N+ Review
Note: I wrote this review for a school newspaper, so excuse me if it seems a bit dumbed down or anything. Stuff that I write
specifically to post on GiantBomb will, I assure you, be better and less cheesy. And try to rip off Zero Punctuation a bit less.
“n+” is awesome. I don’t even mean that in the stupid colloquial way in which we call our friends “awesome”. I mean that I was actually in shock and awe because of the fact that a game developer decided to make something other than those futuristic-themed shoot-‘em-ups (not that there’s anything wrong with Halo 3, CoD4, Haze, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, etc., etc.). To get straight into things:
Gameplay: in n+, you’re a well-animated little ninja in a big, 2D world, trying to get little blocks of gold, hit a switch that opens a door, and then get to the door and watch yourself bust some crazy victory moves. There are 3 buttons you control “N the ninja” with: left, right, and jump. This simplicity of the controls keeps the game flowing nicely, without having to pull off insane 2-million button combos like in the recent fighting game Soul Calibur 4 (and yes, that’s how they spell “Calibur” on the game’s cover). You do a whole lot of running, jumping, wall-jumping, and wall-sliding using those 3 buttons, and game’s later levels are designed such that you really have to know the how the game’s physics engine behaves in order to get by them. To add to the fun, the levels start having more and more enemies in them, which will all try and laser, missile, and shock you while you try and get your gold, hit the switch, and get to the door. The gameplay, not surprisingly, is what makes this game so great. You’ll start playing it and end up so hooked, that when some of the later levels start kicking you’re a** so bad that you’re wearing it like a hat, you won’t even mind. My personal record for how many times I’ve tried a level (and the game tells you this) is 318 (yeah, three-hundred-eighteen). That’s coming from a guy who’s been playing games on and off for most of his life (me).
Graphics: don’t even ask. You are a black stick-figure-looking ninja in a grey-blue environment filled with blue/grey/red enemies. N the Ninja moves smoothly and with ninja-style precision. The game is 2D, and it is still amazing despite the lack of the 3 dimension we’ve all been so used to since the N64 came out. Once your tiny change-resisting brain gets over that hurdle, the graphics serve only as a way of getting the game into your head while not doubling as a pretty sight (as they do in Uncharted, Haze, CoD4, blah, blah, blah, stop ripping off Halo already).
Storyline: n+ has a “damn-right-we-didn’t-even-try” storyline that adds to the simple charm of the whole thing. It’s a paragraph you read at the starting of the game and that’s that. You’re a ninja, you go through rooms getting gold, and machines try and kill you. Ready, steady, go. The game is so good, it doesn’t even leave you wanting more story.
All in all, n+ is refreshing, addictive, and face-smashingly frustrating all rolled into one refreshing, addictive, and frustrating package… sounds a lot like cocaine, don’t it? To add to all that, the game spreads across a few platforms, and each one has its own little unique characteristic that keeps things interesting. So buy it for the $20 that it is totally worth, and don’t try to get your hands on a pirated version, because 1) your girl/boyfriend will think you’re cheap and dump you inside of 15 minutes; 2) ruthless lawyers will beat/sue the ever-loving pants off of you for 15 years; and 3) N the Ninja will make a personal visit to your house and knock you out 15 different ways before you hit the ground.