Amid full-scale hype for games such as Project Gotham Racing 3 and Kameo, it’s easy to forget about a title like Amped. Thanks to previous screenshots that have failed to do the game justice, a lack of any obvious next-gen appeal and the fact that snowboarding games are largely hit or miss, Amped 3 has been mostly ignored compared to other launch games. When a new console is launched, our expectations and reasons for spending money change massively. No longer are we judging a game based on how fun it is or how unique an experience it can provide – we want games that look better. Above all, we want games to reinforce our decision to spend nigh on £300 on a console and tend to shy away from things that cause friends to question why we’ve bothered.

This is what games like Gun, Quake 4 and Amped 3 are up against – they just aren’t seen to be ‘next-gen’ enough. But where Gun really is a higher res version of a game you can happily play on Xbox and Quake 4 is inferior to the PC version thanks to rush-job programming and the resulting stuttering frame-rate, Amped 3 is a genuinely fun and original little title in its own right – and it looks very pretty.

Honestly, when Amped 3 is running it can at times look lovely – especially in high definition. Screenshots show lots of white and a few trees, but actually snowboarding at speed and taking to the air reveals a huge, vast world where the draw distance goes on forever, allowing you to see far-off features in all directions – all of which are accessible to you should you make the effort to get there. Few previous-gen games give you this feeling of expanse and the higher up you go, the more this intensifies. You’ll understand what we mean when you take the hand glider for a spin on one of the larger mountains.

Everything else within the game looks just as nice (look out for the snow textures at night), and even though Amped 3 doesn’t represent the same graphical benchmark set by PGR3, it doesn't matter – it's fun to play.

As for the game itself, Amped 3 is as open and free as the mountains themselves. Once you’ve created your character you’re let loose on the slopes where you’re presented with a multitude of events and challenges in which you participate at your own pace. In addition you also have the option to drop into the mountain without purpose, to just ride about until you decide to do something more productive. This sort of free-roaming environment, full of missions to explore, reminds us of Grand Theft Auto, except without the murder and that whole hooker-sex-thing.

In addition to snowboarding, you will eventually unlock new methods of transport, which range from reasonably useful to utterly mental. Early on you get given a snowmobile that allows you to climb steep surfaces you can’t logically snowboard your way up, useful for getting around without quitting into the map view. You can also unlock sledge variations (such as a single-seater couch and circular tray that resembles what pikey children use as sledge substitutes when it snows) and even a hand glider. It’s unlikely you’ll want to use these too often, but each does play its own part in some of the challenges you face.

Most of the time you will be on a snowboard though, and thankfully this is easy to get into. It follows the usual method seen in extreme games – you can grind, perform manuals (or Butter moves as they’re known here) to link tricks and you’ve also an Awesomeness meter to fill. We prefer the SSX trick charging method, but for fans of the more freeform style, this may appeal. Importantly, the tricks and levels are much more mental than in previous Amped games – it’s not up to SSX’s Uber Trickery and rollercoaster-like experience, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Oddly, our main problem with Amped 3 lies with the feature that gives it the most appeal – its freedom. It lacks a certain degree of structure as a result of this and it can seem a bit overwhelming to start a new mountain when you’re not sure you’ve finished the previous one properly. The game also suffers because of the reliance on its massively diverse selection of challenges, which often feel more like silly sub tasks rather than part of the actual game. Many tasks are short-lived or tedious, with few being meaty enough to bring you back for further attempts on your best score.

Still, faults aside Amped 3 is a fun, easy-to-get-into game that is crammed full of things to do, see and find. If you’ve been even remotely entertained by snowboarding games, this definitely deserves a chance.