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.