Audiosurf is a thrilling, unique, and beautiful-looking music game.
The Audiosurf title screen sums up the experience in three simple words, 'ride your music', it's music, you're riding it, and most importantly it is YOUR music. It's not a limited collection of tracks selected by the designers of the game, the entire soundtrack is selected entirely by you. Simply select any mp3 stored on your hard-drive; the game will run the track through a set of mathematics that transforms it into a rollercoaster, with rises and dips that reflect the tempo of the music. Essentially, the music makes the game.
I would have liked to avoid using the term rollercoasters, but that's the best I could describe the courses in this game, their really more like one-way motorways in spirit; 'virtual highways' if you like. After all, you are not simply riding your music to gawp at the stunning Rez-like scenery, (unless you opt to, of course) as you also have to cotend with the gameplay, which is essentially a puzzle game. At random 'lanes' on the track created from your music, coloured blocks called 'cars' are placed at points where the most significant notes in the song are played. You control a spacecraft which can only move left and right that has to make these blocks disappear by matching groups of three or more like-coloured ones in your grid, which scores points. It can't really be considered a rhythm game, because the entire point is to hit the correct blocks to score points. This is easier said than done because the game doesn't relent from increasing the difficulty to fit more intense music.
If you wish, you can opt out of the puzzling element altogether by selecting a character called 'Mono'. When playing as Mono there is only one colour that has has to to be matched up, including greys which don't do anything and take ages to go away; it adds to a more relaxing experience though. You can also select other characters like 'Eraser' and 'Pusher' that don't make drastic changes to the gameplay but have special powers that can be utilised. Building strategies for these characters is fun and adds a little variety to the experience, although having a few more would be nice. You can choose to use the mouse or keyboard to guide your craft, but ultimately the mouse is faster and much less unwieldy.
Apart from it's gameplay Audiosurf is just a spectacular audiovisual experience. You can't go wrong with your own music of course, but the game's sound effects are used to commend good actions and are pleasing to the ear. Audiosurf visual style definitely resemble's Rez more than anything else, in a kind of vibrant, minimalist way, although unlike Rez the visuals don't change to accompany the music. Sometimes Audiosurf can be just downright thrilling, especially when the track slopes downwards to accompany faster music and cars fly at you like bullets. The only thing incomplete about it's sense of speed is the lack of motion blur, the visuals are spectacular anyway though.
Pay $10 for Audiosurf and it's unlikely you will ever regret it, it's a thrilling, unique, and beautiful-looking music game that never really gets boring or stale. All it needs is a steady stream of extra features to make it's appeal continue into the forseable future. This came get's the DeepDreamer seal of approval, hell yeah!
8.5