N.O.V.A. Review: I’m Hooked on it

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Game Name:	N.O.V.A (Near Or it Vanguard Alliance)
Platforms:	iPhone, iPod Touch
Publisher(s):	Game Loft
Genre(s):	FPS
Version Reviewed:	1.1

I don’t play video games. Occasionally, I drink too much, wish I could quit smoking and definitely wish i could stop chasing the wrong women. Nothing is wrong with wanting to make these things stop, but as Samuel Clemens said, “Everyone could live to be one hundred years old if they gave up all the reasons that made them want to live to be one hundred. Despite my use of quotation marks, I’ve got it wrong. I can’t be bothered to look it up, I’m playing N.O.V.A. I’m hooked.

The problem is the more I play N.O.V.A, Gameloft’s newest first person shooter for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the more I drink, smoke, and get further from my recently contrived New Year’s resolutions and my quest for the century mark.

Look at the above picture, it’s a Halo rip-off. But I dare Microsoft to create something as innovative as the iPhone much less something that really works on the iPhone.

Truly, I can’t be asked to remember the name of the press-ganged, retired, forced into action space marine this game insists you are, but I loved it every time I had to kill an overly boxy alien from Xeno. The reason I loved killing poor enemies? Wonderfully rendered worlds, 13 of them, that they inhabit and…

6 weapons.

1. The pistol with unlimited ammo. Boo.

2 and 3, I forget… no like always.. automatic rifle and shotgun.

4… my favorite, in all games that I’ve become addicted to… the sniper rifle. The only better than sniping is sneaking up to cut throats Metal Gear style.

5. The rocket launcher. (make sure it’s full for a boss fight or two).

6. The plasma gun, which makes game play far to easy. (Gameloft is a French company and you can clearly see how they view Aliens/Germans in a need to win, when we know they just surrender).

It just gets Frenchier, the aliens look horrible yet the countryside or beautifully rendered backgrounds are flawless. A grand indictment of the French way of getting invaded and losing.

Game play itself flows and is really only slowed by the controls. Touchscreen first person shooters make seeing what you are doing difficult. In the case of N.O.V.A you have a virtual joystick in the lower left hand corner to control movement, a fire button in the lower left, and the need to aim and look around somewhere in between. Often I found myself playing a level twice just to see what I missed by changing the default controller options.

The enemies or aliens in N.O.V.A are stupid. Once you are seen, they will chase you down making it far to easy to retire to a safe place and await their arrival where they stand no chance. Though we do play these games to kill things, an easy kill is an easy kill.

One of the more interesting features, however, is the logic problems that exist through in each level in order to unlock doors, start generators, etc…You are given a small logic puzzle that puts your brain to the test every so often. A welcome addition given the limited intelligence of the enemies blocking your progress.

And while this game loses in many respects, it is still a winner and why McDonalds calls France the second most profitable country they serve.

Review Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. $6.99 (iTunes Link), worth it.

Great stuff:

The ability to skip over a less than worked out narrative
Access, and the ability to put your iPod library in the background as you play
Wonderfully derived backgrounds

Not so Great:

Touch screen controls (a review you will see here shortly)
Boxy, dumb aliens
Weapons far too powerful.

3 out of 5 stars is a damn fine effort.

Wait, wait…There is a multiplayer option that really changes things up and should be a springboard toward further additions to N.O.V.A . No more silly enemies but rather a 2 player game by Bluetooth and a four player game by network with an international leaderboard accessed through the game itself. Good Stuff. 4 stars out of 5. Well Done GameLoft.

P.S Stop changing my weapon to a pistol when they are at close range Frenchie, it was my mistake and I should be meant to pay for it. not just hit a button and score an auto head shot.