![]() ![]() ![]() I know it’s bad form to admit your opinion of a game before entering the review proper, but I’ll just come out and say it - VVVVVV is one of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. VVVVVV doesn’t even try to be a game for everyone, but if you’ve ever complained that they don’t make games like they used to this is the most enjoyable way to prove yourself wrong.Upon reading the list of 2010 IGF finalists, I had only one question: where the f*ck was VVVVVV? ![]() VVVVVV 3DS PCThis is usually the point at which say that none of this justifies the price of the game suddenly quadrupling, but actually the 3DS version of VVVVVV is slightly cheaper than the original PC edition – at a very reasonable £7.20.įor those few pounds you get a perfect reminder that it is imagination and creative design which shapes a great game, not its graphics. Together with the 10 original ones from the PC version that makes for an impressive amount of content, even though the level editor from one of the later PC updates hasn’t made the jump to the 3DS. Publisher Nicalis, who also handled the 3DS version of fellow indie classic Cave Story, are to be applauded for maintaining the original look and feel while still adding a bit of extra spice to the presentation.Įven so the only genuine technical triumph is the superb 8-bit soundtrack, which recalls the best work of Ben Daglish and – like the game itself – is one of the best faux retro efforts in years.Īs well as the main game there is also a new set of eight brand new ‘Player Levels’ created by various indie luminaries, including Minecraft creator Markus ‘Notch’ Persson. Given the simplicity of the visuals you’d think the 3D effect would be irrelevant but it’s actually strangely effective. This 3DS version changes nothing about the original game other than adding a (very useful) map on the bottom screen. But you just have to remind yourself that real retro games are even harder. The purposefully slippery controls don’t help either, with progress through the game’s harder levels gaining a staccato like rhythm of protracted probing failure, followed by fleeting victory. Although the game does feature checkpoints on almost every screen it is still punishingly difficult. However, the strain on both your imagination and reaction times is considerable. Every new screen looks utterly impossible, until you learn to properly manipulate the various new features, such as trampolines and conveyor belts, which are introduced in each level. Not in the specifics of the puzzles but in the way the game creates so much variety from such apparently simple ideas. ![]() Indeed the way the game exploits such an apparently simple idea into a myriad of different puzzles and action sequences is highly reminiscent of a 2D Portal. It’s not an entirely new idea (having previously appeared in 2D shooters such as Irem’s Metal Storm) but here it’s employed to far more imaginative effect. You can’t attack or jump, but instead your only interaction is to run left and right or flip from walking on the ceiling to the floor and back again. You play as Captain Viridian trying to recover his five lost crew members (all of whose name’s begin with ‘V’, hence the game’s title) after a peculiar transporter accident aboard his spaceship. ![]()
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