N+ - Xboxlive Arcade

Ever played a game so addictive that you didn’t care how abusively difficult it was? If the answer is yes, you will love N+. If the answer is no, prepare to yes over and over again like your sister when she stops by my house (OOOOOOOH!). N+ is just one of many Xboxlive Arcade games circulating around the Xbox interweb, but it’s one of the few games that are actually good. If you have 800 points, then use them to get this instead of those alternate costumes you were going to get for Street Fighter 4.

You're gonna die.......

No story needed. You’re a ninja trying to get the hell out of whatever room the game sticks you in while collecting as much gold as you can. You know, Academy award winning stuff. The controls are simple enough: A for jump, right click to change camera, and left stick for movement. Oh, and there’s a suicide button (X). You’ll see. You can jump off walls, slide down slopes, jumps up slopes, and jump cool stuff that ninjas do (except kill). Pulling off feats of ninja-ism is simple. Getting out the room, well……..

...you're gonna die....

In order to get out of the room, you have to hit a switch located somewhere in the room (it’s all 2D and transparent so you’ll see where it is) to open the door and move on to the next room. You have a time limit, so collect as much gold as possible to extend your time. Standing in your way are a shitload of hazards ready to abuse your ass at any given stage: lasers, mines, turrets, electrodes, ninja-sinking missiles, ninja-sinking electrodes, and really high heights. Some require you to move fast as fuck, some require precision movement, some require advanced planning , and some require improv. That’s just the first few stages. Later stages will probably require all of the above.

...and you're gonna die.

If you can’t handle failure, then this game is not for you because you will die ahellava lot. You will die repeatedly. You will die consistently. You will die bullshittingly. You will die stupidly. You will die accidentally. You will die purposely (suicide button). You will die loveless. Yea, I think that’s it. The difficulty level is that of…..WAIT got another one. You will die nameless (thanks Neil). Ok, I’ll stop now. The difficulty level reminds me of the old NES games. What I mean is that this is console stomping, controller chucking, swear word saying, frustratingly hard. Despite this though, it’s hard to stop playing. Every time you fail, you find yourself saying I think I know what to do now, only to fail again. Yea, it’s hard as fuck, but when you do pass to level you let out a hard sigh and bask in the satisfaction, kinda like what your sister does (OOOOOOOH!). The puzzles themselves aren't hard but avoiding the hazards are a true test of skill and patience. If you die, it's because you suck, and not because of some bullshit (like enemies attacking offscreen like in Ninja Gaiden 2).

If anything, N+ is a great way to gauge how short your temper is, but inside all that frustration is the feeling of accomplishment that most games lack, and that's saying something. It's a very lengthy game and worth the points if you have them.

NOTE: I bet you read this post wondering who sister I'm talking about......YOURS (OOOOOOOOOH!)