Toronto Thumbs

REVIEW
VVVVVV

VVVVVV is a game that made me angry. I mean, really angry. Ten minutes would barely go by when I would see a challenge game maker Terry Cavanagh set up and hate his goddamn guts. But I also couldn’t keep from giddily laughing to myself. The clever bastard always had another twist, another devious bit up his sleeve. It is one thing to be beaten up, but quite another to respect the person for doing it.

VVVVVV has you playing Viridian, the captain of a ship that gets caught up in some weird space anomaly; it’s the way these things often seem to happen in space. His crew is spread out all over this little dimension and it’s up to you to rescue them. The most basic of platformer abilities, jumping, is off limits. Instead, you reverse gravity. Every level can be, and will need to be, viewed two ways to solve it.

Cavanagh doesn’t play with too many other elements apart from the gravity reversal. There are some genre staples (conveyor belts and disappearing platforms; dumb pacing enemies; the ever menacing spike, rarely seen in the singular) but the game is lean, eschewing the Metroidvania’s habit of relying on new abilities to keep the gameplay fresh. Instead, Cavanagh uses clever level design to inject a surprising amount of variety into the game. The gravity flipping is used to its fullest, and no opportunity is wasted or missed. Occasionally, Cavanagh plays with ideas, like a vertically scrolling bit ominously titled “The Tower,” but these stages are built on the solid foundation that up can be down at the press of a button. They serve as temporary pleasant distractions, not game changers.

The game’s map opens up soon after starting. Because there are no extra abilities, any of the game’s sections can be tackled in any order. The teleporters that litter the map save the game, and allow for instant travel to any other found transporter. This is useful if you’re getting frustrated with a challenge and want a change of scenery – and you will. Oh Lord, you will. Cavanagh is great at teasing the player. Certain rooms will give sneak peeks to the challenges ahead; computer terminals scattered around hint at far off difficulties, and room names often poke fun of the player. My personal favourite is the room titled “Plain sailing from here on” which leads into the tricky “Ha ha ha, not really.” Even the title of the game looks like a set of jagged spikes.

You’ll die in this game. A lot. But there’s always a checkpoint before and after a tricky bit, and they’re frequent enough as to not be annoying. Cavanagh leaves the trickiest manoeuvres for shiny trinkets, the game’s only collectible. They’re optional, and unlock music in the game. In most games that would leave me cold, but the chiptunes soundtrack by Magnus Pålsson (aka Souleye) has been floating around my head since playing. It’s lo-fi, but surprisingly vibrant. It matches the wonderful Commodore 64 aesthetic of the game. The game’s got a retro style, and a lot of that retro difficulty, but the design is forgiving. Aside from the already mentioned checkpoints, the game allows for modes to be unlocked without playing through the game, including the time trial mode. There are other options to make the game make the game harder, like the one that flips the game vertically, and a few options to make the game easier, such as a no death and slow down mode. In my darkest moments, I’ll admit, I was tempted.

I’ve spent some words on how frustrating this game can be, but few on how good it feels to finally get past a tricky part, or the sigh of relief that comes with finding a checkpoint. It’s what makes the game, and because the level design is so clever, it always feels like a legitimate victory. Cavanagh has already made a name for himself with artsy titles like Don’t Look Back, Pathways, and Judith, but VVVVVV shows that he can bring that spark of ingenuity to larger projects. He may be a bastard, but he makes a good game.

Posted in Art, Awesome, Indie, Pics, Reviews |