N+

06 Oct 2008 at 13:13:39 by Stephen Macek
Systems used to review this title: (PSP)

I am a sucker for an old-school platformer.  These gems are a rare breed in the current generation market, which so often seems focused on production value while ignoring the hook of fun play.  If you are close to my age, you can remember pumping quarters, or whatever coin was geographically appropriate, to fulfill your video game fix.

N+ is a no frills game involving the most basic mechanics around.  Your character is a small black ninja who is on an endless quest for gold.  The gold is scattered about in a rather gray, drab world in which you exist for a mere minute and a half.  If you can grab some of the gold your timer increases a bit and, if you can manage to hit a switch located somewhere out of reach before the timer strikes zero, you are rewarded with a new room and another 1.5 minutes of life.

You may notice that I neglected to fill in the details of the story for the game.  The reason for this is that there is no story.  When you power up your PSP, you are met with very limited options.  Click “new game” and you will see a fairly empty grid with a few worlds unlocked.  Choose a level and your ninja will appear at the locked door, which is his ultimate goal.

The mechanics of the PSP version are pretty much the same as the java-based original and the Xbox live versions, which have been around for quite a while.  Somehow, N+ feels more at home on the small screen of the PSP.  The tiny animated ninja can run and jump.  D-pad and x button.  That’s it.  Of course, you will quickly learn that ninja can do quite a bit with these basic moves, like jumping up and sliding down walls, and leaping grand distances.

While the first few levels are quite easy to complete, each subsequent room adds a little more challenge.  Moving bumpers, ninja-seeking missiles, lasers and machine gun fire force you to move non-stop through many rooms.  In others, patience and timing are the only way to make it to the goal.

N+ can, at times, move from challenging to plain frustrating.  The danger of playing on a hand-held is that you may feel compelled to hurl your unit against the nearest wall when you have played a level dozens of times only to die right before the goal is reached.  Fortunately, new worlds are unlocked in groups, so you can leave a frustrating set and play another if you get too annoyed and your PSP is still intact.

If you get tired of the levels that come with the game you can design your own.  The level editor is pretty easy to use, but does take some getting used to.  If you make a particularly good one, it can be uploaded to the internet and shared.  Likewise, you can download other players’ levels if you wish.  Thus, there is a virtually unending amount of content as long as you have internet access. In addition, the variety of co-op and competitive multiplayer modes means N+ has a considerable amount of replay value.

The game is not without its flaws, however.  I was amazed that such a seemingly simple game had load times that bordered on eternity.  True, I am a spoiled gamer and want my next fix now, but I am not without a reasonable amount of patience.  I also found the extras quite difficult to figure out.  I knew I was unlocking different colored ninjas, but it took me a bit to figure out how to change color.

If you need a nice distraction that you can play for short periods of time, N+ is a good option.  I am glad to see this and some other java games (line rider) are making their way to the market.  While it is not perfect, N+ is certainly worth the price considering you can play it pretty much forever.  Just make sure to pad your walls in case you lose your temper.

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