N++

We might have missed the first N, but we played plenty of {N+} on the old Xbox 360. It was one of the first games that really pulled us into the Xbox Live Arcade way of thinking. It also kept us busy with daring platforming action during a time when our disc drive was temperamental and we had to find nourishment from digital offerings instead of the then more traditional disc-based affairs.

It was a near perfect example of the platform genre. Basic yes, but also hugely addictive. The crisp aesthetic, the weighting of the controls, the ramping of the challenge, the fiendish level design; it all blended together wonderfully.

It's with that level of appreciation for the last game already in mind that we look forward to getting our grubby mitts on the final version of the next game, the cunningly named {N++}. If you played either of its predecessors then you'll know exactly what to expect from this follow-up. It's more of the same, but with some fresh ideas and a couple of new tricks up its slender sleeve. We recently got hands-on with the latest build of the game, and although we only played through a few levels, we walked away satisfied that it was on-track to deliver the experience we've been hoping for.

In truth, the only reason we stepped away from our hands-on session at Rezzed as early as we did was because the X button on the DualShock 4 was sticking, and if you're familiar with the precision leaping and wall jumping required to manoeuvre through the various levels (and once again there's LOTS of them), then you'll understand that a sticky X button is basically a factor destined to ruin the overall experience.

Still, we pushed through a selection of different stages before we put down the controller, and during that time we were reminded exactly why we like the last game as much as we do, and our anticipation for this third offering was well and truly cemented. The same carefully balanced movement, the wonderful physics, the refined visuals, the environmental dangers and the enemy fire are all mixed together very nicely, creating a series of treacherous obstacle courses that are just begging to be conquered.

We hopped and slid our way through the stages, usually in double-quick time, but there was still moments even in the early game that allowed us to bask in the glow of a challenge that we thought we'd forgotten, but one that was quickly remembered. Like before, contact with a mine or enemy fire - some stages involved lasers, others missiles, others had movement-activated robots - means the stick ninja explodes, limbs flying across the level, hitting more mines and prolonging the final explosion (death here is usually spectacular, and often satisfying).

There's some nice new tricks too. Perhaps our favourite was the evil ninjas, and when you activate them by passing over a certain trigger, they then follow you two seconds after, copying your actions exactly, destroying you if you make contact. There's also toggle mines that, in some levels, are activated when you pass over them, meaning the return journey is often much more perilous than the first leg. As you might imagine, all these different dangers make it tricky getting around.

New tricks aside, the basic structure endures. Once again there's gold nuggets that you collect in missions that grant you a time boost in later stages. You have to get to the exit, and more often than not you must open the exit by passing over a checkpoint. That sounds easy enough, but throw in any (or a combination) of the pitfalls and challenges mentioned above, and quickly it becomes a much trickier affair, one that requires restarts and revisions, until practice becomes perfection. Once again it's the physics that make the game; the floaty movement and the ability to correct a mistake mid-jump. That flexibility means there's plenty of scope for overcoming challenges, and there's greater player agency within the confines of seemingly narrow level design, especially when compared to similarly difficult platform games.

That said, the challenge here is one that we're most certainly relishing, and we can't wait to take a much closer look at the game when it finally sees the light of day and launches on PS4 (where it's an exclusive). When compared to its predecessors it looks similarly spartan in terms of visuals, but perhaps a little more colourful - and the 60fps mean it's silky smooth.

There's going to be huge number of different levels to complete (hundreds, we're told), as well as some interesting modes to play around with. We know that there's co-op coming, a race mode, and deathmatch multiplayer, and of course there's going to be a built-in level editor that will ensure a near-endless stream of player-generated content further down the line. Mix all that together and we could well be looking at the definitive entry in the series, and that is a very tasty proposition indeed.