Nova 111 Review for Xbox One

What happens when you mix turn based strategy game with real-time action? You get Nova 111. The game released for Xbox One 4 days ago, and its pretty incredible. You play as a Ship which explores the world to rescue scientists by dodging, or smashing the enemies which come in way, and port out when its done.

Game Play:

Every world has three stages, and its passing through them is like going through the cave. You either use the left stick or d-pad to move up, down, left and right.  As you start, the only way to knock out anything is by smashing. Be it rock or be it an enemy, you take it off by hitting on it. Like old games, you have 4 lives which are represented with 4 short red lines.

As the game moves forward, the ship adds up weapons. You get short-range lasers which charge up as you take next step, shields which helps you against one attack, Polybombs to stun enemies and take then down,  and then you can skip turns too. This adds to the advantage how you can take advantage, and decide your strategy to take down the enemy. At one stage, you will be able to reverse your steps, while the enemies stay. More like traveling back to time and then hitting your enemies from where they did not expect.

On each level, you get to meet a new enemy. First you get to meet “chompers” which are fairly easy to get rid of, but then comes new ones. One can shoot energy rings which takes next step when you do, some are real-time and suck life out of you. While some can throw fireballs on you. This whole thing gets really complicated when you have more types of enemies around added with natural hazards.

It’s easy, its complicated and you will enjoy playing it. Many a times I have made a retreat to charge up the laser, sometimes I have smashed head on and stayed alive with one life left, while sometimes, I have replayed the level because I messed up.

How is the control during gameplay ? Its Fluid and its precise. You miss and you are dead. No chances of slipping away just because you can hit those controls faster than others. This is why Turn Based games need to have solid strategy.

Do we have check points ? Yes and No. Every level and has three stages. To complete a level, you need to pass through all stages in one go i.e. you cannot turn off or quit the game and come back to start where you left. Great thing about the game is that there are many health upgrades available and you won’t die off quickly.

Is it Worth Buying?

It’s a great game for two reasons. One it’s simple which will attract a lot of casual users, and second the combination of Turn based + Real Time strategy is just brilliant. While the game does get little boring because the puzzle design repeats, type of enemies, powers you pick up and the straggly you decide, is sheer fun.

This is also a great game, if you wish to play with family. While there is no multiplayer, it’s a great game for kids. The game costs around $15 / Rs 940 and is worth an addition. Check out on the Xbox One store here.