Goatmoose

Doritos has yet another Xbox Live Arcade title available, called “Harm’s Way,” and thus another opportunity to quickly inflate your gamerscore. This is quite possibly the easiest of all three Doritos games when it comes to nabbing achievements quickly. Last year’s Dash of Destruction made scoring 200 simple. Then, a few months back, Crash Course came out and offered players an actual challenge and a surprisingly addictive little title where you actually had to put in some work for your 200 points. Now with Harm’s Way, we’re back to extreme simplicity. The game is fun, at least for a short while, and will allow you to accumulate all 200 of its offered achievement points in 15 minutes or less. And like all Doritos games, it is free.

Seriously. 15 minutes or less.

The game is essentially a racer and a shooter, depending on which side you play. You have the ability to either take control of the cars going around the track, or as a series of gun turrets positioned along the sides that attempt to shoot the cars as they race. Most of the game’s achievements rely on you being a turret, but you’ll need to do both to complete them all. There are also two that are “multiplayer” achievements, but you’re able to get them locally without actually going on Xbox Live, or without even having any other people in your game.

Turret Downgrade – 10 pts – Activate a turret downgrade powerup
One of the multiplayer achievements. Just start a “multiplayer” game by yourself with bots, play as a race car, and run over one of the many, almost unavoidable turret downgrade icons on the track. Done.

Turret takeover – 10 pts – Shoot and takeover an enemy turret
Another multiplayer achievement. Simply start a multiplayer game with bots, play as a turret, and find a turret that allows you to see another turret. Give it a few shots and then push A when prompted. Done.

Affiliation – 10 pts – Join a multiplayer game for the first time
You don’t even have to play, you just have to get to the lobby screen for a multiplayer game and back right out. All it needs you to do is connect to one for a second.

Justin Carpenter Achievement – 10 pts – Just look at credits
The achievement says it all. Open the credits for 1 second and it’ll pop.

First Blood 20 pts – Wreck an opponent as a shooter
As a turret, fully destroy a car. It’ll take a handful of shots and kaboom.

Entertainer – 10 pts – Host a multiplayer game for the first time
Just like Affiliation, you don’t actually have to play. Start a hosted game and as soon as the lobby windows pop up, you’ll get it.

Missile-Fest – 10 pts – Get the missile launcher for the first time
Turret upgrades are achieved by shooting the turret upgrade icons along the track. The missile launcher is the 4th weapon for the turret, so you’ll have to upgrade 3 times. Just jump between turrets and shoot three of them, press X to switch to your missile launcher, and that’s that.

Mine-Fest – 10 pts – Deploy mines for the first time
Same story as above, but for the mines.

Flat Tire – 20 pts – Hit the tires of a driver
Another turret-based achievement. Simply shoot the tires of a car. You’ll most likely do this accidentally within your first handful of shots.

Get Wrecked – 10 pts – Wreck your vehicle
When playing as a car, do whatever you need to do to destroy your car. This will pop when you explode.

First Win – 30 pts – Win a game in Single Player
Self-explanatory.

One shot kill – 30 pts – Hit the windshield of a driver
Given the nature of this achievement and the amount of points it yields, you’d think it would be hard. It’s not. Just use the turret’s first gun, find a nice bit of track where the cars are coming straight in line with you, and fire at the middle of them. I hit the windshield about 75% of the time doing this without really even trying.

So that’s all you need to do. All the above can be done in under 15 minutes. You’ll likely get half of them in your first game. Harm’s Way really isn’t too bad a title for what it’s worth – and for free, who can complain? Give it a shot!