Amplitude Tips and Tricks

Master the beats in Harmonix's latest music rhythm game.

Back in 2003, Harmonix released Amplitude, a PlayStation 2 music rhythm game where you work your way across a number of tracks, hitting specific notes to complete a song playing in the background. These notes include everything from synth and guitar to drums and vocals, depending on the song. The better you do, the more complete you’ll make the tune and the higher score you’ll receive.

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Thirteen years later, the game returns this week with a revamp on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, featuring the same classic gameplay we’ve come to expect from Harmonix, but with several new songs to master. It takes some getting used to, so we have a few tips on how to get into it and groove to the beat.

Getting Started

If you’re familiar with Amplitude’s mechanics or you mastered the PS2 game years ago, you’ll have no trouble jumping into the normal or higher difficulty setting. However, if you’re just getting started, go ahead and take the Easy route. This will let you get used to the game’s mechanics and learn how to hit notes in each track.

From there, keep in mind there is no pre-set order when it comes to hitting notes in a track. You don’t have to start with drums or vocals. You can go wherever you wish when it comes to hitting notes. Once you hit a successive number of notes in a track, it’ll dissolve for 30 seconds, going into auto-play mode while you move on to the other tracks. The goal is to get all six tracks consistently going at once, and moving back to ones that need to have notes hit again.

The best way to begin is to skim across tracks in a straight line, from left to right or from right to left. That way, you don’t have to worry about jumping all over the place trying to keep up or missing crucial notes. It also lets you see what note comes up next on the track near yours, so you can continue hitting notes without losing energy or scoring streaks. This all adds up in the end with your score, which can be compared to others on the leaderboard.

Indicators and Power-Ups

When you continue to hit notes going over to another track, you’ll want to keep an eye open for glowing indicators. These let you know where the next note is on a track you’re moving over to. If you manage to miss this, the track will reset to a later section and you’ll lose your multiplier. The best thing you can do is watch for this note and prepare to hit it immediately as you move over to the next track.

In addition, there are power-ups you can take advantage of. You’ll earn these power-ups by hitting a successive number of notes on a track, with the female voice indicating you earned it. From there, you can activate it with the X button, though you may want to wait for the proper time depending on the note.

There are three power-ups that prove useful.

Cleanse: By earning this power-up, you can clean up an entire track for several seconds instead of needing to hit notes. Your best bet is to save this for a track that requires several notes to be hit, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Sedate: This slows down the song for several seconds, allowing you to catch up on notes that may quickly speed by. Save its use for more complex sections of a particular song.

Flow: This clears the tracks entirely for several seconds, resetting them down the path. Save this for when trying to play catch-up on certain tracks. On top of that, when in Flow mode, lean your ship all the way to the left or right to earn bonus points before coming back down to the track.

Bring Your Friends

Along with a robust single player mode, there’s also the ability to play in local multiplayer either with or against friends. The cooperative mode has you working together to complete notes on a song, and is a great way to get people to be in rhythm together – particularly if they played Harmonix’s previously released Rock Band 4.

However, competitive is a whole new ball game, as you basically attempt to hit as many open notes as you can, trying to get a higher score than other players. It’s easy to lose your place, so keep a close eye on your ship (remember the color of the one you selected) and try to look for open tracks with notes to hit. There are six in all, so even with four players, there are still notes to hit. Watch for open opportunities.

Good luck, and rock on!

 


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Prima Games Staff
The staff at Prima Games.