Musical Mayhem!

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Azzokk

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Edited By Azzokk

  I like music, and I have a broad spectrum of music I like to listen too.  Traditionally I am a Rock n Roll kinda guy, I love the thundering thump from the drummer, the high pitched whine of the guitar, and screaming vocals of most bands.   I also, when the mood / singer is right will listen to a bit of rap, country and even some techno/house music.    Then there is the Beatles, Rolling Stones and other classic rock mix.  Spend 10 minutes on my Pandora channel and you will get a wide breath of music that would probably make your head spin.  

Now let me be honest, I can’t play an instrument to save my life, and most musicians would beat me to within an inch of my life if I even hinted at touching an instrument, but some of this changed with games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero.  Not to say that these games unlocked my hidden talent for music, but they did allow me to play along with some of my favorite songs and experience the rush of jamming on the center stage.  I really enjoyed both games, and found that Rock Band was much easier for me to follow along with then Guitar Hero, but that is neither here nor there.  

Sadly I would still be playing these games if not for my poor Xbox, which decided of late to stop working.    Well it still functions but the disk drive will no longer read any disks.  So it has turned into a glorified Netflix box, which my two boys love to death.  So I moved on but always found a way to incorporate my musical selections into my gaming.  Most of the time I am playing World of Warcraft, I will have my trusty Android Phone, or Winamp on my pc rocking along as I kill some digital dragons.

Well this was the case till I found two games on Steam that allowed me to crank out my favorite songs and have them directly affect the game I was playing.  Now neither of these games are anything like the Rock/Hero but they are fun, engaging, fresh and very easy to play.  

The first game is called Audio Surf (yep that is a Steam link, my download place of choice).  The game is like chess, easy to learn, hard to master.  You start off by picking a song from your own songs on your hard drive.  The song will become the “race” track that your little space ship surfs along.  The way the track rises and falls is based on the beat of the song you choose along with the rhythm of the song.  The faster a song is the more points you will get, along with the faster the game moves.    
 

No Caption Provided


Now your little ship has a grind under it, and on the track is different colored blocks.  As you fly through the song you pick up these blocks, by running into them, and when you collect three blocks and fill a part of the grind they disappear and turn into points.  There are also grey colored blocks that you need to avoid.  If you hit them they will fall into the grind and block you from putting a colored block in that spot, keep you from getting points.    The game is quick fast and fun, and also comes with local, and global leader boards for each song.   

The game also has different modes which change the game slightly by giving your ships different abilities, like reorganizing your board on the fly, or even using the grey blocks you pick up as shuriken which can be throw to destroy other grey blocks on the track.  

The other game I discovered has a more action feel but still uses the music to directly effect the game play.  It is called Beat Hazard , and the game is simple in premise and very addicting.  Beat Hazard is a game in which you are a small ship fighting off waves of other ships which fly in depending on the song being played.  
 

No Caption Provided



As you play you rack up points for your kills, but also collect power ups to increase the damage you do.  The power ups come in four forms.  Volume and Power allowing your ship to do more damage and even have a wider spread of your guns.  Volume will also increase the the volume of the song being played.  You also have +1 power ups that increase your score modifier, which will increase the score you get during the song.  Finally you have a super bomb, which is a an Area of Attack shot that spreads out from your ship, and also gives you a small shield protecting you from damage.  The game is chaos incarnate, with lighting effects from the song, your weapons, the enemies weapons and debris from destroyed ships.  In the heat of the moment it is easy to lose track of enemies on the screen or your own ship.   The game also has two other features to increase you score multiplier in the from of a Daredevil meter.  The longer you go without shooting the more it racks up your multiplier.  Also they have a Survivor bonus which applies when the song has a slow/quiet moment and you have multiply enemies on the screen.  

The song also directly effects the shots from your ship, when the song is slow or quiet your ship will not put out very consistent shots, if the song is loud, fast and hard you will be a force to reckon with on the screen.  The game also comes with leader boards, a Rank up system, which give you more things like score multipliers and super bombs.  

My favorite thing about both of these games is that each of them can be played as little or as much as you want.  They are both fast pasted and quick to jump into.  No messing around with story, inventories or character screens.  Just get in there and have fun!  Also they are perfect for younger children, as they are both have very little in the way of mature content, and if you watch what songs they pick from the list the game can have no mature language what so ever.  

I have included two Youtube links for each song to give you an idea of game play.  

Beat Hazard Youtube Video
Audio Surf Youtube Video

HAPPY GAMING!!
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Azzokk

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#1  Edited By Azzokk

  I like music, and I have a broad spectrum of music I like to listen too.  Traditionally I am a Rock n Roll kinda guy, I love the thundering thump from the drummer, the high pitched whine of the guitar, and screaming vocals of most bands.   I also, when the mood / singer is right will listen to a bit of rap, country and even some techno/house music.    Then there is the Beatles, Rolling Stones and other classic rock mix.  Spend 10 minutes on my Pandora channel and you will get a wide breath of music that would probably make your head spin.  

Now let me be honest, I can’t play an instrument to save my life, and most musicians would beat me to within an inch of my life if I even hinted at touching an instrument, but some of this changed with games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero.  Not to say that these games unlocked my hidden talent for music, but they did allow me to play along with some of my favorite songs and experience the rush of jamming on the center stage.  I really enjoyed both games, and found that Rock Band was much easier for me to follow along with then Guitar Hero, but that is neither here nor there.  

Sadly I would still be playing these games if not for my poor Xbox, which decided of late to stop working.    Well it still functions but the disk drive will no longer read any disks.  So it has turned into a glorified Netflix box, which my two boys love to death.  So I moved on but always found a way to incorporate my musical selections into my gaming.  Most of the time I am playing World of Warcraft, I will have my trusty Android Phone, or Winamp on my pc rocking along as I kill some digital dragons.

Well this was the case till I found two games on Steam that allowed me to crank out my favorite songs and have them directly affect the game I was playing.  Now neither of these games are anything like the Rock/Hero but they are fun, engaging, fresh and very easy to play.  

The first game is called Audio Surf (yep that is a Steam link, my download place of choice).  The game is like chess, easy to learn, hard to master.  You start off by picking a song from your own songs on your hard drive.  The song will become the “race” track that your little space ship surfs along.  The way the track rises and falls is based on the beat of the song you choose along with the rhythm of the song.  The faster a song is the more points you will get, along with the faster the game moves.    
 

No Caption Provided


Now your little ship has a grind under it, and on the track is different colored blocks.  As you fly through the song you pick up these blocks, by running into them, and when you collect three blocks and fill a part of the grind they disappear and turn into points.  There are also grey colored blocks that you need to avoid.  If you hit them they will fall into the grind and block you from putting a colored block in that spot, keep you from getting points.    The game is quick fast and fun, and also comes with local, and global leader boards for each song.   

The game also has different modes which change the game slightly by giving your ships different abilities, like reorganizing your board on the fly, or even using the grey blocks you pick up as shuriken which can be throw to destroy other grey blocks on the track.  

The other game I discovered has a more action feel but still uses the music to directly effect the game play.  It is called Beat Hazard , and the game is simple in premise and very addicting.  Beat Hazard is a game in which you are a small ship fighting off waves of other ships which fly in depending on the song being played.  
 

No Caption Provided



As you play you rack up points for your kills, but also collect power ups to increase the damage you do.  The power ups come in four forms.  Volume and Power allowing your ship to do more damage and even have a wider spread of your guns.  Volume will also increase the the volume of the song being played.  You also have +1 power ups that increase your score modifier, which will increase the score you get during the song.  Finally you have a super bomb, which is a an Area of Attack shot that spreads out from your ship, and also gives you a small shield protecting you from damage.  The game is chaos incarnate, with lighting effects from the song, your weapons, the enemies weapons and debris from destroyed ships.  In the heat of the moment it is easy to lose track of enemies on the screen or your own ship.   The game also has two other features to increase you score multiplier in the from of a Daredevil meter.  The longer you go without shooting the more it racks up your multiplier.  Also they have a Survivor bonus which applies when the song has a slow/quiet moment and you have multiply enemies on the screen.  

The song also directly effects the shots from your ship, when the song is slow or quiet your ship will not put out very consistent shots, if the song is loud, fast and hard you will be a force to reckon with on the screen.  The game also comes with leader boards, a Rank up system, which give you more things like score multipliers and super bombs.  

My favorite thing about both of these games is that each of them can be played as little or as much as you want.  They are both fast pasted and quick to jump into.  No messing around with story, inventories or character screens.  Just get in there and have fun!  Also they are perfect for younger children, as they are both have very little in the way of mature content, and if you watch what songs they pick from the list the game can have no mature language what so ever.  

I have included two Youtube links for each song to give you an idea of game play.  

Beat Hazard Youtube Video
Audio Surf Youtube Video

HAPPY GAMING!!
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iam3green

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#2  Edited By iam3green

music games are pretty fun. i use to play guitar hero and rock band. great games man.