Audiosurf gets October Retail Release: Play ANY Song

Recently, there have been a few articles here at GotGame about either critiquing track lists or a wish list of tracks that could be included in Rock Band. At the end of the day, no one can be perfectly happy. With a myriad of musical tastes, everyone will have their opinions on what songs they want included in their rhythm game. We’ve always wondered: why can’t we have a game that is compatible with any song? Well, Audiosurf is that game. Though not necessarily “new,” since Audiosurf has been available for download on Steam since February, the game’s release in retail markets is sure to breathe some fresh air into the title, even in spite of a price increase above its current $10.

But how does it play? Honestly, it’s about as cross-genre as you can get. It combines rhythm, racing and puzzle elements that result in some unique gameplay. Audiosurf uses your own music library to create unique courses based on each song’s beats and riffs (File formats supported: MP3, iTunes, M4A, CD, OGG). Faster songs result in a more frantic and frenzied track while slower songs usually result in more relaxed ride. There are different types of spaceships, each with different difficulties for varying types of challenge. The Pointman mode gives you controls of a ship that must gather the different colored blocks that appear in 3 different rows and arrange them so they make sets of three or more to get points. Another gameplay mode, Mono, takes away the puzzle element a bit by having only one color block to collect, but adding in unmatchable gray blocks that you must avoid in racer type fashion. Since each track is unique to a particular song, you can practice and master a particular track.

All this explanation would probably make more sense with a visual demonstration, so check out this player going through Feist, “Inside and Out” with the Pointman ship:

Here is an example of the Mono ship on a faster song. Ratatat, “Loud Pipes”:

Audiosurf provides you with online leader boards to see how your score fared against the rest of the world. Find some obscure band (not Gravy Train!!!!, I called them) and quickly become #1 or try to top scores on a more mainstream band for a more coveted title.

The retail game will be available in October for 10 Pounds (10 British pounds ≈ 18.00 U.S. dollars).