It's that magical time of the year once again, where gamers retreat from outside to chew on games that cost next to nothing. That's right, the next Humble Indie Bundle has been released and this one's a doozy.

Offering not just one, not two, but six games for Mac, PC, and Linux there's more than enough ammunition to go to war with boredom. The games available are Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight, And Yet it Moves, Steel Storm, and the charities are EFF and Child's Play. If you pay for more than $5.29, you'll also receive all the #2 Humble Bundle games including Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos, and Revenge of the Titans. Oh, and Minecraft until August 14. That''s way too much awesome to discuss in one Game Time, so we'll just take a look at a single game -- that's easily worth the suggested $5.29.



That game is VVVVVV.

That's six V's.

And six times as much fun as only one V.

V is an excellent platformer that strives on your 8-bit nostalgia and sadomasochism. The game is so hard, that in the few hours the campaign goes on, you'll likely die hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) of times.

I died 115 times in ONE ROOM.

So what makes it so hard? If you touch a single thing you shouldn't touch, you're toast. It never gets outright frustrating though, because checkpoints are littered at every angle. In most cases, there are even multiple checkpoints in any given room. Which is lucky, because you'll die so much.

It might be hard to tell from the screenshots, but VVVVVV is actually quite a stunning game. The bright backgrounds change from room to room, and occasionally switch rapidly in the same room. All the while your character remains perfectly smiley, except in a few cases. His two reactions to everything is almost comical, but there's actually a story here and some pretty impressive subtext.

Some possible subtext floating around that bottom chamber there.

At certain points in the game, the obstacles you're tasked with avoiding are words. Words like "Truth" and "Lies." Sometimes they're shapes, like clouds shooting out of a smokestack or hearts coming out of the walls. There's probably a pretty impressive theory about what the game's really about, but even if the surface-level story is the only one, it's good enough.

VVVVVV might just make you cry, but like a troubled child at a tough love camp, you'll be better for it. Pick up the Humble Indie Bundle over at humblebundle.com and give what you can. These developers deserve your money and hearts.