Imagination Meets Xtreme Sports - but is it love at first site or an awkward blind date? by StewXX

November 19, 2005 - In what can only be considered a semi-serious departure from the previous games, Amped 3 might disappoint those who were hoping for a continuation of the series proper. Snowboarding is buried in here somewhere but it's sandwiched between Mountain Dew 'tude', insane fratboy party visuals and some gameplay completely unrelated to snowboarding. Fans will be quick to lash out at Indie Built for what they might consider a dismantling of what is really the only realistic snowboard game available these days, but most of the development team at Indie Built worked on previous Amped games, which means they should know better than to screw with what works.

For starters, Amped was known for it's innovative use of the analog sticks for it's trick system. This has been removed in favor of a more conventional face button (ala Tony Hawk) configuration which might have Amped purists up in arms. I can only assume the change was implemented to make Amped's gameplay more accessible to the average gamer. I know that personally it took me hours to get the hang of the original Amped when I first played it years ago. The only thing that kept me coming back was the addictiveness of it all and eventually I mastered the controls. The new control isn't bad, but it is completely new and will throw those familiar with Amped 1 & 2 for quite a bit of a loop. Next is the removal of the online multiplayer. I'm not sure why this was removed and I am definitely mourning its absense. If it couldn't have been implemented at this juncture the game should have been put on hold until such time as online was ready. Was having Amped 3 ready at launch that much of a dealbreaker?

"If you give the new controls half a chance you'll realize there is some depth here..."

If you want to shred freestyle (sandbox) everywhere that Amped 3 features - Snowbird, Northstar, Valle Nevado to name a couple, but still no Whistler Vaughn (Vaughn lives about an hour away from Whistler....lucky %$#@!) you'll have to play Story Mode. Story Mode is filled with classic objectives that you'll remember from previous games in the series and you'll also have to complete some interesting new ones. Once you complete the Story mode you will gain a trail map that indicates all of the lifts and runs on a particular mountain. There are lots of real-world resorts and slopes in addition to real-world gear and real-world snowboarders such as Gigi Ruef and Marc Frank Montoya. Impressing those around you has always been a consistent theme in Amped and while the third game is no different it does manage to take it to the Xtreme. Continue to impress those around the slopes and your "awesomeness" will start to show. Literally. Personally I thought it was so ****ed up that I kinda dug the bizarre trails of dimentia eminating from my boarder, but if you don't share my insane tastes, the Awesomeness effect can be turned off.

If you give the new controls half a chance (sorry guys, we checked and there is no "classic" control config) you'll realize there is some depth here, but it will be a shock to the system nevertheless. Using the buttons for easy grabs only requires one button, but attempting to execute harder tricks will have you mastering a slew of button combos, not unlike those you'd find in a fighting game like Tekken. The availability to chain combos together with the butter and carving moves adds a lot of strategy for those who want to bust all of the insane trick scores. The tweaking of the Left Analog stick has been retained from previous games and getting air isn't a problem thanks to the generous amount of moguls and other natural and manmade obstacles that will provide you with necessary height.

I just know that Cole would be freaking on this game due to its cultural pandering to the young 'dudes' that rule these resort roosts. If Cole were a character in this game he would be the guy hiding in the bush with a submachine gun attempting to erase every attitude-infested adolescent off the face of the Earth. To tell you the truth, I can't blame him this time around. The characters in Amped 3 are among the most annoying I've ever encountered in any game. These "dudes" are full of "tude" and if I was a teenager I would certainly be insulted at the way my generation is portrayed. Then again, I have overheard some snowboarders' conversations and it makes me wonder if they're even smart enough to tear open the plastic wrapping off this game. Relax, I'm almost joking.

Stats are recorded and can be posted online. All of your scores, tricks, hang times and falls can be displayed for the world to see. If you're good enough you might even be able to compete for a gold medal. As accessible as the controls are, there are challenges that will require a good deal of practice even if you have all of the real-world items at your disposal.

"With more accessible controls the spirit of the game is missing..."

I expected to see much better graphics on the 360 or at least been given opportunities to see the hardware really kick some visual ass. Unfortunately the visuals aren't anything that couldn't have been done on the Xbox as far as I'm concerned. The polygon count of the characters is higher and it's great playing in high res, but there really isn't anything so impressive that it will make your lowly Xbox-owing friends glow green with envy. If anything they'll just say "I'm playing Amped 2 on XBL...what are you doing 360-boy?" The off-kilter presentation complete with surreal sketches, stop-motion animation, Oriental themes and sock puppets is funky, but it feels like it's just trying to hard to be different. Some of it was entertaining, amusing and even laugh out loud funny, but it didn't enhance the snowboarding experience; but it sure was different - I'll definitely give it thumbs up for that. You're either going to love it or not at all.

There are literally hundreds of tunes, but most of them are from indie bands that were probably licensed for free - even that's too expensive for some of these headache instigators. Hey, I'm staring to sound a bit like Cole on this review.

Amped 3 is good but it's not great and that's really too bad. I always thought of the Amped series as almost a badge of honor because when you went online and played with others, you knew they went through the same intense training as you did to get there. There was an unspoken connection. With more accessible controls the spirit of the game is missing in my opinion and even though I got used to the changes quickly it just feels like a different game with some of the same objectives. The Amped 1 & 2 lover in me wants to score this a 2.0, but the game reviewer in me that recognizes that the game must be reviewed with "new eyes" gives it a 3.5.

By StewXX
CCC Staff Writer

Rating out of 5 Amped 3 (Xbox 360) 3.5 Graphics Not quite as next gen as we were hoping for. In fact we don't see much in Amped 3 that couldn't already be done on the Xbox. Presentation was completely insane at times and pretty funny. 4.0 Control If you ignore the complete bastardization of the controls, everything works pretty well, save for some camera nonsense here and there. 3.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting Lots of tunes you've never heard before - most weren't Stew's cup of tea. The voice acting was all right but overly goofy. Sound FX was totally bitchin' for the most part...dudes. 2.5 Play Value Where oh where did our online play go? There are a lot of mountains and free run (when you unlock everything) but online would have been so kick ass that we can't stop crying over spilled milk. 3.5 Overall Rating - Good Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.