N Plus (also known as N+) has been around for many years and has seen nearly as many incarnations. The momentum-based platforming series started all the way back on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008 and became something of a cult classic. While a sequel was released in 2015, it’s been over a decade since we’ve seen N Plus — but it’s safe to say Metanet has returned with a vengeance. It’s a mouthful to say, but N Plus Infinity Times Two is an utterly delightful multiplayer platformer that’s likely to put a chip in your friendships. But it’s worth it.
Infinity Times Two is essentially a versus multiplayer platformer where up to four players duke it out to achieve the highest score. At Summer Game Fest, I played a 30-minute demo with complete strangers, and all of us left the appointment incredibly impressed and high on adrenaline.
If you aren’t familiar with the N Plus games, they’re extremely weighty platformers that focus on smooth movement and momentum. The game consists of bite-sized levels where you gather points to try and get the highest score before reaching the end. And there are a number of abilities you have to get there, like wall jumps and different trajectories. Infinity Times Two takes the core ideas from the previous games, distills them into their purest form, and translates them into a multiplayer experience.
There were two modes that I played. The first was a free-for-all race where you competed against others to collect floating dots for points and be the first to reach the end. Another split four players into two teams of two, with one team being the “Ninjas” who have to stay alive, and the other team having to eliminate the Ninjas by touching them. The really big twist in this one, though, is that you can turn into a missile. By reaching the goal in the race matches, you can launch a single missile to eliminate other players. In the other head-to-head mode, the Hunters can turn into missiles, but the Ninjas have drastically higher speed.
These elements allow for incredible chaos, white-knuckle moments where you dodge a missile by just a hair or careen into the other side of the level after hitting a big jump (though you need to be careful, as there’s fall damage). There are dozens of levels to choose from in each mode, with drastically different layouts and architecture, and occasionally gimmicks—like mines that activate when you step on them.
What’s remarkable about Infinity Times Two is how it has the same mechanical feel as the past N Plus games, but translates it into a drastically different, competitive experience. Just ten minutes into the game, my group of strangers was already turning cutthroat — screaming when someone got a crazy elimination or pulled off some sick dodge. It’s the kind of game I legitimately did not want to stop playing; I could have sat there for hours. And part of the reason for that is how quickly everything happens.
Games are won through a best-of-three format, but everything is incredibly quick. Matches can quite literally be over in a matter of seconds, with tension spiking immediately. And you can play a whole game in less than five minutes. In my mind, that sets up Infinity Times Two as a strong newcomer to the party game scene. The kind of thing you can put on the TV, and immediately everyone is having fun, but they also don’t have to commit and can drop out whenever. You could also do some fun things with elimination rounds if you have a big group.
I saw dozens of games at Summer Game Fest this year, and N Plus Infinity Times Two is the very first one I played. I think it’s a testament to the strength of that core design that it’s the one I keep thinking about, even past the big heavy hitters. Metanet proved a long time ago that it *gets* platforming, and it feels like this latest entry is simply taking that understanding to the next step.
