17 March, 2008

Audiosurf

I'm not calling this a review because I was just playing to relax, but it's worth talking about, just the same. Audiosurf is an indie title, available for $10 on Steam, that lets you run through levels algorithmically generated from music you provide.

There are different rule sets, but the game is always basically the same. Collect certain blocks. Avoid others. It's done in a clean style very reminiscent of the Wipeout hover racing series, only more abstract.


I had a headache, and even my least demanding game (Titan Quest) was making it worse, so I figured I'd chill out with some slow songs in Audiosurf. Unfortunately, I don't own any slow songs. Well, I do own a few. Mom gave me a CD of smooth jazz. Those were what I played first, and they worked well. But then I was feeling better and it was time to play some goofier stuff.

So I played some of Monty Python Sings. It's pretty easy to get a global high score on mom's smooth jazz music, but geeks love Monty Python, so you better be prepared to fight tooth and nail if you want a shot at the top spot on the lumberjack song, or any of the better known ditties. On the lesser known / crappier songs, it's not so hard. I currently hold casual difficulty level world records on "I Like Chinese", "Finland", "Accountancy Shanty", "Oliver Cromwell", "I've Got Two Legs", and "I'm So Worried". :)

It's extra hilarious to be racing for your life to comedy recordings nobody likes. "Medical Love Song" was so hilarious under these circumstances that I botched my run.

Even on easy, my OCD makes the game very demanding. You basically can't hope to get a high score unless you finish with no blocks remaining in your collection grid, and never once hit a bad block. And on easy, I can almost get a perfect run on my first play through, on slower songs anyway. So of course I have to try. Then I play something like a Weird Al polka medly, and I'm just enjoying the wild ride, trying to hang on. Regardless, it's pretty fun.



My dad doesn't read this blog, as far as I know, but I got this high score for him and wanted it immortalized somewhere. So here it is.

5 comments:

Salt Racer said...

That is a game that is awesome enough (in concept at least) that I would actually consider playing a computer game again. Just the description "levels algorithmically generated from music you provide" is stinking cool.

Blain Newport said...

Yeah. It's not perfect, but it's close enough to be fun. One weird occurrence I noticed was that on the hard songs, my attention was so focused on my steering that I couldn't hear the music anymore. Weird.

It supposedly works with classical music, as well, so you could fly through some Grieg. :)

Salt Racer said...

That would be sweet. "In the hall of the Mountain King" would be great.

I could get the world record for the high score on the entire "Peer Gynt Suite"! :)

So does it pre-process the music first, or is it on the fly? If it's on the fly, you can tune into a streaming radio station.

Blain Newport said...

It's preprocessed, which is probably a good thing, as I'd just start up the trance channel on the Digitally Imported web site and die of dehydration a few days later.

Salt Racer said...

See, there's the catch ... there's always a catch. I can't play it until it's "live." :) Just like I can't play FPSs until they are fully ray-traced and have each blade of grass modeled correctly, with accurate physics and interactivity for all objects.

I guess I'm probably just not a gamer. :(

Or in other words Blain, "Pwease don't dwie."