Amplitude

"A give - n - take sequel"

Amplitude is a musical trip through the melody of popular songs. If you played Frequency -- it's lesser-known prequel -- you know what I'm talking about. If not, let me explain. In this game (and Frequency), the object is to play the music notes that appear on the line in front of. Thankfully, you don't have to know how to read music, though...the notes are just displayed on a track in front of you as 'left, middle, and right'. Hit the corresponding buttons on your controller as your 'vehicle' passes over the notes, and you'll play them. You can only play one instrument at a time, so once you finish an intrument (i.e drums, guitar, synth....), you can move on and play a different intestrument. Powerups litter the playfield as well and to collect them, you must play the music that they sit on perfectly. These powerups do everything from doubling your score of captured music to slowing down the tempo of the music to even adding a freestyle function so that you may scratch/axe some of your own rhythm in.

Video/visual = 8
Not bad at all. Around the sides of the arena where you play the music, little video clips play from the appropriate songs. Like, for POD vs Crystal Method - Boom, you'll notice little clips of POD members doing routine steps while screaming out their lyrics. It's not much, but it adds to the effect. Plus, there's usually an adequate amount of psychedelic effects in the background to keep one foaming at the mouth for hours....here's a helpful hint - don't look at the background while playing!

Sound/Music = 10
It's a music game, so they made sure to do this right. Plus, it's made by the company that made the famous music mixing software 'The Axe', so how can they go wrong? All the music sounds crisp, just like off a CD itself, and even the Slo-Mo power-up makes the music sound correct at a slower tempo. Even when you miss a note, a little beep sound is made, which tells you that you made a mistake in the song -- and here's the great thing about it...it doesn't annoy you! It's quick, and to the point. The only complaint that I would have is that some of the music doesn't fit my taste (like Garbage - Cherry Lips), but that's just an opinion...nothing to throw into the score there.

Control - 10
Right on key. Each button is quick and precise. You hit the button you assign for the left note, the left note will go off. Easy. There's no one to blame in this game but yourself....or the musicians for being crazy enough to put together music like this.

Difficulty - 9
Not the hardest game in the world, but if you don't have any rhythm, one of two things will happen. 1 - You'll learn rhythm over time, or 2 - You'll never win. This game is all about rhythm and keeping with the music. Play without audio, and you're sunk. Some of the songs, like Blink 182 - The Rock Show, have over 190 BPMs on them, meaning that the song is VERY fast....which means that switching between instruments gets even trickier, if you're trying to build your score up. And of course, this game is about getting a high score in the end.

Replay Value - 8
Once you beat all the songs on all the difficulty levels, theres not much more to do....well, except GO ONLINE!! Go online with it (for free!) and challenge up to three other players in a song of your choice. Lots of fun! Or, remix a song of your own using the 'Remix Mode'. Or, grab some friends nearby and play multiplayer mode on one TV....and either play a few rounds or work as a team to remix a creation that all of you can call your own! So, there's a lot of replay here, but the catch is that you GOTTA love music. It can't be just a game to you at this point....it's gotta be a passion.

Overall - 8
The game is great period. It's missing ONE thing from Frequency that would've made it a 9, and that's the fact that in the prequel, the playing field was a tube made up of the instruments. This one is just a field. The difference? When you try to go from the left side of the field to the right, it takes valuable time that you usually don't have in-between beats. But in Frequency, you could just go around to the other side of the tube, making it quick and easy. Most instruments were easily in reach because of this. Hopefully next time, they'll remember that.....I believe they put the Slo-Mo powerup in there for this reason, but it's just not enough compared to the simplicity of the 'tube'.

So, if you like fast music, like the style of a good remix, and really love flexin' your reflexes, check this title out, as it's just too hot to miss otherwise! See ya online!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/03, Updated 03/29/03