Title: Amped 3
.............................................. System:
Xbox 360
.............................................. Genre:
Sports
.............................................. Publisher:
2k Games
.............................................. Developer:
TBA
.............................................. Release: Q4 2005 .............................................. Online: No .............................................. ESRB: Rating Pending (RP)
..............................................
Snowboarding has never been as popular as skateboarding. Sure it is now an Olympic sport, but can you think of any Olympic sport that has the mass appeal of skateboarding? Luckily, snowboarding has not been given the quick and easy treatment, unlike the Olympics, when it comes to videogames. Amped and Amped 2 are both fine examples of this. Released on the Xbox the Amped series has had an interesting history. While overall high-quality games the Amped series did not sell the numbers Microsoft was hoping for. Interestingly, the more fictional snowboarding games from EA (SSX) had a much more broad appeal to the gaming community. Despite this the Amped games were a big hit with the snowboarding community. The sport’s top snowboarders actually tested tricks in the games before attempting them on the mountain.
But after Amped 2 things weren’t looking so great for the series. The division of Microsoft in charge of their sport videogame production went under (XSN). This mixed with the disinterest in snowboarding made it seem like the Amped series was finished. But like a snowboarder getting up after a hard fall, the Amped series was not giving up. How do we know this? Amped 3 is coming to the Xbox 360.
The developers behind Amped 3 are tweaking the gameplay hoping to create a more enjoyable and accessible environment for gamers. The general idea behind Amped 3 is to drop the player at the top of a huge mountain and then provide him with a fun and accessible way to tally up his points through tricks. While this does sound similar when compared to previous Amped titles there are few adjustments being made this time around. These modifications come in the form of how tricks are going to be performed. Tricks will now be mapped to the face buttons on the Xbox 360 controller, a big change from previous Amped titles which used the right analog stick. Grinding is also going to be dealt with differently in that players will automatically grind on a rail if they land on it correctly. No button pressing will be required. Players will still be able to modify their grind though with the face buttons.
The overall trick system is following a similar trend found in many games today; make it easy to perform amazing tricks but also reward those who take the time to understand the system in and out. A good example of this is Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. While THAW provides gamers the tools to pull off tricks and rack up points it is only those who truly understand the system who are able to become amazing skateboarders. The same goes for Amped 3. The difference between a novice and veteran of the game will be very obvious.
To show off all these tricks player are going to need a huge mountain to board on. Amped 3 is said to be delivering this is spades by creating one of the biggest snowboarding mountains ever seen on a videogame console. With the power of the Xbox 360 at the developer’s finger tips it can be assumed that the mountain will not only be colossal but gorgeous to boot. But gamers won’t just be boarding on this mountain. Snowmobiles and sledding have been confirmed modes of transportation across the mountain as well. Just how these will fit into the whole Amped 3 gameplay design is unknown. They may play a role in the Story Mode rumored to be included in Amped 3.
The publisher behind Amped 3 is 2K Games. The guys at 2K games understand that snowboarding does not have the mass appeal that sells games. So they have added in some very unique customizing features into Amped 3 which they are hoping will make the game fly off store shelves. Gamers will actually get to customize how the game looks outside of the snowboarding (menus and such).
Overall, Amped 3 looks like it is taking the snowboarding genre in the right direction. By simplify the controls and giving players a huge mountain to board on Amped 3 just might have the broad appeal snowboarding needs. Xbox Live hasn’t been confirmed for the title yet but it is hard to believe it wouldn’t be included. Look for this title on the Xbox 360.
