XBLA Review: N+ a PC game’s money grabbing cousin?

The Life, Style and Way of The Ninja that is N+.

by TWODOGSz

© 2008 Aaron Bertinetti:

“`For those who are unfamiliar with N+ it’s roots go back to the original PC flash game N that debuted in 2005 and has been freely available ever since. N+ is the Xbox Live Arcade version. In a nutshell N+ is a bigger, badder ninja with a couple of new tricks (and fresh threads), that believes he should charge for his services. Yes you can play N for free on PC, but if you want to hang with the fresh ninja on the 360 block, he wants 800 MS points for the pleasure.

Therefore we have to ask is this ninja worth really worth it or is he simply pulling our leg… off?

The way of the ninja

The goal of N+ is simple and pure platform gaming lore. You must get from point A to B as quickly as possible whilst avoiding those determined to kill you in grievous stick figure glory. The key to success is mastering two key movements, running and jumping, and using those skills in the environment to your advantage. If you can collect homogenous gold coins along the way to extend your time limit and avoid self combustion, all the better.

Full review and plenty of pics after the jump:

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But this is much easier said than done, as timing, physics and creativity all come into play to create incredibly deep and intuitive gameplay that the 360 controller clearly enjoys. The improvement from a keyboard to the 360 controller is impressive.

And much like the transfer of Portal from a flash game to an first person perspective, the results are a much deeper gaming experience. The left analog stick allows for control of movement that only a real ninja could better. Whilst the A button operates handsomely as your jump button, responding precisely to the length and quickness that you press it.

The life of the ninja

According to N+ a ninja’s work is almost never done, or at least that’s the assumption based on the array of play options on offer here. They include a thorough tutorial, hundreds of single player missions, a separate co-op campaign and two adversarial multiplayer modes. So not only is this ninja bigger than his PC cousin, but he also likes to play with friends, locally or over Xbox Live.

The single player itself is a massive experience, and will take many hours to get through even if you’re a dab and experienced hand. The difficulty curve is initially pretty consistent, introducing new players slowly and building they’re confidence over levels that take anywhere between 10 seconds and 10 minutes. But around about 100 missions in that confidence can be quickly sliced to pieces.

All of a sudden the difficulty curve looks like a rollercoaster and you have no idea what to expect next. One minute you’re cruising along and the next minute that little green achievement flashes on your screen announcing with much enthusiasm you’ve died 1000 times (no that’s not a typo)!

But despite such frustrations, by the time you could well pull your hair out you’re more likely to have accepted death as a necessity in order to progress and are willfully repeating to yourself “I’ll just have one more go”. And that is N+ greatest strength. It has a fantastic pick up and play quality that simultaneously caters to a five minute gaming fix or a hardcore gamer’s hours of determined dedication.

Despite the frustrations of life as a stick figured avatar, once you’ve started you are unlikely to stop until you either get that final achievement proudly flashing that you’ve completed the entire campaign or like myself you get hours of entertainment but then eventually decide that Ninja Gaiden 2 might actually be kinder to your ego!

Thankfully, N+ has a saving grace that whenever you feel overwhelmed by the single player campaign, the game encourages you to recruit an accomplice and share your frustrations and triumphs in an enjoyable, albeit briefer, co-op campaign. Having a friend to blame for your mistakes is a great way to recover your wounded ego and is often down right hilarious when he or she splatters into a thousand pieces for the hundredth time.

But you will want to ensure that your ninja accomplice is as skilled as yourself, if not more so, as cooperation is key and if you fail too often as the result of your partner’s incompetence you may quickly realize you can no longer be ninja friends.

N+ also offers adversarial multiplayer that can be played both online and offline. But in all honesty it is a short and mixed bag. “Race” involves up to four players competing to be the first person to get from point A to point B without dying, but it gets old pretty quickly.

“Survival”, on the other hand, is a hell of a lot more fun. If you can get four mates together, you will enjoy a great little riot as you all try to outlast one another in devilish levels that are only intent on killing you as quickly as possible. However, the levels for multiplayer whilst enjoyable are fairly limited and quickly begin repeating themselves, suggesting that multiplayer may very well have been a development afterthought.

It would be nice to see in future expansions some new levels and game modes added to extend the longevity and enjoyment of N+ multiplayer offerings.

The style of the ninja

N+ is a prettier Flash version of his older PC cousin with a wider variety of fiendish level designs. The graphics are simple and refined, or as one level succinctly deadpans “all the levels are grey, and the sky is grey”. It is by no means a title to show off for its graphical prowess or vibrancy, but the presentation is modern and perfectly suits the stripped back nature of gameplay.

An electro-cool soundtrack fits the pace of the game perfectly and if you don’t like the designer black ninja threads there are plenty of other colours to choose from, although I remain perplexed why anyone would choose to be the same colour as the background and deem themselves largely invisible!

Perhaps the biggest drawback, however, is the game’s untapped potential. N+ includes a very nifty editor that works just like MS Paint and allows player’s own devious minds to plot and devise an endless variety of levels to play through or paint red with failed attempts. Unfortunately due to Microsoft’s concerns about phallic shaped levels you cannot freely share your created levels with the rest of the gaming public, but rather only with those in the same room.

It is a tremendous letdown and given the amazing success of user generated content with Halo 3 and Forza 2, I can only hope that this is resolved with a You Tube like “rate and download” expansion to sort and police content. It would add considerably to the game’s longevity and would build a significant community around an XBLA title

Is this ninja worth it?

Despite my misgivings with an inconsistent difficultly curve, sparse multiplayer and the very much maligned level editor, N+ is still a fantastic package. With a vast array of levels, varied game modes and simple and intuitive gameplay, N+ is a title that all Arcade fans should seriously consider.

Media Blowout:

“8/10

© 2008 Aaron Bertinetti: