N++ (NPLUSPLUS) review

Exceptional

by Brahmaputra

The Game was a Bycatch in a Humblebundle. I was expecting a Super Meat Boy Style platformer And was quite happy with it at first. The initial Euphoria, however, quickly subsided and quickly turned into Frustration. Far too much Frustration. Instead of getting from A to B as quickly as possible, as with SMB, the Focus here is more on Collecting "pieces of gold." That would all be okay if the Gold Pieces are to be found along the Way (some of the better Levels in this Game do just like that), but usually you have to perform some absurd jumps, sometimes even several times, because you can't catch all the Gold Pieces at once, which Of course, it has a negative effect on the Flow of the game. Of course, you can also interpret the whole thing as a Challenge for yourself and if you don't Feel like it, you can leave it, so to speak, the more difficult the Game becomes the more you want to achieve. Another Blemish of the Game is that it relies far too much on Precision. Planning and Responsiveness still play a Role, of course, but of course all this is of no use if you don't manage the Jumps the way you want them to. And the Controls, as far as that goes, are very sensitive, which causes you to die constantly without getting better, because you just don't manage to reliably repeat the Jump. Level Design Also adds to the general Frustration. Some Levels are designed in such a way that you hop around the Room 4-5 times to press Switches, which is a trivial but time-consuming Task and finally comes a very heavy Part in which you often scare away. And then you have to repeat the simple, time-consuming part all the time, only to fail again because of the much too heavy Precision Jump. The Enemy Elements in the Game, i.e. rockets, tracking killer Discs, death Lasers, mines, etc. are also well integrated at first, But huge Sources of fruit in later Levels. In later Levels, one is simply overwhelmed with the sheer Number and Fine Elements on the Screen, which leave you with far too small Reaction windows (where we would then be back on the Subject of Precision). This is to be the Subject of Gameplay. The Music in the Game is generic Electric Music, many like it many, not to me. Luckily, you can mute you and hear your own. The Graphics are clean and simple. You don't see everything you need, you don't see distracting Elements. However, you can unlock new Color Patterns, most of them were too garish with but and have hustled in my Eyes. Would everything Not be a Problem if the Game did not automatically switch to the new Pattern when Unlocking. Verdict: Simple Graphics and Electric Music, coupled with a far too precise Platformer that doesn't get a reasonable Flow of Play.