VVVVVV is an addictive indie game by Terry Cavanagh where you navigate your way through a hyper-dimensional space station by reversing the gravity to slingshot up into the air and back. The puzzles are intense but addicting, and the save points are close enough to where you died that you are tempted to immediately try again. However, a big part of VVVVVV‘s charm comes from the game’s fantastic soundtrack by SoulEye (Magnus Palsson). This Swede produced one of the most amazing chiptune soundtracks in recent memory, which he dubs PPPPPP – and each track in the game begins with the letter “P”. The melodies here are pure gold – it’s refreshing to see such catchy, lyrical melodies in today’s games that are dominated by epic atmospheric scores. In fact, I still listen to it regularly, even though I bought it about 6 months ago in the Game Soundtrack Bundle.
PPPPPP – The VVVVVV soundtrack
- $10 (MP3, FLAC, or CD); sometimes available in bundles for less
- (Available for PPPPPPreview on Bandcamp)
- Artist will sign the CD
- ***** Five Stars (Highly recommended)
VVVVVV makes use of the Commodore 64 aesthetic, as does the soundtrack, which draws on the system’s 8-bit sound, complete with its trademark ringing arpeggios, though infused with modern synths for percussion and supporting instrumentation. While retaining the aesthetic, this is not something the original hardware is capable of doing, and so sounds like a C64 on steroids.
The album has a nice, slow opening through “presenting vvvvvv”, where Palsson whisper’s the game’s title (including a two-second silence track!). This is followed by the adventurous and determined “pushing onwards”, the first level of the game, which has a nice transition into “passion for exploring”, Read the rest of this entry ?
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