A Kickstarter-funded PS4 sequel to the PS2 original finally enters the stage…
Harmonix have been busy lately with the 4th Rock Band title, but there has been a game they have brought back from the dead…Amplitude, which itself was a sequel to a previous title by the name of Frequency. The original PS2 gameplay is intact with this reboot, but it has a very different tracklist. The original had tracks from the likes of David Bowie (Rest in Peace, Sir Ziggy Stardust) Pink, Weezer, Blink-182, Slipknot and Garbage to name a few. The Kickstarter remake? Not so many big names return, which is a surprise considering the original established Harmonix as a big name.
Harmonix themselves have self-produced the majority of the game’s tracks, while a few other artists who I am unfamiliar with also contribute. The names Kodomo, C418, Single White Infidel and M-Cue might mean something to you, but certainly not to me…I’m not exactly the go-to-guy when it comes to indie/newer artists, give me Queen or Bowie any day.
If you haven’t played the original, but have played Rock Band/Guitar Hero…then you will feel a slight familiarity with the way the game works. Notes will fly down a board as in those games, but you will have to switch between different boards of the song such as the bass, lyrics, drums, guitar sections while trying to maintain a streak. Switching between them while keeping track of the song is pretty tricky, as well as not being able to use any peripheral…you will be stuck with the DualShock 4, which will take some getting used to. It’s not the easiest game to play, that’s for sure…it would have been nice to have some guitar controller compatibility, but I suppose the Kickstarter target would have had to be higher to get that.
That’s probably why the songs are self-produced, budget. Amplitude does look like a great game while you are playing though, so the $844,127 raised has been spent well enough. Chances are we would have got the likes of Garbage and Blink-182 to do a song if the target was higher, but then again it might happen via DLC…we all know what Harmonix are like for that in music games. As a music game goes, Amplitude does more than enough to warrant a go…I just wish the tracklist had at least one name on it that I recognised, but that’s just me. You might however, so don’t let that hold you back.
Even if you don’t recognise any of the names or songs on the game, the gameplay itself is fast-paced madness as you would expect. There’s definitely a reason why this game reached it’s Kickstarter goal, there’s more than an audience for it and Harmonix have definitely used the money well.
The Verdict
Amplitude may not have massive stars in it’s tracklist, but it is addictive and has tons of replay value. It would have been nice to have some instrument peripheral support, but other than that it’s well worth taking this game out on tour.