NPPD fancies itself an arcade game, and in many ways it's true. This is game is entrenched in many old-school philosophies. The time-limit is actually limiting for one thing. You have to plan your route, move very quickly, and it'll take trial and error before things start to click. Also there's plenty of stuff trying to kill you as you explore each of the five floors. Due to the time limit, you're being hurried along, but you also have to be wary because crashing into some enemies is pretty much instant death. Due to the nature of the game it's expected to take some damage, but critical errors will lead to game overs. There aren't any continues either, and I'm still not even certain that there's a level 2 after rescuing 30 junkies.
The area you're exploring is divided into five floors, each of which has a bevy of shops. The one you'll be spending most if not all of your cash on is the clock-maker. Basically they slow your rush cycles or something, causing you to bleed out slower? or? ...???? Whatever, they give you an extra 60 seconds. There's another shop that sells weapons, NOX (refills health but costs time), and "socket on socket" action. Some guy will even buy your organs for a nice chunk of change, though I guess it costs a ton of health. Maybe this is beneficial to those with a lot of health but not a lot of time? Hmm.
At first the difficulty is somewhere between "WHAT?" and "WTF?" It takes a few play-throughs just to get an idea of what this game is all about. It's similar to Die Hard on the NES. You play it expecting to be John Mcclane and kill all the bad guys Contra style. Instead it's a strategic-action game where you have to plot your next move, every fight is draining, and your resources have to be managed. I'm not saying that game is quality, but it had a unique concept, execution is another story.
Anyway, NPPD has some neat elements to it. While the viewing area is very limited, the screen is splashed with blood every time you destroy an enemy. It sounds obnoxious but it's a helpful indicator for when off-screen enemies blow up. In a game where every second counts you should never have to ask "is it dead?" Your bullets also travel a LONG way, I'd wage they keep going until they hit a wall (or an enemy). Needless to say, it helps to keep the fire button held down.
Note that this is a Desura look. This game is also available on Steam. That version is newer and from what I hear the graphics are cleaned up, there are new enemy types, and other stuff. This older version apparently is more atmospheric, more surreal. Whatever the case, if you're looking for something different, this might be worth exploring.
Just expect to see a lot of this:
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