VVVVVV Review

VVVVVV

Publisher: Terry Cavanagh Developer: Terry Cavanagh Platform: iOS Players: 1 Release:

2014 Genre: 2D Platformer / Puzzle Rating: 9.0 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is the room V-Stitch that, despite easy to complete, is rather spikey.

This game is a mobile partly remade port of indie developer Terry Cavanagh's 2010 brutally difficult puzzle-platformer VVVVVV. The game casts you as Captain Viridian, whom after a sudden "dimensional interference", is separated from the members of his or her crew who are now scattered throughout a trap-filled space station (I wrote "his or her" because Viridian's gender is never specified, though many players believe that Viridian is male). It's up to Viridian to rescue each of his five crewmates, all of whose names start with a V (Six Vs!). The gameplay is simple-- you can't jump, but you instead tap the right side of the screen to reverse gravity. How Viridian can do this I do not know. His / her inability to jump is most likely due to his / her lack of knees. As I said before, this is a pretty tough game, as every hazard will kill Viridian with a single touch. The game does have checkpoints, represented by a C. This leads to some creative and fun gameplay. Each of the game's several stages introduces a new concept that spices the gameplay up and adds more challenge. Every room has a different name, many of which are humorous. For example, one room is titled "I Love You". Deadly hearts fly across the screen in this room. The following room is called "That's Why I Have to Kill You", in which you must avoid a greater number of broken hearts. The game's dialogue garners chuckles as well. Doctor Violet even states that she has a crush on Chief Verdigris, and is unaware that he has feelings towards her as well. VVVVVV may be challenging, but I was hardly ever frustrated. Despite the difficulty, the adventure is a rather short one. It took me about three-and-a-half hours to complete the game, and I died over 1,400 times. Even so, perfectionists will have a tough time collecting the 20 hidden shiny trinkets. A small quibble of mine is that the touchscreen controls can be a little slippery, causing me some undeserved deaths. This is the only thing that ever caused me frustration. Additionally more modes to enjoy. There's Flip Mode, which flips every playable part of the game upside down; there's Intermissions, in which you are able to play any of the segments where you escort a crewmate back to the ship; eventually No Death Mode will be unlocked-- Die and it's game over; You can also play the very challenging minigame Super Gravitron via the Secret lab mode. You are also able to play a handful of user-generated levels. This game, like many indies in modern days, has retro-style graphics. Many of those games don't look much like one from the 1980s or 1990s but VVVVVV nails the appearance of an '80s PC game, which give it tons of charm. The chiptune soundtrack by Magnus "Souleye" Palsson is incredibly catchy and one of the best I have ever heard. If you are at all into chiptune music, please do yourself a favor and download the track "Pushing Onwards" from the game's soundtrack album PPPPPP (or the whole album, better yet). VVVVVV is an amazing game that manages to entertain and challenge with little frustration.

Ups
Fun and creative gameplay
Lots of humor
Additional modes
Charming retro graphics
Incredible chiptune soundtrack

Downs
Frustrating on rare occasions
Slightly slippery controls
Short game

ESRB: E 10+ Content: Fantasy Violence Price: $2.99 (Download)