A delightfully mesmerizing aural and visual experience.
In Auditorium HD, your job is to direct the flow of particles toward said volume bars (they're known as "audio canisters" here) to produce powerful and delightful music, much like how conductor would direct his troop of musicians in a orchestra. Your tools of conduction aren't quite the same -- they're white circular devices that manipulate the flow in varying ways, such as directing it in a single direction (up, down, left, right), deflecting it, or rounding it up into a whirlpool of sorts, and who's range of effect can be expanded for greater efficiency. They're controlled through the DualShock controllers analog sticks: the left controlling movement and the right controlling width -- a very intuitive control method. The PlayStation Move may be used in place of a standard controller as well, providing a small sense of actual conduction with it's similar form and appearance to a conductor's baton, if you so prefer.
Presentation of this task takes the form of a puzzle. Each passage of music lays forth a limited set of direction devices that must be used to get the flow into the audio canisters placed throughout the field. It begins simply enough; early passages' solutions are almost immediately clear from the outset to help ease you into the eventual complexity of the mechanics as well as grow accustom to how each tool works (there's no sort of instruction, text or otherwise), introducing you to new elements with each new track. A perfect pace that gradually increases the difficulty of the task ahead but never makes it feel insurmountable. By the end, your conductor skills are tested in myriad fashion, with variables like color, multi-slotted canisters, and even portals and black holes being thrown into the mix. It's around that time that playing passages becomes more difficult.
With such a myriad of variables to work with, usage of all of which are crucial to your success, it can become sort of maddening when a plan starts coming together only to be foiled by the refusal of particles to move toward a canister -- even more so when that canister is only slightly out of the particles reach. Through careful adjustment of your tools of conduction, however, a solution unveils itself. Often times it's a chance result -- whether it be a large, though brief, burst of particles reaching the final target and filling it just hastily enough to finish the passage, or a single particle passing through a canister with enough frequency to slow fill it -- which somewhat devalues the gratification of solving the puzzle before you, but the majority of the passages are played as a result of pure ingenuity. Unconventional methods often apply -- for instance, sending the flow away from a cluster of easy targets to fill a lone canister in a far off corner before sending it back toward the aforesaid cluster to fill them all in one sweeping motion -- but through ingenuity it's very well possible to solve any given trial in myriad ways. It's simply a matter of how creative you get within the restrictions placed upon you.
Regardless of how you achieve your eventual goal, though, the orchestral beauties produced for your efforts are endlessly rewarding. Sitting back and listening to the sounds of violins, harps, pianos, and more working together in harmony is a pure delight to behold, and is a perfect respite from the further trials ahead. The ultimate reward for your work is to listen to the entire track in full force. After working hard to produce each individual passage, you grow to become more appreciative of the role each part plays in the entire composition, and begin to see where each part comes in and how it contributes.
Music is certainly the most delighting aspect of the experience, but Auditorium's visual of the process is just as mesmerizing to watch. The flow's motions are graceful as they are haphazard. One moment it arcs smooth and gracefully between canisters as it calls forth a slow and relaxing harp-based melody, and come next passage it explodes in a dazzling display of light and color as it moves every which way, producing a quickened spurt of music that comes and goes as the flow sloppily moves about. Observing the behavior of these particles is an entertainment all its own.
Auditorium HD contains two soundtracks: Auditorium Classic, which contains all 72 original pieces from 2009's PC release, and Auditorium Modern, which contains 78 new pieces crafted specifically for this. The differing aspects between the two are mostly light; Classic has more tracks overall while Modern has more passages, but is less demanding with its puzzles than Classic. A disappointment for seasoned conductors looking for an extra challenge, though the continued mastery in that tracks composition is still certain to please.
The total of amount of content in Auditorium HD is certainly vast; though once you've heard all there is to hear you're likely not going to return. But even so, Auditorium's unique interpretation of music creation is something well worth experiencing, if only to enjoy its auditory delights.