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It seems to me like this is the generation in which indie games truly exploded. Many of this generations most revered titles - such as Braid, Limbo, Flower, and Super Meat Boy - are independently developed. I think that's just fantastic.
You know another game that deserves to sit amongst the best titles of this generation? VVVVVV. And, yep, it's an indie game. VVVVVV is a PC/Mac/Linux game developed by Terry Cavanagh. It was originally released January 11th, 2010.
VVVVVV casts the player as Captain Viridian, a cute, blue, pixelated guy who finds himself in a quarrel while aboard his spaceship. Dimensional interference caused his crew to be separated from him in an alternate dimension, and his crew of six people have all been separated, lost, in this alien location. It's his job to save his crew and found out what caused this strange dimensional interference. This intentionally vague plot is driven forward through terminals and dialogue between characters, which is a great way to handle it, considering that the focus is far from story-telling.
VVVVVV is a Puzzle/Platformer (with a ton of connected static screens, rather than being a side-scroller) with an unconventional gameplay twist: There is no jump button. The ability to flip gravity vertically is instead used to maneuver the game. So, if you're standing on a platform right-way-up, and there's a platform above you, when you flip, you'll land upside-down on the platform above you.
The cleverness of this simple mechanic truly increases as the game progresses, with new concepts constantly being introduced. There are 6 main levels in VVVVVV, and each level has their own hook, making them distinct. One level, for example, is filled with bars that flip gravity once you touch them. Another is filled with conveyor belts, moving you either left or right when standing on them. The original concepts in the game are, of course, very interesting, but familiar concepts, such as the conveyor belts, surprisingly prove to be just as effective. The game's gravity-flipping mechanic takes your expectations of familiar concepts and flips them upside-down (no pun intended), breathing life into old ideas.
The six levels are strung together by a brilliant, Castlevania-esque open-world. You have to find all of the levels, and you can complete them in any order you like. Exploration in VVVVVV is simply lots of fun. The over-world is relatively small and charted smartly by a map, so finding new levels is never frustrating. To encourage exploration beyond just finding new levels, there are 20 trinkets hidden throughout the world (including in levels). From what I've seen, these trinkets are either hidden very well, challenging to get to, or both.
VVVVVV simply reeks of style. The graphics, which are done completely in colorful, flashy 8-bit style sprites, are just fantastic. The music is equally good, with rocking, mostly energetic chiptunes. The sound track is simply one of the best I've ever heard in a game. Another nice touch that I simply have to mention is the inclusion of a caption at the bottom of the screen for each screen in the game, sporting a cheeky, sarcastic, or charming message.
My first playthrough of VVVVVV took about two and a half hours, but that's simply because of my frequent deaths (the current speed run record is around sixteen minutes). This game is very challenging, but never really frustrating due to frequent checkpoints. Once you beat the game, you can unlock time trials, a "Flip Mode" (think a typical "Mirror Mode," only it flips the game upside-down), and more, which certainly extends the longevity of the game. But it's the recently released 2.0 update that truly adds a lot of meat to the game.
Version 2.0 adds a level editor, and my time spent fooling around with it makes me feel as though I'm going to spend quite a bit of time poring my soul into creating a really good level. Restricted only by a set number of screens, you have complete control over enemy placement/behavior, platform construction, checkpoint placement, etc. The object of each user level is to find each crew member (you get to place each one, of course). You get to tie a title, author's name, and link to your website/blog to each level you create, and you're encouraged to upload the file of your level to websites. There's no LBP-esque in-game server to upload your levels, but considering that this is an indie game, I think that the ability to put your levels on your blog or a forum is fine. The update throws in some levels from high-profiles dudes (such as Notch, the creator of Minecraft), and show off the potential of the level editor.
VVVVVV, being exclusive to the PC, Mac, and Linux platforms, is unfortunately plagued by the lack of support for a controller. The keyboard works alright, and I never felt frustrated using it throughout the main game, but it certainly doesn't feel as good as a controller would: The more difficult user-levels definitely makes this issue stick out even more. Another issue is a pretty substantial problem with the 2.0 Update: It makes the game incompatible with your old saves. Terry Cavanagh stresses that he's working on a patch that fixes this issue, but until then, VVVVVV owners who had the game before the update are left without their old progress. This doesn't in any way affect those of you who purchase the game now, though, so if you're interested in purchasing the game, don't worry about this.
VVVVVV is the best game that I've played in awhile. Filled with style and charm, this Puzzle/Platformer is a unique experience that I'll never forget. At $5, I couldn't reccomend this game enough.
VVVVVV was purchased for $5 via Steam, updated to Version 2.0, played for approximately six hours on a PC
Works Cited:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VVVVVV
2. http://distractionware.com/blog/2011/07/vvvvvv-version-2-0-launches-in-the-new-humble-indie-bundle/
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