I have designed this guide to echo my experiences in playing through the game - first mostly for fun, and then going back for the collectibles and all 5 stars. This includes all DLCs as well. So, if you want to go for everything at once, look for the collectible and full 5 star case guide toward the end of my achievement guide.
Difficulty : 5/10 (just takes time)
Time to 1,200: 25-35 hours (depending on you driving vs partner driving)
Offline : 60
Online : n/a
Minimum Playthroughs: One (then you can replay individual cases, or free roam the whole city for each desk to get the other film reels, small cases, etc)
Missable achievements: Several story-related secret achievements, but if you have knowledge of them going in, you will likely get most, if not all, of them the first playthrough.
Special note: This game is a LOT of fun, so i suggest a first playthrough for fun to get to know the game, and then diving in to more easily attain achievements.
Video Achievement Guides, Made by Me
When applicable, I have in the descriptions of the videos time stamps for every case or collectible so you can more easily skip to an area you need.
Five Star Case Guides:
All three Traffic cases Achievements covered - One for the File, The Plot Thickens, The Straight Dope, Golden Boy, The Third Degree, The Up and Up, Stab-Rite, The Hunch, The Shadow, Paved with Good Intentions
Golden film reel locations - the numbers will correspond to how they are listed in my text guide
Numbers 1-10
Numbers 11-20
Numbers 21-30
Numbers 31-50
Main Game Achievement Guide: 32 Achievements for 1,000
I will do my best to order this guide the way i received the achievements to make it easiest to follow for order sake.
1)
Auto Enthusiast - 15 G - Drive 5 different vechicles.
This will be one of the first achievements you get. Each type of cop car counts as one, and then like in GTA, you can run up to any car (almost any) and hit Y and you'll say "police emergency, i need to use this car" or another line. It's kind of hard collecting cars going forward because so many of them look the same.
2)
Police Academy - 15 G - Complete all cases on the Patrol desk.
This is for clearing the first few cases, which, in essence, serve as the tutorial as they teach you the various methods of investigation. They don't give you ratings for these, so just follow your instincts and have fun. The last case of the patrol desk, just so you know, is Buyer Beware.
3)
A Cop on Every Corner - 15 G - Complete a street crime case.
Once you reach the traffic chase, you are able to receive calls while driving in a cop car, to respond to a smaller case. You will need to hit A to respond to the radio broadcast, which will add the little AOL person looking icon to the map. Go there and finish the case. Most of these involve shootouts, chases into shootouts or chases in general and none of them take more than a couple minutes.
4)
One For The File - 15 G - Find and inspect a clue as a detective.
The only key part of this is that you need to be up to the Traffic desk, because the first couple crimes you respond to you are a street cop and not a detective. So, once you are up to the traffic desk and you are at the railyard, inspect one of the key clues, like either of the items in the trunk of the car (ones that are added to your notebook) and the achievement will unlock.
5)
The Plot Thickens - 15 G - Solve an investigation puzzle.
Throughout the game, once in a while you will come across an item that you need to solve a simple puzzle to unlock the piece of evidence. The first you run into will be in the first traffic case, "The Driver's Seat." Outside of the missing man's home, search the heater, and you will have to put the pipe pieces back to see which one is missing. Solve it, and this will unlock. Another hard-to-miss one is in the homicide desk, one of the crime scenes has a small globe. You need to turn the top few pieces to match the bottom piece, which cannot be moved, to make a correct globe.
6)
The Hunch - 30 G - Use four intuition points in one interview to correctly respond to all questions.
Shortly after solving the pipe puzzle at the house in that traffic mission, you will interview the wife, Margaret Black. There are potentially 6 topics to ask about, and you should have leveled up enough at this point to have 4 intuition points. The key is to use an intuition point every time you select a topic in the notebook and hear their answer. Just pick "ask the community." But, if those don't help you enough, here are the answers just in case:
Topic - Slaughterhouse receipt - pick "Truth"
Topic - Stenzel glasses case - pick "Truth"
Topic - Location of Adrian black - pick "Truth"
Topic - Photograph signed "Nicole" - pick "Lie" and select the concealed message evidence
and if you need it, or missed an evidence piece to add one of the above topics, there are two other topics that you could ask:
Topic - Cavanagh's bar matchbook - pick "Truth"
Topic - Alibi for mrs. black - pick "Truth"
7)
The Straight Dope - 15 G - Prove a lie as a detective.
If you found the hidden message by examining the photo in the bedroom in the Black residence, and you select lie and use it as your proof, you will get this in that same interview. The next time you could get it is when you are interviewing Frank Morgan in the same traffic case.
Topic - link to abandoned vehicle - pick "Lie" and the evidence is the receipt for the pig
8)
The Third Degree - 30 G - Correctly branch every question in every interview in a single case.
This can be done in any case, but since we are mining the first traffic case, "The Driver's Seat," let's use that as our focus. It also has the fewest questions to ask amongst all early cases. Here are the correct ways to navigate every interview and what answers to pick.
The key here is to find all evidence before going into the interviews, so all possible lies can be exposed and each topic is available. As the game tells you, the music at a scene stops when you have all evidence there, so you know you are safe then. There could be other orders to ask the questions in, but this is what i did:
Nate Wilkey - interviewed at crime scene -
Topic - purpose at scene - "Truth"
Topic - knowledge of adrian black - "Truth"
Topic - bloodstained pipe found - "Truth"
Topic - contents of wallet - "Doubt"
Margaret Black - interviewed at Black residence -
Topic - Slaughterhouse receipt - "Truth"
Topic - Stenzel glasses case - "Truth"
Topic - Location of Adrian black - "Truth"
Topic - Photograph signed "Nicole" - "Lie" and select the concealed message evidence
Topic - Cavanagh's bar matchbook - "Truth"
Topic - Alibi for mrs. black - "Truth"
Frank Morgan - interviewed at Cavanagh's bar -
Topic - link to abandoned vehicle - "Lie" and select the receipt for the pig
Topic - location of Adrian Black - "Doubt"
9)
Golden Boy - 15 G - Finish a case finding every clue.
Sticking with the first traffic case, here is a list and where to find them:
Found at crime scene:
1 - Blood splashes - found by investigating car
2 - Receipt for pig - found in car trunk
3 - Glasses - found at Evidence marker A
4 - Wallet - found at Evidence marker A
5 - Bloody pipe - found at marker B
Found at Black residence:
6 - Train ticket - found in Adrian's bedroom
7 - Glasses case - found in Adrian's room, investigate case to see brand name
8 - Concealed message - found in Adrian's room, investigate to find message on back
9 - Cavanagh's matchbook - found in Adrian's room, examine further
10 - InstaHeat receipt - found on kitchen table
11 - InstaHeat flyer - also on kitchen table
12 - Water heater - added after finishing pipe puzzle outside house
Other:
13 - Swine blood - added from call from HQ while driving to frank morgan's apartment