Audiosurf: Experience your music

While console systems have seen the many incarnations of the beat/singing/general music game, there have been little if any flagship games the music fan can play on the personal computer (PC). “Guitar Hero III” III for now is the only big name option and aside from that there are only smaller independent games that only mimic the general gameplay mechanics without the polish and shine of either the PC or console releases. I’ve not minded being left out of the apparent revelation the gaming industry had in developing the genre but all things considered, we’ve officially been left to fend for ourselves in the sea of ideas that is online flash games.

Audiosurf enters into the scene as giants “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero III” keep soaring higher on the wave of self-induced, living room rockstardom . It appears to be just another music game, albeit a $10 price tag and indie appeal. More importantly though, it’s one of the first independent music games to show us something we as gamers are both familiar with and yet have never seen before. The game has a total of over fourteen playing styles available right off the bat with no unlocked content necessary, which is strikingly different from its predecessors. The game has full access to your music library, not only using every available format from WMA, MP3 and iTunes with easy to scroll menus and even randomization. This in total is very different from the current “music game” model which is tried and true.

Words fail to really describe what the game actually is. I saw it initially as some weird cross between Tetris and a racing game set to music. That’s it in a nutshell but that same nutshell is plastered with “ridiculously awesome” on the front. The gameplay can be seen as mindless if you simply roll down the music highway mixing and matching the colored blocks but the mechanic uses more than randomly placed blocks to wow and amaze the downtrodden. The blocks actually signify beats and various aspects of the music that you become more intently familiar as you play and replay songs. The tempo reflects the speed at which you travel so songs pertaining to the metal and electronica genres are going to be the real challenge. When you’re traveling down the music path, screaming through the insane solos of “Through the Fire and Flames,” the game shines as being challenging but playable.

Another shining star to this game is the beautiful graphics that seem almost out of place for indie games. The beauty of the game is comparable to many next generation games available and even excels over the graphics of “Guitar Hero III” and “Rock Band”, minus the physics engine. While there is no random crowd to generate while rocking out, there is a random race track designed specifically for each song no matter what song is chosen. It’s a completely different kind of requirement for graphics and where “Guitar Hero III” has been tried and true using repeated video clips, Audiosurf jumps whatever expectations you have and leads you to a new vision and new standard for music-based gameplay.

Much like Portal, however, Audiosurf also suffers from being propelled to greatness without much more directions left to travel; yeah, the game looks and plays great, it’s a five star game but where do we as fans expect to keep going? There is no need for any further development and hence Audiosurf will eventually see it’s moment in the sun and be ripped off once innovation becomes beating a dead horse. Also, while the controls are quite seamless for the mouse user, one mode requires you utilize two cars at once and control one with directional controls on the keyboard. It seems really cool and a great challenge but when using the keyboard, controls detract from the connection the player has to the vehicle which equals bad experiences.

Negativity aside, this is the game for the music fans demanding something mainstream for the PC. While there are several little issues that have no real resolution, there’s nothing wrong overall that would detract from the fun you’ll have.

Official Thorn rating: 5 elephants