Ride Your Music...

T H U R S D A Y,  N O V E M B E R  1 2,   2 0 0 9

Musical Gaming 2009

It was early 1792, and Nikolaus Simrock (Publisher for Mozart) was looking through his papers, and found an unknown work that Mozart  had created five years before. It wasn't a new symphony, it was instead a "Musikalisches Würfelspiel"... a musical dice game.

Fast-forward a couple of centuries, and its the fall of 1997. Video game maker Konami has just released their latest arcade machine in Japan. Its a Rhythm Video Game called "Beatmania". The game became very popular, spawning a series, as well as a plethora of spin-offs. In 1999 one of those spinoffs was "GuitarFreaks", where the player held a guitar with buttons on the neck and a "plucker" on the body.

In 2005, RedOctane, who had created the GuitarFreaks hardware, teamed up with Harmonix Music Systems, and GuitarHero was born.

217 years after Mozart's contribution to early music games (wwaaayyy last generation gaming!), a vast majority of the western world has become hooked on music based games. There's Guitar Hero 5 & World Tour  (Xbox 360 - Complete Band Kit - $180), DJ Hero (Wii w/turntable - $200), Rock Band 2 (PS3 - Game Only - $60), AudioSurf (PC - $10), Rock Band Unplugged (PSP - $30)...

...Hold on a sec, what the hell is an AudioSurf???

Audiosurf is what Alec Meer of PC Gamer UK called; "A near-religious music gaming experience". It has been awarded near perfect scores in virtually every gaming-zine that has reviewed it, and PeBoVision calls it; "The Best Music Game Since Mozart's 1787 Classic"

The game is a hybrid of a couple of genres...first and foremost its a rhythm music game. You hit colours in time with the tune, while a combination of hand eye co-ordination and timing advances you through the songs. But its also a falling-blocks game in the Dr Mario mold. Or is it really a 3D sci-fi racing game?

Geez, it's a bitch to describe!

Here's how it works...

You fly your ship (mouse, keyboard or gamepad) down a graphically dazzling multi-lane highway, where virtually everything is bopping, spinning and swaying in time with the music (including the highway itself). At the same time, blocks are hurtling at you head-on. You have to collect the blocks into place-holders under your ship and attempt to fill all of the placeholders (and complete lines of same-coloured blocks). The rules change completely based on what ship you've chosen, and each ship has different powers. My favorite variation is a game where you must avoid grey blocks while the colour of the other blocks is less relevant, I guess you could call it the "Kiddy  Level", but not to my face. Over-filling the placeholders makes you temporarily lose control of your ship. Your score is based on a variety of elements, like your largest placeholder collection, the colour of bricks collected, or how many blocks were left on screen at the end of the song.

Of course the big question in a rhythm video game is... how good is the music??? Well, this is where AudioSurf absolutely blows away the competition. The player decides how good the music is! Audiosurf uses any music file on your system (!). Because of this, you can determine how frenetic or relaxed you want the action to be. Play "Fernand" by Alexandre Poulin and you get an exciting fast-paced run. Play side one of "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield, and you get a 20 minute, very relaxing ride (with a dandy corkscrew about halfway). Additionally, AudioSurf promotes indy artists (kudos!!) with "AudioSurf Radio", a collection of ever changing songs, from featured artists. Occasionally, the Audiosurf team will create a special track with extra lanes, or adjusted gameplay for particular songs.

A good game has to have a "hook", and Audiosurf's is online score competition. I don't know how many times I have been happily working away in the office, when an email alert comes up saying someone has dethroned me from top spot on a particular song. Actually, it happens all the time (remember, I do play the kiddy level). I have to sit there all day, knowing that when I get home, I'll be spending the night trying to regain my crown! Additionally, AudioSurf runs through Valve Corporation's brilliant gaming front-end, Steam. This adds additional goals / challenges, and a very active pre-existing online community. I have been challenged by members riding songs, that I ripped from obscure CD's that I was certain no one else had (in a vain attempt to retain at least one high score). In the age of the internet, nothing is obscure anymore I guess.

To ensure no one cheats (or as best you can with ID3 tag song identification), a layout of the track that was used is attached to each scores, so you can see if the person who beat you played the same version of the song, or used the same ship and settings.

Pictures and YouTube videos do not do the graphics justice! If you have a middle to high end DX9 GPU, the effects are breathtaking, making mincemeat out of  anything else in the price range, as well as games 5 times the price! Download the demo, and see for yourself . !WARNING!  If you download the demo, you WILL buy the game - even if you have to beg, borrow or steal the $10 to do it! (But honey, I NEEEED IT!!!)

AudioSurf is one of those games that even people who hate games love. It can be insanely difficult (Queen's "Sheer Heart Attack") or calm and soothing at the end of a rough day (Dvorák's "New World Symphony"). Once all is said and done though, Audiosurf's  greatest contribution to the genre  is proclaimed in their tagline...it offers the player the unique opportunity to "Ride Your Music". Try that with GuitarHero, and it's an embarrassing trip to the hospital to dislodge the guitar!

Oh ya...its also GREAT with Mozart!!

 PeBoVision reviews are unsolicited, and are a true and honest reflection of my feelings.