Audiosurf

 
Developer: Dylan Filterer
Released: Feb 2008
Hours Played: 5.7
Similar To: Avoid Sensory Overload / Boson X / Cosmophony / Riff Racer / TEC 3001
Rating: 5/5 Parsnips




GAMEPLAY
If any game can boast to being an intense rollercoaster ride then the accolade may fit this one. Choose a track from your music library, let the computer work out the course based on the song's tempo and beats... and then put your seat-belt on because you’re in for one hell of a ride! Once you start your game the camera shows the generated track from a distance and then swings down behind your ship before you set off on your journey. You then control your ship (left, right and sometimes jump) as it moves forward along three lanes. The idea is to fill up a grid around your ship by avoiding the grey blocks but hitting the coloured ones as they appear up ahead.


BALANCE & PACE
With a firework display bursting around you as you sway heroically back and forth and the music pounding blissfully in your eardrums, Audiosurf can feel like you're on a glorious and beautiful futuristic fairground ride. Quiet moments have you going slowly and calmly uphill bringing tranquillity to the fore as you peacefully hit the cold colours like blue and purple while louder and more aggressive sections have you speeding downhill like a madman as you pick up the red and yellow blocks. The result is intense, no doubt, but it can also be quite a mesmerising feeling - and you'll often want to just get back in the seat and experience it all over again!



PRESENTATION & DESIGN
Apart from a few whooshes and swishes sound is entirely dependent on your choice of music. Yes, it comes loaded with a track or two but you'll want quality tracks of your own to get the best out of it with trance being a good choice. Graphics-wise, the blocks explode nicely to the beats and you have those glorious explosions around you. From a dull start-screen, but with a kick-ass soundtrack, you're taken to the main start-screen full of bright colour and promise. The headings to standard pathways such as Tutorial, Options and Online Stats are spread along a thin strip at the top. You select a character corresponding to 14 game modes then pick a song from the easy-to-navigate menu and wait a short time for it to load. 


PROGRESS SYSTEM
You are then shown a graph that displays the intensity of what is to follow: uphill indicates a slow pace, downhill sections are fast and intense. As you approach the finish line and your run ends, you are given your final score in the form of a raw score followed by additional bonuses. These include extra points for things like avoiding grey blocks or managing to collect a certain number in your grid etc. There are many modes to play, that cannot be all covered here, so you'll have to explore to find out what you like. The game records and stores your best time so you may always go back and improve on it. Unfortunately, you do have to click on the Online Stats and dig around a bit in order to find it.


CONCLUSION
Audiosurf is a versatile game that can be enjoyed in a number of ways. On the one hand it serves well as a casual game for recreational players who just want to kick back with a couple of tunes; on the other, it can be for hardcore gamers who want to improve their scores regularly and who wish to explore the nuances and the mechanics of the 14 modes on offer. Finally, it must be mentioned that the game may not be "ready-to-use-straight-out-of-the-box" for some users. Those who are computer illiterate with no knowledge of where music is stored, may need a trip to Google but if you already have music on your PC and have an ounce of know-how, this should be a negligible problem. Even if you're not into gaming, as an experience to behold, Audiosurf is worth a little dabble.