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| | Difficulty: 4 | | Learning Curve: 4 | Published by:  GamersReports | | Date: 2006-09-27 |
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Written by DM
Imagine, if you will, a punk-rock themed snowboarding game, mixed with a bit of pop-culture, and throw in a pinch of nerdly-fantasy gaming. Then mix thoroughly with LSD. There you have Amped 3 in a nutshell. The game does not take it self too seriously, and it is, at the least, interesting to play.
The Amped games have always distinguished themselves from the other snowboarding games because, while having a bit of realism about them, they also are all very difficult. Amped 3 is no exception. The game puts you in control of your own created character. There are many options for customizing the look and feel of your rider, but do not expect the game to change beyond the looks. You will receive all the same tasks and voice responses from your four friends no matter which look you choose. None of the cosmetic choices you make will affect your riding ability either – if you are super fat or rail thin you will ride with the same skill (or without any skill).
As you progress through the game, you will learn new skills and tricks by meeting up with your friends and having them show you the processes by which you perform these tricks and skills. Now, this is where the game gets a bit trippy, for lack of a better word. The cutscenes you will be treated to as an intro to the various challenges are laid out in various crazy styles. One of the intros is illustrated with action figures and stop motion animation, another is told through a fictional sketch book of one of your friends. It is out there for sure, but entertaining.
As we said earlier, Amped 3 is similar to the previous Amped games, but this does not mean the game is identical. This Amped game is closer to the likes of SSX than any previous incarnation. You will be able to pull off indy grabs, reverse flips, and front corkscrews right off the bat. You also do not need to hit a button to railslide this time around, and while on the rail you can string together many moves to build up your score.
The graphics in the game are, well they are Amped graphics. As you have seen by the screenshots, the game itself really does not take a huge graphic leap from Amped 2 on the Xbox. The models and animations are the similar, some are even identical to the motions in Amped 2. The impressive thing about the graphics of this game on the Xbox360 is the draw distance. You can pretty much see as far ahead as you could ever want, assuming your TV is big enough. This certainly helps add to the illusion of realism. The frame rate also was pretty steady, even with many other AI skiers and boarders on screen, as well as moving chairlifts and animals. Once again, we have an Xbox360 game that, unless you know exactly what to look for, does not impress graphically.
The world in Amped 3 is huge. When we say huge, we mean huge. The maps could probably hold all of the routes in Amped 1 and 2 combined. This can sometimes be overwhelming, but thanks to an easy to use trail map, you can pretty much warp to any point on the map. If you cannot warp, the game will set a waypoint for you to a chairlift or tow rope that will put you on the right path to where you need to go. It makes navigating the game very easy. There are seven mountains in total, and they are all excessively large.
The controls in Amped are clunky. There is no two ways about it. If you are used to the fast moving, instant response controls from games like SSX, you will surely be disappointed here. For instance, there are special style moves that will require you to move the analog stick just slightly off center, and hold it for a few seconds before the style trick begins. We cannot stress how annoying this is while you are trying to navigate through the air and use the trigger to spin around. It is control choices like this that make the interface so awkward.
One of the things that we thought was a great addition is the ability to pull out a sled at any point in the game (once u have progressed past a certain point) and used it to whisk down the mountain on your belly. This is a great distraction from the main storyline, and if you just need to blow off some steam. They have also added a snowmobile mode for zipping around the mountain on a gas powered machine. This is fun as well, both of these features make for a nice distraction when you cannot pass that one section of the game and you want to smash your controller.
The sounds in Amped are done well, any of the ski resort mountain sounds you would expect are included in the game. The voice over are, well, they are certainly interesting. They are not done badly at all, but I have a hard time telling you they are done well. It is not so much that they are technically bad, but the vocal styles used for the various friends you board with throughout the game are just so far out there that you have a hard time believing anyone in their right mind would speak in such a manner. Then again, I am not a snowboarder in real life so I cannot say for sure that boarders indeed do or do not speak like this. I hope they don’t. Anyway, let’s get on to the mode by mode.
As soon as you start the game you will not be able to progress any further without creating a profile. This takes all of 30 seconds, and you can, of course, name your profile whatever you see fit. I called mine “a” for speed and ease of virtual typing. Once you have done this, it is on to the main menu, and all the game modes.
Hit the Slopes is where you can, um, hit the slopes. This is the main game mode of Amped 3 where you will compete in all the races and complete all the tests of skill that the game requires. We would like to take this opportunity to mention that the loading times in Amped 3 are long. Long like 30-40 seconds. They do give you some static screens to read in the meantime, but once you have read them once, you know them.
The Travel the New Mountain option is for switching locations. You will have, as we mentioned earlier, 7 mountains to choose from, all huge. When you do travel to another area, be prepared for some loading once again. Then again the mountains are so huge, once long load time before you being the game would be preferable to many small load times breaking up the game.
Rider Customization is where you can make your rider unique to you. You can pick body mods, clothing, gear, costumes, voice style, and the last category, awesomeness. The awesomeness category is a clever feature. As you progress thorough the game you will be able to fill an awesomeness meter, and once this is full, your character will display 2d highlight graphics around his or her model. You can set what these graphics look and act like here in the awesomeness customization section.
The My Stash main menu option is where you can view all of your game rewards so far as well as your overall stats.. The songs that are featured in the game, the stop motion cut scenes we mentioned earlier, the “bling” you have won (ski houses, trinkets, etc), and the stats you have accumulated so far are all viewable. The one thing we noticed about the stats is that they do not seem to be Xbox Live aware. Most of the Xbox360 games we have seen thus far have had, at the least, a leaderboard that was Xbox Live aware. No such item here.
The options choice on the main menu is pretty bare. You can set the audio options, enter cheat codes, and view the credits. All pretty rudimentary stuff. You can also toggle the game hints and media callouts. Both of these features add to the game so we suggest you leave them on.
Amped 3 is fun, for sure. The game will fit old Amped veterans just fine, after they get used to a few of the new features. For everyone else, the game could have been great, but the clunky controls, run of the mill visuals, and the exclusion of any Xbox Live play modes have made that impossible. If you are looking for a snowboard fix or just want a game to pass the time in your lonely single-player life, then Amped is for you. If you are looking for SSX or any sort of real live player competition, then pass this one by.
Review Source: GamersReports.com
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