To be an effective ninja, one must possess three things: speed, agility, and a healthy supply of liquid gold coursing through one's veins. In N v 2, you can put these skills to the test in 500 levels full of relentless enemies, deadly traps, and of course, gold. N v 2 is the follow-up to the original download version published by Metanet Software back in 2005, and plays practically identically to the original high-difficulty platformer, with the addition of a new co-op mode.
Each of the 100 "episodes" consists of five levels, all of which must be completed in 90 seconds or less. Move around with the [arrow] keys and jump with [Z] to hit the button that opens the exit, and get out of the room as quickly as you can. Each piece of gold will add two precious seconds to your life, so be sure to grab as much as you can. And as for the blue drones, weapons turrets, and red mines scattered around the room? AVOID THEM. Bumping into these will kill you instantly, and your progress in that level will be reset. You've got an unlimited number of lives, but being blown to bits when you're so close to the finish is never a fun feeling, so be careful out there.
N v 2 adds a two-player co-op mode that allows a friend to join in the fun. For this mode, player 1 uses [A] and [D] to move and [left shift] to jump, and player 2 uses [,] and [.] to move and [N] to jump. Both players' efforts are cumulative, and only one player has to reach the exit for both players to be successful. Nonetheless, the levels remain as tricky and deadly as ever, so be prepared for the long fight ahead as you progress down the path of N once more.
controls are beyond awful, seriously need to be able to map your own keys. [You can! Just click on Settings to find the control mapping options. --Steve]
Hmmm... if you're going to rehash the original 8 years later then you'd better make some pretty amazing improvements. Co-op, ie "Now two people can play the same old sticky keyed platformer hell!" is not said improvement.
I remember playing and loving the original years and years ago. The controls were definitely sluggish then, but it worked.
It feels to me like the controls have grown even more sluggish with this new version. Not cool.
Sorry but this is utterly unplayable. Controls feel terribly sluggish.
Well the controls take time to get used to, but it's well worth it. After the first few hundreds of levels you'll learn to avoid obstacles at full speed, and that's when you start feeling like a real ninja :)
On the other hand, what Dandy said: even the levels all look very familiar. Not sure if they are exactly the same, but it doesn't look that much has changed. I'll probably play it a lot nevertheless :)
Pffff, well, might be worth it, as bradonja says, but man those controls are sloooooooooow. Well, I'll give it a few more tries, but it already feels annoying now without dying that much.
Looks very polished still though!
Turns out that 8 years later... I still have all of the muscle memory from beating the entire original game!
I agree that the controls take some getting used to, but once you perfect your timing, they are definitely not sluggish.
Couple of protips: the jump height is very sensitive to how long you hold down the jump key. Also wall jumps work best when you time your bounce exactly the moment you strike the wall. Use these both to your advantage.
I'm a fan of the original, finished probably 70% of it back in the day. I still have it on my computer so I broke it out and compared it to the new one.
The dynamics of the controls are the same, but slightly less responsive. The thing that gives me real problems is the increased delay to stick to the wall; I keep letting up and watching the ninja fall to his death.
I wouldn't want the physics of the game to change - that's what the game is about - zipping the little guy around with these specific physics. He may seem poorly responsive at first, but you can make him do some amazing things once you know what you're doing. I love the challenge and the skill required of this game.
On the plus side I'm digging the new level design. They're fun and present some different types of challenges than the original.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thought it felt sluggish. I love the overall game design, but that sluggishness to get your initial momentum really gets annoying.
Love the original one but absolutely this need a fix in the controls.
No difference from the old N. That means I'm gonna be spending hours on this game... :D
I think we must be playing different games. The controls don't feel sluggish and the keys don't feel sticky. Sure, the browser version has a touch of stick in comparison to the downloaded version that was available 8 years ago, but that isn't shocking. This is still one of the tightest platformers I've ever played.
This game is so horribly confusing that I just bailed on it.
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