raigan burns and mare sheppard's n is a fine little game, and one that involves a ninja. it has been compared most often to lode runner, and this is an apt comparison in a number of ways.
as games connected to lode runner are typically games that combine action-based game mechanics with physical manipulations of environmental puzzles, most such games, n included, are constructed of screen-sized levels that do not scroll. (i consider "lode runner: the legend returns" to be the definitive installment of that series. while that particular game featured a set of levels where the player's sight is limited to her immediate surroundings, many lode runner fans do not consider those levels to be in the spirit of the game.) this is necessary to the player's ability to perceive all elements of the puzzle simultaneously, as well as to be continuously aware of what the enemies, persistantly active, are up to.
a frequent feature of related games (and this, too, figures in n) is the player's inability (or extremely limited ability) to despose of enemies. this, combined with the fact that each level-puzzle is consigned to a single screen, means that enemies must not be avoided but continuously avoided. this frequently conspires with level design to make enemies themselves actual elements of the puzzle.
another result of the compact level size is the transformative nature of level design often found in such games, where the actions the player takes to progress in a level generate new obstacles for the player to contend with, particularly when the player must re-travel the same portion of level (thus avoiding repetition). an example is a level in puchiwara no bouken where the player must push a cannon into position to fire at and destroy a wall blocking progress. however, once placed, the cannon will continue to fire projectiles, which must be avoided as the player ascends a series of platforms to the entrance that has just been created.
the best example of such design in n is the first level in set five: the player begins beside the exit door, which must be opened by a switch deep within a spiral of obstacles. the player must first reach the switch and then return to the door; so the level is crossed twice, once inward, then outward. in front of the switch that opens the exit, however, are switches that will free the enemies from the patrol-cycles of movement they'd been trapped in (and had to be thus avoided) during the player's first trip through the level so that they will roam freely through the level during the player's second trip (back to the beginning), generating new obstacles and transforming the environment.
what functions in n in place of lode runner's digging and puchiwara's jumping and climbing is a detailed physics engine that makes any wall a ladder and makes manuevering the central puzzle of every level. as in any lode runner sort of game, there are a great number of possibilities for death on the path to each level's end and the discovery of each such death helps to refine the player's solution until it is correct. the designers wisely omitted any system of fixed life count, allowing each level to be replayed and replayed until solved. (another smart thing they did was to make each piece of "gold" in the game merely add time to an in-game timer rather than be necessary to the completion of a level. thus the player has a comfortable amount of leeway in plotting her path through each level.)
the game file's icon is a generic flash icon, so if you're planning on having n sit on your desktop (as it does on mine), you might want to download this simple icon i created for the game, which is a very swell game, and certainly involves a ninja.
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