There's little doubt in my mind that Amped 3's visual presentation and production is the most nauseating bastardization of Adult Swim and MTV I've ever seen in a game. From the moment you boot it up, you're assaulted with a garish, cartoony "coolness," that frankly left me feeling dizzy and ill after only a few fleeting moments. And there's only so many times I can stand to hear the words "awesome," "dude," and "righteous" spewing forth from the punch-able characters in the game. br/>
Do I hate Amped 3? No. But I really hate the alleged "cool" approach that Indie Built has gone for. But when you try to block out -- and please do try! -- the psychedelia and frothing madness of the game, you're left with a decent enough snowboarding game that's full of open-ended slopes, tons of challenges, and a whole host of customization, unlockables, and so forth.

I'm not even going to try to explain the story aspect of the game, but let's just say you start out as a no-named rider with a group of four other obnoxious friends. The plan is to train your boarding skills and move from slope to slope and peak to peak beating challenges and gaining enough status points and cash to progress. The interface is a little confusing at first, as the screen is littered with different colored icons that mean different things. Once you figure out the legend, it's pretty straightforward, and more importantly, very open-ended.


It's the freedom given to you that makes Amped 3 worth checking out. The multiple mountains are split up into smaller face sections, with each face having many different challenges and courses to beat. You can shoot off at a tangent and tackle any of the none-requisite stuff at will, impressing others on the slopes with your trickery boarding magic.

The trick system is nice and simple enough -- with the idea being to pull off and link huge point-scoring combos together to nail gold awards in the events. Ala Tony Hawk's games, the real key to achieving these massive combos is the use of the butter move (a.k.a. the manual) which allows the skilled player to string together whopping combos including aerials, grinds, and holds for monster points. If anything this version of Amped is much easier to pick up and play than the previous games, which is a good thing for those new to the sport.

The story mode is the way to go for unlocking the various mountains and courses, and once you've braved the wackiness, you'll be left with a large selection of replayability, and opportunities to earn cash with which to trick out your boarder. From clothes, boards, and even new comedy sleds, there's something here to please even the most hardcore snowboarding fans in terms of customization.