But, before I go on, I must say that the main reason why Amped is far and above better than any other snowboarding game is the fact that it can play your soundtracks. Yes, the Xbox has the ability to rip (record) your CDs onto its hard drive. Once the music is in the Xbox, you can create custom mixes, or soundtracks, then play them back during gameplay. Here's what I found to be most entertaining: U2, Blind Melon, Weezer, and a little Miles Davis. Don't worry about filling up your hard drive with music...Allison and I have put over 20 CDs on there so far, and not even a dent has been made in the memory (we are talking 8GB here). Anyway, this feature, which is on some games and not on others, is revolutionary and has changed the way I feel about games. Sometimes the worst part of a good game is the music...no longer. Hahahahahhahaha...

Now, back to the game. Each run has several different drop-points and the detail in each level is amazing. You try to earn lots of points (sound familiar) by doing tricks. However, in Amped, you also have to get "camera" points to advance. Camera points are obtained by doing tricks in front of various photographers that are on the mountain with you. But, that's just good old tricks=points stuff.

The real fun comes when you get to play a version of H-O-R-S-E against the computer. Basically, you follow another snowboarder and try to get more points than he does on specific jumps. It can really get to be a pain, but it'll always have you coming back for more.

In addition to that, each level also has "Sponsor" challenges. Your job is to impress sponsors, which range from the local hot-dog guy to Burton Snowboards. Each sponsor likes a particular facet of snowboarding, for example, Big Air, Grinding, Grabs, Off-Axis Spins, etc. By impressing the sponsors, you get better boards and cooler clothing.