Hands on Preview:

Many gamers will remember the original Amped as being one hell of an easy game to play but difficult to master. Of course once you knew what you were doing and what buttons to press, it became second nature and wow... what a game it was. Well, Microsoft have not only improved the game but have made it LIVE!!

Let's get the developer's overview of the game first in case I forget anything when I give you my own hands own experience...

"Amped 2" which is part of the new XSN Sports brand, is the ultimate freestyle snowboarding experience offering gamers an expanded library of tricks and a smooth new "tricking" style. Gamers can explore vast areas of wide-open, spectacularly rendered mountains packed with terrain parks designed by world-famous snow park architect Chris Gunnarson. They can play head to head with friends to compare skills or challenge up to seven others in various multiplayer modes. Utilizing revolutionary new Web-based technology, riders can easily organize their own triple crown from a centralized Web site, XSNsports.com, that pulls the information from Xbox Live. When ready to take it to the next level, they can connect to Xbox Live to check rankings and challenge the world's best virtual riders. Gamers can feel what it's like to live the life of a real pro snowboarder. They can travel the globe and pull sick tricks in front of sponsors, photographers and fans. They can build their fame and get photos and demo reels placed in the latest virtual snowboard magazine or video. They can climb to the top ranks of the sport and become a media superstar. And they can do all of this to the sounds of more than 300 killer alt-indie tracks.

Got All That? Probably not, so here goes my own interpretation of how the game played when I got my hands on it and set my sights for the slopes. First of all to truly understand what had been improved I needed to go back to the original and compare. For starters, the loading is quicker. I know...not a major difference but after awhile of having to change courses and waiting for it to load, it can be a pain... not any more. So, there I was on the first mountain waiting to kick off and snowboard my way down without looking like a fool and performing as many tricks that I could do without breaking my neck. Looking around the mountain, I noticed how crisp and clear the graphics have become. I thought the original game was superb in this department but like most things... it has been improved over time. The controls are exactly the same as the first game, so no confusion there but with a few new features to boot. Where in the first game you needed to score Media & Trick points via performing in front of the camera and pulling tricks along the way and sometimes you just missed out to open that new feature... well... you have to do that in Amped 2 as well, but you can score points snowboarding to your own taste of style. You could attack the mountain aggressively, raking up combo tricks and spinning like crazy to earn big points OR you could take the smoother approach and score big points by pulling tricks with Style, like perfectly timed tweaks, slow rotations or dialed balance on rails. You get to feel how the real pros do it and Amped 2 let's you ride your own way. Now that is what freestyle is all about!!

Amped 2 is part of the XSN sports network which allows you to challenge real people, create your own league and build up your very own rivalries. As well being a superb offline game, it can be played on LIVE offering both individual and team based challenges. Gamers can go head to head with a friend, challenge up to seven others in a game of HORSE (don't' ask me what that is...no idea yet but it sounds like fun), or play a game of four-on-four "King of the Mountain" in which each team tries to pull the sickest tricks on different rails and ramps on a run.

Other improvements other the original include what kind of tricks you can perform. Microsoft have taken all the moves from Amped and added new aerial tricks, advanced grabs, a full set of styled-out rail slides, tweaks, stalls and hand and foot plants. Amped 2 introduces another new feature called 'Butter'. No...not the thing you spread on toast but the center of a new combo system that allows nose and tail manuals to link tricks together. Of course, all these features are useless unless you know how to perform and so a tutorial has been added to teach first-timers the basics of freestyle riding.

Overall, everything has been improved to enhance the experience of the player in this ultimate freestyle snowboarding game. There just so much going on to keep you busy that you will wonder what has happened to the time. So, in my opinion and this is one from a player who was not that great at the first game...it is a must buy for any extreme sport gamers out there!!

Preview By: Joe