Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding

"If you REALLY wanna hit the slopes."

I'll be honest. My only experience with snowboarding games, prior to Amped, was limited. The ONLY snowboarding title that I can even remember playing prior to it was 1080 Snowboarding for the Nintendo 64. Needless to say, the focus in 1080 was not the same as in Amped. 1080 definitely focused on the slalom/racing portion whilst the half-pipe was far from ''freestyle.'' Having never enjoyed arcade games, the SSX series never greatly appealed to my tastes, so when Amped came out I finally saw the chance to spring on a snowboarding sim. Now, even with its sequel out, I'd say this game is the most true-to-life (realistic) snowboarding game on the market.

Noteworthy Features:

-X- Several real mountains: Snow Summit (Big Bear), Nixon Jibfest, Brighton, Gunny's Gulch, Stratton, Altibahn, SlopeStyle.
-X-Over 50 licensed snowboards from such vendors as Burton, K2, Ride, Forum, Volcom etc.
-X-Licensed bindings, boots, and clothing from same manufacturers
-X-127 different challenges to complete, from high (trick) score, media (cameraman) score, explore, and pro competitions (board-off with one of several real pros).
-X-EXTENSIVE and INSANELY DIFFICULT career mode.
-X-150 indie music tracks spanning several different genres and customizable soundtracks seemlessly included.
-X-Multiple multiplayer games.
-X-Savable replays

-----:GAMEPLAY
(35 points)
Amped uses a VERY wide-open style of gameplay that will put the entire controller to good use. Any familiarity with the Tony Hawk series will both hamper and help your instincts in Amped. It will help since Amped uses the same basic style of jump and grab as Tony Hawk, however, you're doomed to speed up and jump when slowing to make a cut may be what the doctor ordered. Learning to curb the ''hold a to speed up'' habit (in Amped, all you need is to hold the left thumbstick forward for your rider to lean forward and pick up speed) will benefit you greatly. You can use the face buttons X and Y to do tricks when you do finally get some air, or you can use the right thumbstick and essentially point in the direction of the spot on the board you wish to grab. B is your grid/jib button for rails and lips. Left and right Triggers ''tweak'' the board for more advanced grabs. The black button changes the view (keeping it up close to your boarder will really give you a respect for the depth of the graphics in Amped - and you'll get the smoothest, most realistic feel) and the white button changes the song. Very nice when doing a difficult challenge and you need a good song to pump you up. Just keep hitting that white button until yours comes out. Never have to pause the game and search. Nice.

But its not the controls or the graphics or the soundtracks that make this game. Its the way the game plays. You're dropped somewhere on one of the real-life mountains you've picked and its up to you how you want to ride down the mountain. Trees in the way? Slalom through if you know there's a good set of jumps on the other side. Its all up to you. Only extremes to either side of the mountain are out of bounds. Everything else is on-limits. Ski lifts, though tricky, are grindable if reachable and so is pretty much anything you can jump on top of (just like real snowboarding...hmm). And finding some of these higher grinds can be most advantageous...

Amped is all about the big trick. Finding that right combination that will string together enough tricks and give you enough air time to pull off something ridiculous. Some branches of trees stick up out of the ground allowing you to do advanced grinds and then jumping off and pulling off huge spins or flips.

But the career mode is where you must learn to hone every single skill and ability Amped has to offer. Pro challenges (one-on-one boarding - you must score higher than the pro following him/her) force you to link some jumps and grinds and sponsor challenges, the ultimate fun, require you to impress sponsors by doing certain types of tricks. In your quest to impress, you will come across sponsors that like all sorts of different tricks and you will have to cater your style to each of them to earn their sponsorship. Very cool for unlocking clothes, boards, boots, bindings, and little scrapbook stories.

The grim truth to this game is that you will only do bad at your own hands. The game has a few minor glitches (and some things that aren't glitches, but people seem to expect to work to their favor regardless) that will cause a low level of frustration. But the real frustration comes from a simple lack of ability to perform. The later pro challenges are incredibly difficult but your hours of repeating them will be compounded only by your own frustration. The game makes you land each and every trick correctly. Land slightly askew and, like Tony Hawk, it will deduct points for a sloppy landing.

(34/35 points)

-----:GRAPHICS
(30 points)
What does this game do wrong? In the long time I've spent playing this game (well over two years now), I've never run into slowdown. The game is crystal clear, 100% draw distance, and smooth as butter. 60 FPS in a snowboarding game should be a standard - in which case Amped fulfills. The boarder has little details, including creases in his pants and a swinging pocket. Yeah, it swings according to the direction your taking and not totally independent as most games tend to simulate such an effect separately. When you shred hard, you kick up powdery snow. When you grind on trees, you see the little details in the bark and when you skid across a frozen pond, and your shadow is completely and totally relative to the position of the sun. What does it do wrong? While the draw distance is very far, there's a ton of clip in those trees way off in the distance. Yeah. I'd take off a half point, but that wouldn't be right.

(29/30 points)

-----:REPLAYABILITY
(20 points)
What can I say? Personally, its a game I can enjoy forever. Of the 126 challenges, I've completed 117 of them. Currently ranked #10 according to its career system...which means I have 9 challenges left. The multiplayer is great fun and during snow season if you can't get up the mountain, this game simulates it better than any. With the career mode as deep and challenging as it is, this game has an infinite amount of replay time. Try getting number one without cheating (you can't save even if you do), I dare you. I'll deduct one point for frustration. I've said some pretty heinous things about Travis Parker's mother.
(19/20 points)

-----:SOUND
(15 points)
Excellent. You'll hear the annoying snowmen with a suspicious and annoying Mexican accent calling at you and if you even have stereo sound, you'll know where he's at relative to your position or at least have a pretty good idea. You'll also hear random people praise you for big jumps, tell you to push it harder for smaller jumps, and make fun of you for crashing. Cameramen will also call you over to try and take a jump, encouraging media points.

Oh yeah, then there's the huge indie soundtrack, customizable soundtracks, and the sounds of board on snow. That wonderful, crisp noise of cutting hard into soft powder is mimicked flawlessly. You'll also get noticeably different sounds when gliding across ice (with varying degrees depending on how sharp your board is banked) and grind rails, even though the grind rails tend to sound a little fake. Yeah, the grind rails sound synthesized, I said it.
(13/15 points)

TOTAL SCORE = 95/100
MATHEMATICALLY CHALLENGED TOTAL = 95%
NUMERICALLY CHALLENGED TOTAL = 9.5
COMPLETE MORON TOTAL = A
GAMEFAQS TOTAL (rounded) = 10

Amped is the definitive realistic snowboarding experience, complete with actual sponsors, mountains, and snowboarders. Combining stunning graphics, wide-open style of play, a deep and challenging campaign mode, and a myriad of ways to play the game, it has definitely earned its place in games I'd consider for my personal Hall of Fame. Even if you don't like snowboarding (I didn't when I first picked this game up), you'll enjoy Amped. And if you enjoy Amped, I imagine you'll enjoy boarding. Hit the slopes.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/04