Blueberry Garden was only nominated for two awards, but you wouldn't know it by our previous coverage. It's a contender for the Seamus McNally award, and the excellent audio definitely has something to do with it. The gameplay is incredible fun, the graphics are beautifully drawn, and the sound takes the cake. This is a surrealist platformer of the highest quality, and it absolutely deserves being on this and any other competition's finalist list.

Blueberry Garden is best described as an experiment in what exactly you can get away with in... well, a blueberry garden. The characters are all designed with a sort of strangeness about them, and the whole thing is vaguely reminiscent of a school notebook doodle. This isn't to say that it is bad, though. The audio is the best part, with some of the best sound and music I've heard in quite a while. The music is especially nice, with strange tunes drifting in and out, drawing you into the game world with relative ease.


BrainPipe is the first game on this particular finalist list to use the trance sort of music to good effect, but it certainly won't be the last. A first-personreaction game, your goal is to avoid the obstacles while collecting certain little orbs tho raise your score as high as possible. The game itself is nothing particularly new, but the sound and music certainly are.

BrainPipe's music is fairly simple. It covers only the basic parts of the game's unique aural quality. What it really does is integrate the music and the game sound effects into a trance-ish mess that stimulates your reactions as well as your mind. Color, actions, obstacles, the works. They all tie into the unique tripping aesthetic that BrainPipe has going for it. Even Pixeljunk Eden doesn't go this far.


Imagine this: a puzzle game based around music being a finalist in the audio category of the competition. Who knew! Sarcasm aside, Musaic Box is a great puzzle game with a cool ancient aesthetic and great tie-in to the excellent audio. In fact, the game is essential with the audio. Using visual as well as aural clues, you must solve puzzles and eventually create your own melodies.

Musaic Box integrates the sound extremely well with the gameplay (obviously), and thankfully, the sound is of good quality. The game is never displeasing with its sound, making one quit playing just to stop hearing the awful music or sound effects. No, Musaic Box knows what it is doing: making a great puzzle game about music boxes with some of the best audio direction around. There's nothing else that needs explaining. Just experience it for yourselves.


Man, Pixeljunk Eden just keeps showing up all over the place. First in technical, then in visual arts, and now, most importantly, in audio. While it deserves mention in the other two categories, Pixeljunk Eden really shines in audio. It has some of the best audio out of any game, mainstream or otherwise, released last year. By mixing it with the serene graphics and quick gameplay, a masterpiece was born. Collect the whosawhatsits and unlock new gardens to continue down the road to more delectable trance sampling. Just don't let the time run out, or you'll be in a world of pain.

Where most games are simply content to make do with just having the audio be in the background and be mentioned every once in a while, the audio takes center stage for Pixeljunk Eden. The trance music is phenomenal and, best of all, completely original. The music was specifically crafted for the game and to fit with the game, making it a natural extension of the intense gameplay. Likewise, the sounds are weighty and satisfying, not merely content with being alone but rather wanting to mix into the slow and subtle mix of trance mix coursing through the game. It's great use of music and should be played by everyone.


The shoot-em-up that plays in reverse is a finalist in the audio competition? Well this is truly bizarre. It isn't without merit, though, as Retro/Grade morphed from a shmup to a music-based rhythm game with little more than a coat of paint and some catchy tunes. That really shows off the talent of the development team that they can pull it off so effectively and with minimal of complaints. This is one title a true shmup fan should be looking forward to eagerly.

Simply enough, you are traveling backwards in time as a result of your massive destruction spree that annihilated most of the known universe. As such, you must avoid enemy fire while collecting your own, all in reverse. It may be a little disconcerting, but the developers were gracious enough to provide a means of balance: syncing with the music. The levels are all synced well with the music, enhancing your ability to dodge shots and collect your own by feeling the beat. It's no longer a shmup. It's a music game. And we couldn't be happier with the end product.