Amplitude
Posted July 27, 2003
Let me just get it out of the way at the beginning here. I have an incredible sense of beat. I can keep time like a champ. I know rhythm. I can't always spell it, but I know it. Having said that, let me just say that if you don't possess these types of skills, Amplitude will likely be a pretty hefty challenge. However, if you already can bob your head (in time) with those wonderful remixes every pop star seems to be releasing nowadays AND you have a solid mastery of the PS2 controller, than Amplitude should prove to be rather enjoyable for you and all your friends high on meth.
But seriously...
Amplitude is a pretty simple game in terms of it's storyline. Why is that, you ask? Because their is no storyline, that's why. The whole point of the game is to kick a beat, and keep it going. Granted, there are several different forums in which to do this (solo, on-line, multiplayer, remix creation, etc) but the bottom line is: see the beat, feel the beat, be the beat.
Gameplay:
The actual gameplay itself can be described fairly easily. The object of the game is keep the music going. You do this by hitting either the 3 main buttons (circle, square, triangle) or using the L1, R1, R2 buttons to punch beats. In other words, you see little disks coming at you on this hypnotic track, and as your radar covers over the disk, you punch the designated button. If you do it "in time" and the computer likes you, then it makes the sound described on that particular path. Think of it this way: it's like Duck Hunt with PS2 buttons instead of a gun.
I'll get into that more in a minute...
You have several options on how you want to play. The most popular would be the Solo option. This is where you simply compete against the songs (so to speak) in an attempt to unlock all the songs and rack up the most points. In the solo mode you also have the option of doing Remixes. Here you can take existing songs stored in the games memory, and lay down your own additional drum, guitar, bass, vocal, or scratching tracks. You also have the option of making up an entirely new song on your own. Beginners: Don't try this at home!!
If you actually have friends, you can play against one another in the Multiplayer mode. Allowing as many options as possible, this mode can be collaborative or competitive. You can have a "duel" where you lay down tracks and challenge your friend to match them. Or you can do a remix and you can work with your friends to lay down the next Moby hit.
The last option is to go Online and play against kids half your age who do nothing but make tracks all day long. Again with this option you can choose to write songs together, or challenge each other on your timing skills with a face to face duel. A cool feature here is that you can simply go online and download other remixes from people, and then go offline and use and abuse their music. Ahh, the Internet.
A rather meaningless aspect of the game is that you actually have a character/alter ego called a FreQ (pronounced 'freak'). This is a dancing character that does little more than...well...dance. In regular game mode the FreQ simply dances in the corner, but for Online play, the FreQ is more of a representation of you. As with most character based facades, you can mix and match bodies, arms, legs, heads, gear, etc. to make your freak look just like you. You unlock more FreQ appearances and gear as you conquer the levels of the game. Of course you must also name your FreQ, and love him, and pet him, and call him...anyway I'm getting ahead of myself.
Now back to the gameplay. I'll describe the Solo mode since that's what the bulk of the game is all about. Before you start you must select a difficulty level. Normally I wouldn't even talk about this step, but in this game it's fairly important. The first time I played it, I played on the "Normal" level. I made it through 80% of the game before dying once. I honestly thought I was gonna beat the game without dying. They have mellow, normal, brutal, and insane. Once you've played it a while and have the hang of it brutal presents a solid challenge. I toyed around with insane earlier today, and it's descriptor is amazingly accurate. As the handbook states, if you can beat all 25 levels on insane, then you need your head checked.
As I was describing earlier, the actual object of the game is to keep the beat moving. Each level starts with you flying down in a space-like setting towards a series of tracks that look like runways. You are flying down in your "beat blaster" and said blaster has three cannons on it. These cannons are used to shoot the disks that are on each track. Get it?...good. Again, you use the buttons I talked about earlier to shoot the disks either in the middle, the left, or the right. Each button corresponds to a place on the track. Now, each track has a note phrase (group of notes connected along a track) which has a phrase finder around it. You will swoop along the track for the length of the phrase finder. Once you successfully knock out all the notes in a phrase without messing up, that track will continue on for several measures uninterrupted.
As mentioned though, there are always 6 tracks going on in any one song. So once you blast out one track, you move over (via the cursor) to the next track. Moving from drums to synth to vocals to FX to bass or guitar needs to be done quickly, as the tracks seem to constantly be in need of some blasting. All the while the song of that level is playing, and if a track is forgotten about, the aspect of that song (for example vocals) will not be heard. So audio clues are important in this game. If you can't hear the singer singing, then you know to hop over to the vocal track. Of course, the fact that you can see the notes on that track is the main clue, but just to have more things going on in your head at the same time, you can use audio clues.
All along the way you are getting a score, and you can see how far along you are on the song. Neither of these things are particularly important. However, your Energy Meter is. If you consistently misfire on tracks your energy meter will dwindle down. If you ever run completely out of energy, you die. Luckily, you pass through a series of checkpoints along the way that will boost up your energy, but don't depend on these, as most songs only have 3 or 4 checkpoints. (Sidenote: In Insane mode there are no Energy Bonuses, which is just...well, insane) Also there to help you out are a series of power-ups. There are four main power-ups, but I only found 2 to be helpful. The Autoblaster is like a free pass, and it automatically turns on the track you are on, so you don't have to mess with all the buttons. The other helpful one is Slo Mo which does exactly what you would think, allowing you to get through some of the rougher tracks. Freestyler and Score Doubler are the other two, but I didn't find them particularly helpful.
When you beat a song you are shown your stats for the particular board. These are fairly meaningless short of bragging rights. As long as you move on in that arena, you're doing your job. There are 5 Arenas that you can play. Each one has 3 main songs, then a boss song. Each arena also houses a Bonus track that can only be unlocked when you beat the designated score for that arena's boss.
Graphics:
Not much can be said here about the graphics. They are visually stimulating, in a Windows Media Player "visualizations" kinda way. I mean seriously, the background and stage intros and outros look more like screen savers than anything else. Not to say that any of them are bad, they just have so little to do with the actual game itself.
Having said that, I did think they did exactly what they were meant to do. They provided an ever-changing backdrop during the bulk of the game, which complimented the music well. As for the other graphical aspects of the game, I found them on par with my standards. The FreQs were very boxy and pixelated, but that was not a problem. There just isn't any need to worry about the graphics in this game, as they were so clearly the second fiddle to the real focus...
Audio:
...The music.
There is no doubt in my mind that the music will ultimately be the selling point of this game. A quick glance at the back cover of the game shows two screen caps from actual gameplay and then 7 publicity shots of some of the bands included in the game. Also, instead of testimonials from respected gaming publications, they have 4 quotes from David Bowie, P.O.D., Papa Roach, and Blink-182 (all of whom have at least one song in the game). I'm not doubting the ability of these guys to judge the gameplay of a PS2 game, but I think it sends a clear message to potential purchasers of this title that they are getting a soundtrack more than anything else.
While we're on it, I should give a quick list of the artists you will hear on this selection. The wide ranging cast includes (but is not limited to): P.O.D., Quarashi, Garbage, DJ HMX, Weezer, David Bowie, Slipknot, Run DMC, Manchild, Game Boyz, Herbie Hancock, Cosmonaut Zero, Freezepop, The Baldwin Brothers, and much much more!! Again, only an idiot would suspect that the selling point of the game does NOT revolve around the participation of these artists. I would suspect 95% of them were just happy to slap their name on here for the residuals, but that's beside the point.
As far as other audio features go, I was fairly pleased. Thankfully the FreQs don't really talk, and the only voice you ever really hear (besides the singers' of the bands) is that of the narrator who tells you when you're energy is low, and when you have power-ups, etc. The blaster shots and other cacophonous sound effects actually added to the overall wall of sound created during gameplay. The balance between the music and all the sound effects was quite solid, and with all the audio involved in this game, you truly could get lost in the experience.
Conclusion:
(Hand shakes uneasily from side to side while shoulders raise). A hesitant C+. Again, I must mention that my absolute first time having this game in my PS2, I damn near beat the game on the Normal level...without dying! At that point, I was sure this game would get a thumbs up from me, if only because I'd taken it for a beating and dominated it like a teenage bully on a preschool playground. However, once I got into it, and started playing levels more suited for someone of my ability level I began to realize how utterly repetitive the game is. As mentioned, I'm a drummer so I actually enjoy keeping time and attempting to stay on beat with the tunes, but it did get a little old. Plus I found myself cursing out loud at the TV (as is common with most button-timing games where a fraction of a second is the difference between victory and defeat) when the game decided I'd missed a snare beat when I clearly was right on time.
Also, I found the remix option to be rather tedious and not very fulfilling. I like putting together music but I just think doing it in the manner available isn't quite as productive as I am accustomed to.
Don't get me wrong though, it is a game that has pretty good replay value. I could see myself bored one day and in need of a stimulating game and picking this one up. I also think that if you decide you like a good number of the bands listed on this games' soundtrack, then it may very well be worth the investment. Or, if you're just a big music production geek, then this would probably look nice on your shelf as well. For the rest of us though...proceed with caution.
But seriously...
Amplitude is a pretty simple game in terms of it's storyline. Why is that, you ask? Because their is no storyline, that's why. The whole point of the game is to kick a beat, and keep it going. Granted, there are several different forums in which to do this (solo, on-line, multiplayer, remix creation, etc) but the bottom line is: see the beat, feel the beat, be the beat.
Gameplay:
The actual gameplay itself can be described fairly easily. The object of the game is keep the music going. You do this by hitting either the 3 main buttons (circle, square, triangle) or using the L1, R1, R2 buttons to punch beats. In other words, you see little disks coming at you on this hypnotic track, and as your radar covers over the disk, you punch the designated button. If you do it "in time" and the computer likes you, then it makes the sound described on that particular path. Think of it this way: it's like Duck Hunt with PS2 buttons instead of a gun.
I'll get into that more in a minute...
You have several options on how you want to play. The most popular would be the Solo option. This is where you simply compete against the songs (so to speak) in an attempt to unlock all the songs and rack up the most points. In the solo mode you also have the option of doing Remixes. Here you can take existing songs stored in the games memory, and lay down your own additional drum, guitar, bass, vocal, or scratching tracks. You also have the option of making up an entirely new song on your own. Beginners: Don't try this at home!!
If you actually have friends, you can play against one another in the Multiplayer mode. Allowing as many options as possible, this mode can be collaborative or competitive. You can have a "duel" where you lay down tracks and challenge your friend to match them. Or you can do a remix and you can work with your friends to lay down the next Moby hit.
The last option is to go Online and play against kids half your age who do nothing but make tracks all day long. Again with this option you can choose to write songs together, or challenge each other on your timing skills with a face to face duel. A cool feature here is that you can simply go online and download other remixes from people, and then go offline and use and abuse their music. Ahh, the Internet.
A rather meaningless aspect of the game is that you actually have a character/alter ego called a FreQ (pronounced 'freak'). This is a dancing character that does little more than...well...dance. In regular game mode the FreQ simply dances in the corner, but for Online play, the FreQ is more of a representation of you. As with most character based facades, you can mix and match bodies, arms, legs, heads, gear, etc. to make your freak look just like you. You unlock more FreQ appearances and gear as you conquer the levels of the game. Of course you must also name your FreQ, and love him, and pet him, and call him...anyway I'm getting ahead of myself.
Now back to the gameplay. I'll describe the Solo mode since that's what the bulk of the game is all about. Before you start you must select a difficulty level. Normally I wouldn't even talk about this step, but in this game it's fairly important. The first time I played it, I played on the "Normal" level. I made it through 80% of the game before dying once. I honestly thought I was gonna beat the game without dying. They have mellow, normal, brutal, and insane. Once you've played it a while and have the hang of it brutal presents a solid challenge. I toyed around with insane earlier today, and it's descriptor is amazingly accurate. As the handbook states, if you can beat all 25 levels on insane, then you need your head checked.
As I was describing earlier, the actual object of the game is to keep the beat moving. Each level starts with you flying down in a space-like setting towards a series of tracks that look like runways. You are flying down in your "beat blaster" and said blaster has three cannons on it. These cannons are used to shoot the disks that are on each track. Get it?...good. Again, you use the buttons I talked about earlier to shoot the disks either in the middle, the left, or the right. Each button corresponds to a place on the track. Now, each track has a note phrase (group of notes connected along a track) which has a phrase finder around it. You will swoop along the track for the length of the phrase finder. Once you successfully knock out all the notes in a phrase without messing up, that track will continue on for several measures uninterrupted.
As mentioned though, there are always 6 tracks going on in any one song. So once you blast out one track, you move over (via the cursor) to the next track. Moving from drums to synth to vocals to FX to bass or guitar needs to be done quickly, as the tracks seem to constantly be in need of some blasting. All the while the song of that level is playing, and if a track is forgotten about, the aspect of that song (for example vocals) will not be heard. So audio clues are important in this game. If you can't hear the singer singing, then you know to hop over to the vocal track. Of course, the fact that you can see the notes on that track is the main clue, but just to have more things going on in your head at the same time, you can use audio clues.
All along the way you are getting a score, and you can see how far along you are on the song. Neither of these things are particularly important. However, your Energy Meter is. If you consistently misfire on tracks your energy meter will dwindle down. If you ever run completely out of energy, you die. Luckily, you pass through a series of checkpoints along the way that will boost up your energy, but don't depend on these, as most songs only have 3 or 4 checkpoints. (Sidenote: In Insane mode there are no Energy Bonuses, which is just...well, insane) Also there to help you out are a series of power-ups. There are four main power-ups, but I only found 2 to be helpful. The Autoblaster is like a free pass, and it automatically turns on the track you are on, so you don't have to mess with all the buttons. The other helpful one is Slo Mo which does exactly what you would think, allowing you to get through some of the rougher tracks. Freestyler and Score Doubler are the other two, but I didn't find them particularly helpful.
When you beat a song you are shown your stats for the particular board. These are fairly meaningless short of bragging rights. As long as you move on in that arena, you're doing your job. There are 5 Arenas that you can play. Each one has 3 main songs, then a boss song. Each arena also houses a Bonus track that can only be unlocked when you beat the designated score for that arena's boss.
Graphics:
Not much can be said here about the graphics. They are visually stimulating, in a Windows Media Player "visualizations" kinda way. I mean seriously, the background and stage intros and outros look more like screen savers than anything else. Not to say that any of them are bad, they just have so little to do with the actual game itself.
Having said that, I did think they did exactly what they were meant to do. They provided an ever-changing backdrop during the bulk of the game, which complimented the music well. As for the other graphical aspects of the game, I found them on par with my standards. The FreQs were very boxy and pixelated, but that was not a problem. There just isn't any need to worry about the graphics in this game, as they were so clearly the second fiddle to the real focus...
Audio:
...The music.
There is no doubt in my mind that the music will ultimately be the selling point of this game. A quick glance at the back cover of the game shows two screen caps from actual gameplay and then 7 publicity shots of some of the bands included in the game. Also, instead of testimonials from respected gaming publications, they have 4 quotes from David Bowie, P.O.D., Papa Roach, and Blink-182 (all of whom have at least one song in the game). I'm not doubting the ability of these guys to judge the gameplay of a PS2 game, but I think it sends a clear message to potential purchasers of this title that they are getting a soundtrack more than anything else.
While we're on it, I should give a quick list of the artists you will hear on this selection. The wide ranging cast includes (but is not limited to): P.O.D., Quarashi, Garbage, DJ HMX, Weezer, David Bowie, Slipknot, Run DMC, Manchild, Game Boyz, Herbie Hancock, Cosmonaut Zero, Freezepop, The Baldwin Brothers, and much much more!! Again, only an idiot would suspect that the selling point of the game does NOT revolve around the participation of these artists. I would suspect 95% of them were just happy to slap their name on here for the residuals, but that's beside the point.
As far as other audio features go, I was fairly pleased. Thankfully the FreQs don't really talk, and the only voice you ever really hear (besides the singers' of the bands) is that of the narrator who tells you when you're energy is low, and when you have power-ups, etc. The blaster shots and other cacophonous sound effects actually added to the overall wall of sound created during gameplay. The balance between the music and all the sound effects was quite solid, and with all the audio involved in this game, you truly could get lost in the experience.
Conclusion:
(Hand shakes uneasily from side to side while shoulders raise). A hesitant C+. Again, I must mention that my absolute first time having this game in my PS2, I damn near beat the game on the Normal level...without dying! At that point, I was sure this game would get a thumbs up from me, if only because I'd taken it for a beating and dominated it like a teenage bully on a preschool playground. However, once I got into it, and started playing levels more suited for someone of my ability level I began to realize how utterly repetitive the game is. As mentioned, I'm a drummer so I actually enjoy keeping time and attempting to stay on beat with the tunes, but it did get a little old. Plus I found myself cursing out loud at the TV (as is common with most button-timing games where a fraction of a second is the difference between victory and defeat) when the game decided I'd missed a snare beat when I clearly was right on time.
Also, I found the remix option to be rather tedious and not very fulfilling. I like putting together music but I just think doing it in the manner available isn't quite as productive as I am accustomed to.
Don't get me wrong though, it is a game that has pretty good replay value. I could see myself bored one day and in need of a stimulating game and picking this one up. I also think that if you decide you like a good number of the bands listed on this games' soundtrack, then it may very well be worth the investment. Or, if you're just a big music production geek, then this would probably look nice on your shelf as well. For the rest of us though...proceed with caution.