Pros: Goofy theme, fun gameplay, expansive mountains, clever challenges
Cons: No Multiplayer, zaniness might turn off hardcore Amped fans
The bottom line: A zany, kooky romp in the snow that might not please die hard Amped fans. But anyone looking for a breath of fresh mountain air should look no further.
I hate sports games. I don't like sports in general so that last thing I want to do is play a game based on something I don't like. That said, I've always been a fan of the Amped snowboarding games beginning with Amped 1 and 2 for the original Xbox developed by Microsoft Game Studios. Then Microsoft sold the sports game division and this franchise was picked up by 2K Sports games and developed by Indie Games. I hadn't heard much about Amped 3 for Xbox 360 so I had rather low hopes. When I popped the game in, I knew I was witnessing the single most bizarre game I had ever seen because I was hitting the first slope in a pink bunny suit. And it is a blast to play. My expectations have been handily surpassed.

•• Story ••
This is the weird part. Where the first Amped games had no story aside from the generic "build your snowboarding career", Amped 3 has a story. Sort of. You play a snowboarder, naturally, who hangs with a crew trying to get to Chile. This motley crew of people is cartoonish and stereotypical. Along the way, you have your money stolen and each of your posse is kidnapped and distributed throughout the game by a mysterious figure called The Baron who is shown as a 2D heavily pixelized figure in the vein of something from the early days of Nintendo. This is not a criticism of the graphics. This is a design choice. Your job is to rescue each of your friends by completing challenges to open up various parts of mountains. Ok, so the story is not Dostoevsky, but it's enough of a story to make it interesting.

But it is the telling of the story that is where the game gets weird. Each character relays their story in a different style. These styles are frenetic and kooky. The cutscenes are done using Japanese anime, cartoon cutouts, stop motion animation with action figures, hand puppets, and whatever else they could think of. This section of the game is amazingly weird. I have never seen any game trying to be so wacky as this one. And die hard Amped fans may not take to it so well. It is definitely a love/hate type of storytelling, but I tip my hat to the developer for taking a huge risk and going with what they wanted.

•• Gameplay ••
Those familiar with the Amped game mechanics won't find much different here. As a matter of fact, they'll find a little less. Amped 3 is not as much a sim as previous incarnations so gone are some of the more restrictive elements such as weaker/stronger stances, needing to hit a button to grind rails.
Now it doesn't matter which side you ride your board on and if you land on a rial, you grind, simple as that. The game has not been dumbed down and made as arcadey as the SSX series, but it is definitely less serious.

For those not familiar with the franchise, Amped 3 is a snowboarding sim which places the camera behind the snowboarder. You board down hills hitting jumps and using button combos to flip, spin, grab and grind. you get points for successfully performing tricks and combos of tricks assuming you can land them. You also get extra points for performing tricks in perfect fluidity called style. The gameplay has always been rather easy to pick up and play and that's part of the charm.

But first, you start with your trail map which details the entire mountain. Marked on the map are different lifts and challenges. These challenges include basic acrobatics, following pros, getting media callouts, picking up objects, timed slalom, and a few others. Each of these is preceded by a goofy little animation ranging in style from 70s Sonny and Cher, to 80's lowrider, to more Nintendo graphics. Truly bizarre stuff, but somehow endearing and fun.

New to the series are some challenges revolving around vehicles. Not only do you snowboard, now you can control sleds, snowmobiles and even hang gliders. And if you find you are not able to complete a challenge as-is, you can go to the builder and add objects to the mountain. This is an acceptable way of cheating and if you notice someone on the leader boards who has an insane score, there's a good chance he used the builder to add objects to get him a higher score. And in this Amped, that's perfectly OK.

One of my favorite challenges takes a page straight out of the Burnout racing series. The idea is to hop on a sled (or sometimes a saucer, a Barcalounger, toilet, or bathtub) and crash. You get points for each bit of damage you do to yourself on the way down. Land on something and you'll get more points for the extra hurt. There is no story reason for this, it is just great fun and shows off the ragdoll physics the game has. I found myself playing those challenges over and over again, just because they are so darn silly.

One of the few things I didn't like that I never experienced in the original Amped games was a few camera issues. Sometimes the camera would dip down to follow my character, but would not let me see a jump or gate I needed to hit. A little annoying, but not enough to diminish my enjoyment.

•• Graphics ••
The first thing you will read in any review of this game is that graphics have not been updated to reflect the next generation of console. While the level of detail in objects has only been marginally improved, that's because the first 2 Amped games were nearly photo-realistic. So they made some minor graphical improvements, but really spent the extra computing power on opening up the map. These things are huge and you can board the entire thing and go absolutely anywhere. The sheer number of objects, detail, and scope could never be done in previous generations.

As you go, you earn various pieces of equipment and clothing. This has always been a staple of the Amped series and you can customize your rider in hundreds of possibilities. The character models have taken a much more cartoony feel and it works in combination with the rest of the game. However the detail is there in spades with flowing hair, ruffling clothing and detailed textures. Once again, the graphics are excellent. and this time, they are expansive and huge.

•• Sound ••
This is why the Xbox 360's ability to plug in an MP3 player was born. Like previous Amped games, this one is full of many many songs. However, they all tend to be alternative underground songs that no one has heard of. This is cool for those who want it. But I preferred to plug in my MP3 player and listen to my music. That said, there is actually a variety of included music. There is hip-hop, electronica, rock, and metal. And if you want to buy any of the music, the publishers and album covers are clearly on display in several loading screens.

The voice work is a bit harder to judge. Many will find it annoying and grating, but that's what it is supposed to be. These guys definitely borrowed from South Park in that they are way over the top, hysterical, unrealistic, and annoying. Does it work within the confines of the game? Yes. Do I wish everyone talked like that? No.

•• Multiplayer ••
Probably due to time constraints to make this a launch title, Live Multiplayer has been yanked. There is co-op and few challenges require it, but it is nothing that gives the game much longevity. This is the only major strike against the title.

••Achievements ••
The Achievements in Amped 3 will drive those people who crave them to stay in the game longer. While the core gameplay can be completed in a around 10 hours, those looking to do everything will be rewarded with Achievements and a higher gamerscore. Some of them just appear through the normal course of just playing the game (such as driving the snowmobile for 10 km) and others you have to work at. All in all, they are rewarding and should make achievement junkies like myself happy.

•• Parents Should Know ••
This game is rated T for Teen and is generally safe for all players. While little kids might find some of the goofy imagery in the cutscenes a little scary, and some parents might not like the idea of intentionally hurling yourself off a cliff to inflict damage, the game is mostly harmless for anyone over the age of 10.

Xbox Live Gamertag: DryHeaves

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