I got it and love it. Great game! Better than the first. I'll post a more indepth review later.

In the meantime add me to your list if you want to play live: Bob Roberts

Game looks great but I already own the first one. Worth an upgrade?

Yes. Especially if you have XBL.

The discussion in this thread is just too much to keep up with! Information overload! AH!

On another note, I've got it sealed right now to possibly trade in November at TRU, but I'm debating opening it. How "sim" is it? I didn't play the first one, but love the SSX series (though from what I understand, this is nothing like SSX?).

It's as sim to snowboarding as Tony Hawk is to skateboarding or ESPN football is to football.

IGN Amped 2 review Score 9.0

IGN Amped 1 Score 8.5

Gamespot Amped 2 review Score 7.0

Gamespot Amped 1 score 6.7

Amped takes a lot of time to learn how to play. I get the feeling the Gamespot guy didn't invest the amount of time it takes to really enjoy the game just like someone who sucks at TH couldn't jump into THUG and make it look fun/cool. Gamespot are also renowned for putting very few hours into their reviews.

The same guy did the reviews for both SSX 3 and Amped 2. If he didn't take the time to get used to Amped 2 (like I didn't when I rented the first one), then I could see him being biased.

Edit: He does complain about the controls in Amped 2 being "cumbersome."

Yeah I see what you are saying. He makes that the specific reference to SSX being very easy to learn how to play and pickup and then uses that as a minus against Amped. Since when is a game being difficult make it bad? Once you master Amped it's really fun, ditto TH. Makes the game much deep. I'll be playing Amped 2 until March or later.

Edit: Cumbersome at first, very easy after a while.

Add me and teach me the slopes online!

I'll be getting it eventually, but no XBL here.

When I played the first Amped, I initially hated it. I was expecting a snowbaording version of Tony Hawk. After I gave it a little bit of time though, I started to get the rythm of the game. I ended up really enjoying it. It really is more of a sim than most of the extreme sport games.

The second game improves on the first quite a bit. IGN mentioned in their review that landing tricks is easier, and that is certainly the case. You used to have to have your board basically perfectly straight in order to land a jump. Now there is a lot more leeway. I think this is a great improvement, making the game much less frustrating.

The graphics are a little better in this one too. 720p support is nice, and the mountain preview run looks great on a nice widescreen TV. This is one of the games that I think really takes advantage of what the XBOX can do. Playing in 720p widescreen, listening to a custom soundtrack, and playing online at the same time... this is the way games should be.