You know what? Basejumping looks like fun. Dangerous, sure. Self-destructive, almost certainly. But fun. Oh, it looks like fun.

I didn’t say I was good at it, just that I have fun.

Aaaaaa! For the Awesome is a basejumping game. You jump off a building and fall, dodging obstacles, collecting points and interacting with the world, and hopefully land safely at the end. Each level is brief, but filled to the brim with adrenaline. I suspect it in no way resembles actual basejumping, but then, it doesn’t have to. It resembles an idealised form of basejumping, where the idea of almost certain death is something to be joked about, and where the point is never to land safely, but rather, to fall spectacularly. The player becomes a spectacle, and it’s fun.

I am not and never will be relaxed.

As fun as the basejumping is, it’s the greater world that really gives Aaaa! For the Awesome its heart and soul. There are fragments of a greater story sprinkled throughout that tell a surreal narrative about why the player is jumping off a building and what the world beyond those buildings actually is. This narrative doesn’t actually matter for the fun of the game - basejumping is going to be fun, regardless of where it’s set - but it adds a character and a surrealness to the game that make it an infinitely more interesting experience.

Did I need to feel the sensation of bugs crawling on my skin in a game about jumping off buildings? No. Am I grateful that the game created it anyway? …I guess?

Profound.

It’s this combination of surreal, colourful environments and cheeky humour that make Aaaa! For the Awesome special. As terrible as I was at the controls - and to be clear, this is not a game meant to be played on touchpad, nor did I expect it to be - I found myself with tears of laughter rolling down my face at the humour and audacity of the game. This is not a game that holds back in lampooning itself, the situations it contrives, or the player themselves. It is self-aware, and happy to invite the player to have a laugh alongside it.

It is also, most importantly, just fun.

Developer: Dejobaan Games

Genre: Arcade, Sports, Indie

Year: 2011

Country: United States

Language: English

Play Time: 5 - 10 Hours

Youtube: https://youtu.be/d1jXwhvkhdI