Unlike some of the more illustrious competitors such as SSX and Transworld, the first two Amped games were more along the lines of simulation titles. This resulted in a debate over the games' unforgiving difficulty. Did it require skill or was the game just being pedantic? This issue, coupled the developers realising that they need to make something that would standout, have created one bizarre beast.
Big Air
The opening cutscene set the tone for what was to come. It was a sequence in 8-bit NES graphics that had a white ball working through a maze, collecting the main characters as it went. Following this gratuitous exhibition of the power of the Xbox 360, we found that the rest of the game is not much different in terms of a bizarre style. Bizarre is probably not strong enough a word, because the style that has been pursed really is completely insane.
All the menus were done in something of a scrapbook style. They’ve tried to put a story into this game, though we didn’t see much of it during our playtime. We were told, that it would involve all sorts of crazy government conspiracies and evilness, all while your little group is just trying to just go out and snowboard. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of any screenshots showing this craziness.
The game starts with your character sporting a pink bunny suit and you’re just given the chance to go down the slopes and just take the mechanics for a spin. The purpose of the bunny suit is so that you can then create your character the way you want them. The customization isn’t too bad but it was a bit generic. After we had created our naked doughboy, we took him out for a slip down a few slopes.
The core gameplay appears to be relatively unchanged. You can select a drop point and tackle the corresponding slope. Along each slope, you’ve either got a story point or a challenge but these points seem to be highlighted in very colourful and fluorescent patterns and you will meet some caricatured Jesus character that will offer you the challenge. Challenges consist of jumping through hoops or performing certain actions. One challenge that was introduced in a cut-scene consisting of action figures, had three distinct parts to it – one where you hurtled down a luge slop, jumped and needed to knock down as many gnome cut-outs as possible.
As for the actual snowboarding, it seems that it has been made to be a bit more forgiving than previously. Whenever you landed on your side, the character would generally fix themselves and a lot of the moves could be pulled off with little effort. The scheme remains fairly similar, with A being the jump button and X, B and Y being various grabs while the sticks controlled your spins and other movements.
It wouldn't be boarding without grinding
The game very obviously benefited from being presented in full HD. It wasn’t really a quantum leap over its predecessors but with the HD, you could really see the difference in the details. However, there were still points of concern, with some textures and character models falling in a place that neither here nor there. Still, the game ran smoothly and it’s obvious that the processing power has gone a way to help with the stylistic presentation.
Amped 3 is a rather bold attempt a rejuvenating a series that could’ve gone either stale or just OK. The style that has been chosen is totally insane and may drive some people away. Still, the more forgiving mechanics and added variety, look to make it appeal to a wider audience. Will it work? We'll find out in our full review within the next couple of weeks.
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