N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance

Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
Promotion image for the PlayStation Minis release of the game.
Developer(s) Gameloft Bucharest
Publisher(s) Gameloft
Series N.O.V.A.
Platform(s) iOS, webOS, Android, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Bada
Release December 17, 2009
PlayStation Minis
  • NA: December 21, 2010
Genre(s) Action-adventure, First-person shooter

Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, better known as N.O.V.A. for short, is an action-adventure video game for the iPod and other Apple products made for Apple by Gameloft. It was released on December 17, 2009 for iOS, WebOS and is one of the games containing the Gameloft Live online gaming service. It was later released on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 on December 21, 2010, just five days after the release of N.O.V.A. 2. N.O.V.A Legacy a remaster of the original N.O.V.A. developed by Gameloft Madrid was also released for Android on the Google Play Store in 2017 and on App Store (iOS) in 2018.

The game's hostiles (known as "Xenos") are similar to those in the Metroid series as well as the Halo series.

Gameplay

N.O.V.A. is primarily a first-person shooter, with one on-rails driving segment. Throughout the game's twelve levels, players fight alien enemies known as Xenos. The game takes major cues from sci-fi console shooters, such as the Halo and Metroid series. The player can use eight weapons that resemble futuristic versions of weapons found in one of Gameloft's previous works, Modern Combat: Sandstorm.

Multiplayer

Players can use multiplayer in N.O.V.A. in the following ways:

Plot

In the future, (possibly 100,000 years) Earth is uninhabitable by humans and animals. Therefore, humans had built satellites in space. But in order to protect themselves from Xenos, they created an alliance called N.O.V.A, or "Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance". Kal Wardin, a N.O.V.A Commander, is enjoying his drink, when 2 soldiers come up to him and knock him out. Kal wakes up in a training area, tries to head to his ship, but is attacked by Xenos. After, he goes to a colonial frigate, which has gone quiet for some time, for unknown reasons. Kal crashes his ship inside the air lock. He is attacked by Raiders. Kal is then told to self-destruct the frigate. He explodes it, and lands back on earth. He meets up later with possible survivors from the frigate. He goes to the planet of the Xenos, but Yelena is deleted. He pushes through and finds the judger. Kal kills it, but the whole planet possibly explodes.

Release

Reception

The game was well received by critics and has a Metacritic score of 94/100 based on nine reviews.[1] Levi Buchanan of IGN awarded the game a 9/10, calling it "the best first-person shooter on the iPhone right now."[2] Pocket Gamer gave the game a 9/10 and a "Gold Award".[3] Slide to Play gave a perfect 4/4, saying "Fans of FPSes shouldn't let this one slip by. Halo ripoff or not, it packs a lot of great content into a tiny, modestly-priced package."

HD

A high-definition version of this game was released on the App Store on April 1, 2010. However, it is only compatible with Apple's iPad tablet PC.

On July 21, 2010, N.O.V.A, along with Modern Combat: Sandstorm, Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, and Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles, was heavily updated for the iPhone 4. It includes gyroscope control, HD and 3D graphics, and is compatible with multitasking on iOS 4.

On August 31, 2010, the free version of N.O.V.A. HD was released for iPad.

A remaster of the game called N.O.V.A Legacy, with updated graphics, a weapon upgrade system, a power meter, and other features was released on March 27, 2017.

Rating

N.O.V.A. has the following ratings:

  • Apple: 15+ (for violence and blood)
  • ESRB: T (for violence and depictions of blood)
  • PEGI: 15 (for depictions of violence)

Sequel

A sequel to N.O.V.A. was developed and published by Gameloft and released in the iTunes App Store on December 16, 2010, titled N.O.V.A. 2: The Hero Rises Again. The game innovated on the many designs created by the first N.O.V.A., and added many new features such as 10-player online multiplayer matches, retina display and gyroscope support for the iPhone 4. Later, on May 10, 2012, N.O.V.A. 3 was released on the App Store, also developed and published by Gameloft. It added new features such as 2-man cars in multiplayer and updated graphics after working an in-house editor.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Buchanan, Levi. "N.O.V.A. Review - iPhone Review at IGN". IGN. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  3. ↑
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