Great Snowboarding Tricks

I first tried this game at an Xbox party and took to it like a fish to water. When my wife bought my Xbox for me for Christmas, I was happily surprised when it came packaged with my Xbox as a free game.

OVERVIEW

Amped is a "snowboarding simulator" based on tricks, combos and style. Single-player play is based on advancing your career by impressing sponsors, out-performing pros, and impressing the media. Multi-player (up to 4 players with as little as 1 controller because it's turn-based play) is based on out-performing and out-scoring your friends' tricks and combos.

The game is geared toward realism: the physics are very realistic and the graphics look great (everything from the powdered snow to the way the snow flips off of your board as you're spinning). The stunts and holds are comprised of tricks that are actually humanly possible, though not really all that probable to do in succession. The best part is that though it's somewhat a simulator, it's not lost it's flavor of being a GAME... while being very realistic from several perspectives, it maintains the "gamey" feel to it in that your body and your equipment are immune to damage; So when you fall head-first into the side of a mountain from 45 feet or higher, after griding a ski-lift cable for 300 yards, you immediately just get back up and start boardin' again. :)

This is not a racing, fighting, or anything other than a trick-competition simulation game (both single and multiplayer). It's not really designed to compete with games like SSX Tricky or Dark Summit.

The game has some wonderful features like instant replays with multiple camera controls, the ability to listen to custom music tracks at any time in the game, and fully customizable characters (everything from skills to clothing and equipment.)

CONTROL/MECHANICS

The controls are pretty straight-forward and responsive, once you have them down. I found them to be very intuitive, though many people I've played with found them very difficult to learn immediately. Basically, you hold your jump button down to crouch, then release it to spring your legs and jump. The thumbsticks controls spinning direction and board-holding. There's not much more to it than that, other than learning to keep your board STRAIGHT when you land and remember to not be holding the board when it touches the snow on re-entry. Grinding requires that you maintain your balance with the left and right triggers. Keeping your board straight is really the most difficult part to landing your tricks successfully. The game is pretty unforgiving about it (as are snowboards in real life).

The mechanics and physics, as I stated earlier, are superb. The player's form and movement reacts flawlessly to balance, weight shifts and free-falling.

The sound is also great. The sound of the wind, snow drifts, and various surfaces as you board over them is excellent. The bystanders will even react to your performance. If you're a bad player starting out, you may want to turn off the commentaries from the cameramen and bystanders... they're pretty ruthless if you're not up to par. They can say some pretty funny things though.

The game menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate back and forth. You'll find that the game has a multitude of options and features, but they're not at all overwhelming due to the well-implemented interface. Getting the game started is easy and quick... something that's crucial to a successful gaming experience.

SCORE

9.5/10