Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7118 in Computer & Video Games
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: PlayStation
• Dimensions: 5.00" h x .50" w x 5.50" l, .30 pounds

Editorial Review
Ever wondered what it feels like to ride around on the inside of a disco ball? N2O: Nitrous Oxide offers a sickeningly effective approximation, letting players pilot a Tunnel Runner ship through levels that mainly consist of twisty tubes with psychedelic light patterns flashing on the walls.

N2O is one of those old-school games that left us shaking our heads after our first pathetic attempt to successfully navigate the tunnels. The enemies just seemed too fast and too numerous. After an hour of practice we were in the fabled "zone," anticipating the moves of the enemy and effortlessly rotating around the tunnel walls as we racked up higher and higher scores. As with most simplistic arcade games of this type, N2O can get repetitive, but we found that it was perfect for a quick arcade gaming fix. Most arcade action game fans (especially those who remember Tempest) should find N2O's decent graphics, numerous weapon power-ups, and adrenaline-pumping soundtrack to their liking. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Nonstop, mindless action
• Tight controls
• Nice soundtrack

• Repetitive gameplay
• Graphics can be a little sickening

GameSpot Review
N2O is a shooter in the same vein as Tempest and Nanotek Warrior. You pick from one of five ships, each of which has different turning and braking speeds, and shoot a bunch of eggs and bugs that travel through a large tube. While the graphics are decent, the only thing N2O truly has going for it is the soundtrack.

The gameplay is straight-up Tempest. You travel around the inside of a tube and shoot at everything in your way. If things get too hectic, you can slam on the brakes, stopping your forward movement for a few seconds, which should give you the time to clear a path. Once you've destroyed all the level's eggs, you progress on to the next tube. If it sounds basic, that's because it is. You just keep plodding on from tube to tube. Occasionally you'll face a boss to break up the monotony. At least the loading times are nearly nonexistent.

The graphics in N2O are about what you'd expect: a fast-moving polygonal tube textured with wildly colored cycling patterns, as well as polygonal enemies. The game has some pretty good lighting effects, as well. The game's soundtrack is provided by the Crystal Method. Many of the tracks were taken directly from their album, but there are a few remixes on the disc, too. The disc's audio is in redbook format, so you can pop it into any audio CD player and listen to the music. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal, but since Fox seems so bent on pushing the game solely on the strength of its music, it's worth mentioning.

As a game, N2O is decent, but it really isn't worth purchasing. If you're really into the soundtrack, you'd be better off spending 15 bucks on the Crystal Method's album instead of spending ducats on N2O. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Bastion of Brilliance in a PS1 Can
You wouldn't think that a game premised on the idea that you, the last bastion of defense for a planet fed by Nitrous Oxide tubes under assault by a variety of insects, would be fun. In fact, most games that are as dated as this game have been phased out and are no good for play at all. You either have places where pixels come into play, ideas that have gone out-of-style, or you have a system that just doesn't love you any more. The strange thing about this game is that it has modern elements of a game designed around something akin to everything from Tempest (one of the best Atari games ever made if you didn't have the luxury) to Silpheed, that the graphics are still brilliant because of the way the colors go from flashy to dark and hide the outmoded, and that this beast is powered by a soundtrack purely driven by The Crystal Method so the sound doesn't go out-of-style.
That makes for quality gaming.

Admittedly, the game isn't thick with plot and works more on a sensory level. It has a Gradius-like quality as you move along, blasting caps into various types of insects as you pick up weapons/ coins that can be traded in for a variety of power-up or more weapons/ shields and all other types of goodies. Each level basically introduces a new type of insect into the fra and, before long, each of these insects comes with something akin to a boss. Some of these require a lot of thought, some planning, and really good reaction time.
That's where The Method helps out.

Many games have a soundtrack but N2O basically has all of the first Crystal Method album, the remixes that came along with it, and this creates an ambiance that kicks like a mutha. When you couple this with tubes filled with bright colors, insects that manifest like hordes of angry mobs, and a ship you can pick out based on its handling and then color-code for your perfection and you have a beautiful game.
Considering the price and the fact that it takes talent and time and you have a game that keeps on keeping on.

Shoot psychedelic bugs traveling through tubes? Amazing!
I remember "Tempest" in the arcade, and reading the reviews here, I see other people remember it too. I would also tell people "think Millipede, but in 3-D."

"Nitrous Oxide" (AKA "N2O") is one of those games that's so great, not because it had the most programmers working on it, but because the one or two guys knew what they wanted. The game's immediate payoff made me reminisce back to the times I had fun playing the blocky images of games in the Atari VCS/2600. This one is more advanced, and stands up as well now as the day it released. But, for FIVE DOLLARS, USED, you'd be a fool to pass up this offer, if just to give this game a try. If you don't like it, you can still put the game disc in your CD player to listen to the Crystal Method soundtrack, as people could do with some of the PS1 game discs.

This game gives you a scary fix. Let me try and explain. You drive a spaceship, resembling a locust or beetle painted with bright-colored, camouflage patterns like poisonous insects; down the insides of a 3-D, moving tunnel, resembling small intestines, but rather full of wild, vivid colors; shooting various insects, spiders, centipedes, and other etcetera from off the walls; while dodging them, spider webs, and other paraphernalia; in a game called "Nitrous Oxide"; while grooving to the music of the Crystal Method. This game is a light show.

It has a two-player mode, both split-screen OR together on one screen. My friends and I used to take the PS2 into the TV room in our residence hall with the large-screen TV, turn out the lights, and play games. Playing this game in a setting like this, whoa! It looked like the whole room was going down a tube! "N2O" is not for people with motion sickness, or people with epilepsy.

Other than this, it is a pretty psychadelic affair that I like in my collection. Every once-in-a-while, I put this in to remind people of how cool some PS1 games still are. And with the PS2, you can get better graphics and reduced loads (which are nonexistent for "N2O" anyway) by flipping the two switches at the PS2 start-up screen. Press the triangle button, twice, and you get the menu. Then, put the game CD in.

Finally, I would like to respond to the one negative review posted here. Yes, you can just mash the "shoot" button through the warm-up levels while holding down the directional pad left or right; but, you can't get far. You rack up the points and win levels by using another different technique: it's called, "playing the game". Besides, I can't ignore the beauty of the game by writing an aloof review.

The trippiest shooter of them all
This game is truly the Tempest of the new century. Basically this game is tunnel shooter. You travel down a tunnel swiveling around it and shooting the bugs to get a high score. This has been done before, and usually is quite boring. But NOT THIS TIME.

Where other games of this sort falters this one blasts off into the stratosphere. The walls of the tunnel undulate, collapse, and move back and forth faster and faster as you progress. The more enemies you shoot, the faster you go. The hypnotic music keeps your ears glued, while your eyes soak up the sweet (especially for their time) visuals. And when you die (as surely you must), a huge amount of nitrous oxide is released, giving you an enormous speed boost (and possibly causing you to die again)!

Of course, this is all before you enter the cheat codes (which do crazy things like making the whole screen ripple like it's underwater!). As far as shooters of this kind go, this really is the cream of the crop. It ranks up there with Einhander, Raiden Project, and the R-Types. Get it if you love shooters.