Amplitude HD Reviews

Amplitude HD is ranked in the 48th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Daily Dot
Top Critic
Jan 8, 2016

Amplitude sadly missed the mark. It feels bare, awkward, and incomplete. There isn't a ton of content and the song selection won't keep players hooked. Maybe this is one Kickstarter the gaming community should have passed on.

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5.5 / 10.0
Jan 11, 2016

Amplitude could have been something special again; instead, it ended up falling flat.

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Press Start
Top Critic
6 / 10
Jan 19, 2016

Amplitude has the potential to be a great game, but the lack of innovation of the formula and the rather lackluster tracklist keep the game from ever being more than simply ‘okay’. For its retail price there’s a decent amount of content, but there is simply no incentive to invest a lot of time into it in a single session. Perhaps if Harmonix ever decides to expand upon the experience with DLC or a potential sequel Amplitude could be what it aspires to be, but until then the game could be classified as a nice callback for the fans.

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Jan 13, 2016

When your mind and digits are one with the music, there is little to beat it.

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6 / 10.0
Jan 19, 2016

It's like that slightly off record from your favourite band that you spun a few times to start but now rarely play

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6 / 10.0
Jan 6, 2016

Amplitude does a solid little job of bringing back a Harmonix classic in mechanical terms, and it can be a fun distraction in small doses, but it just doesn't provide enough to sustain itself or its audience. With an expanded setlist, more genres outside of generic electronica, and some actual memorable songs, this could have been something special.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jan 1, 2016

So, overall the gameplay of Amplitude has been quickly and easily transported to the new generation, with some nice new touches added in by Harmonix. Gamers who loved the original will be re-addicted quite quickly, but one thing will nag at the back of their mind the whole time, and that is that the songs brought in the new version of Amplitude are simply not up to par with what we've seen before.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jan 6, 2016

In the end, though, Amplitude is a bit of a disappointment. It plays well enough and it's awfully slick-looking, but the lack of a diverse array of songs really puts a damper on the experience. And this isn't merely subjective; as starkly different songs result in drastically different note patterns on the tracks, and even how the tracks are set up, this lack of music variety impacts the gameplay as well.

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6.5 / 10.0
Dec 23, 2015

Amplitude is a competent rhythm game that should provide lots of fun at parties, but the hamstrung tracklist is a severe detriment to its longevity. Harmonix was able to preserve the classic experience, but may have gone overboard in its effort to do so.

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68 / 100
Jan 6, 2016

Amplitude offers fairly stock-standard rhythm gameplay and nice visuals, coupled with a rigid unlock system and a music genre of limited appeal.

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6.8 / 10.0
Jan 5, 2016

Amplitude is a labor of love on its creator's part. What it has to offer is a testament to Harmonix's mastery of the genre: Its simple yet deeply challenging gameplay and psychedelic graphics have been honed to near-perfection, and each distinct part of every song carries its own, faithful patterns and challenges. The critical flaw is that there's simply not enough content to go around.

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7 / 10
Jan 4, 2016

In order to keep this already long-winded review from balooning further, I'll simply sum it up at this: while Amplitude doesn't do much in the way of innovation, it does offer the strongest gameplay in the franchise thus far in terms of challenge. However, the weak track selection, questionable visual design choices and semi-botched implementation of the franchise's best gameplay methods add up to a very lackluster experience. I would be upset if I backed this on Kickstarter, not because I didn't get a good game out of the deal — which Amplitude certainly is, for sure — but rather, that the game doesn't seem as inspired as the labors of love that preceded it, which causes this particular pony to look like it's not even capable of doing its one trick nearly as well as it used to.

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7 / 10.0
Jan 8, 2016

Amplitude is a game trapped in the PS2's past but brought back through the developers' passion. There really isn't any innovation in this version, but it's not expensive so a lot can be overlooked. This game works best at a college dorm party or somewhere with lots of friends. But there's little more to do once everyone has gone home.

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3.5 / 5.0
Dec 24, 2015

If you've wanted to play another Amplitude game for the past generation, then this is going to scratch your itch and then some.

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Jan 6, 2016

Amplitude hasn't got the high-profile tracks or acts to make it as a blockbuster music game, but it has got the gameplay chops, the visuals and the soundtrack to make it as hypnotic, score-attack arcade game. On that level it's still a little short on long-term appeal, but as accomplished and horribly addictive as anything Harmonix has produced.

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7 / 10.0
Jan 4, 2016

The plastic peripheral-slinging music game developers at Harmonix have returned to their roots with a modern remake of Amplitude.

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Jan 2, 2016

Amplitude lacks both the visual and audible punch its predecessor delivered, but the gameplay still manages to be immersive, intense and often enjoyable.

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Jan 17, 2016

This exclusive reboot for PlayStation features all-new music and visuals, but fails to live up to the original.

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Jan 7, 2016

While some more star power in the soundtrack would have went a long way, and the way Harmonix artificially pads the game's length with its song unlock requirements is ridiculous, Amplitude remains an exciting blend of rhythm action and electronica that does well by its predecessors.

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7 / 10
Dec 29, 2015

This is a game clearly made for long-standing fans, and made by a passionate team that strived to recreate the gameplay experience of the original on modern hardware. In that sense, Amplitude is a total success. The way that the game draws you in with its psychedelic visuals, how your brain switches off and your fingers become one with your DualShock, the satisfying way that the tracks disintegrate when you clear them – it's all here. If you can forgive the game's problems, you're left with a very solid rhythm game, and an experience that's as fresh today as it was 13 years ago.

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