Amplitude
Harmonix returns with a flat-out killer improvement over the already exceptional FreQency. Full review inside.
Published: April 11, 2003
It's been a long time since I've been this excited about a game. I don't mean "wow, this game is fun" excitement, I mean "hey random FedEx guy, come check out this game" excitement. The source of that excitement is one of the most finely crafted gaming experiences I've ever had the pleasure of taking part in. At its core, Amplitude is little more than an improvement or tweak on the majority of what FreQency did so well. And therein lies the appeal, because while FreQency may have gone a little too techno for the mainstream, Amplitude is aimed squarely at Johnny Gamer. And guess what? It's gonna nab him hook line and sinker.
Again, Amplitude is simply a refinement of what FreQency did so well a year and a half or so ago. Developer Harmonix has made some very small changes that may see superficial for those that really got into FreQency (and if you haven't, shame on you), but with extended play you begin to notice how much of an improvement the system really is, and moreover, how much more newbie-friendly it is.
It's recommended that you take a peek at this, our review of FreQency, since it lays out the basics of Amplitude. The sequel is at once prettier, more attractive to the typical music buff, more deep and engrossing, and easier to get into than FreQency was. Much of this stems from a shift in difficulty in all but the Insane, the hardest difficulty. Sure, there are smaller things, like moving from up to eight different tracks in FreQency to just six at most (the axe and synth tracks are now tweaked and appear as "tracks" when you activate the Freestyle track. A slo-mo power-up joins the previous single-player roster, which allows for a much easier time of nailing those more complex patterns. In all, little about Amplitude deviates from the original game.
The nuances and improvements that Harmonix made with the general gameplay are probably too numerous and boring to list here, but suffice it to say that in the single-player game, Amplitude is near perfect. It's in the other modes that the most significant changes have taken place.
For starters, the remix mode has been almost completely revamped. Now that all the levels are divided into just four sections, most of your remixes follow suit, allowing for a basic Intro, Chorus, Verse, Chorus breakdown of most songs. There are more layers, of course, but you're essentially crafting four bunches of music rather than one measure at a time like the first game. All of the same effects are present, but some tracks, like the vocals are now enabled all of the time. There's also a constant underlying melody to keep things on track. It would have been nice to be able to drop out vocals or some other background tracks, but it's not a huge deal. Once you've remixed tracks to your liking, you can save them and take them online, where anyone playing with you will just download the track and off you go.
Which brings us to the other big improvement: multiplayer. Sure, there are still offline multiplayer games in the form of the classic song-length face-off, but there are also horse-style duels where you attempt to copy your opponent's pattern and then lay down a complex one of your own, but the bulk of your multiplayer experience will happen online, which is probably the most attractive part of Amplitude outside of the artist list.
See, the online part of FreQency (available with the purchase of a network adaptor) was decent, but it was essentially identical to the experience you'd get offline. With Amplitude, the online mode is almost a complete game in and of itself, and is where the real replay value lies. Once you've boned up on your finger flicking skills with the regular game, you can head online and see exactly how good you really are, thanks to Amplitude's constantly updated ranking system. Log in with your custom FreQ (also a marked improvement over the first game), find a lobby and join a game. The search tool will almost always find you an open game, and then it's simply a matter of jumping into a game and showing everyone what you've got. The online community, it should also be noted, is more than pleasant, it's downright welcoming to newbies. Honestly, if only the online mode existed, it'd still be enough for me to justify the purchase. It's that good.
Amplitude's look furthers the whole "inside a computer" Tron-like cyberscape look. Rather than flying down a tube, however, Amplitude is far, far more wide open, offering a snaking highway that makes an effort to pass by random interesting pieces of eye-candy for anyone happening to watch. Which is the problem, really. While you're playing, your eyes rarely leave the track you're working on, so the background eye candy is really lost on anyone actually playing. Things like looping MPEG videos of the artists or billboards with text that's synched up with the lyrics are rarely taken in, but again, it gives everyone not playing something to stare at.
The look is blown out enough that it could seem gaudy to some, but again, if you're playing, you'll rarely notice anything that makes your eyes hurt. Most impressive of all is that the game usually runs at 60 frames a second as opposed to FreQuency's 30. There's more than a bit of slowdown on some songs, which can end up throwing you off at times, but the probably rarely last for more than a few seconds.
Musically, the game is aimed more towards the mainstream. Artists like P.O.D., Pink, blink-182 and Slipknot were obviously included to appeal to certain types of music fans. Some of the songs, like the blink hit "Rock Show" are fantastic (there's something about "playing" each quick pick of a guitar track), while some of the stuff from Pink, and even some of the later Harmonix songs don't quite hold up to standouts like Chris Child's "Shades of Blue", DJ HMX' "Cool Baby", the absolutely amazing Metro mix of David Bowie's "Everyone Says Hi," and the enormously satisfying remix by the X-ecutioners of Run-DMC's "King of Rock."
Amplitude hasn't lost its electronica-tinged roots entirely. BT, one of my favorite artists, managed to whip up another track for the game, this one seemingly made just for Amplitude. Freezepop's obviously fan-oriented song was definitely written for those that got into the band after one of their best songs appeared in FreQuency. In all, the shift to more mainstream styles is an inevitable change, but that doesn't mean the mainstream songs can't be good. Most are, and it just adds to the list of styles that the game sports to hook more people. The sound samples also seem slightly higher quality than the first game and the separation on tracks is great, which is never a bad thing.
Again, it's almost impossible to really sum up exactly why Amplitude is a marked improvement over what was already an amazingly good game. Part of it lies in subtle tweaks, part of it in both complex and rewarding patterns, part of it in the more gradual learning curve, and part of it in the improvements made to the online game, which really help push it over the edge as one of those must-have titles.
Amplitude is must-have, however, and you would be doing your ears a great disservice if you were to pass over the game because it doesn't quite seem like your thing. I can assure you with complete confidence that it most certainly IS your thing, but you've got to give it a try or two first. While it's more attractive than FreQuency, and easier to wrap your head around, the only real way to see how good Amplitude actually is is to play it. Once you've done so, feel free to drop us a line to tell us what you think. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to trying to crack that elusive 100's ranking online.
Again, Amplitude is simply a refinement of what FreQency did so well a year and a half or so ago. Developer Harmonix has made some very small changes that may see superficial for those that really got into FreQency (and if you haven't, shame on you), but with extended play you begin to notice how much of an improvement the system really is, and moreover, how much more newbie-friendly it is.
It's recommended that you take a peek at this, our review of FreQency, since it lays out the basics of Amplitude. The sequel is at once prettier, more attractive to the typical music buff, more deep and engrossing, and easier to get into than FreQency was. Much of this stems from a shift in difficulty in all but the Insane, the hardest difficulty. Sure, there are smaller things, like moving from up to eight different tracks in FreQency to just six at most (the axe and synth tracks are now tweaked and appear as "tracks" when you activate the Freestyle track. A slo-mo power-up joins the previous single-player roster, which allows for a much easier time of nailing those more complex patterns. In all, little about Amplitude deviates from the original game.
The nuances and improvements that Harmonix made with the general gameplay are probably too numerous and boring to list here, but suffice it to say that in the single-player game, Amplitude is near perfect. It's in the other modes that the most significant changes have taken place.
For starters, the remix mode has been almost completely revamped. Now that all the levels are divided into just four sections, most of your remixes follow suit, allowing for a basic Intro, Chorus, Verse, Chorus breakdown of most songs. There are more layers, of course, but you're essentially crafting four bunches of music rather than one measure at a time like the first game. All of the same effects are present, but some tracks, like the vocals are now enabled all of the time. There's also a constant underlying melody to keep things on track. It would have been nice to be able to drop out vocals or some other background tracks, but it's not a huge deal. Once you've remixed tracks to your liking, you can save them and take them online, where anyone playing with you will just download the track and off you go.
Which brings us to the other big improvement: multiplayer. Sure, there are still offline multiplayer games in the form of the classic song-length face-off, but there are also horse-style duels where you attempt to copy your opponent's pattern and then lay down a complex one of your own, but the bulk of your multiplayer experience will happen online, which is probably the most attractive part of Amplitude outside of the artist list.
See, the online part of FreQency (available with the purchase of a network adaptor) was decent, but it was essentially identical to the experience you'd get offline. With Amplitude, the online mode is almost a complete game in and of itself, and is where the real replay value lies. Once you've boned up on your finger flicking skills with the regular game, you can head online and see exactly how good you really are, thanks to Amplitude's constantly updated ranking system. Log in with your custom FreQ (also a marked improvement over the first game), find a lobby and join a game. The search tool will almost always find you an open game, and then it's simply a matter of jumping into a game and showing everyone what you've got. The online community, it should also be noted, is more than pleasant, it's downright welcoming to newbies. Honestly, if only the online mode existed, it'd still be enough for me to justify the purchase. It's that good.
Amplitude's look furthers the whole "inside a computer" Tron-like cyberscape look. Rather than flying down a tube, however, Amplitude is far, far more wide open, offering a snaking highway that makes an effort to pass by random interesting pieces of eye-candy for anyone happening to watch. Which is the problem, really. While you're playing, your eyes rarely leave the track you're working on, so the background eye candy is really lost on anyone actually playing. Things like looping MPEG videos of the artists or billboards with text that's synched up with the lyrics are rarely taken in, but again, it gives everyone not playing something to stare at.
The look is blown out enough that it could seem gaudy to some, but again, if you're playing, you'll rarely notice anything that makes your eyes hurt. Most impressive of all is that the game usually runs at 60 frames a second as opposed to FreQuency's 30. There's more than a bit of slowdown on some songs, which can end up throwing you off at times, but the probably rarely last for more than a few seconds.
Musically, the game is aimed more towards the mainstream. Artists like P.O.D., Pink, blink-182 and Slipknot were obviously included to appeal to certain types of music fans. Some of the songs, like the blink hit "Rock Show" are fantastic (there's something about "playing" each quick pick of a guitar track), while some of the stuff from Pink, and even some of the later Harmonix songs don't quite hold up to standouts like Chris Child's "Shades of Blue", DJ HMX' "Cool Baby", the absolutely amazing Metro mix of David Bowie's "Everyone Says Hi," and the enormously satisfying remix by the X-ecutioners of Run-DMC's "King of Rock."
Amplitude hasn't lost its electronica-tinged roots entirely. BT, one of my favorite artists, managed to whip up another track for the game, this one seemingly made just for Amplitude. Freezepop's obviously fan-oriented song was definitely written for those that got into the band after one of their best songs appeared in FreQuency. In all, the shift to more mainstream styles is an inevitable change, but that doesn't mean the mainstream songs can't be good. Most are, and it just adds to the list of styles that the game sports to hook more people. The sound samples also seem slightly higher quality than the first game and the separation on tracks is great, which is never a bad thing.
Again, it's almost impossible to really sum up exactly why Amplitude is a marked improvement over what was already an amazingly good game. Part of it lies in subtle tweaks, part of it in both complex and rewarding patterns, part of it in the more gradual learning curve, and part of it in the improvements made to the online game, which really help push it over the edge as one of those must-have titles.
Amplitude is must-have, however, and you would be doing your ears a great disservice if you were to pass over the game because it doesn't quite seem like your thing. I can assure you with complete confidence that it most certainly IS your thing, but you've got to give it a try or two first. While it's more attractive than FreQuency, and easier to wrap your head around, the only real way to see how good Amplitude actually is is to play it. Once you've done so, feel free to drop us a line to tell us what you think. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to trying to crack that elusive 100's ranking online.
