The N.O.V.A. series has been running a long time; since its first iteration in 2009, the N.O.V.A. francise has put players into a decently rich sci-fi universe and given them control of a simplistic first person shooter.
The key element of N.O.V.A. Legacy, and indeed all N.O.V.A. games, is simple gameplay. The series was designed, originally, as a more simplistic, portable Halo clone.
The controls are fairly standard for first person shooting games on mobile devices – control your movement with on-screen analog on the left, control your direction with the right side and fire your weapon using another button squeezed in either of the two locations.
Barring limited interaction with the environment, that’s about it for controls or UI – now it’s just about shooting and running through the level.[sc name=”quote” text=”However, the sheer frequency with which these obstacles appear in your path, as well as the break-neck pace you fly through the clouds, forces you to constantly try to avoid everything as fast as you can.”]
In-between levels however, you get the option to customize and upgrade your load out. This is where the meat of the game exists, in preparing your load out for each mission and ensuring you have the most recently upgraded parts. This will allow you to bring different weapons for different types of missions, ensuring your equipped the efficient way possible.
With all first person shooters on mobile however, there are going to be problems. Namely that actual aiming interface feels rather clunky and unwieldy.
It is a genuine challenge – for all first person shooters – to allow the player the autonomy and control of both their movement and aiming, as well as control over their firing. N.O.V.A. Legacy misses the mark here a bit by only allowing a slight trailing when aiming at the enemy.
Trailing in this context means the auto-aiming feature. For many games, they will try to lock you on to an enemy when you are roughly looking at them. In N.O.V.A. Legacy, however, the auto-aim feature only allows you to somewhat trail your weapon towards them, forcing you to need to correct it as you fight.
This might not be a problem, except for the fact that the enemies are all moving and aiming and firing at you at a much faster rate. Unless you possess extremely nimble fingers, you’re going to struggle with trying to actually hit the enemy properly. Most of the time, you’ll only fire at their sides, damaging them only a little bit.
This frustration bleeds into the entire game, as pretty much the entirety of the gameplay is about shooting. When it feels as though you can’t get a decent shot in, it is understandable to start feeling frustrated.[sc name=”quote” text=”However, the sheer frequency with which these obstacles appear in your path, as well as the break-neck pace you fly through the clouds, forces you to constantly try to avoid everything as fast as you can.”]
N.O.V.A. Legacy suffers massively from this trailing auto-aim feature – the story is compelling enough for a Halo clone, and the graphics are roughly what you’d expect. The UI is not any worse than other games, but it’s the clunkiness of the gunplay that lets it down.
With some better gunplay, N.O.V.A. Legacy could certainly be something interesting; sadly, it’s just a bit too frustrating instead.
[review pros=”The storyline and base elements of the game are decent enough.” cons=”The gunplay feels awkward and clunky. The auto-aim feature doesn’t quite work as intended.” score=4]
[appbox appstore id1221919101]
[appbox googleplay com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftNOHM]
