imitchellg5
Jan 2, 2010, 09:31 PM
App Name - N.O.V.A. - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
Price - $6.99
Version - 1.1.0
Age - 12+
Link - App:iTunes Store (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/n-o-v-a-near-orbit-vanguard-alliance/id343596730?mt=8) Developer: N.O.V.A. - Sci-Fi FPS Game for iPhone/iPod Touch, Top First-Person Shooter, NOVA (http://www.gameloft.com/iphone/nova/?adid=101966)
Compatible with - Any iPhone or iPod touch
Review - As a Halo fan, I was immediately interested in N.O.V.A. after Gameloft's demo of the app during the iPod event last September. I was looking forward to playing it, but not paying the $6.99 price tag. Happily, I'm able to report that it's well worth the price; it's the only app that I'd even pay $10 for.
Gameplay - The gameplay really is quite fantastic. The action is good and never gets old. There is a somewhat surprising amount of blood involved, for a mobile game especially. Concerned parents might wanna take a close look at this before letting their children under the age of 12 play it. The levels are fairly long, generally about 10-12 minutes in time length, at least for me. That's the only downside to this game; it's kind of hard to sit down and play for a couple minutes at a time. For that reason, I give it:
:4.5stars:
Performance and Graphics - When I first bought the app, I transferred it to my 3G iPod touch. I was stunned not only the level of detail, but also the super-smooth performance. At first I attributed this to the powerful processor inside the 3G touch, but I was even more stunned when I installed N.O.V.A. on my 1G iPod touch. Sure, load times were a good amount longer, but once the game was loaded, performance was still quite good. The frame rate dropped a bit, but it honestly wasn't that noticeable. I feel as the performance was a very conscious part of Gameloft's development of N.O.V.A. These days, there are some applications popping up that say they won't be very much useable on anything less than a 3GS or 2G touch, which seems to be a sign of laziness on the developer's part. Additionally, the graphics are very good. Lighting effects especially are good for an iPhone app so far, very reminiscent of Halo actually. For this, I give it:
:5stars:
Value - I rarely spend much money on apps, in fact, I've only spent $28 since the App Store began on applications. However, I found that N.O.V.A. was very much worth the asking price, especially since I got about 8 hours of gameplay total. There are more than a few games on the App Store that are both $9.99 and provide only an hour or two of fun, and then the party's over. Not so here, especially if it ever goes on sale.
:5stars:
Overall - I really enjoyed playing through N.O.V.A. It's a very enjoyable game, at a reasonable price. I'd quickly recommend it to anyone who loves a good action game. For this, I think it's worthy of a full 5 star rating.
:5stars:
Price - $6.99
Version - 1.1.0
Age - 12+
Link - App:iTunes Store (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/n-o-v-a-near-orbit-vanguard-alliance/id343596730?mt=8) Developer: N.O.V.A. - Sci-Fi FPS Game for iPhone/iPod Touch, Top First-Person Shooter, NOVA (http://www.gameloft.com/iphone/nova/?adid=101966)
Compatible with - Any iPhone or iPod touch
Review - As a Halo fan, I was immediately interested in N.O.V.A. after Gameloft's demo of the app during the iPod event last September. I was looking forward to playing it, but not paying the $6.99 price tag. Happily, I'm able to report that it's well worth the price; it's the only app that I'd even pay $10 for.
Gameplay - The gameplay really is quite fantastic. The action is good and never gets old. There is a somewhat surprising amount of blood involved, for a mobile game especially. Concerned parents might wanna take a close look at this before letting their children under the age of 12 play it. The levels are fairly long, generally about 10-12 minutes in time length, at least for me. That's the only downside to this game; it's kind of hard to sit down and play for a couple minutes at a time. For that reason, I give it:
:4.5stars:
Performance and Graphics - When I first bought the app, I transferred it to my 3G iPod touch. I was stunned not only the level of detail, but also the super-smooth performance. At first I attributed this to the powerful processor inside the 3G touch, but I was even more stunned when I installed N.O.V.A. on my 1G iPod touch. Sure, load times were a good amount longer, but once the game was loaded, performance was still quite good. The frame rate dropped a bit, but it honestly wasn't that noticeable. I feel as the performance was a very conscious part of Gameloft's development of N.O.V.A. These days, there are some applications popping up that say they won't be very much useable on anything less than a 3GS or 2G touch, which seems to be a sign of laziness on the developer's part. Additionally, the graphics are very good. Lighting effects especially are good for an iPhone app so far, very reminiscent of Halo actually. For this, I give it:
:5stars:
Value - I rarely spend much money on apps, in fact, I've only spent $28 since the App Store began on applications. However, I found that N.O.V.A. was very much worth the asking price, especially since I got about 8 hours of gameplay total. There are more than a few games on the App Store that are both $9.99 and provide only an hour or two of fun, and then the party's over. Not so here, especially if it ever goes on sale.
:5stars:
Overall - I really enjoyed playing through N.O.V.A. It's a very enjoyable game, at a reasonable price. I'd quickly recommend it to anyone who loves a good action game. For this, I think it's worthy of a full 5 star rating.
:5stars: