N.O.V.A. 3 - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance

Developer: Gameloft
Genre: FPS/Shooter
Online: Yes
Multiplayer: Yes
Price: £4.99
Move to SD: Yes
Size: 17MB & 1.7GB Download
Compatibility:

About -

The most immersive and impressive sci-fi FPS franchise on smartphones is back! Fight for mankind's survival in the greatest space shooter on mobile devices. Fully Xperia Play Optimized too!!

Four months have passed since Kal ruined the Volterites' plans by sabotaging their war factories, and stopping the extraction of the Judger Artifacts. However, following the assassination of President Folsom, the government surrendered the colonies to the Volterite Protectorate in order to prevent civil war. Kal Wardin has been laying low since Folsom's death, but now he has received a desperate plea from Yelena to come to Earth. Once again, the hero must rise to save mankind!

 

Review

It's been quite a while since we've had a triple AAA grade title launch on Xperia PLAY.  We were definitely expecting this title to come out for Xperia S but were unsure if we were going to get the Xperia PLAY treatment.  But we did and it's awesome!

There is two versions of this game, a HD version for HD devices and a standard version for less powerful units like the Xperia PLAY.  Do not think for a minute though that this means the graphics on the PLAY version are not so good.  They are really good, maybe not as crisp as Dead Space but thats my personal opinion.  All of the shots we have used below ae from the HD version ofcourse.

Compared to previous NOVA titles, this one seems to be a lot better made.  Everything from the storyline, the map layouts and even the dialogue, its so much better.  I am usually one for skipping past the story line scenes as the voices and dialogue are just cringe worthy.  Like a high grade PS3 game though, I am enjoying them.  Perhaps Gameloft have finally matured into a top grade developer.  It is definitely my favourite for multiplayer, I have sometimes found myself playing for hours at a time sitting at my desk.  You will also find some vehicles in the multiplayer maps too, like armed jeeps & giant mechanical suits with mini guns.  Myself, I have experienced how useful these perks can be because I am useless at multiplayer Nova.  Jump in and rack up some kills before you get blown up... its pretty intense!

Going back to the campaign mode though.  Rather than seeing the generic spaceship interia and alien worlds, NOVA 3's battles take place on Earth.  Kinda cool, it's like Modern Combat but with aliens.  I did mention earlier but the story line appears to be a lot stronger than previous editions, although we are still yet to complete this.  Mainly because of playing online so much.  :)

We have managed to find some glitches on this game though.  When playing on multiplayer maps, we have sometimes found ourselves falling down little gaps which are not supposed to be there.  Gaps that are impossible to get out of, even with a jet pack.  If you do become victim to one of these gaps, there is a good side as it's a very sneaky camping spot (but we didn't tell you that).  As with pretty much the case with every Gameloft title, the analogues are not perfect for looking and turning around is a bit of a nightmare.

Overall I want to give this game a 9 but it would be too generous with what could have been done but I dont think an 8 out of 10 illustrates how good it is.  Let's give this game an 8.5 as it's brilliant and definitely one for the serious PLAY gamers.  By the way, if you ever see 'XperiaGamerUK' on Gameloft live... that is us, come play!