Preview: N.O.V.A.

9:00 AM on 12.01.2009   |   Dale North

34 comments

Perhaps you've heard about this one. N.O.V.A., they call it. Recently, at Apple's WWDC 2009, a big deal was made over the new iPhone first-person shooter. It's a sci-fi FPS, and some compare it to Halo. Pretty big shoes to fill, wouldn't you say?

Get this: You play as a space marine. You're fending off an alien attack. There's dudes in spacey helmets. Spacey cinematics. But before you start throwing out calls of "Halo clone," hear what I have to say about the game after spending some quality time with it.

Long story short: I wouldn't write N.O.V.A. off as a clone yet. There's a very solid game here.

N.O.V.A. (iPhone)
Developer: Gameloft
Publisher: Gameloft

Near Orbit Vangard Alliance. That's what N.O.V.A. stands for. It's a new type of united army that mostly guards outposts set up to protect Earth's assets, now that Earth can no longer sustain life. You play as a retired space marine that is called back into duty after attacking aliens have begun abducting humans. You start out investigating a mysteriously deserted ship as your first mission.

There are about ten playable levels in N.O.V.A., taking place in locales like abandoned ships, jungles, bunkers, and even in the snow. You'll have six weapons at your disposal, including a shotgun, an assault rifle, rocket launcher, plasma gun, and a spacey sniper rifle. Oh, and don't forget grenades. Special power-ups are also here. You'll be able to freeze enemies, speed up, and more. 

As far as control goes, there's a virtual d-pad for movement. A shot button fires and a jump button jumps. You'll slide to change your weapon, tap to reload, and slide your finger on the middle of the screen to move the camera. The control is surprisingly accessible, and I had no difficulty at all from the get-go controlling N.O.V.A.. Damage takes away from your health bar, and hiding and staying still for a bit recovers. Like, say, an energy shield.

I didn't get to try multiplayer, but I did get to ask about it. N.O.V.A. supports both local and online play, with 4 players normally, and 2 players over Bluetooth. There will be three maps total, and I'm told that they're small, fast maps where its more about starting out even and rushing to frag than anything else.

Here's something that's different: Sometimes you'll have to work for your ammo and other pick-ups. You'll find boxes or terminals during game play, and at each of these you'll have to play a kind of hacking minigame to crack them open. You'll be turning reflectors to guide a laser to a finishing point, with the difficulty of these puzzles increasing as the game progresses. Thankfully, ammo dropped by killed enemies can simply be picked up.

I played a few stages. Starting out early in the game, I explored the crashed ship, which happened to be packed with aggressive aliens. I took most out easy, working to strafe and shoot. Later in the stage, I was embarrassed to die quickly when one alien bombarded me with projectiles. It turns out that I was supposed to pick up a better gun first. Later on, I saw a jungle stage. The visuals were extremely impressive for an iPhone game here, as sunlight beams sparkled through breaks in trees and vines hung down around the player. Finally, in an equally impressive snow level, I crept up and took out baddies with my sniper rifle, trodding through the snow as snowflakes melted on the screen.

Simply put, my hands-on time with N.O.V.A. was impressive. I wasn't thinking about what other games it reminded me of while playing. Instead, I was really getting into it, all the while thinking that this is as close to a console experience I've seen yet on the iPhone. I was impressed not only by its looks, but by the seemingly perfected control scheme. It seems like Gameloft has first-person figured out on the iPhone, and I never would have imagined myself saying that anyone would a year ago.

So, Halo clone? Nah. I think it takes from several good games and mixes in a bit of its own originality. Sure, there's some Halo influence, but I also see Metroid Prime and a bit of Unreal Tournament in the mix. More important than what may have influenced the game is the fact that there's nothing else like this on the platform. This is one to make note of and watch out for this holiday season.