A fun-filled extravaganza, cut-scene wise, anyway.
Allow me to start out by saying that if you've played the first two games in the series, you are in for a surprise. While the core gameplay is relatively the same, the story mode is jaw droppingly different, to say the least. Essentially, this is were you will spend most of your time, thanks to the untimely demise of the Xbox Live multiplayer feature. (We'll get to that later). The story mode in this game is presented in what has to be the most unique fashion I've seen in a game in quite some time. There are parodies of Anime, foreign gameshows, referrences to a certain gaming company that shall remain nameless, though to those who play through, they will recognize who it is immediately, and there are some truly oddball segments that defy explanation. Sound enticing? No? Well, it's really something that needs to be seen to be believed.
The story itself, is secondary to the presentation, but it at least makes a bit of sense, and doesn't seem like they just tacked it on to fill the game out a bit. It starts with you creating your own boarder and from there, we go to the slopes, where you and your friends are saving up to go on a killer vacation up in Chile. All is well, until you're accused of stealing the money for the trip...which is where the adventure begins. You mainly progress through the story mode by gaining respect from your peers on the mountain and completing some challenges that open up more of the story. All in all, it's a well put together mode and the progression through the story seems reasonably simple at times, however, an unruly camera can take that simple task and make it almost impossible to achieve...or at least impossible to have fun while attempting to achieving said objective.
For example, one of your main objectives will be to follow a pro and out-trick them to get major respect. Most of the time, this is a fairly simple task and does not require much effort. What's most infuriating, especially for those out there who have breezed through these tasks, is that there are times when you are required to hit specific "gates" that nearly 75%(ok I'm overestimating a bit...sue me), of the time are offscreen and you end up having to guess where the next one is, thanks to a camera that is less than helpful during these crucial moments. And so this requires trial and error of the worst kind. You have to memorize the courses as you go, or you'll never get anywhere. What this means, is that unless you are a real pro at the game and have a general idea of where the next gate is, you're going to be replaying the same task several times over...especially near the end in one particularily frustrating part of the game. This part of the game isn't nearly as difficult as it is tedious and that can sometimes make it worse than if it were a question of it just being difficult. This means that some players may not be as inclined to finish the game, being that the tasks get old quick, and having to redo them in a trial and error fashion can frustrate even a pro. That's a shame, because the ending to this game is well worth the play-through...
The gameplay itself is similar to that of previous entries in the series...not much has changed, except that some of the gameplay features seem to have been dumbed down a bit. It's not something you'd notice unless you were a fan of the first and second games, but it seems almost easier to do certain things in the game. Controls are similar to that of the Tony Hawk series, with a few tweaks, so those into the Hawk series will feel comfortable entering the world of snowboarding.
The multiplayer has been removed this time, which seems like a step in the wrong direction, though there is the Leaderboard and a couple of sledding challenges that are supported through Live.
The sound in the game is as good as that in previous games, with a lot of indie bands cranking out some solid tunes, (depending on what you're into). The voice-acting is very solid as well. They had fun doing this game and you can tell that in the delivery of the lines, as well as the presentation.
The graphics for the game are that of Xbox standards...meaning they are excellent, but for the 360, they can sometimes look a little...bland, and the collision detection is terrible, as you'll often find yourself going through your fellow snowboarders, rather than knocking them down. However, the framerate is solid and it's pleasant to look at on your way down the mountain. (Cut-scenes are done with a variety of different styles and all hold true to the unique styles they are representing.)
Overall, if you can get past the fact that the camera can sometimes be incredibly frustrating, and the fact that there is no multiplayer, this is a title that should easily appease fans of the first two games, and eases those who are new to the series into the game comfortably. Amped has what it takes to be a great series, but there is work to be done. A few gameplay tweaks and some major reworking of the in-game camera, and maybe the next game in the series could be what Amped 3 aspires to be: The best damned snowboard game on the market today.