I've been on a roll playing games that are just a bit too hard lately. I may be, heck, I am biting off a bit more than I can chew! My best is at adventure games, not platformers that test your patience beyond its limit. My reflexes are not that great. But the experience is just plain great. The frustration and the urge to scream at the screen is actually a little fun, though at times I have to wonder if these games were made by masochists. I'm not one however, so I enjoy games purely for the fun factor. I review them based ON the fun factor. The game I'll review next has a great fun factor, if you have a lot of patience, but it just seems like it is lacking something. Anyway, the game in question is N, a physics based Flash game starring a ninja with superhuman reflexes and speed.

You, the player, will need reflexes just as superhuman if you plan on beating all of the 99 superhard levels, not to mention all of the user created ones. I got to about level 50, before I realized that I was in way too deep. The game is harsh and unforgiving, yet it has that challenging gameplay that seems to have a hypnotizing, massive drawing power on people. I would play a level for about a half an hour trying to beat it, trying not to notice every time my stick character was blown to smithereens by a mine, or shot to pieces by a machine turret. The gameplay itself is all, as I said, based on extreme physics. the creators put a lot of work into the animations, and the amount of things you can do. There's more than just moving and jumping here. Your movements all flow along with the levels. If you fall too far, you are smashed to bits, or if you jump against the wall, you'll slide down it, or be given the option to do a wall jump. There is a ton of different styles of terrain to cross, though it's all presented in one color, grey.

Different shades of grey are used for everything, except blood and bullets. This really puts me off, as the style isn't a very pleasing one. At least I didn't find it very pleasing at all. I could hardly care about the character I was using, and I could hardly bring myself to laugh at his demise through the frustration I felt at being so close to the end of the level. Each level has an end door which must be opened by passing a switch or button. There are smaller doors activated by smaller buttons. Enemies are very unforgiving, and you will frequently be thwarted by them. Machine turrets and moving shockballs.....WHAT THE HECK, to moving electric platforms are all sentient hazards you must avoid. Also keep a lookout for mines. some of the most devious levels are littered with them, requiring you to use some fancy footwork and extreme reflexes to get you to the end. I myself am not nearly good enough to tackle these levels. Even the inclusion of gold for points and a health restorative are not enough to get me through a level, but I just plain suck at N.

The unforgiving nature of these levels is one of the most negative aspects of this game. I'm all for challenge, but the game literally has almost no learning curve, requiring you to learn the skill of fast reflex not very far into the game. Fortunately enough, there are no lives in this game, allowing you to retry a level as many times as you wish. When you beat a level, your replay is saved to be viewed at any time. You may view the author replays if you like to see the fastest route through a level, though most of these routes are downright tough to pull off. You try jumping off of a machine gun into a room full of electric enemies and see how well YOU pull it off. It seems to me that there are two things this game would really benefit from, multiplayer and some form of weapon. The entire gameplay is dependent on your wall jumping skills, which is a very unique and interesting genre to itself, but I can't help but wish I had some sort of weapon to defend myself against the onslaught of enemies who keep me from pulling off a necessary stunt. multiplayer would also be a brilliant feature, as I could just imagine a split screen where players try to reach the end of the level before the other.

The inclusion of a level editor is a welcome feature, but I myself have no patience for it. However many others do, and this has given way to some brilliant yet downright eville new levels. To top it off, you can view replays of these levels as well. I really did enjoy this game, but after a while, the horrible difficulty just gets really old for those who don't have that needed learning curve. Many people love this game, but it's really only for those experienced gamers. Don't tackle this without a lot of patience. All in all it gets a 4.

Review by: Fawfulhasfury