Reviews

Posted by: jkdmedia

Amped is here at the launch of the 360 just like it was at the launch of the original Xbox. This time around, things have drastically changed. Microsoft no longer publishes or develops Amped due to a transaction that occurred last winter. Microsoft sold off their sports division to 2k Games and with it came the developer Indie Built. Indie Built originally created the first two Amped titles and have since then been working hard on the third under the watchful eye of 2k Games. Has enough changed to differentiate it from the first two games in the series? The evidence can be seen right from the opening cinematic of your career. Amped 3 is whacky and whole new experience for everyone, even the players who have played the first two. Amped 3 offers a whole lot but takes away several options offered from the early versions. So sit back and enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Indie Built has decided to go back to the drawing board with Amped’s inspiration. As soon as I began to play Amped 3, the first thought that popped into my head was Tony Hawk’s Underground series. Indie Built is trying to offer more of an ‘indie’ feel to it I guess you could say. The indie feel certainly is blasted across every load screen, cutscene and even in when you hit the slopes. With names for your friends like “Weinerboy,” I bet the main character would befriend anyone.

Amped 3 is now focused on the single-player perspective of the game. Included is a story mode that is fairly linear and allows you to create your own snowboarder. You’ll meet your snowboarder before you actually get to create him/her if that makes any sense. The game starts off with a cutscene on the ski lift. There are three people on the lift conversing with each other; one is a snow bunny named Hunter, another character named JDawg who is proclaimed to be a player and then there’s you, the man/woman in the pink bunny suit. That’s correct; you are in the bunny suit and are pressured into snowboarding the mountain with your friends. Little do you know that the last jump at the end of the mountain is actually a cliff and you are sent flying to your demise. Actually the game doesn’t end there, but instead begins after that crash course you just took.

You’ll be able to customize your boarder the way you want her or him to be. Beginning with the body modifications, you’ll have seven different heads and five different skin tones to choose from. Within the body mods section also includes being able to change the body type. With a slider bar for ‘He-Man,’ ‘Punky,’ ‘Chunky,’ and ‘Doughboy,' your rider should be different than anyone else’s rider. ‘He-Man’ is for your pectorals and upper chest. Moving the slider up will of course having you look like “He-Man.” The ‘Punky’ slider is all about the hips. Punky kids like their pants tight and most of them are skinny so this slider is all about making you as tiny in the hips as you can. ‘Chunky’ is more or less the overall weight of your rider and lastly the ‘Doughboy’ is for those riders that need that extra weight around the gut if you know what I mean. If that wasn’t enough, you can plaster tattoos all over your body and throw in some facial hair to make you look a little older. Words of advice though, don’t dress warm if you want to see those beautiful tattoos your character sports.

The customization doesn’t end there. After you have the perfect body, it’s time to play dress-up. Want a beanie or some sleek goggles? They are at your fingertips ready to accessorize the hip rider you’re creating. The tops and bottoms are both selectable and have a wide selection to choose from to make sure you are in with style. If you find that you don’t want your rider to get hypothermia, put some gloves on just in case. Moving away from the clothing and apparel customization, you are able to select the gear you want to outfit your rider with. The gear includes the board and bindings. Costumes are selectable too but only one (the pink bunny suit) is open off the bat. The last thing you will want to do is pick your dialogue style. The main character speaks quite a bit in the cut scenes and isn’t the silent hero found in RPGs. Only two dialogue styles are selectable so it isn’t much of a choice.

The storyline is that your crew is saving up their hard earned cash to head to Chile on vacation. There’s a minor set back though, the money is stolen and the main character is blamed for it. Your crew splits on you (JDawg, WeinerBoy, Hunter and Sebastian) to Chile anyways and you are left on the slopes to earn back the money. Instead of going to Chile with them, the main character takes off to Utah with Dandelion, a new-found friend after the cliff accident, to earn back the money. The trip to Utah not only takes a turn for the weird but it’s just mercurial. From one strange event to another, Amped 3 has a Twilight Zone feeling often.

What’s even weirder is that the cutscenes even add that flavor more so than actual storyline. The cutscenes style is often frantic with uncontrolled emotion. If you are expecting just in-game graphic cutscenes or CGI, you are in one for one long trippy ride. From stop-motion animation, homage to the 8-bit days of graphics, sock puppets and much more, the cutscenes are wild and unique. I have to admit that I was more entertained with the cutscenes that were anime style or had that comic book look rather then the actual cutscenes showing the in game graphics.

There are six different mountains that you can traverse on. Each one of them is gigantic and offers a lot of distance to cover. The mountains contain beautiful foliage with trees that breathe a fresh air of life. Scattered down each mountain are skiers, snowboarders and media-related professionals to act as if the mountains are popular and busy themselves. The media professionals will stay at some of the huge jumps and offer up challenges for you to complete and have your picture taken. One of the early challenges included doing a back flip. Regretfully though, all these people scattered across the mountains are just blimps in your radar that serve no purpose but to be standing figurines. You’ll fly through them without any bumps or bruises as if they were holograms.

The graphics in general are a step above the Xbox currently, but not by much. If enough work was put in, this could have easily been developed for the regular Xbox. Frame rates are all smooth, the bump mapping is all there, the HD difference is easy to see if you happen to have a HDTV, the art work is incredible, and the mountains are huge. What else is needed for the graphics to stand out? The camera is one thing that should be touched up a little. Often times I had it snag on the littlest thing that I collided with and waited for it to readjust itself so I can continue my journey down the mountain. The camera sways back and forth if you are sloppy with your controls and if you aren’t careful enough, you’ll be attempting to head back up the mountain.

In the audio department, they stepped it up a notch with delivering a superb soundtrack. Sure the two original Amped titles had a great soundtrack, but I feel Amped 3 is a step above both. A few of my favorite underground and indie bands are included in the soundtrack and help encouraged me to play more. Bands such as Anberlin, Emery, Waking Ashland, Underoath and MewithoutYou, are all on the soundtrack and show the time the developers put forth in Amped 3. A lot of the bands are unknown bands that don’t have any radio hits. It worked in the past and it for sure worked this time. It only increased the replay value of Amped 3 since it was easily to listen to the songs. Around ninety bands are represented on the soundtrack.

The soundtrack isn’t the only thing that stands out for the audio. Indie Built hired voice-actors for the cut scenes which help expand the storyline. The voice-actors all did an adequate job but could have used a less derived approach.

If you have noticed that I haven’t spoken about the gameplay yet, well it’s for a good reason. The snowboarding part of Amped 3 isn’t its strongest attribute. It has taken a less hardcore approach with simplifying the game. No longer is the difficulty ‘amped’ up and is easier to play for the casual gamers.  The trick system is stripped down and relates closer to the Tony Hawk games rather than the first two Amped games.

Holding down the A button will allow you to get closer to the ground to gain speed. If you hold down the A button until the peak of a jump and let go successfully at the right time, you’ll fly like a bird. If you aren’t successful, be ready to suffer with a small jump that doesn’t gain you enough air to pull off any big tricks. With the left analog stick you can control spins and flips. All your grabs are mapped to the X, Y and B buttons. Linking together tricks is the way to gain more points for your rider. Grinding has never been simpler as all I have had to do is land on the rail/tree and balance myself. No longer will you have to time your jump and press the button accordingly to the jump.

An added plus for the gameplay is the fact you now can ride a snowmobile down the mountain. The snowmobile is a relief factor that I found welcoming. When I was tired of the same old trick and same jumps, I alternated to the snowmobile to change it up. It isn’t exactly amazingly fast but serves its purpose. Even when on the snowmobile, tricks can be pulled off. The addition of the snowmobile isn’t a saving grace by any means. Indie Built has taken away the multiplayer aspects. ALL OF THEM! It’s disappointing since I will be the only one to enjoy Amped 3. The only Xbox Live option is to use the online leader boards. That’s basically it if you don’t count the few times during the single-player experience where it offers co-op.

Amped 3 has exceeded my first expectations. With negative press flowing in the direction of bad graphics and bland gameplay, Amped 3 is enjoyable for a set amount of time. In increments I forced myself to play since it felt tedious to play Amped 3. It shoved style down my throat and wanted me to give it respect at every given corner. Amped 3 is cool, but doesn’t contain poise to hold itself up after the first few hours. Just like the cutscenes, Amped 3 is a frenzy that could use ‘chill pills’ to make it a smoother game.

Gameplay: 7.0
Vast mountains to ride? Check. Tons of air for awe-inspiring tricks? Check. Snowmobiles? Check…err, wait, snowmobiles? Snowmobiles are a surprising addition that I didn’t expect. The trick system is simplified thus making the game easy to jump in and play.

Graphics: 6.0
While the art style is amazing, the overall graphics are a let down. The mountains are gigantic like I mentioned before but why does it feel like this could have been done easily on the regular Xbox?

Sound: 7.9
Soundtrack steps up to the plate and hits one out of the ball park. The voice acting is somewhat disappointing since a lot of the characters are high-pitched and still going through puberty.

Difficulty: Medium
By far it isn’t the easiest game to play. Compared to Amped 1 & 2, the third is tremendously scaled down in the difficulty.

Concept: 7.5
The extreme sports genre isn’t a highly innovative concept. Adding an interesting and wild storyline is moderately innovative for this genre. Tony Hawk has done it before so I am not awestruck with surprise.

Multiplayer: 2.5
The multiplayer is non-existent. Co-op is only available at certain times and only thing to do online is check the leader boards. Since there is somewhat of a multiplayer with co-op, I unfortunately have to add a score for it and it isn’t pretty at all.

Overall: 7.1
This isn’t a rental game but its far from being a bonafide $60 purchase. Hardcore snowboarding fans will find it too easy while casual gamers will hate the forced style. The style and cutscenes I found refreshening so that’s the only reason I kept myself playing Amped 3 as much as I did.