Amped
is a snowboarding simulator which loses one vital aspect that I enjoyed in
its closest rival,
SSX Tricky, namely
the competitive race mode. This is akin to Quake 3 being equally irritating
because there's no single-player mode to work my way through. That's what was
best about those games and since Quake 2 had online gaming options on
the PC, it seemed like sheer laziness not to include it in the sequel.
Hence, since it's possible to practice away to your heart's content in the
SSX series, when it comes to Amped that's all there is to do as you
meander down one course after another, testing out as many tricks as you can
from the 1000 available along over 1500 jumps and rails. The better you do,
the more you can progress.
Music-wise, the game contains 150 indie music tracks, but of course, if you
wish to add your own it's easy to do so given the Xbox's ability to let you
rip CD tracks to the console's hard drive for the purpose of using them
within the game itself.
It's a realistic and life-like saunter down the piste, but the only bad side
to it is that one piece of the hill looks a lot like another, save for different
humps and bumps, so a bit of variety wouldn't go amiss. I never got bored with
the tracks in
SSX Tricky, for example.
You'll also be glad of the chance to put your own music into the game since
the tracks supplied sound a bit on the flat side by comparison and the SFX
aren't much to get excited about. Again, I know I'm comparing, but in an
SSX Tricky race with
the music, the booming voice and fireworks, it actually managed to create some
kind of atmosphere - something severely lacking here.
The gameplay is much the same, with the addition that you have to hold down
the "B" button to guide yourself along a rail or the edge of something, rather
than just landing on it. On the downside, when you inevitably do crash it
takes a while to get going again.
For those who must play Amped, I'd recommend you try before you buy.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
It's a realistic and life-like saunter down the piste, but the only bad side
to it is that one piece of the hill looks a lot like another, save for different
humps and bumps, so a bit of variety wouldn't go amiss. I never got bored with
the tracks in
The gameplay is much the same, with the addition that you have to hold down
the "B" button to guide yourself along a rail or the edge of something, rather
than just landing on it. On the downside, when you inevitably do crash it
takes a while to get going again.
