AudioSurf (PC) Review
Posted by Chris Evans on 02.20.2008
AudioSurf'ing right here, right now.
AudioSurf Review
Everyone loves music; everyone (I should hope) loves games. Mix the two together is surely a winning combination, and in the case of AudioSurf it most certainly is a winning combination. Created by Dylan Fitterer and distributed on Steam using the Steamworks tools this is a game that truly shows the great potential of the independent gaming scene currently on the PC.
AudioSurf is a racing-puzzle game that takes your music and turns it into a track within seconds of selecting what you want to play. The shape of the track is entirely dependent on what type of song you chose; a slow acoustic song will generate a gentle uphill track while (this would be my choice) a heavy thrash metal song will give you a hell of a ride racing down hill all the way. It really is fantastic the way Dylan has made this possible, the track will undulate and take you on a trip following the pace and beat of the music, this is brilliant as it allows you to easily chose whether you want an easy or a very challenging game, purely by your selection of music.
The focus of each track is on the blocks that litter your path, you must hit the coloured blocks to create a grouping and score the big points. There are different characters which you use to race the tracks, however many of them are quite similar with just some small abilities adding a twist to proceedings. However once you find a character you feel comfortable with then you can have a whole load of fun with it.
Controls are simple and intuitive, there are three lanes on each track, and depending on what character you go as there is a rest lane where no blocks will appear. You can easily use the mouse or keyboard to shift your ship from lane to lane weaving between different blocks in your aim to get the high scoring ‘warm’ colours like red and yellow. The graphics are very nicely presented, you can choose what background you want and on that there are some funky patterns and designs that change colour and shape depending on what the song is.
You will find yourself racing again and again to get a high score; if you create an account with the game your high scores will be submitted to a central hub which allows you to see the scores achieved by everyone around the world, local to you and even your friends you can add in the game. If someone beats your top score you receive an e-mail informing you that you have lost your spot at the top which, in me at least, gave me the drive to go out and try harder and harder to reclaim my top spot. AudioSurf is one of the first games to utilise the Steamworks utilities provided by Valve and the immediate signs are that it is a great set of utilities. AudioSurf has achievements which provide another great incentive to knuckle down and get some great high scores and really go out and play the game to the max!
The sheer fact that one man has been able to create this game is quite some feat, making the game based on your music means that if you enjoy the racing/puzzling of the main game then you really should have no complaints as you are the one choosing what kind of track you race on. This is a very innovative game, while it may lack depth it is a great game to jump into and spend your time listening to your favourite tunes and having a great time. Further evidence, if needed, of its quality is the fact that it is nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival.
I'm glad to see a good review of this game, it really is a great game... And for $10, there's really no reason to not buy it if you like music and video games.
Posted By: Sean (Guest) on February 22, 2008 at 04:23 AM
Sounds interesting, I may have to check it out. Sometimes it's those games that fall under the radar that are the most enjoyable.
Posted By: Ramon Aranda (Registered) on February 23, 2008 at 02:09 AM
