Okay, now I'm officially over the commitment hump

[jducoeur]

I finally got to pull out Amplitude, one of my Christmas presents and a game that I've been waiting for for a long time. This is the sequel to Frequency, probably my all-time favorite game, a sort of fingers-driven version of DDR.

IMO, the original was slightly better -- they spent a lot more time on glitzy graphics this time around, which is probably good for sales but I just found them a distraction. And they made a conscious decision to broaden the musical selection, which again should broaden the appeal, but personally I found the electronica-heavy original better.

Still, the sequel is better than anything else I've played in ages. And the sequel gets the difficulty levels right this time, so that a wimp like me can get a lot further in the game. Ah, relaxation through a good beat...

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

brynndragon got me addicted to this. Recently I even managed to beat her in head-to-head on one song, which amazed me...

The notes-in-a-line thing really messes with my musician brain. And I keep trying to learn the fingering for the real notes, rather than the available three. :-0

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

I was at a presentation and post mortem given by Greg LoPiccolo where he talked about the design decisions that went into the changes between Frequency and Amplitude. They were really interesting, and do make the game more immediately engaging, although as a fairly hardcore gamer, I agree that the original was better.

Amplitude has fewer people I know on it, too... (I interned at WJUL at the same time as Ethan Eves.) I sure didn't miss the mad drum and bass from the first game, either. While I find it enjoyable and listenable, having actual patterns to learn works a lot better for a rhythm game...

[jducoeur]

Yeah -- Greg had a Post Mortem in Game Developer magazine, talking about the reasons for their changes the second time around. Can't argue with the logic, even if I preferred the simpler version.

I'm always kind of amused by this game series, actually. I worked for Greg briefly at Looking Glass, and even then he had this idea for a game where you are running along rails in a simplified 3D world. The music part seems to have come later, but it's neat to see that the game did kind of happen, eventually, and was worth him pushing it for the five years it took to make it do so...

Backward as usual :)

[dmnsqrl.livejournal.com]

I have not yet seen Frequency in play (didn't even know it existed until recently)

A few months ago I saw Amplitude at a friend's place and fell in love with it. Hand-eye-ear coordination training that made sense and was enjoyable!

Dan-my-Beloved bought me a PS/2 for my birthday (Hah! like he won't be using it as much or more than I) and Amplitude. I've been having a lot of fun with it even though I'm not ready for anything more than "mellow" yet. (At least not until I can get all the way through Dieselboy)

So how is Frequency different from Amplitude (besides the tighter focus on electronica)?

Re: Backward as usual :)

[jducoeur]

Well, it's not all electronica, by any means. But in general it casts a slightly less wide net musically; IMO, a little more of the music really works well for the use they're putting it to.

The main thing you'll notice is that it's graphically *much* simpler than Amplitude. Personally, I like that: I think Amplitude's backgrounds are a bit distracting.

Functionally, there are a few smallish changes. Frequency is more abstract: you don't have the spaceship blasting the notes, you just have the pads to catch them in. There aren't quite as many types of powerups.

Most importantly, where in Amplitude the tracks are laid out side-by-side, in Frequency you're essentially flying down an octagonal tunnel. That's my biggest single complaint about Amplitude: I often just don't *see* the tracks that are all the way on the other side of the board. In Frequency, you can generally see all of the tracks pretty much all of the time, so I find that I can react just a little faster.

And no worries about still being on Mellow. I never have gotten through Frequency on Normal. (I'm fairly good by now, but there's a tuning bug in the middle of Frequency -- it gets just a little too difficult for us wimps somewhere around track ten.) In general, this is the one thing Amplitude really gets right. When you play Frequency on Easy, there are fully eight (IIRC) tracks that simply aren't available. In Amplitude, it's only two, which I (as a confirmed wimp) greatly prefer.

Re: Backward as usual :)

[dmnsqrl.livejournal.com]

Ok, well when I first saw it in the store (after having brought home Amplitude and initially thinking it was maybe a _sequel_ to Amplitude :) I wondered if it would be worth it to get. Now I'm thinking I'll invest in Frequency, too :) Thanks! :)

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

do you know _rez_? i love it! it's very fun.

i've seen a game called unison, and i wonder how that is. then we have pa rappa the rappa, and space channel 5 :) there's another one or two along those lines, but i forgot the names.

THEN there's unity. sweety elusive not yet released for the gamecube (only!) unity. of jeff minter fame (www.yakyak.org and search for details). apparently it's a lovely and wild particle engine Virtual Light Machine harnessed as a game, and later, you can just free form and interact in realtime with the VLM :> yum.

i think a quick nap, and some ps2 :)