One of our community was once pretty hard-core into a free PC game called N. I mentally filed it with things I should check out some day, but getting into a PC game is not something I regularly do. (Mostly, I don't have the setup, but I've not really sat in front of a computer with an entertainment mindset in a decade.) Since then, though, XBLA, PSP, and DS versions of a followup called N+ have appeared, and I just spent my last few Amazon gift card dollars on the $17 DS version.

I don't believe I've enjoyed an Atari release this much in a long while, actually. N+ consists of hundreds of small platforming levels, a ticking clock, a myriad ways to die, and perfect platforming controls and physics—something bigger-budget platformers seem to lose sight of these days. It reminds me slightly of Super Monkey Ball in structure; there, too, the challenge was to complete a sequence of short challenges, with failure meaning trying each small challenge over again. It's a great game mode, especially when held up to the lengthy "retrace steps to try again" you get in bigger platformers like Super Mario 64.

Much like its free cousin, my version of N+ comes with a level editor that gives you complete freedom to create levels just like the ones in the game. There are ten save slots and there's supposed to be a community server for sharing levels with others, but it doesn't seem to be working right now. (I'm trying to find out why.) It is a pretty neat feature to have, even if I've yet to create a "real" level with it.

I thanked that friend this morning before he headed out into the bitter cold. I think I warmed his heart a little.