Audioshield

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Audioshield
Audioshield1.jpg
Information
VR/AR VR
Developer Dylan Fitterer
Publisher Dylan Fitterer
Platform SteamVR
Device HTC Vive
Operating System Windows
Type Full Game
Genre Indie, VR, Music, Rhythm, Music-Based Procedural Generation
Input Device Tracked motion controllers
Play Area Standing, Room-Scale
Game Mode Single Player
Language English
Review Very Positive
Release Date Apr 5, 2016
Price $19.99
App Store Steam
Website http://audio-shield.com
Infobox Updated 09/15/2016
Audioshield is a VR App.

Review

Audioshield is one of those games that takes into consideration on what the PS Move and the Nintendo Wii tried to do in the last console generation; except with this time around it is with some seriously powerful hardware to make it the exact sort of experience you would want out of a game such as this. It’s a music/rhythm game, one that easily works best with the Vive and as you’ll soon find out, the name of the game couldn’t be any more literal if it tried.

So, what actually is Audioshield? Well, when you put on your Vive, load up the game, you’re allowed to choose from your favourite songs that are located on your PC and play the game to them. The way it works is that the game generates a temporary track for you to play through, with the music obviously being synced up to the gameplay to generate a beat and a rhythm for you to enjoy. Gameplay recommends that you stand up to play the game, as I’m sure you’ll understand why when I mention how the gameplay actually works. The way it works is that the two hand-held controllers that you hold in either hand simulate a red and blue coloured shield on each controller. From there, Audioshield fires some blue and red coloured orbs at you, and to keep to the regular beat and rhythm of the song you’ve picked, you’re going to need to block the coloured orb with the corresponding shield. At first, depending on the difficulty of the song, it might take some getting used to, as the angles the orbs can come from can vary and alternate; so your arms are going to end up criss-crossing more than once. Safe to say, if you’re playing more than a couple of songs in one session, you might be getting a nice workout going on.

From what I’ve played of the game so far, the hit-detection when it comes to blocking the orbs is incredibly accurate. If at any point I drop a beat and mess up the song to some degree, it is completely understandable on where I went wrong, rather than blaming the game for something it hasn’t done. Thanks to the hit-detection being as accurate as it can possibly be, it makes following the rhythm of your favourite song that much more enjoyable in the long run.

There is one issue I’ve found in the game, which I don’t appear to be the only one who hasn’t been enjoying it and that is what happens when you miss an orb. When you do miss an orb, the screen tends to flash in a bright white light, and that is incredibly distracting and disorientating at times and can quickly throw you off of your game. When it comes to the visuals, while they do look nice and simple, they don’t exactly have all that much flare to them overall. Visually, it doesn’t honestly matter all that much in the grand scheme of things, as it tends to be little more than an added extra in some areas. There are some stages of the game that look great and it really shows off what the game brings to the table, but there are other ones that are fairly dull and don’t do all that much, except provide a backdrop for the player. At the end of the day, though, the visuals aren’t nearly as important as the gameplay, which easily takes the cake!

Audioshield manages to do exactly what the previous Guitar Hero games did, and that’s make you want to play for hours on end; not only because you’re listening to some of your favourite songs, but because the gameplay was incredibly satisfying to pull off in a continuous combo, you’d want to keep playing until you were completely exhausted. Audioshield has that exact same feeling, and regardless how many times you’ve played it beforehand; playing some of your favourite songs to a rhythm based system that plays almost perfectly, it’s no wonder on why it’s so easy to keep coming back to this one time and time again!

Overall, Audioshield is a simple VR game to get to grips with and makes itself easy enough to pick up and play for anyone, but the game can quickly ramp up in difficulty if you’re finding everything a little bit too easy. That is one of the things that makes this game incredibly satisfying to play, as at the end of it you can see just how well you’ve been playing and moving and with how difficult you want a certain song; pulling it all off in perfect succession is a feeling you would only ever feel in a game like this or Guitar Hero. From a graphical standpoint the game looks good, but there are areas of the game that just don’t look all that impressive compared to the rest of the game. But in all honesty, it’s the gameplay and the accuracy of it all when you’re playing some of your favourite songs in the background that makes up for any potential foibles the game has. If you’re not a fan of music, rhythm games, this isn’t going to be the one game that changes your mind on that; but if you’re already a fan, prepare to have that feeling quickly enhanced when you play throughout Audioshield!

Description

"AudioShield -- a rhythm game -- is HTC Vive's killer app" ()

"Fighting Music in VR. This is the coolest sh** ever." ()

"Let's punch the hell out of music in virtual reality with Audioshield" ()

"Audioshield found some neuroreceptor in the deepest cavern of my brain—one that can only be stimulated by an incredible combination of sight, sound, and motion—and flooded it with a sensation that has left me reeling for days." ()

Experience your entire music collection in VR. Audioshield puts you at the point of impact for every hit in your music. Beats glide in slowly for mellow parts of songs, then ramp up for intense parts of songs with cross-body, double-shield, and high-altitude hits.

Audioshield uses an advanced version of Audiosurf 2's music analysis system to sync with any song from your collection - and also with online streaming from Soundcloud.

Every song has its own online leaderboard. Audioshield also supports local leaderboards to easily compete with friends during look-at-my-awesome-new-VR-system parties.


"VR Missile Command inside a neon rave, set to your own music." (PC Gamer)

"The physicality of standing in place to fend off incoming orbs feels powerful" (IGN)

"Audioshield: Feels like music-melee Missile Command-and we love it" (Ars Technica)

"...felt like we were being pulled into a futuristic trance-like state with sparks of orange and blue splattering about" (Maximum PC)

"...your music library comes to life as a fully immersive gaming experience" (UploadVR)

Features

System Requirements

Windows

Minimum

  • OS: Windows 7 SP1 or newer
  • Processor: Intel® i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or greater
  • Storage: 900 MB available space

Setup Instructions

Images and Videos