The news of Halo finally coming to PlayStation made quite a stir, which reminded of this clone or some might say a total ripoff.
N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance is a first person shooter developed by Gameloft. For those who are not familiar Gameloft is the mobile game subsidiary of Ubisoft (yeah I know yikes!). Primarily Gameloft developed and published the mobile “ports” of all well known Ubisoft titles such Rayman, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Assassins Creed and so much more as well as some original series such as the MMORPG Dungeon Hunter series which is kinda Diablo clone if you ask me and that Burnout ripoff Asphalt series, there’s more that I haven’t mentioned but most of them were kinda clones of an existing popular franchise.
Some of this game’s elements are heavily inspired by then Microsoft exclusive Halo, from the protagonist wearing powered armor to his AI companion.
Meet Cortana…..I mean Yelena your AI advisor aka your radio buddy who constantly tell you that your comrades are getting their butt fried by the enemy.
You play as Master Chie……I mean Captain Kal Wardin a retired Colonial Marine officer who’s re-enlisted to investigate a Marine Cargo ship after the Federal Army lost contact with it.
Once onboard you will find out that the ship occupied by the Xenos(the alien baddies) and it’s up to you to stop them.
The story isn’t really something to write home about but it’s not that bad either. It’s like your typical action hero story where they task a loose a cannon to do a certain job and put the blame on him if things go south add a little conspiracy on the side, and call it a day.
Honestly it’s not story that got me glued in but the gameplay. It’s probably one of the few good fps on the PSP though seriously we only got handful of on the system.
Gameplay wise your are identical to fps games on the PSP where you move with the joystick and aim with the face button (because of the handheld’s lack of second joystick). The graphics are decent though like most fps on the system you’ll only get 30 frames per second max at this game though if you’re playing this through emulation there’s a CWC cheat that will enable you to run this game up to 60fps, provided your device is powerful enough.
Another thing I liked about this game is you are not confined on using guns. As the game progresses you’ll gain access to some weapons and once you acquired you can cycle through it and use wherever as long as have enough ammo. Weapons consist of your default 8 bullet per clip peashooter of a pistol which has unlimited ammo, the old reliable assault rifle, a shotgun for those close and personal shots, a sniper rifle for those “one hit deletes”, a bazooka/rocket launcher or whatever it is that makes those baddies go boom when they got hit and the X Buster…..ooops sorry I mean an Ion blast that enables you to fire those “charged” shots like MegaMan.
I’m a Angel with a shotgun. Fighting ‘til the war’s done. I don’t care if heaven won’t take me back!Aside from making Swiss cheese out of every enemy you’ll there are puzzle segments to break to the monotony. These puzzles come as somewhat a hacking mechanics to open certain doors in order to progress and open up some supply crates containing some ammo.
The game is relatively short, it’s about 3-5 hours of average playing time for a full playthrough but there’s this achievement list which you do if your the completionist type. Tasks consists of completing a level on hard mode using only a pistol, getting hit by a certain enemy projectile multiple times, surviving an onslaught with little health and so on.
This is one of the few mobile games that got ported to the PSP via the PlayStation Network. It’s initially released for Apple devices running on iOS and later released to the PSP and PS3.
I almost forgot to mention that this game has multiple endings, two in fact and it will be triggered by how you obey certain orders. During playthrough there will be times that you’ll be given a choice to go straight to your objectives or stay away for a bit and disobey some direct orders. Now that’s replay value up there.
This maybe a niche even somewhat generic release compare to some titles on the PSP but that doesn’t deny the fact that’s it’s a decent game somewhat on par with some of its contemporaries on the system.
So if you’re looking for some fps action that doesn’t give a headache figuring out what’s going on story wise this is one of them.
Again thank you very much for spending time with this cringe yapping of mine.
This is Stingy Perry signing off.
Pros
- + Decent storyline, detailed graphics and tight controls plus some multiple endings for replay value.
Cons
- - Short and very straight forward
8
Gameplay
Short but definitely action packed with the right amount pacing.
7
Graphics
It’s not spectacular but not dull either just enough to get you immersed with the gameplay.
7
Story
It won’t be winning any awards but it’s decent to convey the lore.
7
Sound
It not mind blowing but it’s good enough.
7
Replayability
Multiple endings and achievements for the completionist, need I say more?
8
out of 10
Overall
If you’re an FPS fan this game is worth a playthrough Halo clone or not and don’t be deceived by it modest presentation.
