C'mon, mix it up a little!

Here's a new way for audiophiles to geek out and for anyone to have a little fun and make a song.

Break in the Road is a cool Shockwave game sponsored by (unfortunately) McDonald's. The setup is similar to that of a mini Tony Hawk game: it starts with an intro movie explaining your aim through narrative and then moves on to a large playing area for you to move around in.

The premise? You're a musician who lands a one minute set at a club. You've decided to make a song by going around London and recording sounds off the street with your mini disc recorder and then taking them back to the studio and mixing them together using a very simplified Garage Band-type setup. Then you play your song at the club and see if the crowd likes it.

The animation is really fantastic and the size of the game space is very impressive for a free online game. Mixing tracks is fun and easy and it's pretty hard not to come up with something halfway decent. All your songs can be saved and/or emailed to friends. I only wish it progressed past the first level (a la Tony Hawk) so you could record more and different clips, make longer songs, and work your way to different venues. Even so, it's an A+ way to waste a little time.