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I don’t play as many video games as I used to.  I grew up a Nintendo child and had so many games I only beat about 1/3 of them.  Games like Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, and Mario Kart kept me busy for endless hours when I got home from school and needed a break from a long day of recess and arts and crafts.  These days, I just don’t have the time or ambition to get caught up is all these games that are out there.  If I could choose to buy a game today, it would probably be something like Madden where I can just pick up the controller and play and not have to worry about beating levels or unlocking worlds.  As put by a fellow classmate and blogger, “Today’s games allow for adults to enjoy them.  And I hold nothing against those that enjoy a good game of Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto to retreat for a bit.  It just seems these things are getting too real.” I just don’t want to think that hard anymore.

Many people do like to think that hard though, and that’s why video gaming is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. For me, I like to keep it old-school, so when I was told I needed to critique a new online game, I picked the 2-D adventure titled VVVVVV.  Created in January 2010, this game proves that even the simplest looking video games can still get your brain juices flowing and bring a lot to the table.  So lets get to the game.

THE GAME

Most new video games are made to look as lifelike as possible.  Whether it be palm trees swaying in a breeze in HD on your XBOX or racing in a car where you can see your character in the mirror, people love and buy games with great graphics. There are many games out there that are being made just as they were in 1985, however, like the game I played called VVVVVV.  It’s 2-D, which is like how the original Super Mario Bros. was for your old Nintendo. It involves a character who’s ship has exploded in space, and he ends up in this strange world filled with puzzles and other things that are trying to hurt him at every step.  The cool thing about this game is there is no gravity, so your character can stand on the ceiling just as well as could on the ground.

What makes it work for me is the strategy that is involved in playing the game.  It makes a gamer feel accomplished when you get through any given stage of the game.  There are checkpoints all over the place, and you feel a sense of achievement when you reach those checkpoints.  This is why a lot of people play video games in the first place: To feel like they have conquered an objective in their lives.  This game gets your brain working, because there are times when you need to be upside down on the ceiling to cross a certain point, and other times where you have to be very fast with your fingers to reach a checkpoint.

There were probably many assumptions that went into the construction of this game.  The creator probably knew they weren’t going to attract the audience of a typical XBOX or PS3 gamer who expects so much out of a game.  But they probably did know that some people, like myself, enjoy the simple puzzle solving games of my childhood, where it doesn’t take so much to get into the game.  What drew me to the game was the elegance of the design.  It was crisp and fluid, and there were very few points where I became frustrated by the game play.  Clearly the ability to defy gravity is what makes this game work, as it definitely wouldn’t be as exciting if I was just roaming the ground floor the whole time.

Essentially, people love games like this because as humans we love trying to follow rules and procedures to feel a sense of accomplishment, success, and failure.  Although it is only 2-D, it gets your creative thinking going, which attracts creative gamers.  Another interesting aspect is that of the “second chance.”  If you fail or die in a level, your character automatically goes back to the last checkpoint you were able to get to.  While this may be frustrating, once  you finally beat what your trying to accomplish, you feel good about yourself.  In a game like this, children and adults can learn about the consequences of their decisions, and in a sense learn from them.  This is why I found this simple little video game to be so rewarding.