Think Amplitude would never return? Harmonix thinks differently, but it needs your help on Kickstarter.
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Eleven years ago, Amplitude was born. Building from Harmonix Music System's success with their previous music game Frequency, the game was the pinnacle of the genre, blending all forms of music into a pulsing, trance-inducing experience. The multiplayer was top notch, the harder difficulties notoriously finger-breaking. There was simply nothing like cranking the music, diving into a game and just losing yourself in the experience.
In the years since its release Harmonix went on to become a synonym with the music game genre, putting out amazing titles like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Central. Their latest release of Rock Band Blitz tried to take it back to the game's roots but couldn't quite replicate it- the game style certainly works with rock music but one of the beautiful things about Frequency and Amplitude was how trippy they were and how many forms of music were presented. Now they're looking to bring things back and have headed to Kickstarter to get it done.
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The goal for them is to make an updated version of the PlayStation 2 title, re-developed for PS4 and PS3. They have lots of lofty goals for it but they're looking for community feedback to get ideas on where to take the game, too. What about the soundtrack? Well, like the original it will focus on songs with an electronic feel. It matches the look and the mood, and the gameplay will be similar. There are no artists announced just yet but this is Harmonix- they've working with basically every record label on the planet.
Also, they have promised that there will be as much difficulty as Amplitude demonstrated in its higher difficulty levels. "We're talking 'Dark Souls' hard, but with music," they note. Hurt us, Harmonix- hurt us!
If you pledge $20 right now you can get a cross-buy code for the full game, which will give you both PS4 and PS3 versions of the game at launch. Give them $40 and you get a code that works two weeks before the public launch of the game. If you want to be really nuts (and are absurdly rich) you can pledge 10k and get a Jam Session with Harmonix, which gives you a helicopter tour of Boston, a vote on the final soundtrack, and a rad t-shirt.
Head on over to their Kickstarter here to check out the full details. They're aiming for a March 2015 release if all goes well, and right now it's raised 18% of its $775k goal so it will certainly get there. We'll let you know when it does!
