Summary

I am only half way through the game and even though I know it is odd to be writing a review when you have not even finished the game, I just can't help myself. Amped 2 was the first game ever played on my Xbox. Being it is only 3 weeks old I am still pretty excited about it. Amped 2 is an awesome game for anyone who has spent as much time on the slopes as I have. I live in Australia but have skiied all over the world and actually learnt to board on the slopes of Breckenridge so you can imagine my excitment when I found all my favourite moutains in the line up for Amped 2 career mode. I love this game. Even after you have completed a level you can go back and search for all the gaps and tricks and.... snowmen to help you complete it fully and test your skills with the pro. And don't even get me started on the snowmen. Their little catch phrases that you hear when you get close to one of them make your ears prick up like a hunting animal who can hear something in the trees. When you have completed everything else on a level accept the snowmen, your eyes squint down and you search for the little things until it sends you mentle. After a while you just want to give up but when you get one after looking for a long time there is a sense of incredible satisfaction I have been known to do a little dance. Then on the rest of the way down the hill you hear... "Come find me..... come find me.. come find me...." and it all beigns again. It's the little things like this that make this game so good. Even when you are stuck on a level you can do things like search for the snowmen, complete tricks and gaps in earlier levels that help you move on.

Sound

The soundtrack to this game is incredible. I have even found myself walking around singing some of those songs cause I can't get them out of my head. The sound effects are both clever and annoying at the same time. The thuds your boarder can crash with are enough to make you cringe and close one eye in (for me) empathetic pain. The photographers in the media sections can cause you to loose your trick out of surprise for their crazy snowboarder media lingo and sometimes if you intensly trying to pass a level, turn their sound off. I caught myself swearing back at them out loud more than once. Embarassing i know however none the less, very true. Speaking of swearing back at them.. I know I have already covered the snowmen but if you get the game you will know what I mean.

Gameplay

Against all my better just-start-playing instincts, I found that the tutorial was more important than anything else. The game handles very well but my biggest problem is to not get too greedy with my tricks and make sure I just land what I can do instead. The hardest thing is to not go into pro mode and play as a pro because they have better skills they land all their tricks very easily which makes going back to my own uncoordinated boarder is almost depressing. Tricks are amazing to see yourself do. Jumps, grabs, rails, you'll find yourself going between them all as your favorite to try. Super long rails on the chair lift cables are my favourite and current specialty. A word of advice: If you don't have the money, lock your car keys up to stop yourself from driving direct to the nearest snow mountain for some of your own fun after playing this game.