Overall 8.6 Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 6 Depth 8 Difficulty 9
8.6
Guitar Hero without guitars. On crack. Itachi_4_ever
That to me
describes the Playstation 2 game Amplitude to the T. I love rhythm games, they’re
one of my favorite genres so when I saw that game in one of the few stores you
can still find ps2 games here, I had to buy it. The cover also spoke to me with
names like David Bowie, Pink and Run DMC. I mean, you just can’t go wrong with
David Bowie. And, I was not disappointed even though it was far from what I
expected. Not to say that was a bad thing. On the contrary.
Though I compare it to Guitar Hero in the title, the only thing that really
reminded me of that was the way the notes you need to hit scroll down towards
you and the colors of certain tracks. Other than that it is vastly different.
Both in the style and the gameplay.
Overall: 8.6/10
If you like
rhythm games I definitely recommend this game. And even if you don’t usually
play games like that, you can definitely still have a fun time with it. The
essence of the gameplay is like you would expect from a rhythm game; hit the
notes in time to the music. But Amplitude adds quite a few unique features to
it that makes it stand on its own among all the other rhythm games I’ve ever
played. You’re basically building the songs in this game. Each instrument and
the voice has its own track and you need to get each instrument going by
hitting a chain of notes. When that happens, the instrument/vocals the track
stands for will keep going for a while. There are also certain power-ups that
you can get if you hit a chain of power-up notes. The different power-ups I’ve
encountered are auto-blaster, score doubler, freestyle and slow motion. The
autoblaster lets you clear a track the same way you would by hitting the chain
of notes correctly. Score doubler and slow motion speak for themselves.
Freestyle is one of my favorite
power-ups, you get to just do whatever for a little while and you get points
for that too. Button mashing FTW!
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics are stunning in my opinion. There could have been more variety to
it if you’d ask me – hence the 9 instead of a 10 – but the visuals the game has
are amazing. If a bit trippy. I think I know now what it must feel like to be
high or stoned. Seriously, my friends and I found ourselves wondering if this
game was designed by someone who was high. It feels like a blend between
futuristic and psychedelic. It’s beautiful, but I did sometimes get a bit dizzy
from watching.
Sound: 10/10
It has David Bowie, enough said. No, but seriously the music is all very
catchy. I didn’t know half the songs (my best friend knew a lot of them though)
but found myself tapping my foot along with all of them and I encountered a lot
of songs that I’ll definitely be listening to again outside the game as well.
Addictiveness:
10/10
For people like me who like rhythm games it’s extremely addictive. And I can
definitely see people that aren’t crazy about the genre getting hooked on this
too. Just to be able to beat all the
difficulty modes – which I’ll get more into later – will get me going back
again and again. And, if you have a friend to play with, it’s even more fun.
Whether you’re going against each other or each taking a turn in the story mode.
Depth: 8/10
While the songs are great, there aren’t a lot of them which is a bit
unfortunate. In total there are 26 songs. You need to unlock some of these
songs first. Besides the solo-mode you also have multiplayer and remix. In the
past people people with an internet connection on their ps2 could also play
online, but that option isn’t available anymore of course. Still, the fact that
it existed in the first place is something I took into account while rating
this game.
Story: 6/10
There’s not much of a story going on here, but it doesn’t really matter all
that much. The gameplay is more important. Still, the game does make a bit of
an effort to give it a certain setting. I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘story’
but you get different characters you can play as to build the songs again.
Difficulty:
9/10
I played the lowest difficulty – mellow and haven’t managed to beat the last boss
song yet. It’s not undoable however, I’m sure I’ll get it when I’ve had a bit
more practice, but that’s just to give you an idea that it’s not some easy
little game you’re going to beat in an hour. Especially not if you want to beat
all the difficulty levels. There are 4: mellow, normal, brutal and insane. I
would say there’s plenty of challenge for players of any level.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 6 Depth 8 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 4.3/5
Submitted: 08-09-15
Updated: 08-09-15
Review Replies: 6
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