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Greater than the sum of its parts, N+ is neo-retro platforming at its finest.

At first glance, N+ looks like another neo-retro cash-in vying for your hard-earned Xbox Live Marketplace points. It has all the signature signs: simplistic graphics, charming 8-bit soundtrack, Achievements, and some online modes. But to dismiss this old-school platforming gem on surface appearance would be a crime. Simply put, if you’ve got an Xbox 360 with a Gold Xbox Live membership, you need to buy this game.

The premise behind the action is simple: you are a ninja obsessed with gold. You have a mere 90 seconds to clear a five-room episode. Collecting a gold nugget adds a meager two seconds to your timer. Time carries over from room to room; ignoring gold lets you finish a room in less time, but collecting all the gold adds precious seconds to your time bar. You have infinite lives. Dying at the hand of merciless robots and death traps resets the current room to its initial state, including the amount of seconds with which you entered the area.

It’s a good thing the game is so forgiving. While many of the game’s levels are quickly exited, you will occasionally encounter environmental adversities so frustrating they will drive you bonkers. Don’t worry—20 or 30 deaths later, you should be able to beat anything thrown at you (unless you run out of time, of course). You can even watch replays of your most recent accomplished victories (or grisly failures) to improve your skills, along with those on the top of the leaderboards.

N+ has a simplistic visual style that recalls early-era 2D platformers from the Commodore 64 generation. If you grew up playing classics like Lode Runner and Impossible Mission, you’ll be immediately hooked on its simple aesthetics, creative levels, fluid animations, and catchy SID-esque soundtrack. For all its retro charm, N+ includes a few things that its predecessors could only dream about: sophisticated ragdoll physics and online multiplayer modes.