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Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding Review - Xbox

After a long session of Amped, I feel cold. I really do. If that isn't high praise of the sheer realism and intensity that this game provides, I don't know what is...

Launching alongside the Xbox console back on March 14th, Amped was a much-hyped flagship title. The developer promised unparalleled levels of graphical splendour, and freedom of movement not seen in other games in the genre. These were bold claims. Bolder still, was the comment that '...only on the Xbox were we able to achieve [these goals]!' No doubt, it was on a claim such as this that ultimately seduced gamers into purchasing Microsoft's creation. Were all of these claims fulfilled?

Yes. Mostly.

Gameplay:

There is and old saying (or Chinese proverb/biblical reference. Something.): "If it ain't broke, don't fix it...". Amped takes this expression, throws it to the ground, and stamps all over it. Gone are the pathetic motions of the snowboarders in 'Coolboarders'; Gone is the slow pace of '1080'; Gone is the linearity of most racing games. In fact, gone is the 'racing' all together. Amped has abandoned the restrictive time limit and constant flow of previous 'boarding' games in favour of a 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarder'-style environment. We're talking tricks here, and plenty of them-- around 1100 to be more precise. Plenty to master. As for courses, there are over ten of them, each containing a load of different 'tracks' and approaches. Some courses like Brighton are rider-friendly, with pre-existing ramps, rails, halfpipes and obstacles. These are designed for racking up trick combos and impressing your mates with crazy replays. Then there are the courses that weren't. Several runs span virtually an entire mountainside, and have next to no man-made objects in them. Just pure, virtual nature, with the limits of the course completely reliant on your own skills, and the descent that you choose to take. Each run (on a course like this) is completely unique-- if you see a bump in the ground, you can hit that sucker with all the speed you've got and send yourself into an entirely new section you didn't even know existed.

Amped will surprise you. This is a hallmark of a quality piece of gaming.

Controls:

Overall, surprisingly, if not impressively, good! As you increase your world ranking (which is the ultimate goal in the game), your stats improve, and so does your movement and ability as a snowboarder. The improvements are actually noticeable and have real relevance in the game. Jumps that were impossibly high up or out of reach towards the beginning of the game are easily reached by the end.

The controls are also nice and responsive, with tricks being performed the second you input the command, not a second after.

My only real complaint is that rail-slideing (or 'Jibbing') requires pixel-perfect precision in order to work. More often than not, I found myself missing the rail by microns and falling flat on my ... (continued next page)