It's almost impossible to believe that something like this was not done in a full 2D game. This game challenges the player into reacting. Looking at the graphics, it may not look like a lot, but when you go into the gameplay, you will feel the urge to trial and error (and feel pain) again and again. The plot is not amazing, but it suits the atmosphere, and the trial and error idea does not make the game too bad either. It can leave you on your computer for about a few hours, if that's alright with you. It's a good game, even for the impatient people.… Expand

In all the years I've spent as an inthusiest of the video game arts, I can only recall a handfull of games I've had legitamitly no criticism for; among these are masterpieces sutch as Portal, Shadow of the Collosus, Beyond Good and Evil, and Half-Life 2. Today, I am pleased to announce that VVVVVV stands proud among those titles as one of the the best games of 2010, and one of the most inovative inde games since Braid! VVVVVV is an inde 2D platformer developed by Terry Cavanagh with a retro 8-bit style, something shared by it's spiritual sister game Super Meat Boy, which I had not played at time of writing, but from what I understand is very well desighned as well, and definatly deserving of your time! Now, when 8-bit visuals show up, their buddy, brutal dificulty, shows up to the party as well, and I'll warn you, like another of my favorate games of 2010, Dead Rising 2, will lose points with some people crying about the dificulty. But you know what, the difficulty balences itself out, theres a check-point every screen and the gameplay is very rewarding, every screen is an accompishment in and of itself. the gameplay centers around your ability to shift your character's gravity from the floor to the cealing and vise versa, it really reminds me of old game on the NES called Metalstorm, which had a very simular mechanic, but it was a contra style side-scrolling shooter, this is a combat-free puzzle platformer. Now the developers clearly took a few pointers from Portal when making this game, IE: the idea of making the whole game eighty percent tutorial, becoase it's always introducing new play mechanics expanding apon the gravity manipulation concept, this ensures that the gameplay never gets old or overstays it's welcome. another thing it seems to have borrowed from portal is it's length, becoase it can easily finished in a couple hours if you try, but this is a five dollar steam game here, on a rediculusly tiny budget, so what do you expect? Anyway, this game has incredably modest eystem requirements, so if you can read this, chances are you can play VVVVVV, and I highly recomend you do, there's so much to like here, and also it stands to be mentioned that once you beat the game you can re-play with the entire world map fliped on it's head Castlevania: Symphony of the Night style, which is practacly like an entirely seperate game. But the two biggest reasons for buying this game are: 1- it's FIVE BLOODY DOLLARS, and 2- you can take relish in the idea that you have suported the independent developers, instead of put more money into the pockets of the AAA industy fat cats. I emplore you, DO NOT pass this one up!… Expand

Soundtrack. Soundtrack. Its amazing, the chiptune fits so well with the puzzling world of pixels and perplexion and FRUSTRATION!!!!
Its a hard game, and honestly i would download it just for the pure fun it implies. Its a good timewaster and everything, and it really challenges you. You can actually unlock challanges and things, if you hate doing the story mode. Did i mention the soundtrack?

Awesome 2D platformer. Pretty difficult but doable. I like this game over super meat boy. Purchase when you have spare change, it will be worth it for sure.

Tons of fun. Kept me completely entertained for the whole ~2 hours length, which is more than I can say for a few big releases out there currently. You'll set a world record for obscenities while playing. I still haven't collected all of the collectible energy trinkets, so I'll have to go back and finish that up.

The room titled "Your Bitter Tears are Delicious" will leave you with a sour taste in your mouth.… Expand

Fun enough to play. It's very basic, and nothing new is seen here, though that's not exactly the point. Despite this it's good enough for a download.

Darn you, addictive game. VVVVVV is super addicting, funny, creative, but too brutal. The difficulty of the game is too hard for you to get better at as a starter and it only gets worse. With that and the graphics, this game seems like a old 80's game with a confusing idea and level transportation delevopment.

Retro feel, especially if you've ever owned a Commodore 64... to the point where it probably could have been done ON a C64. Controls are decent... level design is decent... gameplay is frustrating and repetitive. It's a one trick pony. If you like repeatedly bashing your head against a finicky jump over and over trying to reach a checkpoint... you'll love vvvvvv.

There is some sort of semblance of a story they're trying to push in the little dialog boxes... but honestly it never grabbed My attention and I started just clicking to skip them after a while until I got bored with being frustrated by a couple jumps. I don't know if it gets more interesting later... I only completed a couple of the levels before I got sick of the tedium. If you're into old skool, reflex-driven, platformers... you will probably like this. It is presented fairly well for what it is supposed to be. It is just very niche.… Expand

Wow. When first starting the game, i thought "hmph, just another indie game". But oh how i was wrong. This puzzle platformer is incredibly fun and tricky. At one point, i even got light headed from this game, it was amazing hahaha.

If you like these old games that you need to get past of pits or games that change gravity up-down this game is highly recommended. But if you are those who get stressed easily with "impossible" challenging parts, don't play this game. You will get trapped, you will die hundreds of times and if you don't have patience enough don't buy it.

Its almost as tooth-and-nails hard as super meat boy, and incredibly addictive. While I wouldn't call it the best platformer of all time, its the most fun i've had playing a game in a long while.

Good: Excellent exploration, neat theme and pleasing music. Bad: it is tainted by some of the worst controls of a platformer I've ever had the frustration of using. The game itself is not hard, but the controls have been designed to be awkward. The time it takes to accelerate and decelerate is far too slow and so the handling is quite screwball. This would be forgiveable if the content did not sometimes require millisecond timing and precision within a few pixels, but that's exactly where most of the game's challenge is concentrated. The game gives you a very narrow and winding racetrack, but then puts you in a WW2 Jeep with rusted, stiff steering.

The game tries to compensate for this by dumping a snowfall of save and reload points all over the place, but this does little if anything to reduce the frustration. It genuinely baffles me why the makers decided to inject so much potential frustration into it. Making the controls awkward does nothing to add to the game, it's the shallowest way I can think of to make the game seem longer.

For improvement, you've got a great concept here, I loved the exploration and music/theme combo. But the physics of the controls are appalling.… Expand

Don't have doubts about this game: BUY IT. Despite being short, VVVVVV is a valuable experience that's truly vital for any video-gamer who values a game devoid of vanity.

If you enrage easy stay away from this game, it has no God mode, and probably you will die a lot, so well now is your decision, or else if you like challenges this is good for you.

Un juego corto, bastante corto, pero realmente desafiante. El estilo retro del título combina a la perfección con su gameplay, y sumado a una buena jugabilidad y una BSO pegajosa, obtenemos un buen indie para pasar el rato.

Another rage-inducing "indie retro platformer." I'm not sure if anyone genuinely enjoys games like this or if they're designed as masochism simulators. No old platformers were nearly as hard as this and other recent similar titles (like super meat boy) so it must be some combination of purposefully making overly hard games coupled with cheapo graphics design. If you feel video games are just too easy for you lately and you enjoy platformers you should try this out but get ready to break your keyboard/gamepad over it.… Expand

Charming mega man style and music with physics based platforming vs weapons. Lots of unique fun for a few hours, doesn't take too long but I could see replaying it for better times or scores. Even the 3-score review is halfway in love with the game haha, give this one a try.

because having to buy a new keyboard every time you play this game is fun.
to call this game difficult is a little bit of an understetement. to quote someone else "if i were to meet the maker of this game, i would ske his hand with my left hand, and punch him in the gut with the right".
thats the main impression. its oddly a good looking game and an amazing soundtrack, but keyboard smashingly difficult… Expand

VVVVVV is a game based mostly on reaction times with a small aspect of memory playing into it. You are the captain of a ship which has come under some technical difficulties and your whole crew teleport off of the ship, but you're teleported to different areas and must re-unite your crew and escape the alternative space you are now in. The gameplay revolves around rooms with obstacles that must be overcome by changing polarity using the action button. When you change polarity, the roof will become the floor and vice versa. The game is rather difficulty and you will feel great for completing it, but sadly even with the collectibles in the game (Shiny Trinkets) It won't last you very long, but still well worth the money it costs.… Expand

This game can be VERY frustrating, but it feels so addicting at the same time for an unknown reason, its certainly very interesting, the music constantly gets stuck in my head, I like the idea of gravity that it applied to a 2d platformer rather than just jumping around like mario, I cant complain about the graphics because the game was made to look like the way it is.

The difficulty for this game is cranked sky-high but with an abundance of cloning points, often multiple ones on the same screen, you don't feel cheated by the game at any point. Never before have I felt such a sense of accomplishment, than when I collected the trinket in "Doing things the hard way" (try looking it up on youtube! [Also know as Veni, Vidi, Vici]). It's brilliant fun and brings a lot of charm to what otherwise could have been more mundane, the challenges constantly change and you never feel that you're repeating yourself. Also, can't help but think my positivity is due to the character's big smile and ever-upbeat music!… Expand

A great retro indy game.

~Pros~
- Varying levels of difficulty
- Original Concept
- Cheap
- Around 3 hours of gameplay.
- Great Soundtrack
- Works seemlessly with GamePad
- Ingame Collectables

~Cons~
- Not alot of replay value
- No multiplayer or Co-op

Overall 8/10

VVVVVV provides the perfect love/hate relationship. Flip gravity one way, love is in the air...flip gravity the other way, and the obscenities coming out of your mouth will make your mother cringe. It's crude and unsophisticated, yet nostalgic and frustratingly gratifying at the same time. I'm still trying to make up my mind...

My initial reaction to this game was "No jump? What do you mean no jump?" but the original gravity switching concept works seamlessly and makes for a fun and challenging experience. For its price you get a decent amount of playtime, especially with the 20 Shiny Trinkets to collect. It's worth playing just to try the "Doing things the hard way challenge". The sense of achievement when you do it is unreal. All in all, a fun cheap, interesting game. Well worth the money.… Expand

Graphics of this game are simplistic but I felt same amount of joy while playing VVVVVV as I did when I played "Mirror's Edge" last year. Gameplay is fast and smooth, music awesome, and it reminded me on bunch of other 2D platformers I used to play while ago. Game is fairly short, took me about 2.5 hrs to finish it (so, it's around "Braid's" length). Additional few hours for time trials, and 20 trinkets across the map which you can try (or not) to collect. Regarding difficulty, some might say it's though, but it's passable. Nothing like "Super Meat Boy" for example, which I sadly say I'll never finish 100%. As for replay value, you won't play this game every day, but from time to time, surely. To sum up all at the end, if you liked other titles I mentioned here, you'll probably like VVVVVV too… Expand

Brilliant concept to base an entire platformer around. I love the difficulty of this game, it's very balanced. Not too frustratingly hard, but it's certainly not easy. All of the levels in this game are interesting. I can't say it more simply than that. I love every bit of gameplay that this game has to offer. I am a big fan of 2D style graphics and the music... THE MUSIC. If you like chiptunes / 8bit style music, you will be blown away by this game's soundtrack.… Expand

It's true; this is a reflex-driven, muscle memory platformer with lots of save points. While the core mechanic of the game is "the flip", the game takes it to far enough for the levels to be surprising, and makes you want to not only finish the game (about 2.5 hours?), but explore further as well. When you're first in the game, and see the map there's a great, Metroid-ish sense of being lost.
Finally, the game has a tremendous amount of charm and a bunch of fun tunes. I'll be going back just for the sad faces alone.… Expand

Oh well. I really like the idea, but im not sure if I dig this game. I love retro games, especially platformers, but this... feels cheap. There's nothing extraordinary about it, we've seen it all a hundred times before. Of course, this kind of games are kinda unique now, but if I had to choose.. I'd rather play Super Meat Boy. Nevertheless, VVVVVV is decent game and i would definitely play it from time to time. Thing is, there's nothing outstanding here, so I really dont understand what's all this fuzz about.… Expand

VVVVVV is a solid retro-PC styled platformer with some clever writing and some clever puzzles. The soundtrack is great, and there's a lot of replaybility if you like the mechanics, with user created levels and other options. My primary complaint is that the controls were a bit touchy for my liking, and in a game of this difficulty, that can be the difference maker. Not for everyone, as this will test the patience of gamers of less than lightning quick reflexes or puzzle solving skills - But for even the talented finger mashers, there will be a lot of trial and error.… Expand

VVVVVV takes its name from the game's main objective, which I shall not touch upon in order to leave the discovery to you. The first aspect of the game that took me by surprise is the superb 8-bit chiptune music. The only problem with that is that it does get repetitive only because it replays one single track for about 30 minutes at a time, until you complete each level. The graphics are imitating the general style of the Commodore 64, including its startup screen. VVVVVV's main platforming mechanic is the player's ability to flip the character's screen position vertically, going from bottom to top and vice versa. This makes for some complicated platforming in general, as well as some challenging and entertaining rooms. Because of the game's incredible difficulty, the developers have cleverly implemented checkpoints liberally throughout the game world, which cuts down on rage and frustration. With that said, VVVVVV still manages to be extremely difficult, and you should expect to die hundreds of times, if not one thousand times by the time you complete the game. The platforming and controls are not badly designed, as in Super Meat Boy, so do not confuse this well crafted, yet simplistic game with that developmental disaster. Younger generations of gamers may find the overall presentation of VVVVVV to be unique and hip, but as we all know, these graphics have been done before, about 30 years ago. One serious flaw is that there are no audio options for volume. The in-game default is quite higher than usual, and requires turning down in Windows. While the majority of the levels' rooms are a lot of fun, and well designed, some are simply unreasonable and require too much luck as opposed to actual precision and skill. Because of this, you will die many times and spend far too long attempting single rooms. Which also means being forced to listen to a single song on a loop, for the entire duration of your trials. This is something of a shortcoming and should have been avoided completely by the developers, as these uncalled-for rooms only add negatively to the experience. Even though you get unlimited lives and unlimited continues, having to repeat a single room hundreds of times in order to pass it gets boring, repetitive, annoying, and only serves the purpose of replacing actual content with limited and mundane game play. While the music is once again, excellent, there are only a few that repeat over and over, as the rest must be unlocked by finding and collecting certain orbs within the game world. There are also a few more game modes for the player to experiment with once the campaign has been completed. The storyline and ending are endearing and delightful, and once you complete the game, there is an overall feeling of satisfaction. VVVVVV is short but perfectly sweet. It took me about 3 hours to complete.… Expand

This game is a breath of fresh air from all the other genres of games we have out there. Its an amazing retro style platforming game that definitely challenges the players intuition and reaction speed. There is not much to it but just pressing the arrow keys BUT its the games simplistic value that is fun. The best thing is that you will WANT to keep trying and trying to beat that part you cant get passed which is why its so addicting. And as for the music, its absolutely amazing. For only 5$ this game is a great download.… Expand

this review is based on what ive played, which is only about rescuing 4 weird people, but i havnt got it yet, so ill just get down to it.

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IT IS ABSOLUTLY AMAZING!!!!!! ]


AND 4-5 QUID....


WOW.


Wow...

wow.

wo-


Get it then, tbh

97%

It's amazing how game developers can keep thinking up of unique ideas. I really enjoy that factor. Switching gravity instead of jumping in a platformer? Fun! The gameplay mechanics were intelligently placed into the map, to make the game 'that much' harder. The graphics are well done (they are meant to look bad), and the music improved the standard of the game a lot more. The difficulty in the game was perfect, and the checkpoints were well placed to make this game not-as-frustrating. The reason, though, I didn't give this a ten out of ten was because it was: 1. too short, 2. 'the hub' (is what I like to call it) was too big, and it was easy to both get lost and not know where to go next. I wouldn't say this game is non-linear, but you can do challenges in different orders. This was the main problem. Even with the map, the hub was very hard to navigate through. Otherwise, this game is very good (though I wouldn't say it is worth $5 - I've seen cheaper games with a lot more content.)… Expand

VVVVVV is a fast paced hardcore platformer that manages to be compelling exactly because of its high difficulty level. The Good: Cool retro presentation (both graphics and sound wise); hard without being discouraging; simple (thus easy to get into) gameplay mechanics put to good use in diverse situations. The Bad: Kinda short; uninspired map design in outer space. First of all: why the heck does it call VVVVVV? So many possible answers... Some say it's because you keep hitting the 'V' letter in the keyboard to make your character flip from the ground to the ceiling and vice versa through messing with gravity (the core mechanic of the game); others say it's because of the names of your crew's officers (Violet, Vitellary, Verdigris, Victoria, Vermilion, aside you, Viridian) who got lost in dimensional warp zones leaving you behind with the mission of going after them for the rescue; maybe it's because of a long row of rooms which form a 'v'ertical tunnel and whose names are 'V', 'VV', 'VVV', 'VVVV', 'VVVVV' and 'VVVVVV' respectively (you can see the sequence as you 'fall up' there); or it can be a tribute to another indie game, 'Aaaaa...!!!: A Reckless Disregard for Gravity' (there's room named AAAAAA for that). Whatever can the real story be VVVVVV stands out among indie games not only because of its weird name.

To be honest VVVVVV practically could have been done for the Atari 2600 since there's only one action button (for the already mentioned gravity mechanic) but that's not just a coincidence; ultimately it's founded on the difficulty concept used in many tough Atari games at the time, which was "be quick or be dead".
Some younger gamers may not know it but the original Atari console has a switch behind it with two positions: "Difficulty A" and "Dificulty B". Only the most freaking hardcore gamers would dare to switch it to the 'B' position, because doing so would be just like opening a portal for unlimited frustration--and such feature was achieved by simply raising the CPU's clock! Yes, just like that: no extra enemies, no alternate paths. Just pure lightning reflexes. (go for some video footage of Frostbite, Demon Attack, Dragonfire or Jawbreaker on the 'B' setting and you can see for yourself--I have a feeling that Jawbreaker was an inspiration here even for the characters and enemies design.)

Digging down the best hardcore source from the past and adding a couple modern tweaks--Metroid-esque map, secret items, quick respawn with no lives limit after death--turned VVVVVV into a blast. Yes, the game is undeniably hard (at least for today standards) but those tweaks make it as much compelling. Chances are you're even going to laugh at how hard some parts are instead of becoming infuriated.

Another strong point here is the variety of the environments and puzzling platforming sections, both showing how great the level design project was. Aside the tweaks mentioned above, level design itself makes you believe that reaching the next checkpoint is possible, no matter how bad things look - and as a result you'll be sucked in to the end.

Not that it's immune to downsides. Level design left something to be desired when you're out of closed environments--the outer space is cool for taking advantage of the 'endless screen' feature (just like in Pac Man you can go from one side of the screen to another instantly by just pushing it forward) but unfortunately the result feels just plain uninspired.
Also, the game rests a little on the short side--it took me exactly 2 hours for finishing it, finding every secret item and opening the Secret Lab. The later challenges can't do much for raising the game's replay value either since they are mostly pretty much unattainable (seeing the "last 1 minute on the Super Gravitron" challenge made me nearly fall off my chair since I can barely stand 10 seconds; even worse, "no deaths mode"?!?! My death counter has shown me an humiliating 700 at the end of my main run!)

In the end VVVVVV is an unique game not for its name, not for being retro--we got plenty of that out there already--but for being hardcore AND compelling in the same measure.

- Reviewed for the Autonomous Regime Union… Expand

First of all this game has THE BEST SOUNDTRACK in a video game ever! So add the sounds with fitting graphics, great gameplay and BOOM!!!! You got VVVVVV

This game deserves more than your passing attention. It's challenging, fun and concise like few other games I've played. There is a challenge for every minute of the three hours a playthrough takes. Yes, it's short, but intense. One can think of it as compact gaming, you get ten hours of gameplay compressed into three or four intense hours. The soundtrack is excellent and almost iconic. The few frustrating bits took some of my enthusiasm away, as well as the fact the the story is minimal and it's essentially another (revolutionary) platformer. You can tell it was made by a gaming-expert without any big organization with shareholders to satisfy. A personal and intense product.… Expand

VVVVV is an ok game, don't get me wrong. But firstoff, the music. It literally hurts my ears. And of course any game with muted sound is so empty... Also, the game is so frusterating and repetitive. I mean, I can try 50 times to get past an obstacle and when I finally do... there's another one... There's not really a sense of progress. Also, the world really does not need another gravity shifting arcade game. We have a billion games exactly like this. Honestly, sure I'd play the game online or in an arcade, but I would never pay full price for it. I got it from the bundle, but it really wasn't as good as the other games in there. I want to like it, but the blinking lights and electronic music just makes me want to barf.… Expand

Pretty short game. I Beat this in 2 hours but it was still great experience. I like how you can explore in this game. Music is very epic and humor was great. I highly recommend this game to anyone. It's well worth 5 euros.

Nice retro music and graphics. But that's about all this game has going for itself. As for the difficulty, there is hard, then there is unfair. This game leans heavily toward the unfair side. "Hard" can be something like Super Meat Boy where you can plainly see all the challenges in front of you, and it's up to you to be skillful enough to pass them. VVVVVV's version of challenge is to punish players for not being psychic. It's trial-and-error gameplay at its worst. Your vision is limited to 1 tiny screen at a time. Get to the edge of the screen, and you appear in the next one. If you happen to be falling (up OR down, in this game) you go very fast and if there just happens to be a pit of spikes in your path, there is little you can do about it except die and remember they are there during your next attempt.… Expand

This charming little indie game takes your C64 nostalgia and adds its own unique twist. The music alone makes VVVVVV a necessity in any indie gamer's collection.

Very nice game with nice graphics in 2d and great music. Good story in the background and excellent gameplay make it difficult to break away from her.

A short but unforgettable retro platformer adventure. Although it is short, this game was the only 8-bit style game to actually touch me emotionally. It wasn't the story that did it, it was the music. Sometimes i argue that this game is actually 3D, for the music adds the third dimension. It is the best chiptune music i have ever heard, and it is what motivates you to keep playing onward no matter how difficult the situation. Best platformer ive played in years.… Expand

Well done! Really amusing game.
Nice game-play, interesting exploration elements (not common in platform games), humorous dialogues (at least for me).
Absolutely not as difficult or frustrating as Super Meat Boy can be, except for a few spots. Took me around 4 hours to complete the game and collect all the shiny trinkets.
Mesmerising soundtrack, it really took me back in time.
Not perfectly calibrated controls, not the end of the world though.
Definitely a buy during Steam sales.… Expand