Over the Wire

Winner of the 2007 Independent Games Festival grand prize, Audiosurf is a bite-sized music-puzzle hybrid game available through Valve’s Steam platform on the PC. Audiosurf’s presentation is stylishly simple—players control a levitating vehicle in the foreground of a digital highway. As you travel down the highway, you build sequences of colored blocks (think Bejeweled) that have been placed on the highway based on the rhythm of that stage’s music (think Guitar Hero). The best part about Audiosurf is that the game lets you import any digital music file—so players can start simple and graduate up to heavy metal if they’re looking for a challenge. The gameplay is simple enough that anyone can try it, and since any music works, it’s extremely customizable. Audiosurf costs $10, and despite some glitches, the game is incredibly addictive and fun.