VVVVVV
If you’ve paid any attention to indie gaming over the past few years, then the string of singular consonants that makes up the title for this retro-styled, 2D platformer should at least ring a bell. Terry Cavanagh’s cult title has been bubbling away on various formats for a couple of years now, beginning life as a flash game before finding ports to 3DS and Vita amongst others. Only now though is this gravity-defying title finding a potentially wider audience with this leg-up to Apple devices.
The delay has largely been due to developer Cavanagh’s insistence on handling his baby all by himself. It was much the same story with previous title Don’t Look Back, an Atari 2600-styled, brooding platform game that followed a similar development path to the one Vee is now treading. And like Don’t Look Back, Vee initially suffers somewhat from the move to on-screen touch controls.
As a tonal change, Vee is fairly far removed from the dark, minimalistic horror of Don’t Look Back, instead coming off as a rather goofy homage to the days when the Spectrum ZX ruled the bedroom. Yet as pixel-perfect platform games, both require a degree of accuracy and dexterity that, whilst certainly as good as can be expected on iPhone, isn’t quite up to the accuracy of its forbearers. Where Don’t Look Back often drew ire from gamers due to its inherent difficulty, Vee adds a gravity-jump mechanic that requires even more finesse to conquer to any satisfying degree.
Yet once accustomed to the change, Vee proves its worth as a handheld game, perfect for on-the-fly, quick gaming bursts. Cavanagh’s simple premise and elegant design still shine through and it’s impressive how much the mood of the game, and the humorous narrative, makes you feel for your stranded little space men and women. In fact, Cavanagh’s blocky homage to Miner Willy will likely elicit more of an emotional response than many photo-realistic Hollywood stars and their cutting edge, moist-eye technology.
As a simple flash game, Vee excelled its parameters and, amongst the overflow of that platform, it was easy to see why Cavanagh acquired a rather devoted, cult-like following. Yet whilst the direct, more accurate input of PC keys is certainly the preferable mode of play, VVVVVV is still a thoroughly addictive and maddeningly difficult experience on touch-screen. And at less than the cost of a bog-standard cup of coffee, it’s worth making those small sacrifices for.