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Vvvvvv review5/31/2023 ![]() There’s a section where you have to sort of steer an NPC through a few puzzles. Sometimes they’re so abundant that it feels almost like the game is mocking you, and sometimes you’ll scream “WHY ISN’T THIS ROOM SATURATED WITH CHECKPOINTS LIKE ALL THE OTHERS?” while your family begins moving breakables out of controller-throwing distance. VVVVVV also isn’t consistent with checkpoints. Much like the EA clearance bin at Wal-Mart, there’s a lot of dead space present. Save some face and quit in disgrace, three’s company too! ♫ ![]() Terry, you’re about to get a lot of frequent flyer miles. He’s trying to send you guys a message! What does he have to do, wink at you and nudge your ribs with his elbow? Because I might be willing to pay his expenses to go wink and nudge you guys in ribs with his elbow if you don’t get it. I mean, there is a pair of stages called “Do as I say, not as I do” in VVVVVV. Now, I can’t help but wonder if some of those bad punishers I played failed because their devs said “well, VVVVVV got away with crap controls, so fuck it, my game can too.” I would love to see developer Terry Cavanagh challenge those he inspired to do better than he did. More importantly, it would have served as much better inspiration for the next generation of indie developers. Smooth, responsive controls would have unquestionably cemented it as an all-time classic. Because VVVVVV shouldn’t have any relevance remaining after this long, but it retains it to a large degree. And it is for that reason that I can’t give the bad controls any leeway. I wasn’t expecting a five-year old punisher that inspired many of the games I’ve reviewed at IGC to surprise me with clever design that holds up relatively well, but it still did. To VVVVVV’s credit, the developer got the absolute maximum potential out of the gravity gimmick in terms of level design. It’s a shame that instead of being able to admire that effort, all I could think about was “oh goody, I just barely nudged the stick and walked into a spike. You can see thought and mastery of design with some of the stages. Maybe VVVVVV wouldn’t be as hard if it was more precise, but it’s not as if it would be a cakewalk. Platformers have been capable of better control than VVVVVV for at least three decades now, and indies consistently get it right too. Many, many games from this genre have controls good enough that if you die, it’s your fault. VVVVVV relies heavily on precision platforming for level design and “difficulty”, but really, can you still call it difficulty when the challenge is more about fighting shoddy movement? And it’s not like it can’t be done better. ![]() So even the act of moving forward is risky because it’s tough to judge just how far a press of the pad will take you, often leading to you walking into a spike. Unfortunately, space-age technology like analog control doesn’t exist except in the realms of fiction. I tried the demo for the PC port, and it felt pretty much the same. ![]() I had people insisting to me that the PC version, or the 3DS version, or the iPad version were better. VVVVVV has horrible play control, at least on PS4. Which, I assure you, there are more than six of. It would spare me a lot of angry responses that usually end with “go back to Call of Duty you pinko casualtard.” Well, I never. Especially considering that people get really mad when others don’t like it. So trust me when I say, I wish I could like VVVVVV. Some of the stages are clever, and there’s a genuine sense of thrill when you make progress. It has an open map that can be explored at your leisure, since then are no upgrades you’re required to find to unlock areas. VVVVVV has a nifty play mechanic where, instead of jumping, you reverse gravity. The problem is, standards have changed a lot since then. Maybe VVVVVV was special back in 2010 when punishers were starting to become a thing. Understanding the continued love for it? I still don’t. Then it came out on PlayStation 4 this last week, and I finally got to see what all the fuss was about. I meant to play it because people wouldn’t shut up about it, but I just never got around to it. Usually it gets name-dropped in the form of a question, like “how does this compare to VVVVVV?” or “why can’t punishers be more like VVVVVV?” I hadn’t played it, so I couldn’t comment on it. It came out a year before I started IGC, and it’s one of those games that come up every time I review a punisher, along with Super Meat Boy and Spelunky. VVVVVV is one of my most requested reviews. ![]()
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