I'm not an Extreme Sports game fan but Amped has changed my mind. That is how good this game is.

What I liked about Amped, which happens to be a major factor in this game, is that there is no time limit to snowboard down the mountains. It is the first snowboarding game which totally focuses on freestyle riding.

The first thing that hits you whilst playing the game is how much detail has gone into reproducing the real sport. You can jib, bonk or spin anywhere on the mountain with a huge variety of jumps and rails.

The idea of this game is to gain media exposure to further your career up the world rankings ladder to eventually become the No.1 Snowboarder.

The game is easy to get into but very hard to master, which means you are not wasting your money on a game which you will finish in one gaming session. That's important considering you have just spent ú45 of your well hard earned cash.

There are several options when you first switch the game on. You can start a new career, quick start or multiplayer. Quick Start allows you, the player, to use one of the pro-boarders and hopefully perform enough tricks to score enough to get onto the high-score board. Multiplayer allows you to board against your friends and YOU get to set all the rules for the competition. You can choose between...Whoever scores the most media points, or the highest score for one trick or even play 'King of the Hill', where the first person sets the course and everyone else has to follow and beat the score set by the first person. There are options upon options and not one game will ever be the same as before.

In Career Mode, the better you do the higher you move up the world rankings, which in turn unlock more mountains and courses plus more items of gear and clothing to choose from. Again, there is so much to choose from that you actually take care in what you choose because you want to do well. (Well, I did !!) Each mountain has several tasks for you to complete to help you progress up the rankings. The first being how much you can score with your tricks and how much media attention you get whilst performing in front of the cameras. Once you have hit the first targets, this will unlock a new option to compete for a sponser. Each sponser likes a particular style of trick, which you must perform to gain their approval and sponsership which in turn unlocks more gear and clothing. You can also learn new tricks from the por-boarder of the mountain. One catchy gimmick is 'Exploring the Mountain'. Forget the points and just go down slow trying to find snowmen who speak mexican and knock them over...sounds easy but trust me when I say...it's not !!

So how easy is it to perform tricks ? Like with most games, you have to get used to the controls and it does become second nature. There are helpful hints telling you which buttons do what kind of trick, but the most important thing is TIMING. Once you have got this....the game will become even more addictive.

One last thing....MUSIC !! You have over 150 new songs from core indie labels. Of course if that is not your taste, you can even rip your own music onto the harddrive of the X-Box and create a playlist of your own to snowboard to.

Overall, Amped pushes the X-Box to provide a fast, free-flowing snow boarding game with unlimited choice in music. If you are like me who isn't an Extreme game fan....You will Be !!