VVVVVV (2010)

“Amicus Plato amicus Aristoteles magis amica verita.” (Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.) -Sir Isaac Newton

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VVVVVV represents to me an exploration of the limits of the general populace’s tolerance levels in video games. To dissipate any suspicions you may have after that last sentence: I really enjoyed this game. So here’s what I mean by limits and tolerance.

“Vee vee vee vee vee”? Just a humming V noise? However you pronounce the title of this indie by Terry Cavanagh, his first commercial game, VVVVVV is about a group of spacefaring stick figures led by Captain Viridian (the player character). When the crew’s vessel is assaulted by dimensional interference, they abandon ship via teleporter but quickly find themselves separated and lost in space. Captain Viridian must hunt down each member of his crew and discover the source of the interference in order to get their ship functioning again and escape dimension VVVVVV.

VVVVVV is the best kind of puzzle video game where the rules are inherently simple but the stage design grows more complex. As a 2D puzzle platformer, the game is unique in that there’s no jump function. Viridian navigates his environment through the manipulation of gravity. This anti-grav movement is the core mechanic. There are no guns, no power ups, no extra lives, or anything of that sort. Viridian travels along the ground or he can flip himself upside down to travel along the ceiling. These limitations afford challenging and unique level design, falling upward or downward to overcome obstacles and hazards, which are numerous.

That’s no understatement. Dangers are so frequent that checkpoints are placed in nearly every room. If you impale yourself on spikes or find yourself crushed by flying metaphysical words like “Truth” and “Yes”, you’ll be able to instantly respawn nearby. This makes VVVVVV a trial and error sort of game, which certainly will test the limits of tolerance, specifically the patience, of players. This is a tough game which can border on frustrating but it relies on an exploratory lust and brevity of gameplay sessions and goals in order to keep the player invested.

Further, the graphics are interesting in their choice of era to adapt, since most retro-styled games choose either an 8-bit NES or a 16-bit SNES/Genesis appearance. VVVVVV models itself after what I originally thought to be Atari 2600 graphics, though I later discovered that the intention was to emulate the appearance of games from the Commodore 64. Even for a classics gamer like myself, the C64 was before my time and I barely have any experience playing with one so in that regard the imagery of VVVVVV seems foreign, alien, and at first glance off-putting. There’s a boundary of tolerance there, and I expect that that line may be drawn closer to home depending on how frequently one plays retro or retro-styled games.

However, with its context of weird interdimensional travel, it seemed to me as if the antiquated graphics described the totality of this strange multiverse, rather than merely giving an impression of it. Later in the game, the adherence to C64 aesthetics allows for some bizarre and beautiful environments.

Click here for the full review... https://thewellredmage.com/2017/11/25/vvvvvv/

1001 Games - #994

Pros: awesome chiptune soundtrack, well utilized core mechanic, fairly placed checkpoints

Cons: some degree of trial-and-error required, difficulty of some sections may be offputting

Recommendation: VVVVVV is a very fun game to play. The core gravity flipping mechanic is used in a large variety of platforming puzzles so it never feels as if you are just repeating the same tasks. Although much is often said about the difficulty, there is an abundant number of checkpoints so it never feels unfair.