N2O: Nitrous Oxide

N2O: Nitrous Oxide is a tunnel shooter, featuring a soundtrack composed by the American electronic music duo The Crystal Method. The soundtrack was heavily used to promote the game, and the music is stored in Red Book format meaning the game disc can be played as a music CD on an ordinary CD player.[1]

This article is about the video game. For the chemical compound, see Nitrous oxide.
N2O: Nitrous Oxide
Developer(s)Gremlin Interactive[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Antony Crowther
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: June 30, 1998
  • EU: September 1998
Genre(s)Tube shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, Cooperative multiplayer
DisplayRaster, 364 x 240 pixels

Plot

Gameplay

N2O takes the form of a tube shooter in which the player shoots insects while collecting "E" coins, mushroom shields, and other psychedelically-themed weapon power-ups. As more and more insects are shot the game increases speed. Besides the single player mode, N2O features a cooperative multiplayer mode with a shared screen or a split screen.

N2O has been noted for its aesthetics and for having smoothly seamless but fast-paced gameplay. It has been suggested that the game is similar in presentation to a Crystal Method concert and that the game is best played at high volume and in total darkness to maximize the "intense and dynamic" effects of data flashers and strobes. The superior audio capacities of televisions (especially those attached to home theater systems) over typical computer systems has been suggested as one of the advantages to restricting the game to the console market and not releasing it as a PC game.[2]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpot4.8/10[1]
IGN8/10[3]
Next Generation3/5[4]

Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "shooter fans who thrive on the ability to top their last high score time and time again won't be disappointed by this high energy blast-a-thon."[4]

Ports and re-releases

N2O: Nitrous Oxide was re-released for PlayStation Network by Urbanscan in PAL regions on January 10, 2008,[5] and by Sony Interactive Entertainment in North America on June 1, 2010;[6] and Latin America on August 13, 2013. Console Classics released the game under license of Urbanscan for Microsoft Windows via Steam on June 29, 2015,[7] emulated through PCSXR.[8]

Notes
  1. (PlayStation Network ports for Portable, 3 and Vita developed by Urbanscan)

References
  1. Gerstmann, Jeff (July 17, 1998). "N2O: Nitrous Oxide Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  2. Herz, J.C. (August 6, 1998). "N2O: At Its Best at High Volume in the Dark". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  3. Perry, Douglass (18 June 1998). "N2O: Nitrous Oxide". IGN. Archived from the original on 2018-03-05. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  4. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 45. Imagine Media. September 1998. p. 134.
  5. "N2O and Harcore 4X4 Come to EU PSN". IGN. 2008-01-11. Archived from the original on 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-02-02.
  6. "US PlayStation Store Update: June 1, 2010". Gematsu. 1 June 2010. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  7. "N2O released on Steam". Console Classics. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  8. Mahmood, Sikandar (30 June 2015). "PS One Title "N20: Nitrous Oxide" Successfully Emulated For PC, Available to Download On Steam". SegmentNext. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.