The Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) service has really come a long way; originally a place for little more than ports of classics like Pacman, the service has now evolved into a legitimate sales platform for unique ‘complete’ games created by indy studios that otherwise may well have never seen the light of day…certainly not in a way that might actually make the developer a little cash in the process.
N+ is an example of a great independent game release on the 360 arcade, albeit one that isn’t strictly ‘new’ as such; it is in fact based off the internet flash-game classic ‘N’. This console version is almost identical in style to the original game: the player takes control of a little stick-figure ninja whose goal in life is to hit a switch and escape through an exit, collecting as much gold as he can while simultaneously avoiding death along the way.
The whole collecting gold and avoiding of death thing forms the crux of the gameplay, as the only defence your little ninja has against homing missiles, chasing zap drones, thwumps (awesome) and the laws of gravity is to exploit the physics engine by using momentum to speed around, wall-jumping and slide to victory; the problem being that you need gold to increase your time-limit, meaning that you always need to find a balance between speeding through the level safely and taking risks to keep the clock buffed up for the remainder of each five-level episode.
The beauty of the whole thing is in the simplicity of the execution. Levels are typically quite small, often taking up only a small chunk of the screen. Challenge varies from level to level (of which there are tonnes, with a built in editor available as well) and will sometimes revolve around dodging enemies, or jumping puzzles, or having a perfect line of movement, or combinations of all of the above. Some are designed to be completed in seconds once you have worked out the strategy (although even then, some require immense levels of skill, luck, and timing to get right), some are designed to be easy and exist purely to be humorous, while others are long, difficult slogs that will tax your platformer twitch reflexes (and patience) to the extreme.
If anything, the main criticism of this game is the fact that some levels are a bit too punishing in the difficult stakes, especially considering it is common for an uber-hard level to come along in the middle of an episode and then be followed by a couple more that are nowhere near as challenging; there is sometimes a lack of consistency in level and episode design that is a little bewildering when compared to the class shown in the rest of the presentation, although this is a pretty minor slight on a game that offers so much entertainment.
Multiplayer modes are also on offer here, with up to four player competitive and co-op play available for both offline and online play. The aforementioned level editor is also ridiculously easy to use, and has led to many hours of fun creating levels that are stupidly difficult (20 homing missile launchers for the win!). With over a hundred levels spread over multiple episodes, there is no shortage of content here, and the multiplayer and editor ensure that replayability is pretty much unlimited.
N+ is a terrific game well worth the 800 points on XBLA. Sure the graphics are simple (but stylish), as is the sound, but the sheer enjoyment and startling sustainability of the game make up for any shortcomings in this area. Some parts of the game are fiendishly difficult, but the beauty of it is that if you get stuck it is easy enough to restart and come at it from a different angle, or simply give up and do something else entirely.
Even if you’ve played the original on PC, N+ is still definitely worth getting for anyone that enjoys puzzles, platformers, or simple, challenging fun.
Or indeed, anyone that loves to ninj.
Rating: 9/10 (N+ is a great game that can be enjoyed by everyone, from casual gamers to the hardcore; from the platformer nuts to the creative level designers. Some parts of it may be stupidly hard, but this is a very minor issue when compared to the sheer glut of awesome content on offer here. Buy now.)
-Tim Sweeney
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