Well since release day, I have been going back and forth on what game to buy next. Of course I started out with Perfect Dark Zero, but what would be next. There are some good choices, but nothing seems demanding of running out and throwing down $59.
There was always Amped 3 there in the mix. No one was saying anything about this game, but I remembered how much fun Amped 2 was. Amped 2 was my first “Live” experience. It was a great game in single player and multi-player. It took lots of practice to keep up with the online players, but what could be more fun that showing off skills while racing friends.
So a friend came over yesterday with a rented copy of Amped 3. I was stoked. We put that game in trying to remember our combos and tricks from Amped 2. Nope, new control system. OK cool, new game, new controls. The game controls are now a whole lot easier. In fact, they dumbed them down too far. It used to be about skill and timing, now it is pretty much just button combinations. I can live with that because now there are so many new things. There are sleds, snowmobiles, a park editor and you can even throw snowballs.
First things first, the custom characters. Good job with this, not great. I made an older guy with a big beer belly (would look great with a 2old2play.com shirt on). Lots of options here but still lacking in some areas. You can use a slide to make your character bigger or smaller, but there are some areas that stay static, like the forearms. You could make this totally steroided out hulk, and he would still have pencil sized forearms. You can however use jackets or long sleeved shirts to cover these up. Your character transfers above par to the game, great work on getting them into the story mode. So we are working to up his skills, learning the new controls and modes of play. The game is fun, the humor and cut-scenes are a little weird (kinda Monty Python type animation), but fun. It is so huge it is unbelievable.
The mountains are big with lots of drop-off points and we can see that it will take a long time to get to all of it. The controls are kind of lumpy compared to Amped 2. Getting out of a hard turn is difficult and grinding is so dumbed down that it throws you off your game. So now I am comfortable with my character, on to try him out on live. No live. What!?! That’s right, no live. I look at the box, it says, “Xbox 360 Live”. I look around the menu again, no live. I dig online and find out it is “Live aware with scoreboards”. What a cop out. It was so disappointed that I didn’t even want to play single player anymore. Amped 2 was so much fun with friends over live, whether it was 1 on 1, or with 8 players going for the best run. I just assumed that Amped 3 would be like 16 players on long mountain runs.
So to sum it up, if you just want an easy single player snowboarding game, Amped 3 is the way to go. If you want to learn a snowboarding game that you can show off real skills and play with your friends on live, Amped 2 is a much better game than Amped 3. Amped 3 has so much to offer, but falls short in the areas it needed so badly to succeed in this era of muti-player. I was glad that we rented this first; I will buy it, when it hits the bargain bin.
First things first, the custom characters. Good job with this, not great. I made an older guy with a big beer belly (would look great with a 2old2play.com shirt on). Lots of options here but still lacking in some areas. You can use a slide to make your character bigger or smaller, but there are some areas that stay static, like the forearms. You could make this totally steroided out hulk, and he would still have pencil sized forearms. You can however use jackets or long sleeved shirts to cover these up. Your character transfers above par to the game, great work on getting them into the story mode. So we are working to up his skills, learning the new controls and modes of play. The game is fun, the humor and cut-scenes are a little weird (kinda Monty Python type animation), but fun. It is so huge it is unbelievable.
The mountains are big with lots of drop-off points and we can see that it will take a long time to get to all of it. The controls are kind of lumpy compared to Amped 2. Getting out of a hard turn is difficult and grinding is so dumbed down that it throws you off your game. So now I am comfortable with my character, on to try him out on live. No live. What!?! That’s right, no live. I look at the box, it says, “Xbox 360 Live”. I look around the menu again, no live. I dig online and find out it is “Live aware with scoreboards”. What a cop out. It was so disappointed that I didn’t even want to play single player anymore. Amped 2 was so much fun with friends over live, whether it was 1 on 1, or with 8 players going for the best run. I just assumed that Amped 3 would be like 16 players on long mountain runs.
So to sum it up, if you just want an easy single player snowboarding game, Amped 3 is the way to go. If you want to learn a snowboarding game that you can show off real skills and play with your friends on live, Amped 2 is a much better game than Amped 3. Amped 3 has so much to offer, but falls short in the areas it needed so badly to succeed in this era of muti-player. I was glad that we rented this first; I will buy it, when it hits the bargain bin.
