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> Results: Amplitude
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Scroll down for our Kid Factor. Amplitude is the sequel to the excellent PS2 game, Frequency. In both games, you use three buttons and press them in rhythm to match the rhythm of music played in the background. The necessary notes are provided in by sets of three lines, one for each button, with notes placed on each line. The notes scroll towards you, if two entire bars of music are completed correctly, that instrument is locked on and the player can jump to a new instrument or voice and attempt to play the correct pattern to lock it on. Amplitude is almost exactly the same as Frequency with two minor and one major difference. The first obvious difference is that there is an entirely new set of songs to play, performed primarily by a new set of artists. The second minor difference is that the musical "Score" or playing field is no longer a tube, its now a flat plane. The final, and major addition, is the addition of online play for playing using the PS2 Online Adaptor. There is still the standard single player "adventure" mode to unlock new levels, but playing the game against real humans is often more enjoyable and gives a much longer life to the title. First, a brief mention of the removal of the game tube. In the original Frequency, a player would feel as if he or she were flying through a tube of sound. After flying through a graphical tube for a long length of time, many players would begin to get slightly dizzy and some experienced a feeling of nausea. This has been reduced somewhat by the use of a flat playing field. The downside, however, is that it is now more challenging to keep all the instruments locked in the "on" position since you now sometimes have to scroll from the far left side of the playing field all the way over to the right side. In the old tube model, the farthest you had to travel was half way across the tube. This makes the game more challenging, and is a significant change, but does not greatly change the overall game experience. What has changed the game experience is the online feature. Using the Internet Adaptor, gamers can play against up to 3 opponents online via Sony's match up features. In general, setting up games against one or two other opponents is not difficult, however it is sometimes hard to fill a complete game with four total players. In addition, after a player completes 16 games, he or she is given an overall ranking based on their performance against other players. This is a nice feature and should keep those more hardcore players interested in the game for some time to come. Frequency was a fun game in its own right, and anyone looking for a good quality rhythm game should look no further than its sequel, Amplitude. Special kudos goes to its addition of online gameplay. If you NEED a plot or storyline to your rhythm game, look somewhere else, but this game shows you don't really need one to make a good rhythm game.  Kid Factor: This is a kid-friendly game. It's fairly simple at the easier settings, so that kids with quick reaction times might even perform better than their adults. The music is targeted at the hip-hop crowd so it is a mixed bag. No real offensive lyrics (that I recall), but the songs tend to be the style that would normally be edgy. Beware that watching the screen for a long time might make younger kids (and squeamy adults) mildly nauseous. An even MORE younger kid-friendly rhythm game would be the Parappa the Rapper series, also for PS2 by Sony. It has cartoon characters and a hokey story line. ESRB: E- Everyone Developer:Harmonix Music Systems Producer:Sony Genre: Rhythm Score: 3.5 of 5 
This is a kid-friendly game. It's fairly simple at the easier settings, so that kids with quick reaction times might even perform better than their adults. The music is targeted at the hip-hop crowd so it is a mixed bag. No real offensive lyrics (that I recall), but the songs tend to be the style that would normally be edgy. Beware that watching the screen for a long time might make younger kids (and squeamy adults) mildly nauseous. An even MORE younger kid-friendly rhythm game would be the Parappa the Rapper series, also for PS2 by Sony. It has cartoon characters and a hokey story line.
Kid Factor by Dr. Matt J. Carlson
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