Rhythm Action, BeMani, music game, dancing simulator, interactive musical tool – call ‘em what you will, they aren’t going to disappear any time soon. On the contrary, the genre seems to be getting stronger and is taking over more people’s lives than anyone could ever have imagined. Amplitude, the sequel to Sony’s 2002 sleeper hit Frequency, takes you into a world of tubes, flashing lights and some very trippy dreams.
If you haven’t played, heard of or even seen Frequency before, shame on you. You control a set of three lasers, which travel along a series of “tracks”. The tracks contain targets, which must be hit to keep the music flowing. The targets are placed to the left, right or centre of each track, with your lasers being fired with three of the four shoulder buttons (or three face buttons if you fancy that). If you hit the required number of targets to make up a musical phrase, the track is temporarily activated and plays without you doing anything, meaning you can focus your attentions on another track. The idea of the game is to get as many tracks turned on at once as you can, with the game measuring the amount of time that the full mix is playing for. Along the way, power-ups that complete phrases automatically and double your score are available, adding a little more strategy into the mix.
So, now you know how to play the game. Unlike most other music-related games, Amplitude features a massive change to Frequency’s gameplay, and it is one that adds a huge dose of difficulty to proceedings. Frequency’s songs took place in cylinders, meaning that if you were on the drum track, say, you could spin left or right to get to the guitar track, and it was never more than 3 or 4 steps away. Amplitude however, features a flat playing field, meaning that once you’ve gone as far left as you can go, that track on the far right is always going to be 7 or so steps away, which will doubtless call for some rapid-fire button hammering if you’re going to keep your song pumping. It doesn’t sound like a huge, earth-shattering change, but you wouldn’t believe the difference it makes when you’re trying to concentrate on clearing tracks.
The other major inclusion in Amplitude is the ability to play online. Up to four musicians can get together, battling it out for the highest score or the best combo, whilst those who would like to lengthen their playtime can download remixes from the Sony repository. Wannabe Fatboys can upload their own mixes too, for others to play with if they feel the need.
As for tracks, Amplitude falls a little flat in the face of the huge compilation of tracks that Konami’s Dancing Stage titles provide. Granted in those games, you’ll only ever play a few of them, and what Amplitude lacks in quantity, it certainly makes up for in quality, with the songs being provided by P.O.D, Garbage, Weezer, David Bowie, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Run D.M.C (Yeah!), Pink, Blink 182 and others. All of the tracks seem to suit the game well, however loud and obnoxious they become.
All in all, there are a fair few titles on the shelves for the music lover or bedroom DJ. Amplitude is one of the few that are actually any good. From start to finish, you’ll be addicted to creating “Freqs” and pulling off deft track switches, with the sole intent of impressing whoever is watching. As far as longevity goes, the higher difficulty levels will make you cry, so there is no doubt that if you complete the game on the default setting, there is another challenge, and it is one that you’ll enjoy all over again. Amplitude is superb in every sense of the word.
