Amped 3 [X360]

As the only snowboarding game in the Xbox 360's lineup, Amped 3 features a laid-back pace, easy to learn controls, and an approach that's somewhere between the realistic moves of Amped 1 and 2, and the all-arcade SSX series. While your board stays firmly attached to your feet -- no crazy flip tricks here -- Amped 3 lets your mind drift off to a place that's probably a lot more relaxing than your front room.

In a considerable departure from the last two games, Amped 3's controls are easy to learn. Once you're airborne, combinations of the face buttons perform grabs. Spins, as usual, are on the left stick. Landing has a generous margin for error, and grinds are a cinch. Novice boarders will be landing tricks in no time, especially if they have some Tony Hawk experience.

Amped 3's story mode is a little... odd. Before you've gone through the character design process, you start the game dressed in a colorful pink bunny suit, and it's all downhill from there -- so to speak. It features seven huge mountains, each broken into several areas, and you'll gradually progress through them, completing challenges as you go. Once you've taken off that bunny suit, of course.

Along the way, you'll be regaled with a tremendous quantity of what have to be the craziest cutscenes we've ever seen. Here's an example: Early in the game, one of your buddies is describing what it'll be like when he's a big-time snowboarding star. Out of nowhere, the in-engine cutscene switches to a stop-motion South Park style animation where he performs a hilarious rap about the money, the girls, and the celebrity lifestyle he's anticipating.

Quirky doesn't even begin to describe it. It's an assault on all the senses. Hand puppets, faux anime clips, even a set of sequences that use scrapbooking to lay out the plot -- many of the scenes defy description, let alone categorization. They can be hit and miss, and some do seem forced, but they add a lot to the story mode, even if it's only because you want to find out what they're going to do next.

You're not confined to snowboards for the whole game, either. Snowmobiles and a variety of kamikaze sleds also feature, breaking up the trick action with something a little more traditional. It's handy to be able to jump on a snowmobile and head back up the slope for something you missed, and some challenges also require snowmobile piloting skills.