YIIK has been a game I have been keeping my eye on for the past few months for one, it’s being released on the Vita and two, it has a vinyl recording wielding hipster as its protagonist. The game casts you as Alex, a recent college graduate who returns home to no real job prospects or ideas for the future. He does find through an internet message board, a whole host of fellow like minded individuals and is then thrust into an adventure filled with surreal moments. The demo I played was from the first few hours of YIIk, where Alex and co are searching for one of their friends who was captured in a paranormal life accident. If you are put off by the phrase ‘paranormal life accident’, you can just write YIIK off your list right now. For me though, YIIK was a great blending of the slightly uncanny Americana of Earthbound, the social focus of a series like Persona, as well as the sheer madness of a Suda 51 title. Battles have you scratching records to pull off chain attacks, drinking craft beer to up your PP and using weaponised jazz on a keytar to lull shop attendants and local trailer park drunks to sleep. As for the post modern part, you need not worry about YIIK stopping you every so often to give a lecture of Frederic Jameson. The main way the game is ‘post-modern’ is through its use of intertextuality, of weaving other games and pieces of media into the adventure in order to comment on or enrich the story for the players. The fact that all the cast met through an internet message board about games and are very aware about the nature of games themselves, shows the kind of tone YIIK is going for. The developers did say to me that even thought it wears this postmodern heart on its sleeve, the story is coherent and will be understandable by the end. It’s not a load of old tripe bundled together to sound deep. I’ll be the judge when it is released this Winter but from my short time with YIIK, I am very hopeful.

Giant Cop – Other Ocean

From the surreal to the ridiculous, the next indie I saw was Giant Cop, a god game/crime stopper simulator where you play as a 200ft police officer who must protect their city from its criminal element. My first glimpse of the game saw a player picking up random people from off the street, flinging them across the city and into a outdoor jail in the centre of town. From that initial image, Giant Cop’s in built silliness was apparent. You can pick up polluting cars and literally throw them into an impounding lot, or shake down a robber for all the cash on his person. Stopping various crimes and raising more money allows Giant Cop to upgrade the police force by buying helicopters to help you spot criminals or increase police patrols to stop ongoing crime. However, you can use your position as Giant Cop for sadistic purposes by dropping people into pubs to get them drunk so you can chuck them in the slammer for disorderly behaviour. You can shake down citizens to not only take their money, but to make them angry so they assault someone, allowing you to swoop in and lay down the giant arm of the law. The city starts to morph into a more dystopian one as Giant Cop’s power grows, with the possible endgame having you deal with an insurrection against the city’s Big Brother, as your iron grip has you exploiting the people you were supposed to protect for cash. This has to the potential to be a great thing to stream for a laugh as well as a unique take on the god game, so keep your eyes peeled for a giant law enforcement officer coming to a city near you.

Iconoclasts – Konjak

Moving into the Leftfield Collection, Iconoclasts is a Metroidvania style adventure, tasking you as Robin, a budding engineer whose hobby is deemed illegal by the religious conclave One Concern. As she fights to keep her passion alive, she teams up with fellow illegal workers who must fight back against this oppressive authority. According to the developer, Joakim Sandberg, Iconoclasts is most similar to Metroid Fusion if you are using the Metroidvania designation, with the world having a central hub which you can drop into different levels from but you will be sometimes be locked into a zone until you complete a certain objective. Robin’s main weapon is her giant wrench, which can be used to crank open doors as well as grind along special ziplines to escape enemies. She also has the use of different sidearms, which have to be used in conjunction with the wrench to take certain foes down. With some pretty inventive looking bosses, a complex story and a whole host of colourful levels, Iconoclasts is one for you Metroidvania fans to dive into when it comes out (hopefully) in the latter half of next year.

Aerobat – Thew

Being another indie I have been keeping my eye on in the periphery, Aerobat is what happens if you put your garden variety shmup on speed and cover it in neon. You are a small jet fighter, who can only shoot its weapons as it is in freefall which requires you to prime your engines and fling yourself into the air as high as you can to blow up enemies on the way down. You do this by holding the mouse button to charge your thrusters, then flicking the mouse upwards to gain height and then blasting the crap out of anything that moves on the way down. You need to kickstart the engine quickly though, as hitting the ground means instant death. Aerobat took a fair bit of getting used to but once you have the core mechanic down, it is an absolute blast. Hurling your ship into the sky, wasting a screen full of baddies and starting the thrusters just before you hit the floor is just satisfying to do. If you are a shmup aficionado or love some high speed action, Aerobat might just be your cup of tea.

Eitr – Eneme Entertainment

This is isometric Dark Souls. It just is. Right down to the HUD, control scheme and orange flasks use to refill your health, this Norse themed hack and slash is trying to scratch that rock hard RPG itch. While it certainly had the brutal difficulty and the Soulesian menu style down, that was the only string to Eitr’s bow. Your player character of the Shield Maiden walks like a tank full of treacle, feeling clunky to react to blows or strike back, instead of feeling weighty yet responsive. The isometric viewpoint means that loot and even enemies can disappear in certain blindspots and it just felt like a poor imitation of the real thing. Rather than having careful enemy placement, Eitr just seemed to throw tons of enemies at you in a small corridor to force difficulty and due to the controls and unhelpful perspective, it came off as unfair to play. The Norse aesthetic didn’t really show itself off very well in the demo area, as I fought through your standard undead crypt filled with similar looking draugir swordsman and the occasional skeleton mage. It may be that a tough as nails RPG is not the best game to be showing off at a consumer exhibition where other people are wanting to have a go, but Eitr seemed a bit of a non starter. Watch this space though.

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash – Nintendo

Now onto the only two AAA games I actually got to play all day and one of them was Mario Tennis. At the end of the day, it’s Mario Tennis and that sports spin off has always been fun, right back to the N64 version. The new schtick in this edition was the Mega Mushrooms which would randomly spawn on court, making each server grow to gargantuan size during a rally. If both players turn into giants, it’s quite the laugh to see the ball flying at super high speeds as a huge Mario and Bowser trying to score that match winning point. Otherwise, it is just more of the same. It’s well crafted more of the same, but this doesn’t reinvent the game of tennis.

Just Cause 3 – Avalanche Studios

After queuing multiple times to play both the free roam and challenge parts of the Just Cause 3 demo, I only actually got to spend probably about 15 minutes with the game, out of a supposed 40. Just as I was getting to grips with the new objectives or the new multi tether, I was kicked off the stands in order to let another group of 60 on. As with Mario Tennis, it just seems to be more of the same mayhem that Just Cause 3 was. The wingsuit takes a lot of getting used to, as you will most likely plow head first into the floor as soon as you use it but once I got used to it, I was having a bundle of fun for the 30 seconds I had left with the demo. If you liked Just Cause 2, you’ll be in hog heaven but based off the incredibly small slice of the game that I was able to play, I’m not sure JC3 has actually set the world on fire.

So, that’s my 1st day’s worth of EGX impressions for you to digest. I hope to have a look at some more indies tomorrow, as well as to maybe get a go on Street Fighter V or another big AAA title. Expect more first looks and possible games to mark down as things to watch out for tomorrow.