Epic Spoon

Paul Zero

I have my Xbox 360 set to download trials of arcade games automatically, but it’s rare that I go through them and try them out.  It’s rarer that I find one I really like, and rarer still that I pay for one.  But when it happens, it’s because the game is truly awesome.  This is the story of N+ (website).

N+ is a multiplayer puzzle-platformer where you solve level after level of jumping, dodging, wall-climbing games with your band of pixellated ninjas.  It has solo levels and levels that require several people.  Each is different, but each requires the same basic set of game skills.  It’s a simple game that you can play for level after level.  And many of you will end up screaming when you’re about to make an epic jump to finish the level and you explode!

One of my favorite parts of N+ is actually the exploding.  In this two-button game, one of your buttons actually just makes you explode.  When all players have died, you restart the current level with no penalty.  The explode button (X, appropriately) gets you out of tight spots or lets you rejoin your friends at the beginning of the level instead of trying to complete it alone.  You can die and restart the level as many times as you want.

The game also has some gorgeous (and inaccurate) physics.  Wall-jumping can be used to climb even just one wall, and the speed at which you climb is based on momentum.  If you fall too far, you splat.  If you jump too fast and hit a ceiling, you splat.  Enemies shock you, shoot you, laser you, and crush you.  On every level you must flip a switch and enter a door priligy canada.

This is the perfect example of a simple game that “gets it right.”  Too many games overcomplicate things.  This one has a small, easy set of things you do.  The fun is in how you make it do them.

I would recommend N+ to anybody who needs a great game to play with their friends.  Anybody can have fun with this one.

Final score: A+