Audiosurf

My evenings run on a frighteningly consistent schedule: everyone else goes to sleep, I check news and email, then play videogames until I go to bed. It's a sad, nerdy bit of clockwork but it serves me well and is rarely interrupted. Last week, after the purchase of a new computer, I was browsing through Steam while re-downloading Trackmania and came across Audiosurf. Having never heard of it I downloaded the demo. In five minutes my wallet was out. Two hours later I came out of a trance, eyes dry and legs cramped from not moving. I had no idea what time it was and it did not matter; there was only the mantra of "one more song."

As a game Audiosurf is not very deep. The player controls one of a stable of ships, flies down a roller coaster like track while collecting (and avoiding) blocks of different colors. The puzzle solving is light, the controls serviceable, and there are enough different kinds of ships to provide for a wide variety of difficulties and abilities. The strength here is not the game itself. Put a score on anything and people will play it in attempt to better someone else's record. No, what makes Audiosurf special is that the entire experience is created dynamically by music of the player's choosing. 

After selecting a ship and difficulty the player is free to choose any song in just about any format on his computer. Audiosurf chews on the track for a few seconds, then creates a level based entirely on what is happening in the music. The busier the song, the more there is to collect or avoid. When the song is loud and going fast the track is heading downhill, turns brighter colors and generally gets harder, then heads back uphill when the song slows down again. The track will ripple in synch with the beat, scrolling faster or slower as the music demands. I have no idea how any of this actually works but the effect is almost hallucinatory. I had never seen 'Stairway to Heaven' or 'Aenima' before, but riding the song on an undulating river of light in time to the beat is enough to create (wonderful) flashbacks akin to drugs that I swear I never touched in college. Really. The levels themselves, while different in design, can be very similar in style. This is not Rez, there is no overarching narrative or story, only the player riding his music down a neon waterslide that is defferent every time the soundtrack changes.

When a song is finished the player is subtly reminded that is still is just a game by having their score uploaded and compared to everyone else that has played the same song. It almost feels like the game is making a concession to its more mundane progeny. I would play Audiosurf if there was no score at all, but a small sense of competition does add to the replay value and community aspects even if it is unnecessary. 'Just one more song' is what keeps pulling me back, digging deeper into my music collection, unearthing songs that I had forgotten that I owned. Remember when Mighty Mighty Bosstones were cool? Me neither, but I do wonder it looks like.