Amped 2 for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

I've played my fair share of extreme sports titles. I cut my teeth on Tony Hawk and SSX. I've been to the top of the mountain and saw the yeti. So I was prepared for Amped 2, but it's debatable whether Amped 2 was ready for us.
Alt sports games have a hard time choosing between arcade-style action and grounded realism. It's pretty obvious that Amped 2 is having such an identity crisis.
On the one hand, it seems to be going toward realism, going light on artistic license with on spins, grabs and rails. There's little leeway on your landing and you can't jump 25 feet in the air. On the other hand, smacking snowmen and boarding on telephone poles seem to edge more to the arcade side of things.
The career mode has you impressing the media, scoring big points, showing of for sponsors and competing against other boarders for a high ranking and virtual fame. Of course, that's going to be harder than you thought and this is where Amped 2 gets buried in an avalanche. Whether it's bad ergonomics or a poor try at realism, controlling your snowbound avatar is frightfully difficult. Your boarder will inexplicably turn 90 degrees when grabbing a rail, often causing him to fall on the other end. Turning too hard to one side can cause you to stop dead on the track. Spin tricks often leave you turning to the side, which also leads to a fall and loss of points. A seeming inability to modify your tricks leave you with limited options in your extreme arsenal.
All of this leaves Amped 2 feeling more annoying than action-packed, more frustrating than fun.
I still love my SSX 3. I still consider it the best snowboarding game ever. Amped 2 did nothing to change that perception and I'd recommend SSX 3 highly over it. It was a nice try, Microsoft, but this game hit the snow... hard.

Like I said this game is very realistic. I own the first version of this game and I liked it just as much. To play this game you have to kind of like the whole idea of snowboarding, it's not really the fly high take your board off and flip it around you head type of game (SSX Tricky/ On Tour). Don't get me wrong I love SSX On Tour just as much as the next person but this game is more in a realistic fasion other than 1000 ft. drops and what not. I haven't had the time to beat this game but I'm plannning on it here pretty quick, there is just so many games to play I can't just sit and play one for over an hour.