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Review: VVVVVV

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: NR - Not Rated
My Rating: Ages 6 and up
Genre: Platformer
License: Commercial
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2010
Reviewed Version: 2.2
Review Published On: July 1st, 2016
Played on: Martha

Available on:

Windows
Linux
MacOS

Available from:

Humble Store
Steam
VVVVVVs Homepage

Soundtrack: Available on the Homepage
Areas of Concern:
  • Mild violence


How to Save and Pause:

To save your game, you need to have Capt. V. come into contact with a teleporter. These are found throughout the world, so you should be able to find one nearby whenever you need one.

Time needed per session:

This isnt a long game, but you might want to give yourself at least ten to fifteen minutes so that youll have time to explore and possibly discover something important.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

No - this is a great game for Christians
Old style games dont have much to object to - at most, your character will look sad when they touch an obstacle and then restart the area from the last checkpoint.

Screenshots

[view screenshot]
Taking things literally

[view screenshot]
Artful dodging

[view screenshot]
Corrupted sprites



Game Overview

VVVVVV is a wonderful example of the new embracing the old. The games graphics and style mimics what you would find on the Commodore 64, an old school computer system that many of todays computer geeks had when they were young. The gameplay however is something completely new, as it uses an unusual mechanic that creates equally unique and challenging puzzles.

In a bit of a twist on the classic platformer gameplay, Capt. Viridian isnt able to jump. Instead, he can invert his own gravity when hes standing on something, allowing him to fall upwards and walk on ceilings. By timing his flips correctly, he can dodge nearly anything hell encounter in this strange pocket dimension. The trick lies in knowing when and where to flip; some places dont have ceilings or floors, so its possible to send him flying off into space until he collides with something.

But, while Capt. Viridian is able to navigate the world somewhat easily, none of the other crew members can flip like he does. This makes rescuing them quite a challenge, as they cant avoid hazards on their own. Fortunately, everyone that needs rescuing is someplace where flipping around isnt explicitly required.

Now, you might be wondering why the crew needs to be rescued in the first place. Its not because they were kidnapped or went exploring in the great unknown without a map. Instead, these space explorers found themselves sucked into what TV Tropes likes to call a negative space wedgie. As their starship crashed, everyone tried to evacuate via their teleporter, and in a completely foreseeable turn of events, it malfunctioned and everyone ended up getting sent to some random corner of a pocket dimension.

Thus, the Captain of the ship must save his crew and fix the space-time anomaly before things return to normal. For an extra challenge (and a secret ending) there are twenty Shiny Trinkets hidden throughout the game world. Collecting all of them isnt easy, but there is a nice surprise if you manage it.

If you like retro games or just enjoy the aesthetic, this is definitely a game you should try out.

Points of Interest

Very lightweight

While theres a lot of different things going on, this game manages to run well just about everywhere. The posted system requirements are incredibly low and very easy to satisfy.

Feature rich

This game has everything from Steam achievements to custom levels to fancy graphical features. One of the filters is even designed to make it look like youre playing the game on an old and beat up analogue TV set.

Disabled gamer assistance

There are a few features that allow people with limited mobility or other impairments to play through the game and have fun. Alternatively, these can be used by everyone else to freely cheat or just have fun with the game.

VERY Nostalgia driven

Complete with a Commodore 64 loading screen, this game makes it feel like the old days are here again. Most of the enemies are simple sprites, just like they were in old games. Some of them are even look like their data was corrupted. Additionally, the soundtrack is completely made up of peppy Commodore-eske chiptunes.

References everywhere

Most of the rooms are given names, and many of these are references to various famous games or older TV shows. Some of these references also play on the games naming scheme and replace their Us with Vs, such as Gvnsmoke or Mvrder She Wrote.

Then theres the Giant Seizure Elephant. This is an actual elephant found in an out of the way area. Its four screens large, rapidly cycles between different colors, and appears to be crying. Nobody really knows why its there, making it a literal elephant in the room. Its speculated to be a reference to something, though theres no proof to back this up.

Few rules and lots of freedom

If its one thing players enjoy, its the ability to do whatever without having someone hold your hands along the way. The primary goal is to find the rest of the crew, but what order you do that in is completely up to the player. Theres nothing stopping you from exploring, and the game will change small details in the characters dialogue to reflect what youve been doing.

High difficulty

In the old days, games were often extremely hard. VVVVVV reflects this, and while theres no limit to the number of times anybody can die, its still going to be harder than your average game.

Getting all of the Shiny Trinkets is harder than hard, specifically the one located in the infamous area called Veni, Vidi, Vici where you need to complete a multi-screen spike maze in one life.

Concerns and Issues

Characters can be killed temporarily

Touching a spike (from any direction) will instantly kill Viridian or any of his crew. This is handled in true retro fashion, with the character looking sad and turning red for a moment before everything resets to the last checkpoint.

Possible risk for photosensitive people

Aside from the obvious risk posed by the elephant in the room, there are a few other places where the colors rapidly change.