Amped 3

Yeti!

By Sam Curtis

After playing Amped 3 over the past week I’m tempted to review it using the pseudo-snowboarder slang that I’ve become used to. It’s hard to resist, the game is so entertaining and eventually instinctive that the player absorbs its pervasive lingo and (humiliatingly) starts incorporating it into everyday speech.

For those who haven’t taken to the piste with the Amped series before, it’s a snowboarding game not unlike Tony Hawk’s. The aim is to snowboard your way to the top over a selection of different courses and mountains taking on challenges and story missions in your rise to success.

The game can be split into two distinct objectives. Story missions, in which your performance is irrelevant and completion only unlocks more storyline, and challenges. Challenges are all about respect, the bigger the jump, the more intricate the trick and the speedier the course time the more respect (and courses) may be unlocked.

The Amped series has always tried to balance realistic challenges with arcade brilliance. In this latest installment however, realism has been entirely abandoned in favour of entertainment. Anyone who has played Tony Hawk’s or the previous Amped games will have no problems here as Amped 3 is substantially easier and considerably less finicky than these other genre successes. This makes the game instantly accessible and absorbing because it is so easy to pick up and play.

As well as being hugely addictive, every aspect of Amped 3 is brilliantly designed. The menus and cut scenes are ambitious and occasionally hilarious, featuring a mishmash of Adam and Joe style tomfoolery and surreal cut-out animation. The courses themselves are well designed and challenging, spectacularly rendered by the Xbox 360. The snow glistens, the view distance is extraordinary and the ‘boarders move with the stylised arcade charm that permeates the game.

Amped 3 is a masterpiece, instantly accessible, massively addictive and brilliantly designed. Amidst a throng of disappointing launch games it stands out as one of the best releases for the console. Bodacious.