Now the question is, “Why review games that have already been reviewed dozens of times and already have very reliable index ratings on sites such as www.gamerankings.com?

Well, the answer is Retroviewing! Retroviewing is a term we like to create, and it is when we look at a well-established or sometimes not-so-well-established game and take a look at how it has impacted gaming as a whole. We wish to retroview ground-breaking titles such as the Nintendo 64’s “No Mercy” as well as some very poorly received games such as Rise to Honor for the Playstation 2.

Now you will notice that the previously mentioned games are not necessarily the most popular games for their respective platforms, but they both added something to gaming in general, whether it was adding many new gameplay functions or showing that a well-known actor as hero in a game could still crash and burn with bad gameplay.

Welcome all to a new section on www.someonestolemydomain.com called the “Retroview”. This is a new type of article and we wish to dedicate some web space re-reviewing or “retroviewing” games from various consoles which are at least two years old.

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Platform:	Playstation 2
Date of Release:	March 25, 2003
Developer:	Harmonix
Publisher:	Sony Computer Entertainment
Game Type:	Music/Beat
gamerankings.com Rating:	85%
gamestats.com Rating:	87%

Today’s reviewable game, luckily, is a great one. Amplitude sparked the revolution that is culminating in two games which will be available very soon for various platforms: Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. Literally, Amplitude is the grandpapa of both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band.

Actually, Amplitude is the sequel to a lesser-known gem named “Frequency”. However, Amplitude, in my view, was a larger impact on the “action music” gaming genre since it included close to 20 tracks from popular artists such as David Bowie, Pink, Papa Roach and Blink 182.

Gameplay

Amplitude featured ground-breaking gameplay features. The story in the game and manual were very vaguely stated but who cared. You had big acts such as Garbage and David Bowie to rock on ‘till your neighbours called the cops!

The goal of the game was very similar to the Dance Dance Revolution games since there would be variously coloured buttons flowing from the top of the screen downwards. The goal was to press the relevant button on your Dualshock 2 when the timing was right. There was a spaceship-looking device which zapped the on-screen coloured buttons if you pressed the right controller button at the right time. Sounds easy, right? Not likely so.

The goal of Amplitude was to turn on several “tracks” to a song in order to pass gain points and pass a level. Each song in the game is considered a level. There were approximately 20 songs in total. Tracks within a song were turned on by accurately zapping enough coloured buttons within a highlighted zone to turn on the track. When a track was turned on, you can audibly tell what type of track you turned on. For example, if you turned on the bass track, you’d hear the bass track play for several seconds.

After you turned on one track, the goal was to turn on another track, so the game was in a sense putting you in a virtual music studio with a mixer. Now that your bass track was going, you had to turn on the guitar track by zapping enough coloured buttons on the relevant track. Therefore, this game added some complications to the original Dance Dance Revolution formula of just worrying about one set of buttons to press. In Amplitude, I had to deal with up to 6 tracks! Also, to complicate things, a track would automatically turn off after about 25 to 30 seconds so a person needs to be on the ball, switching your spaceship device back and forth between tracks with the digital pad or left analog stick while zapping buttons with your face and trigger buttons.

The amazing feeling you get when becoming proficient at Amplitude is one of satisfaction and ownership. Unlike other games where you are just trying to “survive” a level or song, you actually feel like you are in a recording studio jamming with a band. You have free movement between tracks to turn on whichever one you want to hear, or if one track got too difficult, you could switch to another track to gain some points before going back to the difficult track.

There are three levels of difficulty and it is suggested that a person not try the hardest difficulty until they are scoring about 95% or over on every song on normal. Those musical coloured buttons fly at you at close to “Slash-like speed” in Guitar Hero III, when that game hits shelves.

Amplitude has a multiplayer mode which was available for both broadband and dial-up Playstation 2 network adapters. This mode was a bit of fun to compete with other online players, but the most fun you’ll have playing Amplitude is with up to 4 players (with a Multitap) on the same console. Then you can scream at your friends and try to kick controllers out of their hands while you are drinking and playing Amplitude!

Gameplay:

92%

Graphics

The graphics in Amplitude were passable in 2003. You are able to create an avatar of sorts with very limited options. Think early EA Sports games or even not some more recent EA Sports games for avatar creation. There were very limited choices for hairstyles, faces, skin colors and gender (well, I hope there was a limited choice for gender!).

Graphics in Amplitude are generally quite blocky for the avatars. Your on-screen dynamo dances around to the beat, although it looks more random than on-beat. The graphics of the gameplay screen are bright, with the various colored buttons streaking down the screen while your zapping device looked like a spaceship.

The graphics in Amplitude were not groundbreaking by any means. The dancing avatars were not even new to gaming since the Dance Dance Revolution games were doing that close to a decade before Amplitude. However, graphics were not the lasting point for Amplitude; this classic was all about gameplay gameplay gameplay!

Graphics:

61%

Sound

Much of Amplitude’s overall rating from major gaming sites was weighted on sound. When a developer makes a game where music is the hero, then the audio is the most important factor. The Sound was very well done is this game, but most of the 9.2 score goes to the cornucopia of acts which Harmonix got signed for Amplitude. Never did I think we could get a game soundtrack including Garbage, Blink 182 and David Bowie. However, you don’t just listen to their songs in the background; you literally play them in the game!

The sound does lose a bit of score because some of the tracks are a bit fuzzy and radio-sounding at times. Amplitude is compatible with Dolby Pro Logic II Surround sound equipment.

Sound:

92%

Impact

Amplitude takes the cake in terms of timeless replayability. Someonestolemydomain.com’s Retroview section takes a look backwards and applauds developers who have made games with unique gameplay and replayability, which in turn has effected how gaming has developed. In Amplitude’s case, without its success, Harmonix would not have likely gone on to create hits like the Guitar Hero series of games and now the recent Rock Band game.

Furthermore, Amplitude is just plain fun. I can always pop it into the Playstation 2 or the Playstation 3 for some fun rocking to some older but sweet pop and rock songs.

Lastly, the greatest and most profitable effect of Amplitude on gaming was that males could now play a Dance Dance Revolution style “beat game” while still looking cool, except when you start bobbing your head to a Pink track. Before Frequency and Amplitude, we dudes were constantly just standing back and watching little 17-year old gals groove at Dance Dance Revolution style games. Now, with Amplitude, we dudes could groove with a game that had edgier music. This led to Harmonix as well as other developers to make beat-style games more catered to men. Therefore, the prognosis and impact of Amplitude on the gaming industry is a sterling 10 out of 10.

Overall Impact:

100%