I bought Audiosurf the other day, a casual music-based game from BestGameEver Interactive Game Design. It’s available on Steam for $9.99 USD. I recommend downloading the free demo to try it out for a limited number of plays.
It’s not a rhythm game; your performance has no impact on the playback of the music. Audiosurf lets you “surf” your own music library. You fly along the track, bumping into blocks of various colours. You make sets of three or more blocks of the same colour and they disappear, giving you points. You’re scored based on the size of the combos and the colours they’re made of. You can compete with other players for the top score on songs in an online scoreboard. Want to add to the scoreboard quickly? Play a song that nobody’s used before!
The best feature of Audiosurf is the ability to load your own MP3s, WMA, OGG, Flac, CD and iTunes Deluxe tracks. It’s challenging, and that’s what makes it fun – if you choose the right song to play. The tempo and complexity of the music is reflected in Audiosurf, so your experience varies widely between tunes.
Gameplay involves only your mouse, and the controls are simple.
My largest complaint about the game is it’s initial load time. When opening the game, it takes me upwards of 45 seconds to reach a clickable menu. While, my computer isn’t cutting edge, it’s not far off the average user’s. I also find the shutdown time of the game is a little slow too.
Once into the game, songs load very quickly, so the near-minute load time isn’t a big deal if you’re playing for 20 minutes at a time. But popping into the game to play a single song can become tedious.
I give this song a solid “Try The Demo”. It’s good game, well crafted and enjoyable. With a price tag of just $10, you might end up wanting to buy it.
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