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Perfect by proxy
Legend holds that some folks only chase achievements they consider to be a challenge - something that demands every bit of their grit, guile and determination. They do it not for the acclaim, but for the singular, experiential thrill that accompanies victory against the odds. Like a set of housebound adrenaline junkies, these gallant gamers crave only the rush, the satisfaction that comes with these brief moments of perfection, these little flashes of wonder that only games can provide. If you've been playing for long enough, you've almost certainly experienced a few.
The perfectly executed combo
No matter what kind of game you may be playing - whether rhythm based, hack n' slash or a straight up fighting title - racking up those killer combos can prove to be an incredibly enriching experience. That is unless of course your grey matter turns to poo-poo platter at the mere sight of a 'x2' accumulator. Sometimes it seems just knowing how close you truly are to perfection is all the excuse a brain needs to see that you never actually get there. A bit like stumbling face first into the Grand Canyon while out buying Half-life 3.
The perfectly executed blind run
No, not like that one Prodigy video where they tie blindfolds around people's eyes and watch them race around the city centre. This 'blind run' refers instead to the sensational act of acing a new level at the first time of asking. Yes indeedy, without the strange comfort of repeated failures and muscle memory to help guide you, besting an unseen level can be tricky business even at the best of times. Doing so at a more difficult stage is downright dazzling.
The perfectly executed moving headshot
If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that Mother Nature is an FPS fan. Why else would mankind's squishy off-switch be located atop our torsos, hidden within a hard to hit coconut shape, no less? When it comes to shooting titles, the headshot is almost always the ultimate target. For the chance of downing a foe in one, you risk hitting nothing at all - firing around wildly as the enemy blasts enough buckshot into your gut to down a sugar-crazed Steve Ballmer. It's a high-risk, high-reward proposition, one that becomes even more so when attempted at speed.
The perfectly executed drift turn
Drifting isn't exactly the Highway Code-approved means of taking corners, but damn it if it doesn't look sexy all the same. It's definitely better as a gaming activity though. Sure, skidding your whip into a motorway barrier, flipping out and burning alive - or at least spinning wide, as less flashy drivers giggle straight past - might sound like fun to some petrol-addled street racers, but where your average driver is concerned, sidling sideways is best left to us video game drivers.
The perfectly executed battle plan
Easily one of the most time-consuming entries on this list, the perfectly executed battle plan requires patience, professionalism and layered, long-term strategy. As such, it remains one of the rarest, most singularly satisfying of 'everyday' gaming achievements. Plumb the depths of any player's mind and they'll likely report dozens of moving headshots, inch-perfect drifts and perplexing puzzles pwned, but ask them about flawless tactical sweeps and there's a fair bet they'll have plenty less to say. To be clear, this slide mainly relates to the RPG and RTS genres, fields in which intense preparation remains just as important as proper execution.
The perfectly executed pass
There's a reason most sports teams put a premium on great passers. After all, as the old saying goes. "if you don't have the ball, you can't score a goal". Unless by way of cheating of course, or perhaps some sort of black magic ritual, but I digress. Firing home an overhead volley or snatching that game-winning leather egg out of the sky might well win you a stadium's worth of acclaim, but true connoisseurs know that without that initial pass, you're just a man flailing around in the air like a corpse trapped in the Unreal engine.
Perfectly measured resource management
When implemented correctly, resource management can become a fount of great fun, puzzlement and immersion, an extra layer of meta-game requiring constant forethought and strategy. Used poorly however, it becomes little more than a nagging chore, akin to sifting through evidence at a crime scene composed entirely out of spreadsheets. As a mainstay of the survival horror genre, inventory management plays a much larger role in their proceedings than in many other fields, including the almighty RPG. After all, having enough ammo to take down the big bad is far more pressing a concern than fitting one more useless paperweight into your knapsack. "Maybe just one more gargantuan dragon skull for the road?".
The perfectly executed puzzle solution
Puzzle titles were practically made for producing eureka moments, those awe-inspiring occasions when everything around you just seems to fall perfectly into place. It's almost as though a veil or perhaps some sort of drooping novelty hat has been lifted from your eyes, revealing a simple, yet infinitely elegant truth. Too bad most of us barely had the patience to read that last sentence, let alone work our way through some lengthy test of wits. Cue twenty minutes of fruitless trial and error, followed by a mandatory trip to Google. "Bah, what a putrid puzzle!" you cry, incensed at being unable to smoosh the square peg of your logic into the round hole of correctness - "Who is they to say I don't think good?".
