and destroy 5 specific spots before you can actually kill him, it at least makes it plausible to defeat him. I think there may be a slight chance with a very well co-ordinated team of 4, but it remains one of the toughest boss battles you can find in any game.

Aside from that, it's just a time consuming venture more than anything. It's unusual for a piece of DLC to add so much gameplay and longevity, but it makes for an incredibly rewarding achievement at the end.

DLC #26 - Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare

Red Dead gets zombies (and Bigfoot)

Undead Nightmare is a decent offering of DLC, despite the fact it's the 800th game to lean into the zombie angle.

There's a nice mix of trophies in the package, with a bunch of progression based trophies for completing the story (which is nowhere near the standard of the main game story) and a small handful of trophies relating to the Easter eggs within the DLC, which I won't give away, because they are actually some of the more interesting Easter eggs within any game I've personally played.

If you want to unlock every trophy though, it's a lengthy venture, clocking it at probably around 20 hours, but you have to make reservations for the "Kingpin" trophy, which definitely has an unrealistic requirement.                                                                                                                           
The ambient challenges produce those interesting easter eggs, nicely tied into the trophies too, and mostly just require scouring certain areas to find the said easter eggs.                                       
The undead overrun is a blast to play online and also grants the somewhat testing trophy of reaching Rank 15. You'll most definitely want a good team to take that challenge on, so the notion of teamwork is essential.
                                                                                                                  
The story is fairly mundane, but the missions are engaging and the side quests throw up some interesting species, as mentioned previously.                                                                                               
The "Kingpin" trophy might somewhat sour the experience a touch for trophy hunters, but that will depend on your methods of attaining it, but be warned, it might take a while. Undead Nightmare is a very satisfying and enjoyable piece of DLC though.

Platinum #30 - Red Dead Redemption

Platinum Difficulty Rating - 7/10                                                                                         
The Single Player portion of this list is mostly straight forward, due it's very progression based nature.                                
Although this includes a handful of trophies awarded at certain points in the main story, a large section of the list is catered towards tasks that are also required for the "Redeemed" trophy, for attaining 100% in the single player game completion statistic.

It's a typical Rockstar requirement, and going through the checklist is just long more than anything. A few of the more challenging aspects come from the Single Player ambient challenges and fulfilling the requirements in order to unlock the rare outfits, and in total, you're most likely looking at around a solid 30-50 hours to achieve 100%, so it's a typically hefty slog which will keep you occupied throughout the rest of the Single Player trophies, which will mostly be earned along the way as you complete individual aspects of the 100% checklist.

Aside those, you still need a collective total of 1750 kills using a variety of weapons, including rifles, pistols and cannons, but this can be done across all game modes, so it's probably best to work towards this online if you still don't have the relevant trophies from the single player venture. However, the "Mowing them Down" trophy, awarded for killing 500 enemies with a mounted weapon, is best done by just replaying missions that require use of a mounted cannon, rather than going online and just tediously trying to accumulate kills, which can be an extremely long process.

The "Spurred to Victory" trophy probably deserves a mention too, which requires you to complete 20 story missions without switching to a new horse at a hitching post. This means the horse can't die, be lost or changed at any point for 20 missions, and given the fact it may also be glitched could cause you go back for a second play-through, as I had to, so it's probably best to knock it off as quickly as possible but also ensuring you keep the horse safe at all times.

It is also important to note that there are only 57 main story missions, so breaking the streak enough times will ultimately cause the trophy to become missable, and you'll have no other choice than to restart the game and try again, which is quite a large inconvenience for just a solitary trophy. 

The "Unnatural Selection" trophy, awarded for killing one of every animal species in the whole game, requires you to kill all 27 types of creature in the game. Some are alot harder to find than others, and will make you search various areas for hours trying to find them, so a huge element of patience is definitely needed for this trophy.

There isn't much else worth noting, but there are some cleverly creative trophies, despite that fact the "Manifest Destiny" trophy, awarded for killing the last Buffalo in the Great Plains, felt like searching for a needle in a haystack at times.
                                                                       
The Multiplayer portion is where the game throws up some more difficult challenges, including "The Quick and Everyone Else" trophy, awarded for winning 3 public matches in a row, which does actually mean you need to be the best performing player in the lobby for 3 straight games, which is by no means easy. This trophy also relates to Free-For-All game modes, which means you don't have the luxury of just being able to hop into team games and hope you come out on the winning side, which means you'll need to plug your own work into this challenge, which is tough.

The "Go Team!" trophy, awarded for winning 4 team matches in a row, falls along similar lines. It's easier to win as a team than it is individually, but just make sure you've got a skilled team who are committed to winning, and this one should come sooner rather than later. It's also better to try and stick to the same lobby without backing out, otherwise you run the risk of being thrown into a game in process, where you're placed on a losing team, and thus, upsetting your streak.

The "Have Gun will Travel" trophy, awarded for completing all hideouts in a single public free roam session, will see that you need to put in about 3/4 hours of completely uninterrupted gameplay to achieve. This means you can't afford to leave the game or be disconnected from the online mode at any point, and since the trophy requirements need to be fulfilled in one session, you'll have to start all over again if this occurs at any point. It's hard enough having 4 hours spare, but even harder if you cannot complete them in a single session for whatever reason.
                                                     
Despite all of this, the main focus of the Multi-Player mode is the "How the West Was Won" trophy, awarded for reaching the top rank for Multi-Player experience. It isn't as gruelling of an experience as the "Wanted" trophy was in GTA4, mainly because the online experience is much more enjoyable and grief-free, but there's still a solid amount of dedication required in the very same way.

Trying to achieve alot of the DLC trophies simultaneously made ranking up much more enjoyable, thanks to extra variety the DLC bought to the game, and being able to capitalise on a 4x experience weekend allowed me to go from level 40 to 50 within around 3/4 hours, which cut hours off the regular completion time, and definitely helped nudge the rating down slightly from my initial impression of 8/10.
                                                                
Regardless, along with the 50-odd hour Single Player contribution, you're probably still pushing towards an 80-100 hour Platinum with everything taken into account, so there is definitely a slight grinding element too if you cannot take advantage of the increased experience events. Mix the time consuming nature with some genuinely challenging trophies, and this one has a tough layer to it.

Notable Trophies -

Redeemed - Attain 100% in the Single Player Game Completion stat
Spurred to Victory - Complete 20 Story missions without switching to a new horse at a hitching post
Unnatural Selection - Kill one of every animal species in the game in any game mode
The Quick and Everyone Else... - Be the top scoring player in any three consecutive FFA games in public matches
Go Team! - Be on the winning team for four consecutive victories in any team based game in public matches.
Have Gun Will Travel - Complete all Hideouts in a single public Free Roam session.
How the West Was Won - Reach the top rank for multiplayer experience.

Hardest Trophy -                  
                                                              

How the West Was Won
Reach the top rank for Multiplayer Experience