We’ve all obviously bought our copies of Audiosurf from Steam now, so what we want to know from you is which songs make the best tracks?
It’s quickly becoming apparent that the cheesier your music taste, the more elaborate and interesting the racing results. Hey emo kids, where’s your complicated hair getting you now, eh?
For instance, I’ve just tried it with Steeleye Span’s All Around My Hat. A very bumpy course, but despite my best hopes, possibly not the most exciting. But then! Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler! This song has EXPLOSIONS IN IT. An epic track.
So come on – only the best. Nerd up, and confess which songs you’ve tried. We’ll create the ultimate Audiosurf playlist. Right, more Steinman then… MEATLOAF!
Related Stories:
Glad you liked it ;) (er, the Voodoo People mix)
Oo, the ‘Your Love’ remix from ‘The Prodigy Experience’ is probably a goer too…
Thanks skillian, I wish I had realised it before redownloading — would’ve saved me a bit of my download limit… Oh well!
I tried Prince Ali from the Disney soundtrack. Rubbish. Last time I listen to the wife.
Guns n Roses’ Paradise City was fun – starts very slow and then builds up wonderfully.
Loved Knights of Cydonia too
I wanted to try Moby – Thousand because it is reputedly one of the fastest bpm. I did find a video of it on youtube of it it looks quite crazy, though fewer blocks than I expected.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE_Yx-N-vg8
The most difficult track I have played so far is Amon Tobin – Rhino Jockey from the Supermodified album.
99 Luftbalons by Lena – AWESOME!
2112 – Rush. Surprisingly un-challenging, except for the quiet sense of accomplishment at ghosting a 22-minute track.
Fish ~ Silent Cruise by Yoko Kanno is amazing. The “Fish” part is sort of meh, but Silent Cruise is a unadulterated stream of rapture and color. It’s brilliant.
Ben
Through A Long And Sleepless Night by The Divine Comedy is incredible on Mono Pro. As is The Engine Room by Runrig.
I’m still getting to grips with other modes.
It doesn’t make for a great circuit (well, the chorus is pretty nuts), but it feels delightfully appropriate to play the theme to National Lampoon’s Vacation.
Holiday ro-O-o-o-o-o-oad…
Oh, wait, hold the phone. Of course.
TARZAN BOY.
Aerosmith – Crash
Led Zeppelin – Communication Breakdown
Led Zeppelin – Moby Dick (from How The West Was Won. 19 minutes total, 17 minutes of drumming)
Incubus – Pistola
Muse – Assassin
Those five I would recommend a lot for fast tracks.
For slow…
Saitone – autumnloop
Mono – Beyond Cold Mountain
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Guns ‘N’ Roses – Civil War
Feotus Interruptus – A Prayer for My Death is quite fun. Next up: William Shatner’s Common People cover!
Shy FX – Wolf
Rammstein – Bang Bang
Within Temptation – Running Up That Hill
Led Zeplin – Heartbreaker
First two are pretty much balls to the wall, second two have nice changes of pace
Hot Chip – Out at the Pictures
Black Sabbath – Into the Void
Prodigy – Funky S**t
Pendulum – Masochist
Xploding Plastix – Sports, not Heavy Crimes
Those are my favourite to play so far, but there many, many others.
Try the Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack. That “shit” is “whack”.
All Blues by Miles Davis, as found on the Kind of Blue album, is great to get the 11 minute stealth achievement.
Woo just played B52s Rock Lobster (the long version), just total fun!
The song I’ve been use to demo Audio Surf to my friends in college has been Gz and Hustlas by Snoop Dogg, the backbeat is perfect for showing off how well the game can link song layout and track design.
Fugees – Ready Or Not (DJ Zinc Remix) is at least on Ninja Mono one of the best tracks I’ve ridden. The first go I had was just so surprising and then just mind-numbing …. Not so good after the 1. run, but, meh, it’s like that with allof the songs for me. :P
I bet I’m alone when I say I’ve enjoyed surfing the Samurai Pizza Cats theme!
More traditionally, Run To The Hills by Iron Maiden and Smokin’ by Boston work rather well indeed (as do many other tracks by those two bands).
I tried ‘The Audience is Listening’ by Steve Vai. Unplayable, except maybe by 12 year olds hopped up on Tatrazine and sugar.
‘Union City Blue’ by Blondie is just lovely.
I played it again today and it wasn’t as half as bad as I remember it being. I think it was the combination of late night ‘tiredness’ and its bounciness inducing the queasiness. In fact most They Might Be Giants tracks have a nice bounciness to them.
Cotton Eye Joe?
awesome.
Once again, my international playboy lifestyle has caught up with me. So I played the four pisstakes I could think up before I got busted by Valve. We’ll see if they’ll sell to me.
Anyway, Maggot Brain (Title Track), Marquee Moon (Title Track, again) and BSP’s The Pelican were all pretty good. Just from my limited experience, I’d hazard that those tracks that you can tell are gonna be good, just by looking at the vinyl, are gonna be good on Audiosurf.
Smile Like You Mean It – The Killers was a great track I just did. Most tracks by Audioslave work really well and Ready for the Floor by HotChip is great.
I’d like to suggest the soundtrack to Crash Tag Team Racing . (find it somewhere in the internet)
Half-acapella had never been so fun.
On that note, try experimenting with the soundtracks to other music-based games. Synaesthete is a nice place to start.
Just tried Green Day’s Jesus of Suburbia with Mono. Not sure about the block placement, but the track is a great ride.
Edit: The Decembrists: The Island. Good all-round. Very varied.
Another vote for Xploding Pastix, but try ‘Treat Me Mean, I Need the Reputation’
John Coltrane: Blue Train
John Coltrane: Nakatini Seranade
Times New Viking: Faces on Fire
Kanye West: Stronger
@John Walker: Amazing. You sir, are a genius for suggesting “Detachable Penis”. Now i’m going to try “Martin Scorcese” by King Missile also.
KMFDM’s last album works pretty well, as does “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour, and Ministry’s “N.W.O.”.
But don’t bother with “Da Funk” by Daft Punk; the beat gives a strange stop-starty feel to the pace of the track.
Has anyone tried “Move It” by Reel 2 Real (Featuring The Mad Stuntman, of course)? I’m gripped by the sudden urge to give that a try. I’m still reeling from the disappointment that was “U Can’t Touch This” (too slow and easy, unfortunately), although 2 Unlimited’s masterwork “No Limit” works well enough.
The above mentioned Rammstein song (listed as Bang Bang) is actually called “Feuer Frei!”.
My own favorite tracks:
Origa – Inner Universe, off Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex OST 1.
Rise, off Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex OST 2.
Why Won’t You Die?!?, off Novakill’s album Kill Everyone
She’s Like Heroin and also Soldier Side, off System of a Down’s album Hypnotize. Honestly, most of SoaD’s stuff I’ve tried made for pretty crazy rides.
The Device Has Been Modified, by Victims of Science. Yes, the Portal remix song Rock Paper Shotgun linked to a while back.
Skudrinka 2, off Corvus Corax’s album Live auf dem Waescherschloss.
Marching Bands of Manhattan, off Death Cab For Cutie’s album Plans.
Led Zep – Dazed and Confused
There is a 90 second instumental about half way through which is insane.
Sleepy time now.
Of what I’ve played, I’d recommend Joe Cam Stole My Bike by Alisean, or Ahead On Our Rave. Nothing I’ve seen compares to that Dragonforce song in combined speed and length, but they’re pretty fun.
Ditto John P, but less so.
(Haven’t gotten the full game yet, just played the beta.)
Mainly playing Ninja Mono I’ve found that just about any mainstream electronic dance music will work. The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, Justice etc…
Mesh – Purple Haze is probably the most challenging track I’ve played yet. Moving to another track after it is like taking the difficulty down a notch in GH.
The Beatles – Back in the U.S.S.R.
Ozzy Osbourne – Perry Mason
and The Who – Baba O’Riley are all sources of great old-school fun but the track that’s stuck with me the most is:
Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek
Honestly. Even though it might not generate the best gameplay it kind of transcends what I would expect from the game after hours of gameplay. In short it’s like: “Riding on an AI goddess’ (synthesized) voice, performing a song of lamentation.”
For a ridiculously bumpy ride, AFX (Aphex Twin) — Pwsteal.Ldpinch.D
For a…. uh… pilgrimage-type thing, try XOR — 42
( http://www.sectionz.com/detail.asp?rType=mp3&SZID=7391 )
For overall crazy not unlike Dragonforce songs, try The Black Mages — J.E.N.O.V.A.
And of course, I’m pretty damn sure that all of us will have to try Moby — Thousand sooner or later.
(proof at http://youtube.com/watch?v=QE_Yx-N-vg8 )
—
Don’t forget to fiddle around with the color settings. Mono with alternating black/white colors is… interesting.
Pendulum – Tarantula
Groove Armada – SuperStylin’
One of the most impressive songs to play, that I’ve found, is “Wake up” by The Arcade Fire, the end of the song is phenomenal on Audiosurf. Also, “Not Quite Sonic” by I Mother Earth is very good as well as “Break and Enter” by the Prodigy.
Both “Nostalgia” (from Yanni’s Live at the Acropolis album) and “El Tango De Roxanne” (from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack) work extremely well. Though the applause at the end of the Yanni track is sort of odd.
You all make me feel ashamed for not trying out the billion Ghost in the Shell tracks sitting on my computer :(
I haven’t played around with it much yet, but holy hell Dethklok makes for some awesome Ninja Mono action, worked my way through most of the album and it completely rocked. ALI PROJECT’s stuff also seems to be spectacular.
Now I want to play, but am stuck at work for another 5 hours :(
Late night trying a few things: Disappointed to that that The Knife’s We Share Our Mothers Health isn’t very interesting, at least on Mono. However, on the brighter side, Dizzee’s I luv U is fucking incredible. The beats will fuck you up completely.
KG
I just discovered that E Nomine’s Mitternacht makes for a supercool track.
Also anything by Wolfsheim.
Tokyo Style Speedcore – m1dy = Most of the song is orange or red and fast.
Emerald Sword – Rhapsody = Okay
I was expecting The Endless’ “Lullaby For Myself” to be a good track to try and get the first Ninja Stealth achievement on – slow paced and low traffic. Turns out that the strict uphill slope it shows is misleading – every couple of phrases there’d be a hump then a lightning-fast slide for a moment or two. Plus a couple of wild veers to the side. It was rather nerve-wracking.
“Fortuna Imperatrix” from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana was sadly a letdown. Apparently choral works aren’t easily analyzed… :(
The Imogen Heap track is indeed eerily beautiful. My transcendent moment so far, though, would have to be Air’s Run from Walkie Talkie. It has just enough beat throughout to make it interesting as well as hypnotic and breathtaking, unlike its album sibling, Alone in Kyoto.
I’m finding myself irresistibly drawn to Mono as well, in all its (his?) various forms. I find I can appreciate the music more when I’m not fretting about combos and overfilled columns. Perhaps the choice of character says more about us than we’d care to admit, who knows?
Late to the party I know but: Here’s my title defence.
Bought this on Friday and it’s cost me my weekend..6 quid well spent :)
recommended track Dayvan Cowboy by Boards of Canada. Tactical build up followed by frantic rush.
I’m also an advocate of Mono, it’s a purer approach. the colours can get over demanding.