Audiosurf 2

Release Date: May 26, 2015

Arcade, music, indie games, splitscreen, multiplayer, singleplayer

83%

Steam

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The second installment in the series of arcade music games established by Dylan Fitterer in 2008. The premises were not changed in Audiosurf 2; during the game players race along procedurally-generated, futuristic racing tracks and strive to collect color blocks while avoiding gray ones.

Gameplay
Mechanics
Game modes

Audiosurf 2 is a full-fledged sequel to the music game developed by Dylan Fritterer. The original game, the 2008 release, Audiosurf, received a warm reception among the players and was one of the first entirely independent games that the giants (among them Valve Corp.) took interest in.

Gameplay

The basic premise of the game remains unchanged. Players take part in races, where the song chosen before the race determines the tempo, ambience and shape of the track. Points are awarded for staying within the track, and collecting blocks of the same color (this element is a variation of Tetris). The tracks closely match the chosen song – they are a waveform converted into a track. For the sake of illustration: during slower moments of the song, the track slows down and the player goes uphill; the corners are gentler too. When the song speeds up, the tracks collapses like a rollercoaster, lights up, and the colorful blocks are much more abundant (hence it takes increased effort to collect them). Most importantly, however, the player can use any song they like – the only requirement is that they have the song on their hard drive and that it’s in mp3, m4a, wav, ogg or audio CD format. Thanks to this, players can enjoy the game along their favorite music.

Mechanics

Most noticeable about the game are the improved visuals. While the game is still held in the similar stylistics that are evocative of the visualizations from popular music players such as WinAmp, Audiosurf 2 can be displayed in a much higher resolution than the original and there’s a ton of new graphical effects. Also, there’s much more going on in the background, beyond the track itself, hence the time you spend with Audiosurf 2 is a true audio-visual feast.

The main novelty introduced in the sequel is the ability to jump into the air (as the original title of the game – Audiosurf Air – seems to suggest). This allows the players to perform spectacular evolutions that are worth many points, while also helping to get past the most difficult portions of the track, where the density of obstacles is the greatest. Compared to the original, the number and appearance of vehicles that the player can use was increased. They became more realistic, and include, for example, a surfer performing back and front flips. Each of them also has some individual characteristics as well as slightly different rules of gameplay, which in turn provides a greater variety of available game modes.

Game modes

As in case of the original, Audiosurf 2 allows players to play solo and compare their scores on an on-line leaderboard. The game also lets you play with friends in the Audiosprint mode. Audiosurf 2 officially supports the Steam Workshop, which means the title is further diversified by a slew of different mods created by the community.

Last updated on March 13, 2017

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