The snow definitely looks great and realistic, at the same time the mountains themselves are vast and awesome looking too. But that is pretty much all that’s good about Amped 3’s graphics, it is definitely not the best looking game out on the Xbox 360.
The characters again have that plastic look to them, also the bump mapping looks overdone. Other than bump mapping there is no more impressive effects that this game carries. There is no HDR or next-gen lighting effects, which would make the graphics a lot better.
I am not sure if the voice acting in Amped 3 is supposed to be funny or even serious, but the whole skateboarder/snowboarder stereotype voice acting was getting annoying to me. Each person in your crew was more annoying than the last with their lame jokes and catch phrases.
The music is more or less fine, with some nice varieties. There is something for everyone to like, although it’s not the greatest selection I’ve seen. Other than that, the actual ambience sounds of Amped aren’t that great. The sound of your board going down the mountain almost never changes and you will hear the same sounds over and over. The general sound production isn’t that great and it definitely doesn’t impress me at all.
Final Word
Amped 3 has its ups and downs and it is worth noting it is the first and only snowboarding game on the 360 at the moment. While the game achieves some nice unique features through its art style and presentation, it didn’t really cut it for me with the wacky story it presented.
The graphics and sound departments were disappointing in my opinion and only did a fair job of creating an immersive snowboarding experience. On the positive side, the mountain ranges in the game were vast and seamless. But, overall, while the game has it’s unique features, and easy to pick-up gameplay, it may still only provide a very short term game experience with lack of multi-player and replay value.
