I’ve wanted to cover Audiosurf for quite a while now in CPCG, but there isn’t really enough for me to say about it to dedicate an entire edition. As such, I’ve been looking for something worthy and similar enough to bundle it with. Thankfully, I’ve finally found something; The Polynomial. Both games allow you to play your own music in drastically different ways; The Polynomial is a shooter whilst Audiosurf has you collecting blocks as you ride on a highway.
[drop]We’ll start with the Polynomial; a psychadelic outer space shooter in which you’re a ship fighting off monsters (that tend to look a bit like black Pacmans) whilst the level changes around you based on the song you’re playing. The track affects the amount of enemies, the colours you see, how much they change, etc…It’s a universe of fractals with flickering lights; comets blazing by; huge, fire-y suns and, as you might expect, it’s all incredibly pretty. Upon launching the game and realising that I had no music on my PC I discovered that playing the game to Bob Acri’s Sleep Away (one of the Windows 7 sample songs) is a beautiful, calming experience like nothing I’ve ever experienced in a game before, not even in Flower.
Running with the calming idea, should you happen to feel like touring through the beautiful space of The Polynomial without being bothered by enemies – you can. Stepping even further away from the music-shooter premise of the game, there’s also a built-in fractal editor which you can use to build your own arena or export the fractals you make in any resolution you like.
Audiosurf is a different beast and is probably one of the best music games I’ve played. You choose a song from your hardrive (or one of the supplied songs) and the game analyses the song and presents you with a track. On this track you’ll encounter coloured blocks which, when you collect them (by driving into them), will go into your 7×3 grid. You earn points by grouping 3 or more of the same colour together in this grid, which will then disappear, leaving room for more.
As you’d expect, clearing a larger group of blocks will earn you more points than a smaller one. You’ll also earn bonuses at the end of the level if you, for example, finish the track with no blocks left on your grid, or finish without hitting any grey blocks, or just getting a certain percentage of all the blocks.
[drop2]Difficulty depends not only on the difficulty you choose or the track you’re playing (playing any Dragonforce track will probably give you carpal tunnel syndrome, for example), but also on the ship you’re using. There are 14 different ships spread over 3 difficulties, each bringing a different style of play.Mono, for example, has you collecting one colour of blocks whilst dodging grey blocks, which will get in the way in the grid for a certain amount of time if you pick them up. Pointman, however, has a few different colours and the ability to pick up a block by holding the left mouse button so you can place it into a column of your choice later. There’s also a toggle for Iron Mode, which affects each ship in a different way.
Audiosurf’s longevity is directly related to both how much music you have and how much you love high score tables. Every song has a high score table, presumably based on the MP3’s tags. Think you’re the only person who’s tried Black Stone Cherry’s Blind Man? Nope, there’s a lot of high scores there and they’re all higher than yours. Personally, my favourite songs are those that have changes in tempo, as you can visibly see the track change with the song, and momentary pauses are great for shaking things up a little.
The track goes up when the song is slower and descends rapidly when it speeds up. If it’s particularly intense, rings will appear around the track to let you know and, the coup de grace; the track can cork screw should you discover a song that warrants it, which is just what you need when you’re trying to dodge grey blocks.
Both The Polynomial and Audiosurf are £6 each from Steam. Below is a video of a friend of mine (Hellfire) Audiosurfing through TSA’s Microsoft E3 podcast. Just ‘cus, that’s why.
Sympozium
I’ve tried playing Emerald Sword with The Polyinomel but it was well…confusing? Need to give it another try maybe with something it isn’t metal. Been playing Audiosurf for ages, its fun playing the likes of Eternal Glory, Uhohduksen Lapsi and 20 minute tracks such as Heroes of the Waterfall Kingdom, its a shame you can’t play Rock Band or Guitar Hero with the beats of the songs in away.
asparagushunter
Polynomianimamalal is a bit boring for me, doesn’t seem to be much difference in genres.
Audiosurf, though, I love.
Aquastyle
Got Audiosurf for… £2 was it? During the Steam summer sales. Don’t remember the exact price, but rarely do you get so much value for money as I did there, splendid game.
FalconRedux
Playing a game while simultaneously listening to the TSA podcast… and not only that but having the game adapt to the amount of swearing? Genius. I love this series of articles!
C_S15
Playing Drum and Bass music on Audiosurf is one of the best ways to relax. Providing you like Drum and Bass, of course.
The penguin
I completely agree with the article; Audiosurf is a hell of a lot of fun and one of the best music-rhythm-game-thingys I’ve played! I got both of them in a steam indie pack for just 2.50, as well as an extra one or two games.
Also, been a huge fan of tsa for years but I’ve just never made an account until recently, so this is my first comment :) Hi everyone!
Mundham
Hi The Penguin!
MayContainEvil
Hi there Mr Penguin, hope you have a good time commenting with your shiny new account :)
Sympozium
Brilliant choice, TSA is just simply amazing world
The penguin
A shiny new account will need a shiny new picture… Somehow. The amount of times people have asked how to change the picture and I never bothered to read it *sigh*
colossalblue
http://en.gravatar.com/ and sign in with the same email you joined TSA with :)
colmshan1990
Wasn’t really too interested in Audiosurf after the demo.
It did catch my attention for a few minutes, but after that I lost my enthusiasm for it and elected not to buy it.
PoorPaddy89
Also on the cheap front, it’s £5.10 for the Hitman collection this week. As someone who has never played them, I’ve grabbed it :)
KeRaSh
Thanks for the info. Might pick it up.
Will give Audiosurf a try. Looks like something I’d enjoy while listening to some DJ sets.
Oh! Special bonus: “Ain’t no rest for the wicked” (Borderlands theme) is playing on the radio!
PoorPaddy89
Constantly listening to that – it’s an amazing tune. The whole Cage the Elephant album is pretty good actually.
Borlerlands was on the cheap about a week ago too. Even though I’ve completed plathrough 2 as Lilith on PS3 I thought I’d grab it. Currently level 26 as Roland on playthrough 1. Borderlands kicks ass. Hopefully the sequel is as good!
bacon_nuts
Found audiosurf ages ago on youtube, always thought it looked fantastic, windows only though :(
Sitorimon
Audiosurf is my most played PC game and top hours played on steam. simply awesome. you can also use a last.fm plugin if you want to as well. Ploynomial I havent got on with so well. I’ll also throw in music zone for music game lovers – fantastic game.