Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding

The Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding launched at the Xbox launch and offered a different way to look at snowboarding. There were no narrow tracks with a finish line - instead there were open slopes on which the player chooses the descent. Do you want to go down in a straight line, or do you want to traverse to look for fresh snow - you decide. The main thing is discoveries and tricks. The point is to get to the right place, get up to speed and do the series, and then get a score from the jury. There are also sponsors: for success they give out money, equipment and public attention, and this is a career with a gradual increase in fame. The tracks are modeled after real mountain locations, and the descent feels like a journey: a long slope gives way to sparse trees, then onto an open plateau where you can fool around to your heart's content. Restarting does not punish, so finding a line through the forest becomes a separate entertainment. It is also worth noting that for successful descents the player receives not only points, but also fame: newspapers and magazines about the snow industry react to the results, and sponsors offer equipment. This mechanism makes skiing meaningful without any obligations - you can simply look for fresh snow and enjoy the fact that you have found a line of descent. The music in the game is chosen to suit the mood of the descent, and not to suit the desire to stun the player. Compared to competitors from other platforms, Amped looked restrained and deliberately serious, without neon effects. For those who want a relaxed ride with some elements of competition, this is a calm and solid option - quieter than the SSX, but fun in its own way.