Amped3 DEAD

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

This is IGN's preview of Amped3. I think I'm dreaming, but I wont wake up from this nightmare!

E3 2005: Amped 3 First Look
Ninjas fly out of your butt. We're not kidding.
by Hilary Goldstein

May 18, 2005 - What the f---?! That's my first thought upon seeing Amped 3, 2K's revisionist version of the snowboarding game. Gone is the sense of realism, replaced with easier controls and a whole lot of surrealism. The basics of Amped remain intact. It's giant, real mountains that offer an insane number of goals to complete. And that's about where it stops. The rest has been greatly revised to be accessible to a wider audience.

Before you start freaking out, know that Amped 3 is not an over-the-top arcade game like SSX. There's still some reality here, but the "fun" has been pumped to an extreme.

While 2K Sports wasn't ready to show much of Amped 3, what I did see left me a little bewildered, but also interested in seeing more. The good news is that the game looks very similar to the original in terms of lines, so expect a lot of grinds and plenty of opportunity for big air. The mountains are also four times as large as those in Amped 2. In fact, you can fit all of Amped 1 and 2 in a single large mountain on Amped 3. All of this sounds great and offers a lot of hope. As a fan of the Amped series, I couldn't wait to see more. Then I was told that ninjas will fly out of your ass while playing. Ninjas.

In an effort to add individuality to Amped 3, riders emit a trail of symbols as long they are tearing it up. There are about 20 customizable trailers to choose from, one of which has 16-bit ninjas shooting out from behind you. The 2D art trailer is oddly reminiscent of Jet Set Radio and creates an interesting look. I'm sure that those unfamiliar with Amped 3 will be less shocked by the drastic look.

To further pursue the idea of the fun and crazy lifestyle of snowboarders, each character's story is told through utterly bizarre cut-scenes the demonstrate their personality. One features mating sock puppets, another a Mister-T lookalike grinning face that clearly pities fools. I repeat: What the f---?!

While the single-player was not playable at the show, 2K did allow us to grab a controller for some co-op action. The mini-game has each player on a round sled, the two tethered together with a bungee cord. Riding down the mountain, players fight over powerups before hitting a jump that launches them into the air. Using the triggers, you can lean left and right to hit as many obstructions as possible. The more damage you cause to yourself, the better.

2K is keeping mum on all the important issues of Amped 3, such as online multiplayer. Visually the snow looks great, but Amped 3 doesn't seem like that great of a leap forward. However, the game is being played on Alpha debugs, which are one-third the power of the Xbox 360.

I'm cautious about Amped 3. It could end up being completely amazing, with the changes adding greater enjoyment to the title. But that's impossible to know until I get a chance to see more of the game and spend some time loving it.

If I had more energy, I'd burn that young mans face