It's easy to throw all manner of industry buzzwords at Audiosurf, 'casual' and 'indie' perhaps most readily. It has a low price point (£5 / $9.99), it's available via download only and it was created by just one talented individual on a limited budget. What isn't so simple is shoehorning it into a specific genre; it plays like an arcade racer/music game hybrid with puzzler elements. Think Wipeout meets Guitar Hero… meets Tetris!
Despite its apparent identity issues, Audiosurf is in fact a relatively simple game and, like many of its indie cousins, it revolves around a few basic gameplay elements. The essence of Audiosurf involves controlling a spaceship-like avatar as you speed along a 3D track that scrolls towards you like a traditional racer. The track itself mirrors the beat, vocals and intensity of the music with coloured blocks (known as cars), bumps, steep slopes and tunnels. As you progress down the track, the aim is to collect these cars and line them up on a grid at the bottom of your screen; doing so successfully grants you various bonuses and point multipliers, further increasing your score.
So far so good, but what makes Audiosurf stand out from the crowd of music-based games? Well here's the hook: you get to choose the music you play the game to. Point the game's crude but functional menus in the direction of your favorite tune, be it Madonna or Metallica, and watch as it's converted into a playable track in an admirably short amount of time. This is all best illustrated with an example, which calls for a swift insight into my own maiden voyage.
There are various game modes on offer, some of which sound more interesting than others. I went with the basic but challenging Ninja Mono mode to start with. Probing into my music collection, I picked the first song that caught my eye, the wonderfully up-tempo Who's Got a Match? by Biffy Clyro. So off I went, the track bouncing up and down energetically to the beat. As the song progressed and the chorus kicked in, the track shifted from its initial mellow greens and yellows to a vibrant array of oranges and reds. The car traffic increased dramatically, forcing me to double my now frantic efforts to simultaneously avoid grey cars and collect the coloured ones, all whilst flying downhill and speeding through tunnels as the score racked up in that arcade style we all know and love, explosions of colour highlighting every successful combination. Two and a half minutes later and it was over as abruptly as it started.
Of course, every song you play through will give a substantially different experience. Feeling low? Slap on your favourite ballad and away you go. Up for a challenge? Try some heavy club beats. Being able to choose the song isn't the only trick up Audiosurf's sleeve, though. After successfully completing a particular song you are presented with an online scoreboard that can be filtered into local, global and friends only. Every song you can think of has its own scoreboard, and they are well populated (often with worryingly high scores!) This is a great touch, giving what is primarily a single player game a distinct and fitting twist of multiplayer competition. The game even emails you when "Joe-RSI" beats your score, taunting you back in game for another go!
Perhaps Audiosurf's most laudable asset is its low barriers of entry however. With its plethora of game modes and difficulty settings, coupled with the flexibility of being able to choose fast or slow-paced music, you are free to define your own gaming experience. In this way the whole gaming spectrum is catered for, from the most casual of dabblers to the hardcore high score chasers. And whichever way you choose to play, the game is never in a rush to punish you; make a mistake on all but the hardest difficulty setting and you simply lose a few points and carry on surfing.
Audiosurf revels in its simplicity - it's an indie game through and through. It comes free of pretence, with a simple and honest front end that's basic yet very apt for the game's unique style, with colour being used to particularly good effect. However, despite the often-exhilarating experience it provides, the level of interaction remains strangely minimal, requiring only a swing of the mouse or tap of a key. And that is where Audiosurf's true magic lies; it's a simple blend of addictive racing and puzzler gameplay, set to the backdrop of your very own, potentially limitless music collection. Even before you factor in the budget £5/$10 price tag, this is an impressive game you'll want to come back to again and again.
Audiosurf is available for download via Steam and comes with the entire Orange Box soundtrack to get you started.
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