N+ is a great example of what I love about 360 arcade titles. It’s quick and simple to pick up and it’s fantastically addictive. Essentially it’s a repack of the popular web based flash game N, and honestly, I love it. The premise of the game is to climb and jump your way from the start of the level to the exit along the way collecting gold tokens. Its great fun leaping off the sides of walls or sliding down them to cushion your fall. Its amazingly simple yet incredibly and infuriatingly difficult at times. It’s a game that is easily picked up but hard to master with it’s simple button configuration of using the left analogue stick to move and the A button to mount, jump or scale your way through the levels. The puzzle aspect of the game certainly means I’ll be entertained trying to figure out how to scale my way through each of the 100 levels for some time to come.

 

Graphically, the game stays true to its origins, and is refreshingly arcadie in a time when we’re often seeing fairly flashy graphics on arcade titles. Its great to see a title that to me stays truly arcade in nature. That’s not to say it has poor graphics. Certainly it has been cranked up a notch from the original but still maintains the simple attraction that helped make the flash version a hit. The graphics are easy on the eye, although, would be a tad strained playing multiplayer on a small screen. I love the feel of moving your character. The game lets you mount walls and pinnacles with these huge leaps that just feel great. The leaps feel seamless and you get that feeling of floating. The effort put into the graphics can be seen when your stick figure falls from a great height. To watch your character fall and crumple on the ground is pretty cool, I did it many times over just to watch the poor thing fall. I really love the small puffs of smoke left behind you as you build up speed and slide along walls or land after a huge jump, it’s a nice touch to the overall look of the game.

 

It’s the kind of title you pick up to play when your starved for some brain stimulation. When you’ve had enough of the rough and tumble of the latest fps or speed of your favourite racing game. It’s got that feel of kicking back and just immersing yourself in the puzzle aspect of the game. You could easily loose track of time carefully weaving your stick figure through the levels or creating your own levels to share with your mates. The level editor in the full version will certainly add longevity for those who want to confuse and baffle their friends and family.