Comments on: The RPS Verdict: Audiosurf

By: malkav11

malkav11 — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:08:15 +0000

I actually don’t really have any complaints with either Audiosurf as visualizer or Audiosurf as game. The only thing I’ve ever tried with it that didn’t really work to speak of was part of an audiobook – not really the intended fare. Other than that, mono is trippy dodging speed (and the ninja stealth keeps holding itself tantalizingly out of my reach) and the other settings (in fact, even the later monos) all have their own quirks and intricacies that make the simple block-maneuvering actually rather deep. I’m not the score-chasing sort, though, so I don’t usually replay tracks except for the music.

And actually, I lied. I do have one gameplay complaint: none of the controls seem quite viable for me. Keyboard doesn’t move how I’d expect it to, and it’s tricky to use powers with it. Mouse is floaty and seems amazingly good at whipping right past the thing I was trying to grab or right into the thing I was trying to avoid, as the case may be. And I haven’t tried a 360 controller, but I’m still a bit miffed at the game for not working well with the XBCD homebrew drivers for the 360 controller (which are much better than Microsoft’s, allowing more customization and so forth.). Plus now I actually have a 360 and am less than inclined to detach the controller to play a couple rounds of Audiosurf.

By: YouMeanMe

YouMeanMe — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:56:00 +0000

For me, while I enjoy audiosurf the lack of a continuous play option of some sort is the biggest flaw. Having to go back out to the menu and select or start the next song is a constant pain in the ass.

This for me is its biggest lack, its inability to support any sort of playlists. It is like having to manually start each song in winamp or iTunes, i.e. it totally detracts from any feeling of immersion in the music. I am very surprised nobody else has mentioned since I find it a much more jarring disconnect from the music than anything mentioned in the discussion.

By: Discosauce

Discosauce — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:55:29 +0000

I’m in the AS is amazing camp. As mentioned, I’ll do the mono mode when on a very intense song, but for me it is much more enjoyable to play some of the other modes, particularly Pusher elite. I’ll frequently place within the top three scores for any random song played on it, as it seems that once you get the hang of this mode you can attain a higher average score than the rest of the board which is filled with mono players. Mono is also the mode of choice when under the influence.

By: SuperNashwan

SuperNashwan — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 08:24:23 +0000

I don’t really get the love for Audiosurf. The block puzzle is a bit rubbish of itself, and it doesn’t fit the rest of the game, for example how it wants you to simultaneously watch two different areas of the screen. But more than that, the basic idea of generating tracks out of music isn’t nearly as well implemented as it could be, so many of the tracks I tried hardly matched at all; the beat detection is particularly woeful compared to what any number of audio applications manage and seems very focussed on trying to pick out electronic snares. When you get something that does match well, mono mode works well enough to suck you in, but I just couldn’t get away from the dozen or so things I thought could improve it without much effort. Fingers crossed for Audiosurf 2.

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:39:32 +0000

Hounds of Love is her established Classic, and well worth having.

By: Doug Farrell

Doug Farrell — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:08:53 +0000

Well, it’s taken near nightly tries, but I finally cracked the top 10 on Wuthering Heights. Now that you folks have got me interested in hearing more Kate Bush, what would you recommend next?

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:37:16 +0000

Thiefsie : For me that’s the point and the difficulty of it – in that it’s that sense of how beats in pop aren’t just a metronome, but a texture in and of themselves.

By: Dagda

Dagda — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:34:19 +0000

I think that a key to improving the mental connection between playing the game and enjoying the music would be to tweak which blocks in mono were grey or colored. If about 20% more blocks were colored instead of grey, and they corresponded to the loudest beats more than just the more unusual ones, then we’d get alot more cases where the user is rewarded for hitting beats in time with the song. In DDR, mastering a track begins with memorizing a song and taking your cues from the music. It’s a shame the same can’t be said of Audiosurf.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:58:09 +0000

Playing ‘Steve Reich’ (at least Octet, and Music for a Large Ensemble) is quite the gaming experience.

By: Iain

Iain — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:27:17 +0000

First things first: I adore Audiosurf. I’ve plugged more hours into it over the last week than the rest of my games combined. I’ve tried all the characters, but the one I like best is Mono.

Mono is best played with really intense tracks that give you high traffic densities – things like Moby, Mogwai and Royksopp all work well here, even something like Four Little Diamonds on the GTA: Vice City soundtrack will really give you a sense of the how the blocks tie in with the music, as the blocks do change colour with the pace of the track and the road really starts to surge at you.

I play mostly with the Mono characters, because it is simplest and most fun – it allows you to enjoy the music and the mechanics of the game, whereas if I play with the other characters, because I play mainly on tracks with high traffic densities, there’s invariably too much to think about – I can’t keep an eye on the scoring grid AND watch the road ahead of me to plan which blocks I want to collect, so I get frustrated with accidentally overfilling and I’m not enjoying the music any more.

I picture playing Audiosurf with the Mono characters as like driving a runaway HGV down a motorway, in the middle of rush hour at 150mph, having to manoeuvre around some vehicles, but being able to safely smash others out of the way – play with a track that has a traffic density somewhere above 250, and it’s like 3D Deathchase on LSD *and* Speed. It is absolutely phenomenal. I’m sure it could be improved (an instant access playlist of your previously played tracks would be super, for example) but for a fiver, I’m hardly complaining – it’s the best value £5 I’m going to spend this year, for sure.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:40:49 +0000

I’m totally in love, or at least an unhealthy, torrid lust, with Audiosurf. It’s one of my favorite casual/quick-play games, only (possibly) exceeded by Nikujin.

Just a thought, which other people have likely brought up, but for which I am too busy (read: lazy) to search; These “RPS Verdict” bits would make excellent podcasts.

By: Thiefsie

Thiefsie — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 02:14:29 +0000

I bought into the hype, pre-ordered it without trying it first, and ultimately played it just about enough times to do all modes and then got over it… never to touch it again. The actual game part is no fun, and yep it takes away from my ‘listening’ experience of music.

Most irritating to me is the way the blocks hover away from your car for a while and then suddenly surge on the beat and only on the beat – they don’t come to you at a constant speed relative to the music… which is buggery annoying to me