Review
Release Date: 03.25.2003
Platform:
PlayStation 2Developer:
Harmonix Music Systems, Inc.Publisher:
Sony Computer Entertainment AmericaReviewed by
Ash Paulsen on 4.28.2003
| Review Rating: 8/10 | User Rating: 7.75/10 |
PlayStation 2 owners got their “Freq” on with the release of Frequency; now prepare to get “Amped” with Amplitude. Taking a somewhat traditional sequel attitude, Amplitude has taken the core of Frequency and expounded upon it. The premise of the game remains the same: To build a song track by track. You speed down physical representations of each of the songs tracks with a “music catcher.” A glowing icon on the track represents each beat/vocal/riff and you must press the one of three buttons that corresponds with the icon as you music catcher reaches it. Successfully complete a string of notes and you enable that track of music, be it vocals, guitar, drums, etc… You then switch to the next track and continue the challenge. Miss a beat and the energy powering your Music Catcher drops and, foul up enough, and you run out of energy and fail the song.
Amplitude uses the default set up of L1, R1, and R2 for each of the left/center/right buttons. While this doesn’t seem like the most intuitive set-up (Amplitude Virgin – Left/Center/Right? Well, Square/Triangle/Circle would work better!), when the beats start coming fast and furious you’ll need all your dexterity to keep up using three fingers at once much less even attempting to keep up using a single thumb…and that isn’t even taking into account you’ll also need another digit for music catcher movement on the digital pad/analog stick.
Harmonix has made some changes to the gameplay, unfortunately, not all are for the better. The track layout was a tube in Frequency, which gave you the ability to spin around (ala Tempest) and pull off combo's as fast as you can hit the left and right on your D-pad. Amplitude uses a flat, 8 track wide view. This adds a wrinkle into the gameplay and makes it difficult, especially on the harder settings, to pull off magnificent combos. Before, you only had to move a maximum of 4 tracks in any direction to hit an available track, now you sometimes have to fly across eight lanes just to get your multiplier. What this layout does is add forethought and planning to the mix (make sure you don’t HAVE to jump that far) but takes away the freestyle feel.
One of the welcome additions is the Practice Mode. Some of the more intense songs take practice to complete and plenty of replays to master. You can now play through a song without your energy meter falling and worrying about a premature ending to your run.
You can also now adjust the Beats Per Minute in Remix Mode, allowing you to slow down or speed up each song's tempo. While good for remixing, you can also use it to practice the actual song. Slow the BPM, try the line, and then slowly speed it up until you can rip through the “actual” song.
The new Slow Mo Power Up also helps with the more difficult songs; it slows the song down for two measures of the track, giving you ample time to hit the beat on even the most challenging and frenetic tracks. The best addition is also the simplest, there is now an arrow pointing to track you need to jump to in order to sustain your combo/multiplier.
The graphics still simulate the inner workings of a computer as visualized in movies like Tron. They replicate the dizzying vivid colors but still somehow have that cold machine feel. Maybe Amplitude does this too well, because while it does have atmosphere it lacks real personality. Harmonix tries to alleviate this by allowing player to create Freqs: visual presentations of your cyber-self. However, a quick trip online shows that it doesn’t have enough diversity to let you express your individuality with most Freqs end up looking way too similar. Harmonix is going to need to put something to the extent of the Create-a-Wrestler mode found in the WWE games to give the diversity needed.
The background visuals are mostly for show, since you will never be able to appreciate them while playing the game, the songs simply move too fast. What is there is cyber-trippy but some levels use light pulses or lightning crashes to accent correct beat management that can be a distraction and interfere with the visually scopeing the next beat icon.
The key to any rhythm/music game is, of course, the soundtrack. Below is a list of the 26 tracks that are included in Amplitude.
Boom (remixed by The Crystal Method) - P.O.D.
Cherry Lips - Garbage
Baseline - Quarashi
Shades of Blue - Chris Child with Melissa Kaplan
Uptown Saturday Night – Logan 7
King of Rock (X-Ecutioners Mix) – Run D.M.C.
Urban Tumbleweed – The Baldwin Brothers
Dope Nose - Weezer
Everyone Says Hi (Metro Mix) – David Bowie
SuperSprode - Freezepop
Respect - Pink
M-80 – Papa Roach
What's Going On – Mekon w/ Roxanne Shante
Rock it (2.002 Remix) – Herbie Hancock
Rockstar – The Production Club
Cool Baby – D.J. HMX w/ Plural
Kimosabe – B.T. w/ Wildchild
Nitro Narcosis - Manchild
I Am Hated - Slipknot
Push - GameBoyz
The Rock Show – blink 182
Sub Culture (Dieselboy + Kaos Rock Remix)- Dieselboy
Out The Box – Symbion Project and Akrobatik
Synthesized – Symbion Project
Spaztik – Cosmonaut Zero
Robot Rockerz – Komputer Kontroller
Of course, musical tastes are subjective. You might love The Rock Show by the world’s loudest boy band; blink 182 or the “Everyday is Halloween” metal of Slipknot. I’m sure everyone will love Track A while disliking Track B, it is all about personal taste. I personally dig the remixes of the (don’t call it) old school Run D.M.C. and Herbie Hancock songs. I was equally disappointed by the song selection for Garbage and Pink; there are a dozen other songs I would have rather thrown down the beat to from their catalogue. The point is they are all extremely playable and fit into the Amplitude mix. The techno BPM challenge of the classic Harmonix artists almost rivals the in-house compositions found in Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution. What I would like to see, but will never happen due to licensing issues, is some themed add-on discs. I would be willing to pay to be able to grab a Techno, Metal, Rap or Industrial theme disc with ten or so new songs to Amp up.
If you are a gameplayer who stumbled upon Frequency because of the online demo included with the SOCOM…err…Network Adapter, you already know the joys of online play. Feel free to take out a marker and scratch out my 8 rating and give it a 9. Nothing quite matches the fun of taking your skills online and being thoroughly humbled by a player with a Freq/Avatar with a Halo. The online modes are diverse; it has an excellent rating system that both rewards “frequent” play and conquering skilled foes. I have only played via broadband, but no online speed/connection issues have cropped up. You can also download stunningly incredible remix versions of the Amplitude songs from other users. Unfortunately, the Multiplayer mode on one system has some camera issues. The camera angle that is used to fit all the players on screen at once makes it nigh impossible to pull off difficult lines on the corner instruments/tracks.
Amplitude adds a new level of complexity to the rhythm genre. It takes the traditional “Simon says” formula and gives it a bump and a twist. Memorizing beats and track switches puts more “game” into the gameplay but with a loss track leaping-freedom and the freestyle feel.
