Amplitude is a reboot of the critically-acclaimed controller-based rhythm action game developed by Harmonix and originally released in 2003 Amplitude features over 20 songs composed for an optimal beatmatching experience by Harmonix with contributions from Freezepop, Danny B, Jim Guthrie, and more. Many of the developers from the original game are actively working on the reboot. The new Amplitude will be treated like a classic, sci-fi concept album. There is a narrative that runs through the game and surfaces in many ways through the visuals, music and song lyrics. Players will speed down long, winding paths made up of the different musical elements of a song. Each track is differentiated with the musical sounds of synthesizers, drums, vocals, and bass. As players blast away the patterns of gems on these tracks, they release musical energy and recreate the hidden song within. Gameplay remains easy to pick up and difficult to master. Achieving a top score will be a challenge and therefore worth bragging about via online leaderboards. Amplitude supports up to four players locally. Challenge your friends and use devastating power-ups during frenetic multiplayer matches to secure your place at the top.
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A sequel to the original Amplitude (which was called Amplitude) that was marketed as a remake to the original Amplitude.
From a core gameplay perspective, it's pretty great. It makes a lot of small improvements that not only help you improve your rhythmic button-tapping skills, but opens more opportunities for the game designers to be creative with the stage maps themselves, this is easily one of the most tightly-designed rhythm games in Harmonix's portfolio.
The presentation itself is noticeably more cold, and darker in tone. No kooky cartoon characters to customize, and nearly all the music stages are original compositions, as Harmonix likely couldn't license music out for this smaller-scale project. Therefore, gone are those stretched out, billboard-like profiles for each song and their respective artist. There's even a bit of a story behind the main campaign, although most of it are just a handful of voice lines as the stage begins.
To be frank, much of what I'm describing I think just comes down to a money issue. Harmonix didn't have Sony's publishing power this time. No doubt that was how they were able to get so many hit songs for the original game, and why this new title has literally none.
Regardless, the raw gameplay elevates the quality to a huge level, and I thought it was great! Especially impressive that there's very little input lag on a modern console, even with large HDTVs! Good stuff, too bad Harmonix is a shell of its former self lol
From a core gameplay perspective, it's pretty great. It makes a lot of small improvements that not only help you improve your rhythmic button-tapping skills, but opens more opportunities for the game designers to be creative with the stage maps themselves, this is easily one of the most tightly-designed rhythm games in Harmonix's portfolio.
The presentation itself is noticeably more cold, and darker in tone. No kooky cartoon characters to customize, and nearly all the music stages are original compositions, as Harmonix likely couldn't license music out for this smaller-scale project. Therefore, gone are those stretched out, billboard-like profiles for each song and their respective artist. There's even a bit of a story behind the main campaign, although most of it are just a handful of voice lines as the stage begins.
To be frank, much of what I'm describing I think just comes down to a money issue. Harmonix didn't have Sony's publishing power this time. No doubt that was how they were able to get so many hit songs for the original game, and why this new title has literally none.
Regardless, the raw gameplay elevates the quality to a huge level, and I thought it was great! Especially impressive that there's very little input lag on a modern console, even with large HDTVs! Good stuff, too bad Harmonix is a shell of its former self lol
Hey gamers
I was made aware of Amplitude last year from playing Rock Band 4 as one of the songs on its setlist, Recession, was made for the Amplitude remake. After further research, the original Amplitude is a sequel to Frequency, which are the first two games Harmonix published. Being a nearly lifelong Guitar Hero / Rock Band player, I have a huge amount of respect for Harmonix. This new version of Amplitude had been at the back of my mind ever since, and I decided to give it a go a year later.
The gameplay of Amplitude consists of traveling down lanes that correspond to each aspect of the song (drums, synths, bass, vocals, and guitar). You shoot the gems on the corresponding lane to play that instrument, and if you hit all the gems in a given sequence, the instrument continues playing on its own as its corresponding lane disappears. Several measures later, the instrument fades from the mix and its corresponding lane spawns back. You're essentially building and maintaining the mix of the song through the game. It's a creative idea and one that I enjoyed playing. The electronic setlist works really well for this game, and it's incredibly charming and nostalgic for me. I love the art direction, and the concept album campaign is a cool idea. There is a large learning curve, and I still have a fair way to go to overcoming it. At this point, I can FC most songs on intermediate, I can reliably 2-bar every song on advanced, but I struggle to pass half of them on expert. I think it's safe to say I won't be earning the platinum trophy. I can't believe I'm saying this, but after playing GH/RB for well over a decade, it was oddly enjoyable to be this bad at a rhythm game again.
I do think, however, that this version of Amplitude has two major shortcomings. The first is the lack of standout tracks. I do like the electronic genre of the setlist, but it's not something I could sink my teeth into for hours at a time. I don't see myself coming back to the game to play some of these songs often. Plus, since it's a single genre, the experience feels one-note. With only 30 songs, Amplitude doesn't have the longevity that most GH/RB games do.
The other is that it's incredibly difficult, even impossible in some cases, to maintain your combo due to the many obstructions and distractions it throws at you. You could argue that it's like sight-reading sheet music as you have to look ahead to play properly, but I disagree. It's more like sight-reading sheet music while a cat keeps getting in your way trying to knock the paper off the stand. I can think of a few solutions that would make things so much easier: Colour coordinate the notes depending on which of the three note lanes it belongs to à la GH/RB, have the instrument lanes spawn adjacent to the one you're currently on, don't have the lanes curve as they travel, move the camera further away, zoom out, or lock the camera in place like in the multiplayer mode.
At the very least, Amplitude succeeds the task that many rhythm games strive for: It is made by and for people who have a passion for music, and it will help people appreciate music in a new light. You can clearly experience Harmonix's love of music through this game. Much like how GH/RB inspired many to learn the guitar, bass, drums, and/or singing, myself included, I can easily see someone citing Amplitude as an inspiration for them to pursue sound mixing or beat creation. That's the power of rhythm games, and I feel comfortable with Amplitude being cemented as a worthwhile addition to the genre. I may not love it as much as GH/RB, but I respect what it's doing and I'm glad to have played it.
Favourite songs:
- 2. Wetware - Harmonix
- 3. Dreamer - Harmonix
- 4. Recession - Jeff Allen ft. Noelle LeBlanc and Naoko Takamoto
- 5. Break for Me - James Landino ft. Noelle LeBlanc
- Lights - Wolfgun
- Phantoms - Freezepop
I was made aware of Amplitude last year from playing Rock Band 4 as one of the songs on its setlist, Recession, was made for the Amplitude remake. After further research, the original Amplitude is a sequel to Frequency, which are the first two games Harmonix published. Being a nearly lifelong Guitar Hero / Rock Band player, I have a huge amount of respect for Harmonix. This new version of Amplitude had been at the back of my mind ever since, and I decided to give it a go a year later.
The gameplay of Amplitude consists of traveling down lanes that correspond to each aspect of the song (drums, synths, bass, vocals, and guitar). You shoot the gems on the corresponding lane to play that instrument, and if you hit all the gems in a given sequence, the instrument continues playing on its own as its corresponding lane disappears. Several measures later, the instrument fades from the mix and its corresponding lane spawns back. You're essentially building and maintaining the mix of the song through the game. It's a creative idea and one that I enjoyed playing. The electronic setlist works really well for this game, and it's incredibly charming and nostalgic for me. I love the art direction, and the concept album campaign is a cool idea. There is a large learning curve, and I still have a fair way to go to overcoming it. At this point, I can FC most songs on intermediate, I can reliably 2-bar every song on advanced, but I struggle to pass half of them on expert. I think it's safe to say I won't be earning the platinum trophy. I can't believe I'm saying this, but after playing GH/RB for well over a decade, it was oddly enjoyable to be this bad at a rhythm game again.
I do think, however, that this version of Amplitude has two major shortcomings. The first is the lack of standout tracks. I do like the electronic genre of the setlist, but it's not something I could sink my teeth into for hours at a time. I don't see myself coming back to the game to play some of these songs often. Plus, since it's a single genre, the experience feels one-note. With only 30 songs, Amplitude doesn't have the longevity that most GH/RB games do.
The other is that it's incredibly difficult, even impossible in some cases, to maintain your combo due to the many obstructions and distractions it throws at you. You could argue that it's like sight-reading sheet music as you have to look ahead to play properly, but I disagree. It's more like sight-reading sheet music while a cat keeps getting in your way trying to knock the paper off the stand. I can think of a few solutions that would make things so much easier: Colour coordinate the notes depending on which of the three note lanes it belongs to à la GH/RB, have the instrument lanes spawn adjacent to the one you're currently on, don't have the lanes curve as they travel, move the camera further away, zoom out, or lock the camera in place like in the multiplayer mode.
At the very least, Amplitude succeeds the task that many rhythm games strive for: It is made by and for people who have a passion for music, and it will help people appreciate music in a new light. You can clearly experience Harmonix's love of music through this game. Much like how GH/RB inspired many to learn the guitar, bass, drums, and/or singing, myself included, I can easily see someone citing Amplitude as an inspiration for them to pursue sound mixing or beat creation. That's the power of rhythm games, and I feel comfortable with Amplitude being cemented as a worthwhile addition to the genre. I may not love it as much as GH/RB, but I respect what it's doing and I'm glad to have played it.
Favourite songs:
- 2. Wetware - Harmonix
- 3. Dreamer - Harmonix
- 4. Recession - Jeff Allen ft. Noelle LeBlanc and Naoko Takamoto
- 5. Break for Me - James Landino ft. Noelle LeBlanc
- Lights - Wolfgun
- Phantoms - Freezepop
One of my favorite rhythm games. I always love returning to it as it sourced and the harmonix team wrote some great tracks for an original OST that's pretty great all around. The gameplay is pretty good, basically what you'd get if you played guitar hero on a controller, and works pretty well for that.
Rhythm game from the Guitar Hero creators, interesting if you liked to play GH on the PS controllers.
good lord how is every single song in this game a massive banger
I've played a lot of rhythm games and none of them have ever quite done it for me like Amplitude. I try other games and alway find my way back here, and I think I always will. There are some songs I'm still bad at, and probably always will be. But that's comforting in a way because it means I can never really be done.
The most important thing, the soundtrack, is fantastic and I wish it was available anywhere other than Youtube. My fingers still tap out the rhythms when I'm humming them to myself. The guest songs are also great - Impossible from Transistor is a highlight - but the tracklist is overall a bit short. It makes them all feel comfortable and familiar, but I'd by lying if I said I didn't regularly wish there were more.
The patterns are satisyingly complex, and always feel great to pull off. The visuals are easy to forget about, which is purposeful - it's all colorful and trippy, and really gets you in a flow state that makes it easy to feel accomplished from short and long play sessions.
Long song short, Amplitude is comfy, easy to pick up, and endlessly replayable. Just please give me easier access to the soundtrack.
The most important thing, the soundtrack, is fantastic and I wish it was available anywhere other than Youtube. My fingers still tap out the rhythms when I'm humming them to myself. The guest songs are also great - Impossible from Transistor is a highlight - but the tracklist is overall a bit short. It makes them all feel comfortable and familiar, but I'd by lying if I said I didn't regularly wish there were more.
The patterns are satisyingly complex, and always feel great to pull off. The visuals are easy to forget about, which is purposeful - it's all colorful and trippy, and really gets you in a flow state that makes it easy to feel accomplished from short and long play sessions.
Long song short, Amplitude is comfy, easy to pick up, and endlessly replayable. Just please give me easier access to the soundtrack.