VVVVVV
53%
VVVVVV
VERDICT: Slick, excellent execution, fantastic music. Plays more like a Next Gen version of Cybernoid or Pitfall 2. Too much reliance on trial and error which sucks the fun out of the game. At the end, reminds me of Battletoads with its trial-and-error difficulty becoming anti-fun.
Above: VVVVVV has very slick music reminiscent of 8-bit Mega Man.
Above: VVVVVV is very difficult.
VERSIONS:
From Developer’s Website (Windows, Mac, Linux)
This game runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Linux version is native and requires no tweaking.
MULTIPLAYER:
There is no multiplayer for this game.
INPUT:
Only the keyboard is used. From what I can tell, controller input is not available (but I suppose you can use Joy2Key to get it to work).
The controls are left, right, and space to flip (or up and down). Enter is used to bring up map or terminal. Escape leaves the game.
TECHNICAL ISSUES:
I experienced no technical issues.
WHAT IS IT?
VVVVVV is a 2d platformer where you do not jump. Instead, you ‘flip gravity’ like the Gravity Man stage in Mega Man 5. At the very beginning, the game is linear as it introduces concepts to you. Then, the game becomes free roam on a very large map not unlike Metroid. You are supposed to find certain ‘things’ (they look like squares) and your crew members.
Above: Check out the impressive title screen! Oh yeah! 1983 here we come!
While the flipping mechanic would get old after a while, the game livens it up with special rules for each screen at times. In one area, you are in the Zelda ‘Lost Woods’ type screen and you have to exit only a certain way. There are enemies that appear at times (though most of your enemies will be spikes).
Above: There are ‘shiny trinkets’ to find which are located inside many spiky walls. Who designed this spaceship!?
There are constant waypoints in the game and infinite lives. If you die, you start back at the waypoint.
Above: When you move over the TV images, you can access a log by pressing [Enter].
MANUAL
No manual is included with this game that I could tell.
SOUNDTRACK SAMPLE
The music of VVVVVV sounds similar to 8-bit Mega Man. Take a listen:
JUSTIFICATION OF THE SCORE
VVVVVV does many things right. It plays in an arcade way (but it cannot be an arcade game for the same reason Metroid or Zelda can’t be arcade games). The music is slick. Old School gameplay. It feels as vast as the old school Metroid and Zelda games. At some points, I felt like I was playing Pitfall 2 and Cybernoid on the Commodore 64. If VVVVVV just has these positives, the score would have been Mega Man quality (as there doesn’t seem to be much replay value in this game to prevent it going higher).
Above: After the first linear level, the game opens up.
Above: The game starts off something looking like this.
Above: Then it starts to get much larger. Note the large caverns in one area. So cool!
Unfortunately, the negatives of VVVVVV drag it down. The first negative is the lack of animation and art in this game. For crying out loud, 8-bit NES games look ‘Next Gen’ compared to VVVVVV. VVVVVV looks more on par with the Commodore 64 which is not a good thing.
The bigger negative is the trial and error gameplay. Eventually, the difficulty ramps up until you get to a screen or screens where you stop caring anymore. It is the gameplay of ‘spikes’ and ‘one hit you die’. Well made games don’t rely on trial and error gameplay. They allow the player’s personality to be able to maneuver through the game. VVVVVV doesn’t offer this.
Above: This screen loops on the side like Pac-Man. You must flip and maneuver your way around to get to the top opening.
This brings VVVVVV down to slightly above average. Battletoads seems appropriate for the game as Battletoads would have been much more fun without the trial and error gameplay that tore down the game.
VVVVVV is more enjoyable than I thought it would be. However, its joy is short lived as the trial and error gameplay sours the fun eventually.
Above: Endless mazes!
Trial and error gameplay is too much of a thing these days, it hurt Super Meat Boy and Hotline Miami as well which otherwise have pretty slick gameplay. For some reason game devs are too afraid of giving player lives, or having them start from the beginning. VVVVVV takes this design so far, almost to self parody with multiple checkpoints on the same screen. I cant understand it, older games were “hard,” sure, but much more forgiving than these one-hit death games! I think these faux-retro games are missing the point as this repetitive design just feels like emulating games and taking save states every 5 seconds. You mentioned this issue in your review of Giana Sisters so I’m curious as to what made it work better in that game.
The Donkey Kong Country games could also be said to have trial and error gameplay (as some of the earlier platformers. The latter stages of the original Super Mario Brothers were extremely frustrating). I felt like Giana Sisters is more like Donkey Kong Country. It was more fun. Giana Sisters really comes through with the art visuals, sound effects, music, and the switching of personalities gives some choice and control to the player. VVVVVV doesn’t bring much to the table. I enjoyed its ‘large map’ and its ‘gravity switching’, but there isn’t much after that.
“You stop caring after a while” is a pretty apt descriptor of VVVVVV as a whole.
About an hour-and-a-half into the game, I slowly dawned upon the realization that the game was never really going to change (ie, get interesting). Difficulty is somewhat negated by the constant, infinite checkpoints, which more or less means you muscle your way through the whole thing without really thinking.
The review press praised this as a “high-concept” game, but I must admit that I wish some more concepts were actually put into the game.
I’d rather play Metroid!
There is a whole new genre of platformers based on those unfair Super Mario World ROM hacks, spearheaded by Super Meat Boy. They have very tight controls, the challenge is extremely unforgiving and you have checkpoints after each screen (or even more checkpoints), just the way people play those ROM hacks with savestates after each jump. I don’t get the point; I appreciate a nice challenge, but this isn’t about challenge anymore, it’s about tracing a very specific line through constant trial & error and every point where you were not meant to be is an instant death trap. Sure, the original Super Mario Bros. was hard in the later levels, but at least there was some error tolerance during the levels and only a few single screens would have instant death traps (like those jumps where the targets were only one square wide). Donkey Kong Country was mostly hard due to the crappy camera, it was too close and it always followed you precisely, most of the times I died in that game was because something just popped on the screen out of nowhere or I had no idea where I had to land. Vertical scrolling is a very delicate matter in 2D platformers only few games got right. I never had such problems in Mario 3.
I find the art style very bland. I didn’t grow up with a Commodore 64 or whatever that is supposed to be, so four-colour graphics and chiptune music don’t instantly trigger nostalgia flashes in my brain. I do like older games as well, but they all tried at least to convey something cool. In Ultima you would have castles and your hero had a sword and shield to make you feel like you were a knight in a medieval fantasy world, you were not just a smiley face. What on earth is the VVVVVV guy supposed to be? He’s just some random stick figure with a smiley face. Who in their right mind would design a space ship with instant death spikes? The makers of this game could have just put a stylized fedora hat on him and change the setting from space ship to ancient mystic ruins where you need to find the lost crew members of your expedition. Now wouldn’t that be much cooler than just some random retro tribute? I wasn’t born at the time of old computers, but I highly doubt a game with the theme of VVVVVV would have been popular at the time.
You know, I actually own VVVVVV, I got it as part of a Humble Bundle. I found the game to be so bland I haven’t played it past the first few screens. There is just something about it that makes me go just “meh”, it has to be the combination of pure trial & error gameplay from the start and the pointless retro theme just for the sake of being retro.
Still, I prefer these unfair Super Meat Boy clones to the “puzzle” platformer clones of Braid. Be glad Braid isn’t DRM-free, it is one of the most insultingly pretentious games and the puzzles are mind numbingly stupid, it’s all about “do this really tedious but totally obvious thing”, Aonuma would be proud. Ugh, I played through that whole thing hoping for at least some payoff. At least these unfair platformers *try* to be games and try to have you do something that requires skill. On that note: