A VVVVVVery Good Game

A couple days ago, Steam had a sale where you could get the game VVVVVV–yes, that’s really its name–as part of an Indie Games Pack. The game, normally $15, was instead $5…and because it’s an Indie Game Pack, you essentially got four other games–World of Goo, Eufloria, Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time, and Iron Grip: Warlord–for free.

If you don’t know what VVVVVV is, in short, you’re the captain of a space ship who’s become separated from his crew, and you have to travel through the world to find them. The gameplay is really simple–besides moving left and right, you have one button: A “flip gravity” button that makes you go from the floor to the ceiling, or vice versa. Despite that, the game is a lot of fun, as you have to dodge spikes and other obstacles to find your crew members and get back to safety. There are also trinkets you can find, and despite an automap, a few of them take real thought to obtain.

One drawback to the game is that to simply beat it doesn’t take very long–I had found all my crew members as well as the trinkets in about 4 hours. Still, the fact that I played it for 4 hours over two days is a testament to how fun the game is–I haven’t done that for a game in quite awhile. Also, there are trophies you can earn by beating time trials with high ranks, completing the game in under a certain amount of deaths, and maybe the hardest trophy to earn, the Master of the Universe trophy, earned for clearing the game in No Death Mode.

In all, it’s quite a bit of fun, and definitely worth it if you can grab it at a discount. Even at full-price, give it a look–there’s a downloadable demo so you can try it before you pay anything.

-EE