When I first saw a video of Audiosurf, I knew it was something I wanted to play. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but it was damn intriguing. The music was blaring, and the track seemed to know about it.

So not to long ago, when I got my new PC up and running, I downloaded Steam and forked over the $10 for Audiosurf. I loaded up some music in game and was cranking down a track generated specifically for the song I chose. It's a very interesting prospect... the fact that there is pretty much an endless amount of tracks in this game, so long as you provide the music. It's also great for re-playability. It really adds a new dimension to the music you listen to, and you may find yourself listening to music you had long forgotten, just because you think it might play well.

Audiosurf's core gameplay features blocks, or traffic, traveling down the same course as you. These blocks happen during key points in the song... many times they will sync up with the drum beat, or a guitar riff, and it works very well. Depending on what mode you are in, there may be only 2 colors, however there can be up to 5 colors. You can collect these blocks and they build up below your ship. If you collect enough blocks of the same color (avoiding the gray ones!) you can form a combo, which translates into points. It sounds simple at first, but there are bonuses you can achieve for certain tasks. For example, if you finish a level with no blocks built up in your combo area, you get a "clean finish" bonus.

There are also multiple "vehicles" to choose from in Audiosurf, and each one has an associated difficulty level. Certain vehicles also have certain special skills, that can be activated with the mouse. My favorite game mode is accessible via the "Mono" series of vehicles, which features 2 colors of blocks, gray and colored. The colored blocks change color depending on the speed of the song, resulting in very straightforward gameplay, but also very fun.

The tracks themselves will bump, turn and twist in accordance with the song you chose. When a good bass drum starts kicking, the track will bump up and down violently, and perfectly in rhythm with the song. When the noise level dies down and the tempo slows, the track will slope upwards, and the traffic will become less dense. When a song picks up the pace, it will dive downwards, speed up, and the colors will become more vibrant. The traffic also thickens, which can result in some intense challenges.

The last thing I'd like to mention is the high score list. This was very well implemented and adds a nice competitive aspect to the game. The scores are recorded globally for each song, but you can compare yours locally if you like. Each score gets an image of the track saved along with it, so you can look out for anyone cheating by modifying the song data. It is always fun to see where you rank for certain songs. Since there are so many tracks played globally, even I can come up near the top at times, and I am by no means any good at this game.

Audiosurf is well worth the $10 on Steam. If you haven't seen it in action yet, head over to youtube and get watching. It is definitely a unique concept and a joy to play... easy to pick up, hard to put down. The re-playability is so immense between the high scores and the fact that any song you plug in will get a unique track that it is hard to see anyone regretting spending $10 on it. You will get your money's worth.