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
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.
good lord how is every single song in this game a massive banger
not as good as the original, but its still got that Shtuff
One of my favorite rhythm games ever. Its gameplay is extremely refined as it's such a great evolution of the gameplay of Amplitude (PS2) & Frequency. Even though the gameplay is a lot more forgiving than both of those previous titles, it makes up by introducing Super mode, which makes competing for scores a lot less chance based. The soundtrack although is not as great as its predecessors, it did grow on me. The original soundtrack for the campaign has some of my favorite songs, even though I was not a big fan of it at first. The bonus songs have some returning artists like Symbion Project, as well as a lot of indie game soundtracks placing here, as well as just indie artists in general. I still love to return to this game every few months, because it's very easy to get back into, and is always such a fun time to play. It may be the weakest entry, but it's still such a great game.
not as good of a sound selection as the PS2 game imo, plus the fact that the campaign is just original songs means that the music gets kinda samey. the game also has this weird plot, when it doesn't really need it. Something about going into some sort of mind or whatever, who cares man i just wanna play music with my weird spaceship. while gameplaywise it is better than the original, you really need a fantastic soundtrack to accompany the gameplay. Diet god is still god though, so it's still an A-tier game.
It doesn't reach the greatness of the original, but dammit it's still a good time.
Amplitude is a cool game. I'm pretty bad at rhythm games but I really enjoy this one and come back to it pretty often. I'm probably not the best person to review a game like this but I will try because I do believe this game is really good.
Gameplay:
In Amplitude, you play as a little spaceship thing. You fly along lanes corresponding to different "instruments" and shoot the notes on those lanes. Your wrack up points by successfully completing two segments of a lane in a row. It's a really fun idea that makes for some fast paced gameplay. Amplitude also allows players to change the difficulty, as well as having very customizable controls, so the game can be enjoyed by all skill levels. (I personally always play on intermediate but I am starting branch into advanced)
While I did praise the lane switching mechanic, I do have some gripes with it. First of all, I really think vocals should have been part of the backing track. I really hate having to prioritize vocals lanes just because having them cut out while I'm unable to get to them totally takes me out of the groove. It is a nitpick but it still detracts massively from the experience. Another annoying thing about lane switching is having right notes at the beginning of segments and automatically missing them because there's no time to shoot them. It's really aggravating to have runs ruined by that. You do have a health bar in Amplitude. Failing a segment will remove a piece of health and succeeding will add one. There's also "restore points" throughout a song that will, of course, restore health.
Amplitude has four ships to choose from though they don't effect anything besides appearance. There's also some power-ups you can collect. I don't use them often but they all seem to be useful. It can also be played with three other people and has a pretty fun multiplayer experience.
Music and visuals:
Amplitude has a wide selection of songs. It mostly focuses on techno and EDM but there are a few other genres snuck in there. The game has a good balance of original and "outsider" music. The "outsider" music includes songs from indie artists and indie game soundtracks. I personally really love the song selection. The game's introduced me to so many good songs and artists and I still listen to many of the game's original songs to this day. There are a few I consider misses but definitely nothing bad enough to weigh the soundtrack down.
Amplitude has a very nice, high-tech visual style. There's a lot of use of black contrasted with bright colors and it looks cool. However, in gameplay, the backgrounds can tend to get very bright and flashy. It's not necessarily bad but I definitely would NOT recommend playing this game in a dark room. You will not have a good time.
Conclusion:
Amplitude is a solid rhythm game that can be enjoyed by all skill levels. Despite its small flaws, it's still a fun game worth its price tag. I'd recommend this game if you're a rhythm game fan or if you're someone wanting to find a rhythm game that's not gonna kick your butt by default.
Gameplay:
In Amplitude, you play as a little spaceship thing. You fly along lanes corresponding to different "instruments" and shoot the notes on those lanes. Your wrack up points by successfully completing two segments of a lane in a row. It's a really fun idea that makes for some fast paced gameplay. Amplitude also allows players to change the difficulty, as well as having very customizable controls, so the game can be enjoyed by all skill levels. (I personally always play on intermediate but I am starting branch into advanced)
While I did praise the lane switching mechanic, I do have some gripes with it. First of all, I really think vocals should have been part of the backing track. I really hate having to prioritize vocals lanes just because having them cut out while I'm unable to get to them totally takes me out of the groove. It is a nitpick but it still detracts massively from the experience. Another annoying thing about lane switching is having right notes at the beginning of segments and automatically missing them because there's no time to shoot them. It's really aggravating to have runs ruined by that. You do have a health bar in Amplitude. Failing a segment will remove a piece of health and succeeding will add one. There's also "restore points" throughout a song that will, of course, restore health.
Amplitude has four ships to choose from though they don't effect anything besides appearance. There's also some power-ups you can collect. I don't use them often but they all seem to be useful. It can also be played with three other people and has a pretty fun multiplayer experience.
Music and visuals:
Amplitude has a wide selection of songs. It mostly focuses on techno and EDM but there are a few other genres snuck in there. The game has a good balance of original and "outsider" music. The "outsider" music includes songs from indie artists and indie game soundtracks. I personally really love the song selection. The game's introduced me to so many good songs and artists and I still listen to many of the game's original songs to this day. There are a few I consider misses but definitely nothing bad enough to weigh the soundtrack down.
Amplitude has a very nice, high-tech visual style. There's a lot of use of black contrasted with bright colors and it looks cool. However, in gameplay, the backgrounds can tend to get very bright and flashy. It's not necessarily bad but I definitely would NOT recommend playing this game in a dark room. You will not have a good time.
Conclusion:
Amplitude is a solid rhythm game that can be enjoyed by all skill levels. Despite its small flaws, it's still a fun game worth its price tag. I'd recommend this game if you're a rhythm game fan or if you're someone wanting to find a rhythm game that's not gonna kick your butt by default.
Best gameplay in the series but the song variety is rough. If you like the music than you'll love this game. It's incredibly satisfying and a blast to playthrough. One of my favorite rhythm games.
I was first exposed to the concepts laid out in this game when I was a kid and had lego rock band on the ds. rather than going the guitar hero ds accessory route (a wise move, as those were rendered obselete once the gba slot was removed from the dsi on), harmonix's handheld rock bands followed in the footsteps of the original amplitude, where each instrument was given a separate track of notes, and the game encouraged you to switch between tracks at the end of each measure (or phrase). since I really enjoyed that rock band game (heavily compressed and truncated tunes aside), I was eager to give this title a go after getting it as a ps+ freebie.
after playing it.... it's fine really. I was a little surprised that this wasn't a remake of the original but instead a reboot of sorts, with a concept album about neuroscience(?) serving as the solo campaign and half of the tracklist. there are flashes of brilliance in the music here but it has an oddly anachronistic mid-00s electronic sound to much of it, which I suppose is fitting for a reboot of a game from that era. regardless, while I found it interesting on a first playthrough, I quickly realized I had no intentions on going back for more if I could help it. on the gameplay side, it's again fine but feels somewhat shallow. there's certainly much more time I could spend practicing to get up to higher difficulties, but given the shallow nature of the mechanics I didn't feel pushed to after a few hours of play.
certainly not a terrible game, and it accomplishes what it sets out to do, but nothing really phenomenal here either. there are another set of songs beyond the main campaign as well, but these aren't any better than the normal tunes, with no big licensed tracks as in the original. I don't see myself redownloading this to try it out again anytime soon.
after playing it.... it's fine really. I was a little surprised that this wasn't a remake of the original but instead a reboot of sorts, with a concept album about neuroscience(?) serving as the solo campaign and half of the tracklist. there are flashes of brilliance in the music here but it has an oddly anachronistic mid-00s electronic sound to much of it, which I suppose is fitting for a reboot of a game from that era. regardless, while I found it interesting on a first playthrough, I quickly realized I had no intentions on going back for more if I could help it. on the gameplay side, it's again fine but feels somewhat shallow. there's certainly much more time I could spend practicing to get up to higher difficulties, but given the shallow nature of the mechanics I didn't feel pushed to after a few hours of play.
certainly not a terrible game, and it accomplishes what it sets out to do, but nothing really phenomenal here either. there are another set of songs beyond the main campaign as well, but these aren't any better than the normal tunes, with no big licensed tracks as in the original. I don't see myself redownloading this to try it out again anytime soon.
I was part of the Kickstarter campaign for this game because I loved the original and Frequency so much. Those games felt truly unique. This one feels... blah?
I mean, the gameplay is obviously similar to OG Amplitude, but the music feels extremely phoned in. There's no variety. There's this sort of story, I guess, that plays out as you progress through the tracks that does nothing and feels unnecessary.
I know what Harmonix is capable of and this just felt a bit disappointing.
I mean, the gameplay is obviously similar to OG Amplitude, but the music feels extremely phoned in. There's no variety. There's this sort of story, I guess, that plays out as you progress through the tracks that does nothing and feels unnecessary.
I know what Harmonix is capable of and this just felt a bit disappointing.
THE DISCO BALL BOUNCES AND CRASHES STRAIGHT DOWN
SMASHES TO PIECES A TERRIBLE SOUND
MIRRORS ARE SHATTERED WHILE EVERYONE CHEERS
GLASS AND DISASTER WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?!
SMASHES TO PIECES A TERRIBLE SOUND
MIRRORS ARE SHATTERED WHILE EVERYONE CHEERS
GLASS AND DISASTER WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?!
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
Rhythm game from the Guitar Hero creators, interesting if you liked to play GH on the PS controllers.
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.
Alex and i kepted beating each others high scores.
A hugely disappointing reboot of the PS2 classic. Soundtrack takes a huge hit in quality and variety and instead feels more slapped together as a whole. Aesthetics don't really have any style or bite like Amplitude or even FreQuency had.
Hugely disappointed but at least a few songs are mega bangers.
Hugely disappointed but at least a few songs are mega bangers.
One of my alltime favorite musical games. I played this damn thing so much I started getting perfect runs while muted and listening to OTHER MUSIC. i started absentmindedly tapping the shoulder buttons while i was playing a DIFFERENT GAME. everyone in my house got this soundtrack stuck in their heads. I come back to this game every couple of months. Top tier.
It was fine? I don't remember why, but I didn't like it despite loving rhythm games.
After playing through the original Amplitude and the Frequency follow-up, I find the revival of the series to be an odd one at best. I do like that the core game-play feels right at home with the PS2 series, and rightfully improves upon it. I like the sci-fi narrative and venturing to different parts of the brain. I like the presentation, graphics, and overall art style as well. So why the hesitation to call this good? Since it's a rhythm game, all rhythm games live and die on the quality of the music and Amplitude simply does not cut it. It could be because the music was made in-house or because the style of music they went for feels awfully generic for EDM even in 2016, or that the way the music is mixed just sounds like utter cacophony at times. Whatever it is, I personally don't care for 80% of the music on here. You couldn't convince me to listen to it on my own time which is sad because it has artists I otherwise like (ie, Jim Guthrie, Freezepop, C418). It sucks we may never get any follow-through for this unique rhythm-game series, but I have to admit this is mediocre at best.
Christ is this game DIFFICULT
This is a trophy hunting review
Amplitude is easily one of my favourite rhythm games on PS4. It has a pretty solid soundtrack and unique mechanics throughout. I never played the PS2 original title, but hopefully someday I will. The game is fairly difficult for those not used to rhythm titles played with a controller and not a unique peripheral.
Amplitude is easily one of my favourite rhythm games on PS4. It has a pretty solid soundtrack and unique mechanics throughout. I never played the PS2 original title, but hopefully someday I will. The game is fairly difficult for those not used to rhythm titles played with a controller and not a unique peripheral.
I was excited for this game as a fan of the OG and understand that licensing a plethora of artists across multiple genres is very expensive and not really possible for a Harmonix kickstarter project but turning this into a bathos-filled fugly EDM-opera about a dreaming coma patient's attempt to wake up as symbolized thru hyperliteral safe for work rap was.... maybe not the way to go here! Some of the ugliest music I have ever heard!
here are a few mad lyrical samplings CAUTION do NOT look up how any of the tracks from Amplitude 2016 sound or you WILL sustain permanent injury:
"You gotta fight and make right with you mind
You gotta break through this
You gotta fight, run the light, cleanse your mind
Digital Paralysis"
"Bombard the gates with explosions of four chords
You'll know they're bleeding when the distortion strikes
They had their chance but their first mistake was fighting on our ground--A battlefield of sound"
"There's too many sensations of Amplified Spectrum
Visions of ultraviolet sound, corroding my brain
I feel you trying to free me, free me from my mind
It might be too late, my sweet sweet synesthete"
here are a few mad lyrical samplings CAUTION do NOT look up how any of the tracks from Amplitude 2016 sound or you WILL sustain permanent injury:
"You gotta fight and make right with you mind
You gotta break through this
You gotta fight, run the light, cleanse your mind
Digital Paralysis"
"Bombard the gates with explosions of four chords
You'll know they're bleeding when the distortion strikes
They had their chance but their first mistake was fighting on our ground--A battlefield of sound"
"There's too many sensations of Amplified Spectrum
Visions of ultraviolet sound, corroding my brain
I feel you trying to free me, free me from my mind
It might be too late, my sweet sweet synesthete"