Aaaaa! takes the minimalist, surrealist approach to everything, including the story. From what we can decipher, aliens visited Earth in the 1980s and gave them all sorts of technology, including the ability to build floating superstructures that ascend into the atmosphere. Out of this culture spawned the official sport of base-jumping, with a variety of different tricks and spectator infuriating moves to determine how competitors get rewarded. You are a base-jumper weaving through floating buildings above Boston, Massachusetts, which is where Dejobaan is headquartered. This was as much as we could make out from the game. Who cares, though! Let's go jumping!

Aaaaa! is absolutely stunning, both in sound and in graphics. The buildings, while simplistic, are well-rendered and have textures that do not appear grainy or low resolution. The particle effects are incredibly, reeking of technology and, funnily enough, the internet. The sounds mix together fast, upbeat music with the delightful rings and noises of pulling off successful stunts. It's downright addicting.

Aaaaa! starts off slow. You have to watch a tutorial video before you can get started, and there is a very limited level selection until you begin to unlock more levels. Levels are unlocked by spending teeth on them, and levels can only be unlocked if they are next to other unlocked levels. The game tosses it up by including videos, abilities, and tips into the level selection screen as well, with only tips being totally locked at all times, forcing you to unlock around them. It's an interesting system of progression that feels appropriate, and the process of rewarding players for blitzing through levels and owning the skies to let them continue doing so is excellent. You can even earn teeth on old missions by matching your score!

The basic gameplay of Aaaaa! revolves around colliding with scoring objects such as birds and scoring plates while hugging and kissing buildings, all before making a stellar landing. Hugging a building is where you stay close to it, with more hugs accumulating as you stay there and accelerate. Kissing a building is done by the initial act of getting close, and you can only kiss a building once. Kissing is worth more than hugging, but both are important to scoring. As you reach the ground, you must deploy your parachute to land safely in the circles, with the smallest circle giving the most points. Finally, as you fall through the levels, you run across plates and birds which will net you points if you hit them. This core of collision, building proximity, and landing is what the rest of the game builds upon as it continues.

Aaaaa!, after getting you used to the basic mechanics, throws in some curveballs to really accentuate the experience. These things all help increase your score, and as the levels get tougher, you definitely have to use them in order to win. Your score determines your star rating, and your star rating determines the amount of teeth you get for completion of the level. There is no scoring for time, so feel free to slow down if need be!

• Gestures are essential to scoring, and proper timing of them is incredibly important as well. Spectators line up on girders all throughout the city, and you must either flip them the thumbs up or the bird as you plummet past them. If you do it right, you even earn extra points! Take care not to collide with the girders themselves, and if you just want to get the credit, the actual distance to do a gesture is quite long.
• Tagging is another scoring trick, although it is relatively rare compared to spectators. You can tag government buildings that glow green when you are nearby, which nets you a ton of points. These buildings are sparse, so they are not all that important to scoring, but it is easy to get them in most cases, and worth it as well, as they can push you over the edge into a big score.
• Caffeine doesn't actually make you score better directly, but slows you down, making reactions much easier and getting the timing right simple as pie. However, except for the few really difficult levels, it's essentially useless.

There are a few faults with the game that are worth noting. First is the lack of any architectural diversity. Everything is pretty much the same style and palette, which makes the levels blur together somewhat. Tying into this is the lack of mod or level support, as there is no level editor. This is a game that absolutely screams for a level editor, which makes the lack of one severely disappointing. Finally, there are no leaderboards outside of Steam, which seems like a no-brainer for an indie arcade title like this. Some official, non-Steam leaderboards are essential, and the Steam leaderboards are sort of confusing as well. Still, even though it has its faults, Aaaaa! is packed with many hours of indie-loving gameplay, which is how we like it.

Aaaaa! reeks of originality in every sense of the word, and is easily one of the best indie games in recent memory. Dejobaan took their signature blend of surrealism and entertainment and turned it into something that is incredibly fun and lengthy without overstaying its welcome or pushing the theme too hard. The bottom line is that Aaaaa! is worth every penny, and players of all genre affiliations will love the goofy, bizarre style and gameplay. You can buy Aaaaa! on a variety of services, including Steam, Impulse, and GamersGate.

Want to give Aaaaa! a try? Download the demo right here on Big Download!