The easiest way to describe VVVVVV is that it’s a platformer without jumping.  Rather than having you simply jump over obstacles, you will flip to the top or bottom of the screen from wherever you might be standing.  It’s a bit difficult to put into words, but basically you will be roaming through this strange, alternate dimension, avoiding death, as it seems to be waiting around every corner for you.

The plot is basic enough.  You’re a space explorer whose ship crashes into a different dimension.  Right before the crash, your crew gets inadvertently teleported to different sections of this dimension.  Your goal is to regain all of the 5 other crew members and escape the dimension.

The story, though, is hardly a major selling point.  What immediately sticks out, however, is the Commodore 64-style graphics.  The simplicity and clean look of the graphics is, in all honesty, one of the main reasons that you should check this game out.  Each screen has a different color associated with it, meaning that you will rarely see two screens in a row that are identical in color.  On top of that, the colors all pop out with such vibrance that it’s hard to not enjoy the simple look of it.

Another sticking point is the absolutely brilliant MIDI soundtrack, provided by Magnus Pålsson.  The music is all brilliantly composed, and works well as a complement to the levels.  Both the music and the visuals provide a really great experience.

The game, however, is where people will either love or hate the challenge.  In many ways, VVVVVV could be said to take its cues from games like “I Wanna Be The Guy,” which derives much of its gameplay from throwing seemingly impossible challenges at the player.  While a large portion of the game is spent in what could best be described as a “Hub-World” where you can explore and find new areas, the real challenge lies in the puzzle areas, where you try to find your crewmates.

In fact, more often than not in this game, you will stump yourself in trying to figure exactly how to reach the next screen.  Often times, puzzles will be presented like this: there is a large room of spikes.  You must figure exactly how to flip your character so that he can reach an area about an inch wide, only so you can flip to another area in the same way.  This, in turn, will eventually lead you off the screen.

While this might seem simplistic enough, much of the game requires lightning-quick reflexes in order to complete each puzzle.  There are times where the game will throw enemies on screen at you, all of whom are blocking your exit.  In almost all cases, you will need to time your flip exactly so that you can do another flip, so that you will just barely avoid them.

For the most part, the game sticks to this formula.  There are times, however, in which it veers off this path, and it’s here that the game becomes far too difficult for my tastes.  The most obvious moments are when the game introduces these areas that, when you flip onto them, you will immediately bounce off in the opposite direction.  While the initial concept is great, eventually, you will be forced into narrow corridors that only have these walls.  That, in and of itself, would be fine, except for the fact that the corridor is filled with enemies who are moving at lightning speeds.

The other insanely difficult part of the game lies in areas where there is forced scrolling.  The screen will scroll vertically, meaning that you have to move up.  If you fall too far behind, spikes shoot up from the bottom of the screen.  If you get too far ahead, spikes shoot down from the top of the screen.  It’s a challenge, and the last area that had this was where I died 130 times… literally.

You can also challenge yourself by finding these “Shiny Trinkets” which are scattered throughout the puzzle areas and the hub-world.  These will unlock the ability to listen to the game’s soundtrack back at your ship.  It’s not necessary, but it can be fun to challenge yourself in this way.

The way that VVVVVV stands out, though, is that there are rarely moments in which you will be forced to travel large distances back to where you died.  The game is extremely generous, with checkpoints littered in almost every room.  It’s a brilliant concept, and without it there’s a huge chance I would have simply stopped playing the game all together.

The game also has a large number of options that can help players if they don’t want to play the game for a challenge.  Players can easily access invulnerability from the main menu, without having to enter in any cheat codes.  It’s strange to think of a game that is meant to be difficult having a built-in invulnerability option, but it seems that Terry Cavanagh was thinking of all the people who might play the game, not just the sadomasochists in the crowd.

One barrier, however, to some gamers will be the price point.  Fifteen dollars might seem fairly steep for a game that you will finish in two hours, but it’s hard to argue it’s money poorly spent.  The game has a great aesthetic and there was clearly a lot of love put into the project.  If you can get past the huge difficulty curve, it’s hard to deny that VVVVVV is a brilliant platformer with great ideas.  It’s just a shame it doesn’t last a bit longer.