Very few games in recent history have caused me to throw my controller across the room in anger. The most recent that comes to mind is Halo 3 multiplayer. Back in my NES days I threw many a controller across the room, as a large number of those old games were just hard as hell. To be honest games just aren’t that hard anymore, so controllers have had a much safer life in the last decade or so. Well last night I had to add a new game to my list of games that have caused me to throw my controller across the room in anger. This new game is N+.



I purchased N+ on XBLA about 3 days ago. It was late on Saturday night and I was bored and I needed a game I could pick up and play for just 10 minutes and then easily put down. I had read about N+ online and with its small level design I thought it would be a perfect fit for what I was looking for, so I downloaded the demo. All of the levels included in the demo only took me between 10 seconds and a minute to beat so it seemed perfect. The demo levels seemed a bit on the easy side, but I knew there were 250 levels total and I was pretty sure they would get harder eventually. Suffice to say the demo impressed me so I plopped down my $10 and bought the game. This is when everything went horribly wrong.

That first night I got through the first 74 levels, but I got stuck at the 75th level (episode 14 level 4) so I decided to call it a night. Those first 74 levels were not that bad at all. They seemed an interesting mix. Some of them would take me only 10 seconds to beat while other would take me 5 minutes. There were definitely some challenging levels in there but nothing that caused me to want to tear my hair out or throw my controller across the room. Then I got the 75th level and everything changed.

It took me upwards of 45 minutes to finish level 75. I died so many times attempting this level that I actually unlocked the “Practice makes Perfect” achievement, which you get for dieing 1000 times. Let me say that again …. 1000 fucking times!!! I probably wasted over 500 deaths on level 75 alone. Amazingly I did not get angry enough to throw my controller across the room. After beating this level I was hooked though. I was determined to beat all 250 levels.

How to beat Episode 14 level 4



If you have not played N+ you need to understand something. The early levels are very easy and are also very forgiving. You can make mistakes and still defeat the level with ease. The latter levels demand perfection, and I mean perfection in its most pure form. Every move you make has to be planned out in advance so that you have no time to hesitate. There is no time to think, no time to second guess, you have to know what to do next. You always need to be thinking 5 steps ahead of what you are doing. Every jump needs to be perfectly timed, at the perfect height, and have the perfect distance. There is absolutely no room for error! You mess up and you die!

Well last night I made it to level 120 (episode 23 level 4) and that’s the level that did me in. The level itself is very simplistic in its design and I immediately knew exactly how I needed to beat the level, but as I just described, the timing of every single movement would have to be perfect. Well at 11:30 at night my reflexes are not exactly at their peak performance and suffice to say I was dieing a lot. Around midnight, after 30 minutes of dieing, I reached my arm back, clenched my teeth, and threw my controller as hard as I could at the floor. I had had enough. My dog, who was sitting beside me on the couch, just looked at me like “WTF DAD”!!! I had finally done it. I have finally lost my cool.

Luckily for me the controller did not smash into a million pieces. It simply bounced around for a bit and came to a stop beside my entertainment system, which is where I left if for about 5 minutes. I got up from the couch, grabbed a glass of water, surfed the web for a bit, and then picked my controller back up. I was determined to beat the level and was no going to bed until I did so. After 10 more minutes and about 30 more tries I finally beat level 120. HELL YEAH!!!



After all of that I still plan on playing the game again tonight. My girlfriend is honestly not a big fan of me playing this game. She doesn’t like games that get me worked up like this. I specifically stopped playing Halo 3 multiplayer for her. N+ is different though. I am hooked and I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop until all 250 levels are defeated. I am pretty confident this is the hardest ninja game I have ever played, even harder then Ninja Gaiden or Ninja Gaiden 2. The game demands perfection on a level I haven’t seen since the NES. I will defeat it. I will be perfect.