The Amplitude Compendium ------------------------ By: Jim Govoni, "cinder" cinder@retrogames.com .......... 1234567890 Main Entry: com·pen·di·um Pronunciation: k&m-'pen-dE-&m Date: 1589 1 : a brief summary of a larger work or of a field of knowledge Version 1.0 - 9:02 PM 4/6/2003 - Changes: Finished everything up ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: I. Introduction and Information II. Changes from Frequency III. Song List, Artist Info and Song Analysis a. Neotropolis (Stage 1) b. Beat Factory (Stage 2) c. Metaclouds (Stage 3) d. Elektro Kore (Stage 4) e. Blastlands (Stage 5) IV. Single Player V. Multiplayer a. Regular Multiplayer b. Duel Mode VI. Powerups and Weapons a. Single Player b. Multiplayer VII. Online a. Regular Multiplayer b. Duel c. Ladder Ranking Information d. Remix Repository VIII. Remix Mode a. Remixing b. Jukebox Mode IX. Secrets, Codes and Unlockables a. Complete FreQ Parts List X. Frequently Asked Questions XI. Extra Stuff a. Complete Song List (Simplified) b. Tips on Getting Higher Scores c. Useful Links d. My Online Info e. Remaining Info XII. Special Thanks and Parting Message ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction and Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amplitude, formerly known as Frequency 2 was released on March 26, 2003 for the Sony PlayStation 2. Developed by Harmonix Music Systems out of Cambridge, MA., this is the sequel to the popular music game Frequency that was released in late 2001 and praised by press and game players alike for it's ingenuity and creativity. Amplitude hits us hard with better graphics, more multiplayer modes and powerups, over 25 new songs, and online play complete with a ladder ranking system and remix database. It's sure to be an instant hit with fans of the genre, of Frequency, and those that have never heard of anything like it. Basic Info ---------- MSRP: $49.99 Memory Card: 72 kb Developer: Harmonix Music Systems Publisher: SCEA Platform: Playstation 2 Genre: Music Players: 1 to 4 SCUS-97258 Official Introduction from the manual: Welcome to the world of Amplitude. Here the Net's best and brightest (and loudest) have come to prove their skills in the ultimate musical competition. Load up your Beat Blaster and launch down a six-track musical datascape fueled by surging rhythms. Each track is a different instrument of the song: drums, bass, vocals, guitar, FX, and synthesizers. Blast the note capsules to release the sonic energy inside! The more complex the song, the more furiously you have to work. Do you have what it takes to keep the beat alive? Only the fast-fingered will survive! Game mode challenges you with four difficulty levels played out in five pulsing arenas. There are a total of 25 songs if you are insane enough to unlock them all. In Remix mode, rearrange your favorite songs to suit your style. You can even play your remixes locally for Game mode competition or share them via Amplitude Online. In Multiplayer Remix mode, up to four mixers can team up to create a slammin' new mix together. Multiplayer Game mode really unleashes Amplitude's competitive spirit. Up to four players scream through a song blasting notes (and opponents too). In 2-player Duel mode, each player lays down note patterns that the other must match during a feverish musical showdown. Amplitude Online makes the Internet sing as up to four players clash in the demanding sport of musical competition or pursue the pure enjoyment of remixing songs. Log in and join a game, or host your own with a remixed track you created. Use the Chat feature to keep in touch with other online players or hurl taunts at the competition. Want others to experience your greatest remix hit? Upload your creation to the Online Remix Repository loaded with tons of remixes submitted by players nationwide. You can even download remixes and play them as games! Turn down the lights, turn up the bass, and strap yourself in. Amplitude will blow your mind! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. Changes from Frequency ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much has changed from Frequency to Amplitude. And I'm writing this because I know some people will be picking this game up knowing that it's a Frequency sequel, and they expect it to be just like Frequency. I think some insight to a few of these new features would be helpful, so I included this section. For starters, the graphics are much nicer and cleaner, menu navigation is a joy. That is only the tip of the iceberg though. While you're playing a song, instead of seeing random objects flying around in the arena's background, they now resemble gigantic cities. There is a new Freqmaker, and your avatar is now a fully rendered 3D being. You can change facial features, limbs, clothes, etc. Along with other nice things like glasses, emblems and the like. More items are unlockable as well, more outfits, more heads, etc. These are just the cosmetic changes and improvements, there's still a huge list of cool new stuff. Powerups and Multiplayer weapons have changed significantly. Your multiplier can now reach x8 instead of x6. There is a new powerup that will temporarily double the track worth of any track you do, combined with multipliers, this can bust a game wide open. Neutralizers have been removed however, this might be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on your view. Bumpers, Cripplers and Autocatchers are back, the autocatchers is now an "Autoblaster" and instead of just clearing a track, it'll actually smash the track, and you see it breaking away in pieces. Freestylers and Scratching is completely revamped, not only does it take up the entire screen in a great spectacle of light and sound, but it can even be used to hinder your opponents playability during multiplayer games. Let's not forget the brand new Slomo powerup too. More on these in the Powerups and Weapons sections below. Probably the biggest thing people will notice at first is the lack of a tunnel. At first, I was a bit skeptical of having all of the tracks side by side, but having played the game with the new system, I can say it's definitely enjoyable. This system significantly changes Multiplayer games as well, since there is no longer a split-screen view, and up to 4 players share the same view during a game, and It works well. In terms of your beat activator, it's now a slick spaceship with 3 laser beams that destroys the gems as you play the song. Missing a beat will result in the laser burning a little hole in the track. Pressing select will change the camera angle, you now have a "first person view", which is a nice touch, but due to it's lower view, which for me seems a bit too low to be competitive in fast online games, I'll stick to the traditional view. Also something that will be picked up on is the lack of the "portals" found in Frequency. The songs are now separated into large sections, and the length of these sections is determined by the length and speed of the songs themselves. There are "checkpoints" at the end of each section. Interestingly enough, there's a small break in your actual "playing" of the track, you have a few seconds to rest, look at your score, take a sip of a beverage, etc. and your next section begins shortly thereafter. This respite does not appear in Insane difficulty mode. Online mode has been greatly expanded, featuring built in online support (no disc swapping involved), a new game mode (Duel Mode), remix repository for easy downloading and browsing, and a ladder ranking system to keep track of your world ranking on the Amplitude network. I'll explain more about that in the Online section. Hopefully I didn't leave out too much. Enjoy the rest of the FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Song List, Artist Info and Song Analysis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, this document would be pointless if it weren't for this section in my opinion. Below, I will list each song sorted by their stage, and the order you play them. Also listed will be their beats-per-minute, genre and the artist bio from the game itself. Along with all of this will be some track analysis by me (special artist information, tough beat patterns to watch out for, etc.) All song analyses about tough tracks and patterns will be based on the "Insane" difficulty level. a. Neotropolis (Stage 1) ------------------------ ///P.O.D. vs. The Crystal Method - Boom //ElectroRapRock -104 BPM Hailing from San Diego, Ca, P.O.D. took the world by storm with their breakthrough triple-platinum album 'Satellite'. Adding more melody and tighter songwriting to their hardcore roots, 'Satellite' spawned hit singles including "Alive and "Youth of The Nation". Electronica pioneers The Crystal Method bring new textures to this rock anthem in this remix. www.payableondeath.com Song Analysis: Being that this is the first song, it'll clearly be one of the easiest. No tracks are really that excruciating, and if you really belong at the Insane difficulty level, you won't have any problems with this song. ///Garbage - Cherry Lips //Electronic Rock - 116 BPM Take 3 pioneering producers and one antagonistic yet charismatic front lady and you have Garbage, a group that has captivated fans and critics alike. From their sonically charged debut, to the melodically soaring 'Version 2.0', their latest work, the hook-heavy 'beautifulgarbage', demonstrates an unprecedented level of studio sophistication. www.garbage.com Song Analysis: Nothing too killer in this song either. The last drum track to the right varies to a couple harder patterns, making track switching a bit tricky at times. The song is slow enough to plan your next move early enough though. ///Quarashi - Baseline //RapRock - 98 BPM Straight outta Iceland! Quarashi mixes hard rhymes, hip-hop beats, and crunching metal guitar licks to rip up shows from here to Reykjavik. "We started off rapping in English because all our influences were from America. There wasn't any model for rapping in Icelandic so we had to figure it out ourselves." Quarashi will make you feel the beat, no matter what country you are from. www.quarashi.net Song Analysis: The only tracks to speak of in terms of difficulty are the first drum track, and the guitar track. The first drum track varies a few times, and the button presses aren't always exactly on beat. The guitar track isn't really that hard at all, but it will throw in a LMRMLMRML pattern when you're not ready for it. ///Chris Child with Melissa Kaplan - Shades of Blue //Trance - 136 BPM Producer and remix artist Chris Child teams up with Melissa R. Kaplan to create this ethereal trance anthem. Chris' music spans across a variety of electronic music genres, containing elements of trance, electro beatz, and processed vocal hooks. Look for a release of remixes as well as his original music in the near future. Check out his webpage for more details! www.chrischild.com Song Analysis: Okay, the second drum track mixes it up a bit, but your main focus on this song will be the synth tracks. The far right synth track has at least three different (and challenging) variations. You'll want to watch out for the yellow tracks. Once you get those down though, you'll realize that this is a very high scoring song. ///Logan 7 - Uptown Saturday Night //Funky Beats - 137 BPM His name was Logan. Beyond that, we didn't know much. Possessing the grace of a duke and the bite of a cyberspace punk rocker, he was a diamond-toting, martini-sipping chameleon. But where did he come from? What did he know? From Harlem to Hong Kong they feared the name, the fame, and the fury of Logan 7! Song Analysis: The drum track can be a little deceiving here, the second one being the bigger culprit, they switch up, a lot. The second synth track should also be watched as well, as it might throw you for a loop. b. Beat Factory (Stage 2) ------------------------- ///Run-DMC - King of Rock (X-Ecutioners Remix) //Hip Hop - 98 BPM Run-DMC team up with superhuman scratch artists The X-Ecutioners in this remix of the rap-rock song that started it all. As the first and the greatest of hip-hop's superstars, Run-DMC's mission has always been (in their own words) to "crash through walls, go through floors, bust through ceiling, and knock down doors." In the 17+ years Run-DMC have been rapping, they've brought people together with their beats and rhymes, and changed the way people think about music. www.aristarec.com/aristaweb/RunDMC/ Song Analysis: Nothing too vicious here, the far right drum track will probably give you the most problems. The vocals, can be tricky and off-beat, there are a bunch of different guitar patterns, and the FX track has some scratching that is off-beat and it may throw you timing off. ///The Baldwin Brothers - Urban Tumbleweed //Hip Hop - 105 BPM Based in Chicago, the Baldwin Brothers create a rump-shaking jazz-funk stew mixing impeccably tight live instrumentation and stanky ol' Fender Rhodes grooves with whimsical samples, thick beats, and turntable skills. Their ultra-hip debut album, 'Cooking With Lasers', was one of 2002's underground favorites. www.baldwinstyle.com Song Analysis: The second drum track is a little hard in this song, mainly due to double-right beats, they don't show up all the time, though, and there are easier variations in this track. The synth tracks has many different patterns, make sure you know which one to do and when to do it. The only other thing that might throw you off is the scratching in the FX track. ///Weezer - Dope Noze //Rock - 128 BPM Drawing from the heavy power-pop of arena rock and the angular guitar leads of the Pixies, Weezer leavened their melodies with doses of '70s metal learned from bands like KISS. None of the members of Weezer, especially leader Rivers Cuomo, are conventional rockers - they were kids that holed up in their garage, playing along with their favorite records when they weren't studying or watching TV. www.weezer.com Song Analysis: There's not much to fear in this track if you're a seasoned FreQ, the guitar tracks are often not directly on-beat, so you can make mistakes if you aren't careful, but it's smooth sailing other than that. ///David Bowie - Everyone Says Hi (Metro Remix) //House - 128 BPM David Bowie, as a musician, performer, and songwriter, defies all conventions. From his humble folkie beginnings in the '60's to the '70's glitter and glam of Ziggy Stardust to the elegance of the Thin White Duke to the multi-platinum pop star of the 80's to the most recent rock album 'Heathen', he has continually reinvented himself and his art. www.davidbowie.com Song Analysis: Most of the tracks here fairly simple pattern, at times throughout the song, the synth, and the far right drums will throw you for a loop. The synth will be all over the place in some areas, and the last drum track is very tough in some areas, with double-rights coming at you fast, it's easy to screw up on this track. ///Freezepop - Super-Sprøde //Synthpop - 150 BPM Uber-blippy synthpop band Freezepop is here to tell you how much they love you with their new hit song, "Super-Sprode." After gaining many new fans from around the world with their song "Science Genius Girl" in FreQuency, Freezepop wants to show their appreciation with this super-catchy electropop song. Be careful though, you might be humming this one for a while! www.freezepop.net Song Analysis: Being that it's one of the fastest moving songs in the game, naturally it's one of the hardest to switch tracks in. Luckily, most of the patterns are fairly standard, however, the second drum tracks has more of those very fast double-right beats (maybe I'm the only one that has trouble with those, I don't know). Also the far right synth track will throw a LMRMLMRML pattern at you every now and then, beware. c. Metaclouds (Stage 3) ----------------------- ///Pink - Respect //Pop - 131 BPM Pink makes "real music you can live or die to, songs that make you want to stand up and change your life." Her debut album was an out-of-the-blue double platinum smash hit within the U.S. and gained platinum and gold discs around the world. Her debut album spun off three Top 40 hits, two of them Top 10, one gold. www.pinkspage.com Song Analysis: The first drum track is probably the hardest in this song, featuring numerous tough patterns like a bunch of RML strings with a bunch of lefts and rights thrown in the mix, and a pattern with both quick double-rights, AND lefts. Also worth noting, this song has probably the most off-beat bass line in the entire game. You're bound to make a mistake on it eventually. ///Papa Roach - M-80 (explosive energy movement) //Rock - 173 BPM Papa Roach makes it plain that no pigeonhole is big enough to contain them. Their latest album, 'lovehatetragedy', heralds the refining and refocusing of their sound as they shed some of their identification with rock-rap fusion and strip down to a purer, but equally high-impact, rock attack. www.paparoach.com Song Analysis: Another fast tune, although most of the patterns here are fairly simple, lots of long left and middle strings, and a bunch of MLMLMLML patterns. Be careful with the last drum track however, as it will sometimes throw beats at you very close in proximity. ///Mekon with Roxanne Shante - What's Going On //Funky Beats - 123 BPM Mekon is John Gosling, one of breakbeat's pioneers, whose first release, 'Phatty's Lunchbox', was a genre-defining classic. His second album from 2000 paired Mekon with such favorites as Skooly D and Roxanne Shante. "What's Going On?" is the result of the Shante soundclash, and Mekon's biggest hit to date. www.wallofsound.net Song Analysis: The first drum track here very much resembles the one from Pink's song, a tough, rolling pattern that may throw you off. The synth track is a bit weird too, with multiple pattern that don't seem in-sync with the rest of the music at time, and the last drum track has a bunch of different patterns, most of them change while you are playing them. ///Herbie Hancock with Mixmaster Mike, DXT, Rob Swift, Q*Bert, Babu, Faust, Shortee - Rockit (2.002 Remix) //Old Skool - 113 BPM Herbie Hancock is an icon of contemporary music. He is a major composer, an influential virtuoso pianist, an Academy Award-winning soundtrack composer, a multi Grammy Award winner, and an inventor of classic R&B and hip-hop grooves. Now a partner in an independant label venture, Transparent Music, his latest album is entitled 'Future2Future', an exploration of electronica, hip-hop and nu-soul. www.herbiehancock.com Song Analysis: It's almost safe to say that from here on out, all of the first drum tracks will be hard, but that's not entirely true...it is for this song however. It's all over the place. The other drum track will have you guessing as well too, featuring triple-right beats while doing an already complicated pattern. The FX track has scratching that will also throw you off at times if you aren't careful. The bass track, although it has a few different variations, is probably the easiest track of this song. ///The Production Club - Rockstar //Rocktronica - 110 BPM The Production Club is the creation of producer Wally Gagel who has worked with acts such as The Folk Explosion, the eels, the Dust Brothers, Esthero, Orbit, and the Rolling Stones. Originally based in Boston, he worked at the legendary Fort Apache studios before moving to Los Angeles. 'Follow Your Bliss' is the first full-length release for the Production Club. www.lunchrecords.com Song Analysis: This song has a light first drum track, but the one directly to the right of it is far more complicated, watch out for it. It has one of the busiest bass lines as well, and the synth is all over the place. Be careful when you see it coming. d. Elektro Kore (Stage 4) ------------------------- ///DJ HMX with Plural - Cool Baby //House - 128 BPM International superstar DJ HMX returns from Ibiza to join forces with up-and-coming club sensation Plural. This track will get you dancing in front of your TV! Look for more trax from Plural and DJ HMX in the future! www.harmonixmusic.com Song Analysis: This song also has a fairly basic first drum track, however the second one is one of the hardest in the game in my opinion. That's all I will say about it. This song is one of the few out of the bunch that has two synth tracks, the second one being fairly easy if you're a decent player. The first one changes up a lot though, and making the transition from this track to the harder drum track to the right of it can be a nightmare. ///BT with Wildchild - Kimosabe //Electro-Rap - 126 BPM BT, AKA Brian Transeau, is best known for his epic trance albums 'IMA' and 'ESCM', and his wildly- diverse 'Movement In Still Life;. His mixing skills are some of the most sought-after in the world, with credits like Korn, Seal, Madonna, Sarah McLachlan, *NSYNC, and Tori Amos. In addition, BT is also lauded for his moving film scores, including 'The Fast & The Furious', 'Driven', 'Under Suspicion', and 'Go'. www.btmusic.com Song Analysis: The bass track will be the focus of your attention here, and it's fairly difficult to play (and even read due to the speed of the song). The guitars mix it up a little, so watch out for them. The last drum track has wild MRMRMRMR action with a left beat thrown in here and there for good measure. Also worth noting, sometimes the vocals are so fast, they require a LMRMLMRML pattern, be careful. ///Manchild - Nitro Narcosis //Breaks - 135 BPM Manchild are songwriting partners Max Odell & Brett Parker. Their critically acclaimed debut album 'Untied States' is an exciting mixture of dance, rock, & hip-hop and features guest appearances from Kelly Jones (Stereophonics), Andy Cairns (Therapy?), Sadat X (Brand Nubian), and Motion Man (Mastaz of Illusion, Linkin Park). They are currently in the studio putting the finishing touches to their follow-up album 'Anamorphic'. www.manchild.co.uk Song Analysis: With the two drum tracks being moderately easy, your main focus here will be the deadly synth track, and the somewhat tough FX scratch track. The synth line is very hard at times, and it changes a lot, usually very fast. That will be your main worry on this track. The bass line has a quick double-left that I've seen some people have trouble with though, usually those of us that are right handed. ///Slipknot - I Am Hated //Metal - 126 BPM The spore that is Slipknot exploded three years ago with the release of their self-titled album, and the infestation has continued ever since. Comprised of nine masked members with numbers instead of names, Slipknot are not just a band, they are a force that has swept through popular culture and galvanized millions of fans, their "maggots", worldwide. www.slipknot1.com Song Analysis: I'd say that the vocals would be the easiest here...everything else is very tough, the first guitar track has very quick double left, middle and right patterns, both drum tracks vary a lot, and are tough. This is purely a very fast, quite hard song. ///Game Boyz - Push //Electronic Rock - 122 BPM Game Boyz' creator, composer, musician, and producer, Ged Grimes, has rapidly become one of the major rising stars of today's interactive entertainment industry. With a string of game music soundtracks under his belt and the adrenaline- fueled rush that identifies the Game Boyz sound, expect to hear fireworks. www.jackshoosemusic.com Song Analysis: There's a busy drum track to start you out, you're bound to make mistakes on it occasionally. The synth tracks moves around, a lot too, going from easy to hard and vice versa. The guitars can be very complicated at times, and the far right drum track is sometimes harder than the first one, it sometimes jumps into a LMRMLMRML pattern. Also, the bass track will occasionally go into a LMR LMR LMR pattern that is off-beat, and it may throw your timing off. Around the same time this happens, the synth and the vocals get very busy as well. Keeping your multiplier on this song will prove to be a challenge. e. Blastlands (Stage 5) ----------------------- ///Blink-182 - The Rock Show //Pop-Punk - 193 BPM It's safe to say that blink-182 is now a worldwide phenomenon, with their records reaping platinum and their concert tours packing 'em in all over the world. Produced by Jerry Finn, their fourth studio album from 2001 is titled 'Take Off Your Pants and Jacket'. The album features the hits "The Rock Show", "Stay Together For The Kids", and "First Date". www.blink182.com Song Analysis: The fastest song in the game, just about every track is difficult. Tons of LLLL.., MMMM.., RRRR.. patterns will get your fingers tired quickly. The far right drum track sometimes has a LLLL that is so fast that I have yet to pull it off yet. Beware of ALL of the tracks in this song, and even though the vocal tracks is fairly thin, it's still coming at you so fast that it's easy to foul up. ///Dieselboy - Sub Culture (Dieselboy + Kaos Rock Remix) //Drum'n'Bass - 174 BPM What do you get when you combine America's #1 Drum and Bass artist Dieselboy and his production partner in crime Kaos with cutting-edge L.A. rappers Styles of Beyond and up-and-coming alternative rockers Actual Proof? The answer is a funked up, heavy, rolling monster in the form of "Subculture", featuring live drums and guitars alongside rinsing beats and deep lyrical flow. www.djdieselboy.com Song Analysis: Here's the song where a lot of the experts get their first game over. The left drum track proves to be difficult later on in the song, with a quick double-right amongst an already nightmarish pattern. Lots of different guitar and FX pattern are present, but they shouldn't give you too many problems. Vocals aren't that bad. The far right drum track however...out of all of it's variations, the super-quick MRMMRM line catches me all the time, you must be quick to pull that one off. Good luck with this song. ///Akrobatik vs. Symbion Project - Out The Box //Funky Beats - 132 BPM Two FreQuency veterans, Symbion Project and Akrobatik, team up to bring the beats real raw in "Out The Box". Ak's rough-and-ready rhymes fueled by Symbion's pounding beats will have your ears popping and your fingers burning. Let's hope we hear more from this duo in the future! www.symbionproject.com Song Analysis: Quite possible the easiest of the level 5 songs, this tune features a few moderately drum lines, that only mix it up a few times, just to catch you off guard. The bass line will throw a terrorizing pattern at you a few times throughout the song though, and the synth tracks will also present you with some funky patterns that will have your fingers going crazy. ///Symbion Project - Synthesized //Drum'n'Bass - 180 BPM Featured in FreQuency with songs like "Funky Dope Maneuver" and "FreQout", Symbion Project returns to aurally assault you with these frenetic beats. "Synthesized" comes at you hard with mad patterns and catchy hooks, so pay attention. Normally writing down-tempo songs, Symbion Project continues to defy genre at every turn, and "Synthesized" is no exception! www.symbionproject.com Song Analysis: This song is one of the fastest as well, and it also starts you out right in the middle of the "highway" making your path for a streak not so obvious. All of the tracks actually start out fairly simple, on-beat, and spaced out nicely. However, about 30 seconds in, and for the rest of the song, the drum tracks become a living hell, mainly the right one, it's definitely up there with the hardest patterns in the game. The vocals, and synth tracks actually stay pretty calm throughout all of this happening, and your main focus will be the drums, and making sure you don't get a game over due to them. ///Komputer Kontroller - Robot Rockerz //Techno - 150 BPM Komputer Kontroller unleashes his funky robot army to destroy the dance floors of the Earth! Foolish Earthlings, cower before the awesome techno onslaught of nine-hundred-and-nine robots dancing in unison. This track will make you run for your lives! www.harmonixmusic.com Song Analysis: Here's my pick as the hardest song in the game. The game has a brutal bass track, that goes from very fast LMRMLMRML patterns, to LMLMLMLMLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRMRMRMRMR which will get your blood pumping, and some of the drum pattern on both of the tracks are insanely hard, I have a hard time even reading some of them. You'll almost need to twitch-play these patterns, the synth is unrelenting with it's very fast double beats as well. The vocals stay fairly light though, and it'll be a nice respite track right in the middle of the beat soup. ///Cosmonaut Zero - Spaztik //Drum'n'Bass - 97 BPM No one knows where he came from, and no one knows where he's going, but know this: Cosmonaut Zero is here to deny you glory. Bulk up on some ginseng and caffeine before attempting this level. Or just give up now, really, there is not much point in trying to beat this track. www.symbionproject.com Song Analysis: Well, here it is, the secret track. Hailed by many as the hardest song in the game, I beg to differ, the only reason why it's not in my opinion is it's slow speed. ALL of the tracks are hard of course...I'll save the small talk and just come out and say it. The tracks are absolutely filled with beats in some places, and that combined with the slow speed of the song will make patterns seem to last forever. This is also the highest scoring track in the game. The song has 40 point tracks, combine that with a score doubler, and a x8 multiplier, and you have yourself a monstrous 640 points for a single pattern. Enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Single Player ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Single Player in my opinion, is the essence of Amplitude. Not only is it the actual game experience uninterrupted by the outside world, but it's also the best way to play the complete songs, as your Multiplayer opponents can't always hold their own, resulting in sometime garbled sounding tracks. This mode is more or less the same from Frequency, but a bit tweaked. There are still 5 songs per stage, or "city". By beating the first three songs in a stage, you will unlock the fourth song, the Boss Song. Completing the Boss song unlocks the next stage, and meeting a certain quota with those four levels will unlock the fifth song, the Bonus Song. At the end of each song, you'll receive your bar rating. You will receive one to three green bars meaning: 1 bar = You need more practice at this song 2 bars = You are on pace to have enough points to unlock the bonus song 3 bars = Excellent Score You will also see some new stats below your grade describing how well you did. For example, Full Mix will display the number of consecutive bars played with all song tracks activated. In other words, if a track is passing you by without you capturing it, your Full Mix streak will end, but your overall streak will still be intact. There are a total of 4 difficulty levels: Mellow, Normal, Brutal and Insane. Here's an overview of how these difficulties play out: Mellow: 23 songs, not too hard at all, good for beginners and to relax Normal: 24 songs, moderate difficulty, songs start to get challenging Brutal: 25 songs, all songs are fairly hard now, and you'll need to be fast Insane: 26 songs, very hard, some songs are a nightmare to play During one of my Harmonix visits, someone had asked one of the staff what the most requested feature to be put into Amplitude was. They said by far, it was the ability to play regular game songs in Jukebox Mode, instead of just factory and custom remixes. So needless to say, beating a song will "unlock" the song in Soundtrack Mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. Multiplayer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Regular Multiplayer ---------------------- Although a ton has changed in this area since Frequency, some aspects have stayed the same. Multiplayer is still two to four players, you still have the common goal of scoring more than your opponent, I won't go into detail about weapons, there's a section dedicated to that, but I will explain the new game play style. The main thing you'll see when you start up a multiplayer game is that the view is now full screen, there is NO split screen in this game, the tracks are all side by side, and centered in the middle of the screen, and the various players jump from track to track. Something I've noticed however, is that some tracks that are on the far left, or far right sides can be hard to capture. These tracks will be coming at you at a nearly 45° angle, If you've got a really intense drum or synth track, you'll no doubt have a bit of trouble. I'll be honest, I sometimes find myself tilting my head to correctly read the track, but I may get used to it someday. This option works well online, since it's pretty much the core game play of online mode, but this time around, I'm afraid it's going to have to share time with the following Multiplayer option. b. Duel Mode ------------ Duel Mode is a brand new mode in Amplitude, and for the most part, it's a successful new addition to the game series. It works more or less like HORSE, if you've ever played that in basketball or the Tony Hawk games, you'll know what this is, if you're not familiar with it, I'll try to give you a quick run down of the game mechanics. Duel Mode will pit you against another player in a match of creativity and sound, after you choose your difficulty (this is a story in itself, and I'll talk about it shortly) you'll need to now choose your song. When you get into the playing area for Duel, it basically consists of two tracks, one for you, one for your opponent. A base melody will play in the background, and now it's time to play. You lay down a button pattern (pitch), then your opponent must successfully play the same button presses you did, "catch". You'll be laying down a string of beats that will fill two bars of music. After each player takes a turn pitching and catching drums, you'll move on to bass, synth, etc. When you make an incorrect attempt to catch a track, the person who pitched it will get a letter. Now, you can only pitch beats into spots on the track that have a template where you want to place a beat (I'll expand on this later). The first person to spell AMPLITUDE wins. There are no weapons or powerups, it's simply a battle of laying down beats. You may be asking yourself "Why the hell wouldn't people be lame and just button mash a string that no one could possibly catch?" Well, there are a few answers to that. 1) I'd trust the friends I play with not to button mash. 2) It just plain sounds better to make a melodic rhythm than to make some beat soup. 3. The all-important difficulty levels. Let's analyze this: There are three difficulty levels in Duel Mode: Easy, Pattern Play and Free-For-All. All are extremely different from one another, and provide a completely different experience. Basically, in duel mode, the point of these difficulty levels is to protect against "spamming" and getting easy victories. Remember what I was talking about earlier, the "templates"? Here's the scoop, depending on what difficulty level is chosen, you have a limited number of places you can place a beat. Easy ---- When it's your turn to pitch, you'll be presented with a section of two bars, just like in remix mode. Now, on this level setting, you'll only be able to place beats where there are "templates", or symbols on the track that let you know it's ok to place a beat there. I'll use an "x" to represent where you can place a beat, here's what tracks will look like under the this difficulty setting: ... xxx ... xxx ... xxx ... xxx ... xxx ... xxx ... xxx ... xxx So, read this from bottom to top like it's coming at you, you can only put beats on the x's. If you put a beat somewhere where there's no template, you get penalized. In essence, this setting is for beginner's only, or, if you're doing a really fast track, it may be good for intermediate players to practice unfamiliar beat patterns. Not recommended for professionals, experts, anyone beat Frequency, and the like. It does protect against spamming however. You should atleast give it a try, it may be a way to get your little sister into Amplitude. Pattern Play ------ By far the most interesting of the three difficulty levels, in this setting, you'll have far more places lay beats, however, it's more or less a randomly generated field of templates that you can pitch beats too, observe a pattern similar to ones found on the this difficulty setting: xxx xxx xxx xxx .x. .xx .x. xxx .x. xxx .xx ..x .x. x.. xx. xxx Once again, read it from bottom to top, and pretend you have to place beats only on the x's on a track moving at 150bpm+. Sound a bit tricky? it is. You'll need to be careful not to put beats where there's no template, it's an easy thing to do. I'm not all that crazy about this difficulty setting, and I'll tell you why. Duel Mode to me resembles Remix Mode, and when I remix or play in Duel Mode, I don't just make random patterns up, I make my patterns sound musical, I don't just twitch out a pattern. I'll usually decide what I'm going to pitch a few milliseconds before I actually do it, and on a fast drum n' bass track for instance, I don't really want to wonder if there's gonna be a template where I want to place a beat or not, and since mistakes are costly in Duel Mode, it's too risky. Free-For-All ------ Yep, it's my favorite too. You have an unlimited number of possibilities of button patterns to pitch, you can make them as simple, or as complicated (thanks Kasson) as you like. Provided you're playing with someone you trust enough not to spam the hell out of you. On the other hand though, some tracks are slow enough where it's very possible to play spammed pitches. For myself though, I'd much rather be trading off cool sounding drum patterns with a skilled opponent. Here's the diagram, just for the purpose of being complete: xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx Of course, here, you can play whatever pattern you want, go nuts, or be musical. Spam beats, or have a fair duel with a friend. It's entirely up to you. Definitely the preferred difficulty setting. That's Duel Mode in a nutshell. Have fun with it, it's a good, new experience that spices up the Multiplayer aspect of Amplitude. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. Powerups and Weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section will be split up into 2 parts, mainly because there are no single player weapons, and people will think they can use cripplers in single player mode, don't laugh folks, I've seen it before. That's almost as bad as people in Frequency seeing a Crippler launched, and they start cycling around the tracks trying to "lose" it, hah. Anyways: a. Single Player ---------------- Multiplier - This isn't exactly a powerup anymore. To avoid confusion, I will quote the instruction manual. "To get a streak going, blast track after track without missing any note capsules. Start by successfully blasting one Note Phrase. Then quickly move to the next track with the Score Multiplier Arrow floating above it. Successfully blast that track to continue the streak. The actual multiplier will appear above the arrow. For example: If you have just completed a streak of three phrases, the Score Multiplier Arrow over the next phrase will display the number "4". Complete this fourth note phrase and your score will be multiplied by four. To score a streak you have to blast at least two successive Note Phrases." I couldn't have said it better, myself. No, really...that's why I quoted the manual. Your multiplier is maxed out at x8. Autoblaster - Equivalent to the Autocatcher from Frequency, this time around, a small explosion will take place, followed by the pieces of the track falling away in pieces. Good for use on a tough track you can't seem to pull off. Score Doubler - A new powerup in Amplitude, when deployed, temporarily doubles the track worth of each track you successfully play. Slomo - Another brand new powerup, and it works just like it sounds, it slows down every aspect of the game, including the music playing itself. The main purpose of this powerup is to slow down really complicated tracks you may be having troubles with. It has some other functions in Multiplayer mode, and I've explained that further below. Freestyler - One of the most changed weapons, this powerup now makes your space ship comes up off the playing field, and freestyle in the open space above the playing track. There's not actually a track anymore for this item in the playing field. The freestyler is either an axe or a scratcher, depending on the nature of the song. Hold down a button and move the analog stick, and press L3 to hear samples in the scratcher. b. Multiplayer -------------- Multiplier - The multipliers have no direct menacing effect on your opponents. The entire purpose of them is to boost your scores, and boost them it does. Multiplayer will only allow a x4 multiplier online and multiplayer. See the single player section for a detailed explanation. Autoblaster - Same properties as in the Single Player mode, use it to capture hard tracks you can't do to get it's points. Although it seems it's primary purpose is to help you, this can also be used against your opponent as well. If your opponent is about to do a rather "expensive" track, meaning he'll get lots of points for completing it, you'll be able to get behind them and blast that track on them giving the points to you instead of them, any multiplier points your opponent has will not apply to the points you get. Score Doubler - The new powerup is in Multiplayer mode as well. Same properties as in Single Player, it's a nice, simple addition in my opinion. Slomo - Obvious as to what it does, it becomes interesting when playing a Multiplayer game, it of course slows down all players. This may help you out in a few ways, mainly by throwing off your opponent's timing. Say it's near the end of a track, and finding music to play becomes hard, you have an opponent that found a busy drum track, and you're stuck on a thin FX track, deploy the Slomo. For the most effect, don't deploy it before your opponent starts the track, deploy it while they're right in the middle of it. They're bound to be thrown off by the sudden tempo change, and depending on how busy the track is, they might lose the track. This powerup is not available in online games. Crippler - This devastating attack is back, and it's been tweaked. In Frequency, after launching this attack on someone, a fireball is launched out into the area ahead of you, and it comes back and rattles the screen of the victim, making it impossible to see the beats on the track that they were doing. You could still play the track trough this of course. Now that Multiplayer mode is all one screen, it would be unfair for everyone to suffer the effects of the screen shaking. Now, any track that the receiver of the crippler tries to play, becomes a big, wavy mess. It *is* possible to play the track, in fact, it's actually easier now than with the Frequency Crippler. However, this is compensated for...the Crippler now lasts a good deal longer. Bumper - Easily the most versatile weapon in Multiplayer, it has many functions. If you're getting towards the end of a song, where finding tracks becomes difficult, you can use it to steal tracks away from people, so they're the ones left out. And it's most annoying function, if an opponent is about to catch a section with a multiplier, autoblaster, or any powerup, you can quickly bump them off and break their streak. The way this weapon is actually deployed has changed as well. When bumping someone, the victim doesn't just stay there on the track, there's a small explosion upon deployment, and the victim's space ship is sent sailing into the air for a few moments, and lands on a random track. Neutralizer - Yep, that's right, it's non-existent. Freestyler - Ah, now we get into the fun items. Like I mentioned earlier, in Frequency, the Freestyler and Scratcher were assigned tracks in the actual playing tunnel. They also didn't play any real malicious role in Multiplayer games other than for extra points either when there was nothing left to play, or the Freestyle tracks were more expensive than anything on the current play field. Now, like I mentioned in the Single Player section, this powerup will launch itself off the playing field, and you freestyle on the screen area above the track. However, due to it's brightness, and overall range of using this powerup, it makes it hard for opponents to see their tracks, depending on where you actually freestyle. An interesting tweak to this powerup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ VII. Online ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amplitude single player is incredible, and Multiplayer takes it to a higher level, but playing online opens up doors to an entirely new world of opponents. Online, you can play regular multiplayer, duels, find other FreQ's, upload your custom remixes for review, and download featured remixes selected by the developers as being among the most fun/best sounding remixes available. There are a few different ways to see data for your possible opponents. You will be able to see their current rank, how many games they have played, date of their last logon, and whether they are currently online or not. Using the Find FreQ option is slightly more powerful, telling you exactly where the FreQ that you are looking for is (name of the channel, what game mode they are playing, etc.) One last way to see how your opponents have done is the completion symbols. These will tell you how far the FreQ has made it in Single Player mode. Keep in mind though, that some FreQs will make alternate accounts, like an alias strictly for online play. His stamp may state that he hasn't beaten anything, but he could be the most challenging player you have ever played against. Here's a breakdown of what these symbols mean: Dot = The player has not beaten any difficulty with this FreQ Diamond = The player has beaten Mellow difficulty with this FreQ Triangle = The player has beaten Normal difficulty with this FreQ Cross = The player has beaten Brutal difficulty with this FreQ Star = The player has beaten Insane difficulty with this FreQ a. Regular Multiplayer ---------------------- This is the classic game play style for Amplitude online. More or less the same style as offline multiplayer, except that the playfield now resembles the more flat style found in Single Player mode. The number of regular multiplayer games far exceeds the number of Duel Mode games. b. Duel Mode ------------ Exactly the same as it's described in the above section. Duel Mode games do NOT reflect your rank whatsoever. c. Ladder Ranking Information ----------------------------- Explanation of this area doesn't require quantum physics. Win a match, get a higher rank. Do poorly, and you'll get a lower rank. Beating high-ranked players will bump you up quickly, and losing to low-ranked players might make you drop back a bunch of ranks. In case you really don't know the point of this: a. You will see how you rank amongst other players b. You will see if the people you are playing against are a challenge In order to qualify for the ladder, you must first play against 16 opponents, they don't have to be 16 different players, just a total of 16 opponents. This shouldn't take you very long at all. 16 games at the very most obviously. Your rank will read "New" up until that point. d. Remix Repository ------------------- When you make a remix in either offline mode, or online with friends, your remixes can be uploaded for review by developers. If this remix meets certain criteria, it will be posted in the repository for all of the Amplitude network to enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. Remix Mode ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Remixing ----------- Remix mode has changed a lot since Frequency, it's now much, much easier to create good, healthy remixes in less amount of time. In Frequency, you needed to cycle through all of the section of the songs, even ones that you had already completed, on really slow songs this can be painful. In Amplitude, you simply remix each section of the song only once, and you can go to any section of the song on the fly. The game also tells you if you are editing a verse or a chorus (and breaks, intros etc.) so you can make your remix sound as fluid as possible. After completing a remix, the game will rate the difficulty of your remix by analyzing the beat density. b. Jukebox Mode --------------- This mode is present by hitting select while remixing a song. The game tells you the placement of the song sections (Chorus 1 comes before Verse 2, etc.) For listening to the actual game songs, the Soundtrack feature is available in Single Player mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX. Secrets, Codes and Unlockables ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Complete FreQ Parts List --------------------------- Head: Torso: Arms: Legs: ----- ------ ----- ----- Annie Annie Claws 1 Big Bat Gal Bat Gal Claws 2 Camo Bat Lad Bat Lad Claws 3 Cargo Biggie Biggie Cyber Corduroy Bot Girl Brick House Girl 1 Cyberlegs Bruce Bruce Girl 2 Cyber 2 Bruiser Roy Bruiser Roy Girl 3 Goth Skirt Bug Crimson D Girl 4 Hot-pants Bunny Cyber-hoodie Glove 1 Hot-pants 2 Crimson D Cybergirl Glove 2 Jeans Cybergirl Cybershell Glove 3 Leather Cyklor Cyklor Glove 4 Patch Dread Girl Disco Marv Guy 1 Plaid Evil Motomatic Dread Girl Guy 2 Plaid Skirt fred Evil Motomatic Guy 3 Punk Goggle Bot Goggle Bot Guy 4 Robo 1 Game Geek Grondor Huge 1 Robo 2 George Guy Huge 2 Robo 3 Grondor Happy Fun Girl Jacket 1 Skinny Happy Fun Girl Hoodie Jacket 2 Skirt Helga Hotpants Jacket 3 Spike Janet Janet Jacket 4 Suit Pants Kim Kim Jacket 5 Sweat Pants Kong Kong Robo 1 Waders Larry Larry Robo 2 Zips Lazy Jay Lazy Jay Robo 3 Levar Levar Skinny 1 Little Tony Little Tony Skinny 2 Mad Melvin Mad Melvin Skinny 3 Motomatic Mandy Sleeve 1 Mysterion Motomatic Sleeve 2 Naomi Mysterion Sleeve 3 Rageatron Naomi Sleeve 4 Razor X Pixel Rex Rageatron Robin Razor X Robofairy Rex Roxanne Suit Spike Swat Man Tex T-Bone TNT T-shirt Toxic Doom Tank-top 2 Trollheim Tank Top VelmaTex Toxic Doom Xenon Trollheim Zardock 9 Trust Me Zoe Tube-top Vern Vern Xenon Zardork 9 Zoe Head Gear: Face Gear: Emblem: ---------- ---------- ------- Antenna Bug-eyed Shades !ART! Ballcap 1 Cyber goggles 00 Ballcap 2 Gasmask 1 Ballcap 3 Glasses 3 Big Ears Goggles 5 Camo-hat Long Nose 7 Cowboy Hat Mask Alice Cyberdome Night-vision Bleep fro Red Nose Blip Halo Shades 1 Cherry Hat Shades 2 Chimp Headphones 1 Shades 3 Danger Headphones 2 Shades 4 Dare Headphones 3 Shades 5 Eyes Headphones 4 Slit Shades female Headphones 5 Undercover femfatale Horns 1 flower Horns 2 free Horns 3 Groove Monkey Skull-cap Heart Visor Jason Male Mohawk Moon Nerdstrom Note Peace Radioactive Razor X Ryan Skull Slimey Star Strawberry Toad in the Hole Yan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- X. Frequently Asked Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q. Why doesn't Harmonix release a soundtrack for the game? A. It's not up to Harmonix, it's up to Sony. Harmonix wants to release a soundtrack, but there would be so much red tape in getting licensing for those songs, Sony probably feels it's not worth it. Also, Sony feels that the series hasn't been as big enough success to require a soundtrack. Tell your friends to buy the game, and maybe we'll get one. Q. What's this I keep hearing about bugs? A. Keep an eye on http://www.freq.com for anything related to that Q. How often is the Remix Repository updated? A. Usually once per day, and it's not updated over the weekend. Q. Where can I find X song? A. Check to see if there's a copy of it on the artist's CD's, some tracks are exclusive to the game though, and you'll just have to listen to them through Soundtrack Mode Q. Are there swears in this game? A. No, they are censored out, however this takes nothing away from the game play and should be considered a non-issue. Q. Why isn't X band in the game? A. I'm not really sure how many bands rejected Harmonix's offer, and I don't care all that much. A lot of bands don't like their music tampered with (Remix Mode) or "online", that's all there is to that. Q. Is there a PAL (European) version in the works? A. As far as I know, yes, there will be a European release. Contacting Sony of Europe might yield better information. Q. I was playing online, and some FreQ had 9999 points in the first few seconds of the match. A. You're asking the wrong guy. There might be some cheat device out there somewhere, but since I don't cheat, I wouldn't know. Q. What does "Sprøde" mean? A. Not a clue. But you can check this page for possible insight: http://www.freezepop.net/pix/europe6.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XI. Extra Stuff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- a. Complete Song List (Simplified) ----------------------------------- Neotropolis (Stage 1) --------------------- P.O.D. vs. The Crystal Method - Boom Garbage - Cherry Lips Quarashi - Baseline BOSS: Chris Child with Melissa Kaplan - Shades of Blue BONUS: Logan 7 - Uptown Saturday Night Beat Factory (Stage 2) ----------------- Run DMC - King of Rock (X-Ecutioners Remix) The Baldwin Brothers - Urban Tumbleweed Weezer - Dope Nose BOSS: David Bowie - Everyone Says Hi (Metro Remix) BONUS: Freezepop - Super-Sprøde Meta Clouds (Stage 3) ------------------- Pink - Respect Papa Roach - M-80 (explosive energy movement) Mekon with Roxanne Shante - What's Going On BOSS: Herbie Hancock with Mixmaster Mike, DXT, Rob Swift, Q*Bert, Babu, Faust, Shortee - Rockit (2.002 Remix) BONUS: The Production Club - Rockstar Elecktro Kore (Stage 4) ------------------------- DJ HMX with Plural - Cool Baby BT with Wildchild - Kimosabe Manchild - Nitro Narcosis BOSS: Slipknot - I Am Hated BONUS: Gameboyz - Push Blastlands (Stage 5) ---------------------- Blink-182 - The Rock Show Dieselboy - Sub Culture (Dieselboy + Kaos Rock Remix) Akrobatik vs. Symbion Project - Out The Box BOSS: Symbion Project - Synthesized BONUS: Komputer Kontroller - Robot Rockerz SECRET: Cosmonaut Zero - Spaztik b. Tips On Getting Higher Scores --------------------------------- Practice, practice, practice. Keep your hands warm. Use eye drops. Take regular breaks from game play. Use the shoulder buttons. Do whatever you can to maintain your multiplier. Be seated comfortably. Don't do drugs. c. Useful Links ---------------- http://www.freq.com - The Best resource for Frequency/Amplitude news and info. http://www.gamespot.com - Good pages for Frequency/Amplitude with Movies, etc. http://www.symbionproject.com - Buy the new CD. http://frequencymusic.cjb.net - A site with relatively bad Frequency mp3's http://cinder.retrogames.com - My Personal site, some boring info. d. My Online Info ------------------ I play on the Amplitude servers under the name "cinder". I post on http://www.freq.com under the same name. However, since some moron reserved "cinder" on http://www.gamefaqs.com and hasn't made a post in three years, I need to use "cindah" instead. I'm a decent player, but not the best by far. Please don't give me hell if you beat me. "I BEAT U, TEH KNOWIT AL FAq WRITAR" e. Remaining Info ------------------- 1. Melissa Kaplan, who did the vocals for Shades of Blue also did the vocal work for Ibiza Dreamz from Frequency. She was also in "Splashdown," a former band of Kasson Crooker's (DJ HMX, Symbion Project, etc.) 2. The voice of "X Player takes the lead", and powerups, as well as the training stages is Akrobatik ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- XII. Special Thanks and Parting Message ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - To Harmonix, for crafting an excellent sequel, and especially to Josh Randall, Mike Dornbrook, and Daniel Sussman for letting me come to their offices to test it. Also Kasson Crooker for beating the snot out of me. - To the forum members at http://www.freq.com for info, news, insight, and other cool jibba jabba. Play Frequency and Amplitude for what it is. Don't complain about bands that are or are not in the game. The consensus is that a lot of people really like the Freezepop song in Frequency (and they'll like Super Sprøde as well). But how many of you had actually heard of the band before the game? Something to think about. I'd rather expand my list of favorite bands and killer songs rather than just have a pile of songs that don't work well as levels. On the other side of this, there were a lot of people complaining that the game was going to suck after some of the artists were announced. This is troll activity of the worst kind. Keep in mind that people in high places read what you write. Overall, I'm very pleased with Amplitude, and you should be too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Amplitude Compendium (c)2003 Jim Govoni cinder@retrogames.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of File.