Review: N+ (PSP)

By Stephen Munn | July 31, 2008

What is it?

The flash game N, which features a simple graphical style on a complex physics engine, has been reworked into a retail release called N+ with some optional visual enhancements and a number of other features. The game is coming next month for PSP and DS, and I’ve composed this review based on an advance copy that I was fortunate enough to receive.

Here’s the official line:

N+ will have all the features that fans have come to love; hundreds of built in levels, an integrated level editor and downloadable content in the form of new level sets.  New features like cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes and level sharing over the ad-hoc PSP and wireless DS connections will expand upon the gameplay possibilities inherent in the original flash game.

How’s it look and sound?

N+ has a very simple look. Platforms are solid gray, enemy sprites are tiny and clean, and environmental effects are subtle where present at all. In that context, N+ is remarkably consistent and very easy on the eyes, and it’s a good thing, because you’ll be looking at these stages for a long time.

In addition to the standard, clean look, there is another setting to choose, which sets the visuals to match the original flash game. That is to say, the graphics become even simpler and more stark. I tried that briefly but became bored with the lack of background patterns in the stages very quickly. The options menu lets you select your color as well, and you can even turn on and off the blood in the game depending on your taste.

The sound in the game varies a bit from bland and unnoticeable to mildly catchy. It’s a kind of electronic mood music thing, punctuated by the neat riff you get when completing a level. There’s nothing you’ll remember once you turn the system off, except for that riff.

How does it play?

Stages are selected from an unlocked group, and beating a level saves your progress and often unlocks various other things like different colors for your ninja and victory animations (which are surprisingly elaborate considering the size of your character). After a time, you’ll unlock more of the stages.

The goal is to hit a switch in each stage to open the exit door and then get out. You’re given a fixed amount of time to do this in, but gathering tiny squares of gold increases this time. The controls in this game are honed to a startling edge. When you miss a jump, it’s your own damn fault. There must be a hundred ways to jump when combined with varying distances, speeds, momentum, and everything else involved. Once you’ve got a handle on it you could be blasting through levels like nobody’s business. You run, jump, spring off a wall to sail an incredible distance across the screen, cling to another wall and slide down. Along the way you’ll be avoiding mines, turrets that fire everything from bullets to homing missiles to lasers, robots that wander on fixed paths or chase you… let’s just say it’s pretty stressful to be a ninja.

Early levels won’t require much more than ten seconds thought and planning. Later stages won’t afford you that luxury, because sitting still for two seconds means you meet a grisly death. This is made particularly troublesome by the fact that running in the wrong direction could mean the same thing.

Before long, you’ll be faced with stages that are so incredibly challenging that you’ll wonder if there’s anyone on the planet who can beat them. In the single-player mode, I managed to unlock the first 40 levels, each of which has four stages.

I topped out on my platforming skills at around level 25, but again, it’s entirely my fault. This game is tough, but it’s not cheap.

How’s the replay value?

It’s clear that a lot of time went into making this game sit in your collection. There are a lot of levels with plenty of challenge, and there’s a robust level builder in the game that could only be improved with some kind of touch control. For that, you’ll need to look for a review of the DS version.

The local multiplayer is something I could not test, due to a lack of a second PSP. There are discrete levels in the game for mutliplayer games, and the level builder allows you to specify whether you’re making a stage for single or multiplayer.

The community function in the game does not work at the time of this review, and this is reportedly because the game hasn’t hit retail yet, so there’s nobody to trade with. I assume that this will allow us to share our levels with others via a persistent web location, as well as download those made by others, based on the official documentation for the game.

Is it worth it?

Do you frustrate easily? If so, can you afford to replace the PSP you just slammed against the wall? Let me elaborate on this: it took me more than 300 tries to complete one of the levels. Many others took close to, or more than, 100 tries. Most of these tries were only a handful of seconds long. This is the kind of game this is, and you’ll want to be aware of this before you plop down money for it. If this is your thing, you’re in for a treat, because the gameplay and level design are very, very tight.

N+ for PSP gets four and a half out of five. That’s assuming you can keep a cool head.