At the Game Developer's Choice Awards at GDC, I heard about a little game called Audiosurf. In the craziness that was GDC, I found myself too busy to play the demo. Recently, I read on a game blog about how Audiosurf was available via Steam. Now that there was a demo, and I had no more excuses. It was time to give this award-winning independent game a try.

Audiosurf may be a rhythm game, but it's quite different from Guitar Hero or Rock Band. The layout does look similar to Guitar Hero from the screenshots; however, the gameplay itself is quite different. Songs you choose (from music files on your computer) are mapped into something resembling a racetrack. Blocks are places across the lanes, and they can vary in color (depending on the mode). There were a few different modes to play, including dodging certain color blocks and collecting other color blocks.

I found the game to be slightly difficult at first. I didn't quite understand how I was supposed to stack matching color blocks into columns that moved with me, and how to strategize to get maximum points. Sometimes, the columns would fill too quickly on the fast parts or they wouldn't clear matching colors out fast enough, so I would lose points. However, there were some nice touches in the mechanics, such as having the gray blocks (which don't match with anything) clear out automatically, reducing the punishment. Also, there were power-ups and other details that made the game more complex.

The mechanics encouraged skilled play, and I could tell just from the short demo that the game had a nicely scaled degree of complexity. I tried to choose a wide variety of songs during my demo. I absolutely loved the idea of using music I know and love (avoiding difficulties that arise from unfamiliarity with some songs in games such as Guitar Hero). However, this freedom also means that the level of difficulty can vary greatly between songs. Even if I'm familiar with a song, it may have portions that are just too fast for me to handle.

Audiosurf requires different skills than many mainstream rhythm games on the market. It's mainly a matter of timing. I really enjoyed being able to pick my own songs, meaning I never had to play one that I didn't like. Audiosurf may not have had the budget of games like Guitar Hero, but it is certainly a fun rhythm game and a neat way to appreciate your favorite music.