XBLAH BLAH BLAH: N+

What is XBLAH BLAH BLAH?

One thing missing from this blog is my own thoughts on XBLA games. I hadn't really been thinking about it - I post links to other reviews anyway, what else could I possibly add to that?

Instead, I'll do something different - a feedback or a critical analysis of sorts. A list of what I thought were really great, and some either bad or even just nitpicky - to help the developers on the little things. Instead of an arbitrary score I'll post my final thoughts on the overall product.

What's good about N+?

- N+ is really packed with a lot of features - 400 levels across the different play styles is a LOT of stuff, and the Leaderboards for each set of levels works very well.

- N+ as been described as "Digital Crack" - just want to play that little longer. Setting the levels in 'chapters' works really well, and being able to play those chapters in sets of 5 makes it a lot easier for casual players to play more without being completely frustrated by some of the hardest levels.

- Cooperative levels are great. Much like the levels in Switchball which had similar split paths requiring players to work together to reach the goal, except this is Local AND online!

How could N+ have improved?

- I don't like Survival mode - it currently throws all the players into a horribly difficult room and has players get thrown around almost instantly. It's fun in that sort of "What the hell is going on" kind of way, but doesn't really keep the player interested.

Suggestion: A mode which could have been cool would be similar to Nintendo's Pac-Man Vs. Have 3 players control Rockets around the level with 1 Ninja flying around trying to get as much gold as possible before dying.

- I realize N+ lives in it's bleak world of yellows and grays, but it would have been nice to see some sort of different graphical styles - different colours to work with on objects and the like. I would have made a Green Hill Zone looking level.

- The Ninja's Headband seems to get caught on a lot of objects, and stretches out across the screen. It's small so you can barely see it, but really should have been an easily solved problem.

Final Thoughts

N+ is a fantastic game and will really get you hooked, and despite the 'simplistic graphics' has more than enough entertainment value to keep you going for at the very least 5 hours, and that's if you're stupidly good. Trying to get all the gold and get higher in the Leaderboards is key to enjoying the game - keep at it, it's a ton of fun.