Ever played Audiosurf? That addictive little fucker! I’ve downloaded the demo because I was a little bit curious as I always am when there’s some hype ebbing away and I feel “underground” enough to give it a try myself. But what is Audiosurf anyway? It creates from a song of your choice a unique race track resembling the tempo, intensity and dynamic of that song. Nothing really new. But the community connection via Steam evokes some Trackmania United atmosphere: If there’s somebody who’s played the same song as you then the game automatically compares your scores and performance. As a competitive grunting male I am prone to scoreboards… If you already know what it is about please refer to the last paragraphs — there’s a challenge for you…

The tutorial helps you into the game, and introduces new features in a very gentle way so you won’t turn the game done for being too complicated. In fact it’s so simple, even my mom would be able to grasp at least one of the various game modes. Basically it’s like driving very fast on a crowded highway. In one gaming mode you have to avoid gray blocks on the tracks but collect colored ones (”Ninja”), in another mode there are only differently colored blocks which you should collect to form clusters (a little like a high speed variation of Columns, even a bit Dr. Mario.

Mainly the difficulty of a track is based on the song you choose. Whereas Air by J.S. Bach is more or less boring as a train ride, with “Smack My Bitch Up” by Prodigy you are very likely to get (somewhat) epileptic seizures the first time you try it. Interestingly I found out, that I am performing especially well with the “Ninja” mode, avoiding certain blocks while collecting others. I don’t really know why but I suspect my thousands of miles on the Autobahn have paid off.

Dear pro gamers who play Atari Teenage Riot songs with one eye closed: I have the most brutal and fast music for you: Jimmy Caravan. “Who?” 99.98% of you are asking now because I found out about Jimmy’s excellent funk many years ago in a Viennese record shot where I purchased “Essential Funk, Vol 2″ on vinyl. And some months ago I got my hands on a Japanese import of his one solo album “Hey Jude” with some covers as well as original tracks from 1968’s San Francisco (no hippies though!).

The song “Cyclops” is one of my favorites because it’s so mellow and funky with a great beat and solos. But now that I have played it I fear the brutal the organ solo in Audiosurf. I’va made a little video for all of you YouTubsters out there to view a nearly perfect ride — I only hit one gray block. Gaaah!

If I stirred your interest in the game too you can download it via Steam for 10 $ (including the Soundtracks to all the Valve games including one unreleased track. maybe this may change your mind.)

Why am I advertising this game so shamelessly? Because I need competitors! Obviously my mp3 collection is way too eclectic so usually I am the only one on the high scores for most of my music…

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...