AMPED: FREESTYLE SNOWBOARDING (XBOX)


Snowboarding finally grows up

By WILL BARKER

The wind through your hair, the unadulterated sensation of speed, the fresh alpine air, the pristine mountain environs... It's no wonder the sport of snowboarding is growing in popularity each year, yet with this increase the snowboarding games on offer seem to be dropping in quality.

Are the developers spending too much time in so-called research? Are they suffering from lack of oxygen?

Whatever the case, the world of snowboarding, with its hip culture and fancy lifestyle, can translate to seriously entertaining digital experiences. So it was with cautious anticipation that we approached Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, hoping that the first 'boarding game for Xbox would impress.

Firstly, this is a freestyle boarding game. Apart from SSX and the sequel, SSX Tricky, which were fine snowboarding games in their own rights, the only true freestyle snowboarding game that's ever been worth playing was the venerable 1080 Snowboarding on the N64 and, to a lesser extend, Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarding on the PS2. The SSX series catered more for Boarder Cross, or competitive racing, and was more or less centred in the realm of fantasy.

Thankfully, Amped puts realism first but hasn't forgotten how to entertain plus, best of all, it puts a whole new spin on an otherwise unchanged theme. Most games involve players having to play through a number of tracks, unlocking new levels via either a high score or a first placing in a race. But Amped employs a slightly different method of progression, and a more rewarding one at that.

There are three modes all up: Quick Race, Multiplayer and Career mode. The first two are self-explanatory and also rely on the career for new levels. In the career mode, however, you start as a lowly-ranked boarder on the world circuit, and this status can be improved in a few logical ways.

Getting your photo taken as you perform ego-boosting tricks is the best way to get coverage, and impressing sponsors helps too. This is achieved by completing runs in which they stipulate a certain range of tricks to pass. Some want to see grinds, others want big airs plus flips and spins are also often on the menu. Mano a mano duels with other pro boarders is another way to do this improve your rating.

Starting to tickle your fancy? This new style of progression is a breath of fresh air after playing too many Tony Hawk-inspired "find five valves" type of games.

For each run there are a number of objectives: the aforementioned media scores (tricks performed in front of photographers), your stock standard high score, the sponsor runs, taking on pro boarders and the explore challenges.

These last ones require you to find eight snowmen on each level. All these challenges combined unlock new levels and new runs, new goggles, boots, bindings, boards, clothes and help lower your world ranking to boot.

All up there are about 100 or so different runs covering more than a dozen mountains and, to be honest, the career mode will take you a very long time to complete. While things start off at a fairly sedate pace, the slack is picked up and before long the game gets extremely challenging. Some may even find themselves getting seriously frustrated with the game, but perseverance is the key.

Controlling your boarder is simple, and for a few good reasons it feels right. The left analogue stick steers your boarder when on snow and once airborne, it will initiate spins (720s etc.), flips and rodeos (aka Mctwists or corkscrews). While the buttons can be used for grabs, the right analogue stick seemed a more logical and intuitive choice - and it was. The shoulder buttons add tweaks to your grabs and, all up, the logical controls mean it's simply a really nice game to play.

Sonically, everything is in order. The sound of board on snow is perfect, the music line-up is good, spanning electronica, punk, hip-hop, rap, ska and even reggae. You can also import your own ripped songs from the hard-drive, which is always good to see (and will be a godsend to those with more eclectic tastes in music).

You will, however, get sick of hearing camera men laughing at you and generally insulting you when you bail, but at the same token it does add to the realism.

A boarder of nigh on ten seasons, it's good to see a game that finally does the sport justice. While there's no denying SSX Tricky is a pretty game, it is set in fantasy land and, if you're like me and crave realism, then this will be just the ticket.

For starters, the draw-in is incredible. On a few of the more open and less-wooded mountains, you can see all the way to the bottom of the run - testament to both solid coding and the power of the Xbox. Bump-mapped textures abound: the snow looks so real, the trees are 'three-dee' and the speed at which everything moves is sublime. Not only is this the best-playing snowboard game available, it's also the best looking.

The run (track) design is good too, offering players a slew of massive jumps, a plethora of edges to grind, such as traditional coping, to felled trees and even buildings. It really is quite engrossing as you fly down the runs, through massive forests - I don't what it is about the trees but they seem to add another layer of realism.

The half-pipes are real nice too, but are perhaps one of the harder areas of the game to master (it's all in the wrist).

Player models are real smooth - no jagged edges anywhere. It's hard to gauge exactly how many polygons they're made up from, but I would hazard a guess at about 700-1000 triangles.

But at the end of the day, who cares - it all looks so gorgeous that the technicalities cease to matter. The motion capture must have been intricate, as watching the boarder go through the motions of even a simple stiffy nosebone is quite remarkable. It's all so smooth.

All in all, this is easily the best snowboarding game on the market. Some may be put off by all the 'realism', but the innovative way in which you must garner media coverage and progress in the world rankings is original and it makes for a nice change. The controls are instinctive, the gameplay addictive and the graphics stunning - snowboarding has finally evolved.

ORIGINALITY 90%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 95%
PLAYABILITY 90%
ADDICTION 85%
ENJOYMENT 85%