Pleasantly Painful – N++ Review

<p><em>N&plus;&plus;<&sol;em> is ridiculous&comma; painful&comma; obnoxious&comma; and completely impossible to put down&period; An action-puzzler&comma; the game thrives on the gambler’s mindset of&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;just one more time&comma; and I’ll have it&period;” With just the right balance of futility and conviction&comma; <em>N&plus;&plus;<&sol;em> serves to entertain&comma; frustrate&comma; and test the willpower of its players&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Set in a computerized world&comma; the tiny ninja you control is out to find the switch that opens the exit door&comma; and collect gold pieces on their way out&period; Like unto <em>Portal<&sol;em>&comma; each series of levels begets a more difficult series of levels&comma; each one more intensive than the last&period; Amidst mines&comma; EMPs&comma; and robots shooting laser beams&comma; each little world is full of danger&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;static&period;gamespot&period;com&sol;uploads&sol;original&sol;1197&sol;11970954&sol;2522206-more&lowbar;explosions&period;gif" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"557" height&equals;"305" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The danger is what makes each level so fun&comma; as the challenge is impossible to ignore&period; Walls of mines and electric floors cannot deter a determined player&comma; as death does not necessarily breed failure&period; Besides the inevitable knowledge that comes with death&comma; there is also an element of hilarity&period; The game has a ragdoll effect that makes a dying character flail about&comma; burst into thousands of pieces&comma; or roll around at the mercy of gravity&comma; much to the amusement of the player&period; This makes the actual failure of dying just a little less frustrating&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The controls&comma; while seemingly unresponsive at first&comma; generally become second nature&period; While the controls are minimal&comma; the layout is entirely natural&period; Fluid and receptive&comma; action placement is very logical and easy to implement into the levels&period; As I was first playing the game&comma; I discovered how to restart the level by instinctively pushing the Triangle button&comma; with no prior knowledge to its use&period; Each simple action makes the difficulty of the game less daunting&comma; and more enjoyable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;nyoobserver&period;files&period;wordpress&period;com&sol;2015&sol;07&sol;rocket&period;png&quest;w&equals;970" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"557" height&equals;"314" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The one irredeemable quality of the game lies in the music&period; While musical choice is understandable&comma; it is distracting to the game and difficult to enjoy&period; The theme to each track seems to be &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;static&comma;” as the dubstep-esque soundtrack <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;youtu&period;be&sol;MVUOgjUwGsA&quest;t&equals;37m52s" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">thumps&comma; pops&comma; and grates<&sol;a> on in level after level&period; Unexciting&comma; unoriginal&comma; and entirely unenjoyable&comma; the soundtrack will stay unchanging for minutes at a time&comma; dragging through the same annoying beat through several levels&period; Not all tracks on the soundtrack are impossible to enjoy&comma; as some have a certain level of transcendence that actually do bring peace to a hard level&period; However&comma; the idea behind the songs is most likely to promote stress&comma; and the soundtrack makes the game more obnoxious when a difficult level has already tried your patience&comma; and the only comfort lies in a syncopated&comma; whiny soundtrack&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" aligncenter" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;i2&period;cdnds&period;net&sol;14&sol;14&sol;618x347&sol;gaming-n-plus-plus-oops-bw&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"580" height&equals;"326" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There are over 1&comma;000 levels to enjoy in-game&comma; but outside of the main story&comma; there are infinitely more levels to savor&period; With a level creator that can be shared through the <em>N&plus;&plus;<&sol;em> social system&comma; levels you create can be played by others&comma; and vice versa&period; The &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Most Difficult” levels that other players have created are available for play&comma; all in addition to the already innovative co-op and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Deathmatch” modes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>N&plus;&plus;<&sol;em> is perfect for masochists and fans of customizable puzzle games alike&period; Keeping true to <em>N&plus;&comma;<&sol;em> the same tiny ninja is nimble&comma; silly&comma; and a joy to control&period; Reasonably priced for a more than reasonable amount of fun&comma; <em>N&plus;&plus;<&sol;em> is the perfect go-to for any amount of play&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;