VVVVVV Review

By Oli Welsh Published 21 January, 2010

Flip reverse it.

Version tested: PC

Over the last decade or so, videogames have learned manners. They discovered that they would get invited round more often if they stopped being quite so horrible. They learned how to explain themselves properly, how to get to know people gradually, and how to be entertaining in polite company without being so rude and challenging all the time. They grew up, in other words, and quite right too.

But some people, including some of videogames' best friends, felt that in this drive for warm, all-embracing, one-button, smooth-curve accessibility, they'd lost their edge a bit, and were in danger of forgetting what they were about in the first place. And so a new old breed of deliciously, sadistically difficult games has started to emerge, including retro throwbacks like Mega Man 9, but also modern reactionaries like Trials HD and Demon's Souls, and even supposedly cuddly uncles like New Super Mario Bros. Wii: games that would sooner slap you in the face than hold your hand. Gamers, cheeks stinging, have woken up from their mollycoddled daze and said, "hit me again!"

Such gluttons for punishment will enjoy Terry Cavanagh's VVVVVV, a short sharp shock of a 2D indie platformer with a gravity-flipping party trick. This is a game of fiendish design and extreme speed that requires both your reactions and your problem-solving to be razor-sharp.

'VVVVVV' Screenshot 1

That's Violet, obviously.

It's not, however, anything like as crude or ironic as its comically basic, pixellated graphics and stupid title might suggest. Nor is it living in the past. VVVVVV is smart and generous: death is instant and very frequent, so restarts are immediate, checkpoints are everywhere and you get infinite lives. It's also sophisticated, with a cunning structure, varied and imaginative design, perfect pacing and even, in its simple way, storytelling prowess. It's as if Portal had been made in 1985; it's a turbo-charged, sci-fi Jet Set Willy set in a world that's falling apart.

The world's most economical intro movie telegraphs the set-up: a spaceship encounters some kind of dimensional disturbance on its travels, and its six crew members (all of whose names start with V) end up scattered about a mysterious and treacherously dangerous space station, around which the fabric of space and time seems to be distorting. Taking the role of Captain Viridian, the player's job is to find the crew and reunite them aboard ship by reactivating a network of teleporters. In doing so, he'll need to negotiate a handful of tortuous yet linear levels set within a loose, chaotic overworld, like a disintegrating Metroid map.

'VVVVVV' Screenshot 2

No.

VVVVVV controls with just three inputs: left, right, and flip gravity. The Captain can't jump, but he can suddenly fly to the ceiling or the floor and stick to it; he needs to be standing on a surface to flip, otherwise you'd be able to make him fly just by hammering the space bar. From this simple but original twist on the most basic platform-game template, Cavanagh conjures dozens upon dozens of satisfying spatial puzzles and challenges to your dexterity and - above all - timing. Each one is neatly encapsulated in a single, non-scrolling screen with a witty title by Bennett Foddy.

Importantly, Cavanagh keeps throwing new ideas in, twisting VVVVVV's already two-sided world into new shapes. Pixel-thin fields that reverse gravity are used as trampolines and slingshots; wraparound rooms become mazes with no entrance, or infinite loops that scroll past your eyes like interference on an old analogue TV. Sometimes you'll have to lead a hapless, gravity-bound crew-member around. Over its short length, VVVVVV never gets old, squeezing every drop of potential from its mind-bending reorientation of platforming, a Mario Galaxy in microcosm.

This homebrew production isn't quite a match for the platforming masters in terms of finesse, however. Speed is a key element of its stringent difficulty, and the Captain moves blindingly fast and strictly digitally, with not much sense of momentum or physical contact. Precise control of him would be beyond most input devices this side of a professional arcade stick - certainly a humble keyboard - and sometimes his twitchiness, that vital microsecond of lag as your clumsy fingers pound the plastic, breaks the close bond that you need between player and platform-game hero.

'VVVVVV' Screenshot 3

These screens caption themselves, really.

Moments of such unfair frustration are extremely rare in VVVVVV, though, which, considering its difficulty, is a great achievement. In the course of a three-hour playthrough I died one thousand times, but only once got properly, maddeningly, just-can't-go-on stuck (for those who've already played the game: it was "Do as I say... not as I do," which coincidentally is the only screen in the whole game the Captain isn't smiling for). VVVVVV's tough, but it's designed to be enjoyed and completed, not to punish or defeat players. Its difficulty is actually perfectly pitched, and eased by periods of downtime as you explore the generally peril-free space around the space station levels, rooting out your next way in.

What's also remarkable - and much harder to explain - is how atmospheric and full of character VVVVVV manages to be with the most basic audiovisual resources. Much of the credit goes to Magnus Palsson's brilliant soundtrack, which transcends its coarse chiptune stylings in some genuinely rich, evocative and exciting electronic music that perfectly matches the game's retro-futurism.

'VVVVVV' Screenshot 4

I should hope so.

There's also the fact that, for the most part, VVVVVV is played straight. It has its moments of indie quirk, with hazards composed of the words LIES and TRUTH bouncing around, but it has no pretensions to be anything other than a sci-fi adventure and a rip-roaring videogame. In that context, the simple exclamations of the script, the barely visible two-frame animation and the blocky graphical shorthand give it a sort of naïve purity, and the Captain's idiotically permanent grin in the face of the death of a thousand deaths becomes - in your head, at least - an expression of indomitable heroism. Somehow, this childish cipher becomes a great game character you'll feel real affection for.

As I've mentioned, VVVVVV is fairly short, taking around three hours to complete, and another couple - plus a great deal of skill and patience - to retrieve all of its collectable trinkets. Bearing that in mind, the asking price of £9 ($15, €10) might seem pretty steep. Then again, look past its lo-fi style and you'll realise its production values are hardly stingy, with unlockable time trials and other Easter-egg modes, and generally slick presentation. More to the point, it's excellent for its entire length. How many big-budget developments can say that?

8 / 10

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 2 years ago

    Obligatory Giant bomb quick look link

    Looks really good, a great tribute to games like Jet Set Willy style wise, might pick it up at some point

  • UncleLou #2 2 years ago

    Imagine your younger self would have been allowed to time travel from 1985 to 2010 to see what games would be like 25 years later, and all you saw was this. The disappointment! :)

    That said, this looks and sounds great.

  • Apostle #3 2 years ago

    Tough little game. I'm avoiding as will probably be more rage evoking than Trials HD. Ingenious though.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #4 2 years ago

    Needs a Linux demo for me ;)

    Or I could just try Wine and take my chances.

  • Zebula77 #5 2 years ago

    Sounds sorta fun, but do we really need to go back to the 80s when one would buy a game, get to level three and then give up. I don't know how many games I never finished. I remember every single one I did, tho. :p

    Does sound like this one is challenging instead of being frustrating.

  • Lusterpurge #6 2 years ago

    Is that 3 Ws or 6 Vs?

  • Dezm0nd #7 2 years ago

    Six V's. Each one represents a characters name which begins with the letter V! :)

  • wizlon #8 2 years ago

    This looks pretty good but the price is a bit steep. Would be better being released on the 360 Indie games channel for 400 points.

  • Shakey_Jake33 #9 2 years ago

    The demo is really really fun. That said, at risk of sounding like a cheapskate (especially with it being an indie dev), £9 is certainly a bit too high - that places it above games like Bionic Commando: Rearmed. £5 seems more realistic. That said, it's tempting even at it's existing priepoint. Maybe if I complete the demo and I'm still interested, I'll consider it.

  • ukslim #10 2 years ago

    There's a Flash demo on Kongregate here.

    Too bloody difficult for me!

  • mingster #11 2 years ago

    Waaaay to expensive.

  • X201 #12 2 years ago

    Sackboy vs Dizzy in a kaftan?

  • chukcyQ #13 2 years ago

    Would work as a free flash game.

  • christourlord #14 2 years ago

    Flip flip Flipadelphia

  • Mkwone #15 2 years ago

    The picture on the home page does look remarkably like a retro LBP. Even the main character has a striking resemblence to sackboy.

  • kinky_mong #16 2 years ago

    Going to have to agree, this was sounding very intriguing until I saw the price for a 3 hour game.

  • Prox #17 2 years ago

    I know it's decent but there's a lot of good will and nostalgia helping out that score IMO!

  • Ornithophobe #18 2 years ago

    Try this out if you want a go at something retro with a twist:-

    http://runhello.com/

    edit: goddamn line breaks



    Edited by 3 at 21/01/10 @ 10:37

  • Abscido #19 2 years ago

    Just finished the demo there. Really enjoyable. Still not sure I'll by the full thing at that price, though. Love the music too.

  • OrgasmicMutton #20 2 years ago

    It's worth the asking price. A very satisfying game - as there's a real sense of achievement when pulling off a tricky section.

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #21 2 years ago

    One thing about the price - Cavanagh's Irish, and I think the price in Euros (€10) is reasonable. The miserable exchange rate to pounds and dollars is largely to blame, and you can't ask a one-man operation to carry that cost really.

  • mk-1601 #22 2 years ago

    Complaining about the price of this game is what I believe is known as a "dick move".

    Even if it was valid to judge a game's worth by the time taken to play through it (spoiler: it isn't!), you're getting several hours of highly inventive platforming with no filler. And it's endlessly replayable of course.

    Did you complain about the price of Portal, Braid and Machinarium as well?

  • udat #23 2 years ago

    @mk-1601

    They might not have, but i remember a lot of people did!

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #24 2 years ago

    And yeah, what mk said.

  • jonsaan #25 2 years ago

    That looks like the most interesting game I've seen in ages! Can I have a poster for my bedroom wall please? Does it come on tape too?

  • king2001 #26 2 years ago

    @jonsaan

    No you have to type all the code in yourself from this month's Your Sinclair magazine.

    Next month - POKES aplenty for those difficult later levels (especially the bastard hard "Final Challenge" screen)

  • Skurmedel #27 2 years ago

    I think I'll buy it, just for the music.

  • Abscido #28 2 years ago

    @Mk

    It's all relative, Mk. Personally, I think I'll buy the game to support an Irish indie developer and because I love the ideals behind the project. That's not the same as thinking the game itself is worth ten euro though.

    It's certainly not worth the same as Portal or Braid, both of which are far more pleasing aesthetically, on top of having superb design.

    I'll be paying 5 euro for the game (what it's really worth, in my opinion) and five euro directly to Terry, somewhat like a patron I suppose.

  • Tiger_Walts #29 2 years ago

    Doing Things the Hard Way/Veni Vidi Vici! will break you.

    Took me somewhere between 80 and 100 attempts.

    1hr 8mins 350+ Deaths 17 Trinkets

    then on the hunt for the remaining trinkets
    1hr 48mins 450+ Deaths 20 Trinkets
    Edited by 2 at 21/01/10 @ 13:28

  • Eraserhead #30 2 years ago

    Would work as a free flash game.

    Actually it sounds a lot like Shift, which is... er... a free Flash game (and an iPhone app).

    http://www.shiftgameo nline.com/

  • Bremenacht #31 2 years ago

    Sounds a little like 2D Portal - without the portals.

  • pomegran #32 2 years ago

    "I think I'll buy it, just for the music."

    Couldn't agree more ...

  • Tiger_Walts #33 2 years ago

    Control isn't as binary as the review states. There is a moment of accelleration when you start to move and a moment of retardation when you release control. There is also a teeny bit of inertia when changing direction as well the period of acceleration in the new direction. The period of time to hit full speed is almost imperceptable but you'll notice it on the harder challenges.

    Whilst softening air control makes things a little easier on the whole, it does add difficulty when it comes to making direction changes when falling. If it were truly binary, the game would be too easy and also too twitchy. It's also more aesthetically pleasing when you bounce off the more complex arrangements of gravity changers in arcs rather than zig-zagging at diagonals.
    Edited by 1 at 21/01/10 @ 14:05

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #34 2 years ago

    Just played the demo, and absolutely loved it. Very hard though - doubt I'd ever finish it! I was rubbish at all games when I was a kid and I imagine that, rather than me getting better, it's just that games have gotten easier :-)

  • Lionheart #35 2 years ago

    Six V's I thought it was 3 W's :o(

  • rprince #36 2 years ago

    @Skurmedel You can buy the soundtrack (PPPPPP) on it's own: http://souleye.madtrac ker.net/

  • rprince #37 2 years ago

    It's great. I bought it on the strength of the demo and enjoyed it very much. I was expecting it to be more linear (ie. level 1, level 2... as the demo makes out), and progressively get harder. However, it has an outer world to explore, which is hidden (like a fog of war), meaning you encounter the real levels in whatever order you find them. Each is probably as difficult as the others. It's really in collecting some of the trinkets that presents the greatest challenge.

    Value wise, if I were to compare it to similarly priced games, it doesn't seem to contain as much. It's a tad more expensive than Braid, but a bit easier (IMO) and a bit smaller. As another example, GripShift on the PSN was cheaper, and had a lot more content and life to it.

    However, VVVVVV is still worth the money I paid. I definitely got £10 of enjoyment out of it. It doesn't matter that there are other games out there that give me more enjoyment for £10, because I've already played them! In summary, it would be nice if it were cheaper, but it's not, and it's still worth what it costs!

  • Vyggo #38 2 years ago

    I would advice everyone not to play the demo on Kongregate but just to download it. The input lag seems to be noticably higher online which is bad for games like this.

    This game is great people, and really not frustrating at all. I couldn't wait to buy it when I finished the demo, but if you can I would wait until the price drops a bit. Call me a dick if you want, but great as the game is, it's still too lightweight compared to similarly priced games. You can also buy things like Shadow Complex for the same amount of money.

  • dudefella #39 2 years ago

    Good Daft Punk reference in the strapline. A++

  • Skurmedel #40 2 years ago

    rprince: Sweet, thanks.

  • walaspi #41 2 years ago

    Also give-up-for-tonight stuck on Do as I say... not as I do.
    Didn't notice the no-smile though!

  • dudefella #42 2 years ago

    @walaspi: I'm also stuck there! Gahh it's annoying.

  • the_mtfr #43 2 years ago

    It's unfair that this game is being lifted up high on the podium by EG but there has been nothing about Harvest Massive Encounter which I believe it's a much more deserving independent game.

    I also kept trying to add this Harvest game that I mentioned in EG's database a few tens of times but I gave up seeing it does nothing.

  • Vyggo #44 2 years ago

    Do as I say..Not as I do is actually not that hard once you figure out what you have to do:
    Get to the little cave on the other side by navigating the vertically moving platforms upside down. Then time your flips in the cave so that your companion moves from platform to platform. Once he is out of the room you can easily get back and navigate them normally.

  • Skurmedel #45 2 years ago

    Bought it now, but arse is it hard? The music keeps my spirit up though.

  • arty #46 2 years ago

    This is a joke right?

  • smelly #47 2 years ago

    Oh NOES!! It doesnt have whizz bang 3d graphics.. it MUST be a bad game!

    Afterall we ALL know that graphics make a game much better (looks at recent reviews).. oh right...

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #48 2 years ago

    dudefella - er yes, I was definitely referencing Daft Punk, and not Blazin' Squad at all. Definitely.

  • cherryuk #49 2 years ago

    Yay there is a MAC VERSION!!!!

  • Ryze #50 2 years ago

    Right, I've not read the review or heard of the game at all, but why have they made a ghost out of a modified Dizzy sprite?

    edit:

    Excellent! I took a look at the Giant Bomb vid. The main character actually looks like Sackboy! The game looks fun, and it could easily be converted to run on anything! I wonder if a BBC Micro port has been planned?

    Seriously though - get this ported to the iPhone, DSiWare and PSP!

    Fantastic stuff. I shalln't buy the PC version, as I'll never get any work done!

    A PSP version would be an instabuy, however... but be careful of Media Molecule and Codemasters chasing after you with a big stick!

    More of the best small games on your front page, EG. You make us old gamers proud.

    Check out the loading screen!

    [link url=http://www.kongregate.com/games/TerryCavanagh/vvvvvv-de mo
    ]http://ww w.kongregate.com/games/TerryCav...[/link]

    :D
    Edited by 4 at 22/01/10 @ 11:33

  • pinebear #51 2 years ago

    So chuffed that this is getting decent exposure and excellent review scores. One of the Expo highlights.

  • viper_h #52 2 years ago

    Fun but bloody hard. Only found one dude and I'm already at 150 deaths. Calling BS on the guy who did it in 350.

  • Skurmedel #53 2 years ago

    I found two... one after The Tower which was quite a level. I'm at one bazillion deaths.
    Edited by 1 at 22/01/10 @ 12:45

  • dudefella #54 2 years ago

    @Oli: Oh I thought it was from Daft Punk's Technologic. Oh well! Still A++ for great review of great game

  • Tiger_Walts #55 2 years ago

    viper_h This is my stat screen if I go back into my completed game. Link

    And here I am in the Trophy Room

    There are trophies for doing it in less than 250, 100 and 50 deaths. And a trophy for doing the game in no death mode. Face it, you suck.

  • My1stLoveJak #56 2 years ago

    Oli, I love reading your stuff! Excellent review. This is a PC game that I can actually buy, without breaking my computer as I play it! Well...that is, if I don't throw it out a window in frustration.

    I need to update my PC if I want to play the Lego and Star Wars MMO

  • mukki #57 2 years ago

    Good to see this reviewed in here :)

  • Malek86 #58 2 years ago

    I just discovered this one. Bought it immediately, as the demo was good, and Terry Cavanagh is one of my favorites. His previous free games like Judith and Don't Look Back were extremely interesting. Price is a bit steep, but I'll consider it like I'm paying for the good times spent with his other games. Well worth it.
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/10 @ 23:44