Monday, April 30, 2012

VVVVVV [Game][PC]

Amount Completed To the "Game Complete" screen (all crew saved).

My statistics were:

Time - 2:04:54
Flips - 3554
Deaths - 777
Most Deaths - 46 in The Final Challenge
 
Story The story of VVVVVV follows the captain of a space shipe stuck in another dimension and his efforts to rescue his crew. The missing crew are spread out across a grid of screens (and a bit more). After finding each there is often a sequence in which the captain and the crew member have to travel together through a few additional screens. Other than rescuing the crew you can explore and discover more information about the dimension you are trapped in. I tried to follow the story but I was too busy slamming my head against my desk to remember much due to the unrelenting difficulty of the game (at times).

Art VVVVVV was clearly intended to be a Commodore 64 game and looks accordingly dated. The sad and happy faced characters (and the big weird elephant) fit perfectly and expressed emotions effectively.

Sound The sound is very well thought out. The few number of sound effects express a lot of emotion and again fit the Commodore 64 theme. The soundtrack to the game was catchy and enjoyable.

Gameplay The game is a twitch puzzle game that is very forgiving in that you are allowed to repeat things nearly immediately. Unlike games where one bad decision results in the repetition of twenty minutes of gameplay VVVVVV generally respawns the player immediately adjacent to the difficult puzzle. With respawns being so immediate the puzzles themselves were afforded a lot more difficulty. Playing the game on the keyboard would be alright if the game were a bit less analog. The character has a bit of drift/float as he moves around in the world. At times you can only somewhat predict what pressing a key will actually cause the character to do.

Gut While I can appreciate the difficulty of the game and how it may appeal to some... I have to say that this game was simply not worth putting my fist through a wall for. Frustration gives way in too many of the puzzles. Only a few puzzles were designed where the end result was entertainment, instead most were designed with an end result of relief. Instead of solving a puzzle I felt myself fighting with the controls to the point that I was better off not even looking at the screen and instead counting the milliseconds to hold a key and/or press another.

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