Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding: Information from Answers.com

Release Date: November 17, 2001
Genre: Sports
Style: Snowboarding
Similar Games: 1080° Snowboarding (Nintendo 64), Cool Boarders 2001 (PlayStation 2), ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding 2002 (Xbox)

Game Description

Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding provides a completely different snowboarding experience from the likes of the more arcade-oriented SSX Tricky. You begin as little more than an unknown rookie boarder, but by completing various objectives like achieving the three highest scores for a run, competing against a pro boarder, or performing tricks on parts of the courses teeming with photographers and media, you'll begin to advance through the ranks, rising in stature and popularity. Perform well in front of the media and you might even find yourself on the cover of a magazine. As with most any sport, sponsors play a vital role in its and its competitors' success, a fact reflected in Amped. Often, you'll be required to perform particular tricks for a sponsor in order to get them to notice you. Do so, and you'll be rewarded with a variety of new gear, including boards, boots, and goggles. Gamers can even save their replay data and then compete against it in a particular mode.

A mixture of fantasy and real courses, like Stratton and Snow Summit, provide the stomping ground for your burgeoning career. Grinds and "trick tweaks" can be performed with a single button press, while more complicated spins and flips require careful manipulation of the left analog stick. You'll also need to be aware of your rider's orientation at all times, because if not properly aligned your rider will bail at every possible instance. Runs are in fact not timed, allowing players the freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want.

More than 150 songs are included in the title's soundtrack, covering almost every conceivable genre -- at least those the target audience will most likely enjoy, anyway. Added to this is the ability for players to save their own CDs to the hard drive and then include the tracks in play lists in the title. Songs you don't like can be skipped quickly and easily. A variety of modes -- such as King of the Hill, Best Trick, and High Score -- can be played by multiple players, though strictly in an individual capacity since no simultaneous play is offered.

~ Gavin Frankle, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

Microsoft's first snowboarding title is solid but not quite as exciting as the pure energy of SSX or its sequel, SSX Tricky. The main problem comes from Amped's lack of a racing mode, which takes away from the game's intensity. While it features beautiful snow-covered mountains filled with rails, moguls, trees, and ramps to trick off of, the game's slow pacing and somewhat repetitive style of play tend to diminish the overall fun you'll have while shredding the slopes.

A positive aspect of Amped is its huge mountains with multiple drop-off points, meaning you can travel different routes on the same mountain, but there are still out-of-bound areas that limit the amount of exploring you can do. There's also no time limit, so there's never a need to rush down the hill. This could have been an interesting twist to the standard game mode: not only must you score a certain number of points, but do so within X number of minutes.

Even without the option to race against players or the clock, there are still plenty of things to do on the mountain. Players can try to earn three medals by beating specific scores, earn media points by performing stunts in front of cameramen, and try to impress sponsors by performing a specific stunt to increase his or her excitement level. The latter two options are Amped's most distinguishing features, even if they are relatively basic in nature.

One is a simple matter of performing tricks at specific points on the course (marked by spinning red icons) and the other is just performing one type of trick over and over again until the meter says "Amped." Players can also try to find eight snowmen on the level or beat a pro's score by tricking at designated spots along the course. Again, there's nothing surprising or different about these variants, but they will keep players busy until they unlock more courses.

The control in Amped takes some getting used to, as moves are not as easy to pull off as in SSX, which is probably a good thing since the ability to perform tricks is the entire focus of Amped's gameplay. It takes a degree of technique to land properly after an aerial stunt, so players have to carefully nudge the analog stick so the board kisses the snow at the proper angle. Grinding on rails also takes some finesse and planning -- knowing where a particular branch or rail is located after coming out of a jump could mean an extra 10,000 points.

This Amped doesn't go to 11 on the enjoyment meter, but it will keep most players busy with its lengthy Career mode that involves completing a number of slightly different objectives on the path to becoming a top-ranked boarder. The next version should expand on the sport's competitive nature with simultaneous action against either a human or computer-controlled opponent, as well as incorporate modes offering greater diversity in execution.