Amped 2
Posted December 26, 2003
In the 2003 follow up to the smash hit Amped, Microsoft Game Studios has followed the Activision approach to the extreme sport genre – take what worked and tweak it to make it that much better.
Amped 2 is not a massive leap in game quality, but a minor jump up the ladder to make it that much better than the first version, with XSN Sports support being the most significant example of the tweaks, and minor ones such as the Butter move (similar to the manual in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series.)
Gameplay:
As mentioned, the gameplay hasn’t changed too drastically between this game and its predecessor. Thankfully, Microsoft did not take a cue from EA and its SSX line of snowboarding games, and make Amped 2 have an arcade feel. While arcade-style games are great in their own right, what was created with the Amped series was special, and took more skill to play than the more forgiving controls of SSX.
The controls are similar to the previous version with the left thumb stick controlling your character (which incidentally, you have to create before being allowed to participate in the game) and the right thumb stick mapped to the various grabs you can perform. Continuing with the simulation style of play, landing tricks are the trickiest part of the game. Your board must be positioned correctly to not only stick the landing, but also to earn more points. Stomping a landing will increase your point total much quicker than the sketchy landings.
One new mode to Amped 2 is the snowskate mode. Think of taking skateboard and removing the wheels and placing a Teflon ski underneath to the trucks, and you’ve got snowskate. This mode lends itself to a much faster style of play, but also you must remember that you aren’t latched into your bindings anymore and any flip you do must also include a grab to keep control of the board.
No real complaints here; even a newbie to the series can learn the ropes quickly with the nice tutorial mode which slowly introduces the various aspects of snowboarding, from aiming your board down the hill to performing back flips.
One of the highlights of the XSN tag for this game is the Pack feature. A Pack is like a clan of boarders who are all likeminded, and want to compete as a team. When you join a Pack your score and online play are graded and points are assigned to your Pack, so the more you play and the better your score, the higher ranking your Pack can attain. This is a nice way to build some online competition as well as camaraderie amongst gamers.
Graphics:
You know when you’re up on the mountain and you look around and can see far off in the distance, and then you pop in some of the older snowboarding games and are fogged in? Amped 2 changes the way you think about fog while up on the mountain. Each separate mountain level is wide open with gorgeous views all around with no fog to hide the lack of graphics.
Character models are finely detailed and movements are very fluid and lifelike. Some may remember being awed at the character graphics in the original version and rest assured, what you see here is better.
Audio:
Take every style of music you could possible want to listen to, and it’s probably here. With over 300 tracks, yes, 300 musical tracks ranging in style from hip-hop to electronica to punk, your bases are covered. And, even if by chance you don’t find anything you want to listen to, you can use your own custom soundtracks.
The background noise in the game is outstanding as well, and those with Surround Sound will benefit when trying to track down those pesky snowmen who made their return in this game. Characters you pass or run into while on the mountain all have voice acting which was done very well for this type of game. For once while playing a sports game I was not tempted to mute the audio and throw on my own music while playing.
Conclusion:
As mentioned before, Amped 2 builds on and improves the already great game that Amped was, making this a definite purchase. With over a dozen separate levels to visit in career mode each with up to a dozen tasks to complete, you will be fighting your way through the ranks for a long time to come, and that’s only the single player mode. The online play extends the life of Amped dramatically, and anyone with Live who would like a break from the racing and FPS games on Live should grab this game.
Amped 2 is not a massive leap in game quality, but a minor jump up the ladder to make it that much better than the first version, with XSN Sports support being the most significant example of the tweaks, and minor ones such as the Butter move (similar to the manual in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series.)
Gameplay:
As mentioned, the gameplay hasn’t changed too drastically between this game and its predecessor. Thankfully, Microsoft did not take a cue from EA and its SSX line of snowboarding games, and make Amped 2 have an arcade feel. While arcade-style games are great in their own right, what was created with the Amped series was special, and took more skill to play than the more forgiving controls of SSX.
The controls are similar to the previous version with the left thumb stick controlling your character (which incidentally, you have to create before being allowed to participate in the game) and the right thumb stick mapped to the various grabs you can perform. Continuing with the simulation style of play, landing tricks are the trickiest part of the game. Your board must be positioned correctly to not only stick the landing, but also to earn more points. Stomping a landing will increase your point total much quicker than the sketchy landings.
One new mode to Amped 2 is the snowskate mode. Think of taking skateboard and removing the wheels and placing a Teflon ski underneath to the trucks, and you’ve got snowskate. This mode lends itself to a much faster style of play, but also you must remember that you aren’t latched into your bindings anymore and any flip you do must also include a grab to keep control of the board.
No real complaints here; even a newbie to the series can learn the ropes quickly with the nice tutorial mode which slowly introduces the various aspects of snowboarding, from aiming your board down the hill to performing back flips.
One of the highlights of the XSN tag for this game is the Pack feature. A Pack is like a clan of boarders who are all likeminded, and want to compete as a team. When you join a Pack your score and online play are graded and points are assigned to your Pack, so the more you play and the better your score, the higher ranking your Pack can attain. This is a nice way to build some online competition as well as camaraderie amongst gamers.
Graphics:
You know when you’re up on the mountain and you look around and can see far off in the distance, and then you pop in some of the older snowboarding games and are fogged in? Amped 2 changes the way you think about fog while up on the mountain. Each separate mountain level is wide open with gorgeous views all around with no fog to hide the lack of graphics.
Character models are finely detailed and movements are very fluid and lifelike. Some may remember being awed at the character graphics in the original version and rest assured, what you see here is better.
Audio:
Take every style of music you could possible want to listen to, and it’s probably here. With over 300 tracks, yes, 300 musical tracks ranging in style from hip-hop to electronica to punk, your bases are covered. And, even if by chance you don’t find anything you want to listen to, you can use your own custom soundtracks.
The background noise in the game is outstanding as well, and those with Surround Sound will benefit when trying to track down those pesky snowmen who made their return in this game. Characters you pass or run into while on the mountain all have voice acting which was done very well for this type of game. For once while playing a sports game I was not tempted to mute the audio and throw on my own music while playing.
Conclusion:
As mentioned before, Amped 2 builds on and improves the already great game that Amped was, making this a definite purchase. With over a dozen separate levels to visit in career mode each with up to a dozen tasks to complete, you will be fighting your way through the ranks for a long time to come, and that’s only the single player mode. The online play extends the life of Amped dramatically, and anyone with Live who would like a break from the racing and FPS games on Live should grab this game.