Halo meets Metroid in this upcoming FPS actioner from Gameloft… Our hands-on impressions, plus 10 minutes of in-game video await your viewing pleasure…

We’ve all seen the preview at the Apple event earlier this year. But until booting this up at Gameloft last week, I was surprised at how good it looked in the flesh… It felt like a Wii game, in the same vein as Metroid (sure the Wii isn’t a looker in most cases but the Metroid games are stunning). NOVA is the best looking FPS game I’ve seen on iPhone. Most likely using a modified, if not the same, 3D engine as Gameloft’s Modern Combat, NOVA with it’s Space station corridors and overall metallic look is less grounded in reality and because of this looks great, especially in motion… which on a 3GS was very smooth.

I was able to play through the first two levels, both of which are available for you to watch in the YouTube video below.

The first level which is what most people are familiar with from previous footage shown, takes place in a jungle setting. This is a tutorial of sorts, much like the opening of the Call of Duty games, allowing you to familiarise yourself with the controls. A little calibration, a walk and a quick jump over some boxes later, and we finally come across some enemies. Some kind of evil troopers who are blocking your path to your ship. It’s here you get your first taste of action, shooting is done by tapping the big red shoot button, and you can switch weapons with a flick of the finger in the top right of the screen. Only a hand gun and a assault rifle are available from the off, but as you will see in the video below, I eventually acquire a nifty shotgun.

There seemed to be a couple of glitches in the control department, where I noticed some problems with recognising my input, particularly on strafing and jumping, but for the most part the dual stick style (same as Modern Combat) worked as it should.

After a short battle, and bearing in mind this was on ‘easy’, it’s on to your ship where you are told to head to the Pillar of Autumn… err, no sorry I meant the ‘Colonial Pride’! A military cargo ship that has lost contact with the fleet and is on a collision course with Earth.

Cue the first main mission level, and you crash into the hanger of the Pride. Here you get to see the game shine, with some great sci-fi environments, textures and lighting, all running at a steady frame-rate. It’s not long before you encounter one of the nastier enemies, a large brute like… err… brute! As well as wielding heavy firepower, he’ll grab you in close for a nice brute hug. He does that very thing to me… so I pop a few caps in a his head!

Like Modern Combat, the AI seemed scripted, I can’t be certain but after dying and re-spawning, the enemies looked to do pretty much the same thing as before. Having said that, they are more varied in both ability, size and species to stop this being a huge problem. Any minute you can be engaging HALO like troopers, security robots in narrow corridors, or multiple giant beasts.

The ship is broken up into sections, and here is where it starts to look a bit a Metroid-like. When you encounter enemies, the game plays out like mini boss battles, requiring you to dispatch them all before the doors open and grant access to the next. Most are small battles, but now and again you’ll come across some that are bigger and longer in scope. The main mission on this level though is to gain access to the ship’s system and engage the self destruct. Access panels play out like mini games, requiring you to set up a limited amount of mirrors to deflect lasers from one node to another. These are nice little pace breakers, much like Bioshock’s, and give your thumbs a little rest between shooting. Eventually, after some backtracking and many more fire fights I completed the mission… all in it took around 20 minutes on easy, which for one level isn’t too bad.

In conclusion of my hands-on with NOVA there is no doubt that Gameloft have pinched many ideas from the recent sci-fi FPS hits, particularly HALO. But, as they say “imitation is the biggest form of flattery” and until the bigger guns start to release mobile editions of their franchises, then I don’t see the harm. It’s good for iPhone and iPod Touch… and more importantly, it’s good for us as consumers!

NOVA has left me wanting more, but it remains to be seen if the full game can hold on to that initial WOW factor of opening levels… not to mention the multi-player possibilities.

Features:

N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance provides the most comprehensive content
available on the AppStore. Plunge into an unparalleled gaming experience!

EPIC SINGLE-PLAYER CAMPAIGN

• 12 insane levels
• 5 radically different environments, from the real to the fantasic - jungle, snow mountains,
spaceship, bunker, and an alien city
• 6 weapons: Assault rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, handgun, rocket launcher and plasma gun
– plus grenades & machine gun turrets in certain levels
• Use 3 super-human powers: Freeze, Speed and Brute Force
• An intense drama sustained by transitional cinematics and characters’ voices

FRANTIC MULTIPLAYER MODE

• Play locally or online via Wi-Fi or Local Bluetooth connection
• 1~4 player Deathmatch (1~2 players via Bluetooth connection)
• 5 different maps
• Play against your friends or the entire world through Gameloft Live!
• Worldwide leaderboards in the game & on the official website,
www.near-orbit-vanguard-alliance.com

TECHNOLOGICAL LEAP

• Full 3D rendered environments enhanced by highly detailed graphics
• 3 control schemes
• Customizable interface

Review disclosure: Any games reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note: the resulting review score is never impeded by this fact, all opinions are that of the TouchGen reviewer and not the developer. This is in keeping with our O.A.T.S oath. Read more about O.A.T.S here

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