iPad Game Impression: N.O.V.A. HD

We’ve all heard about how great N.O.V.A. - Near Orbital Vanguard Assault was on the iPhone. If you haven’t, in short it is the closest experience to Halo that you are going to find outside of an Xbox. With that in mind, N.O.V.A. HD was my first game purchase on the iPad.

How’s the story? Eh, it’s alright. Typical, about sums it up. The voice acting is beyond cheesy, but these aren’t going to be what gamers are going to be looking for during the launch of a new platform like the iPad. They are going to want a game to show off to their friends, so that means it has to look gorgeous and control well enough that their noob friends will be able to play it too. This is exactly what N.O.V.A delivers.

Graphically N.O.V.A. is one of the prettiest games on the mobile market. Luscious greenery inhabits the landscape, enemies are varied and vibrant, and the multiplayer levels will send you to one of five exotic locales. The only other titles that may give it a run for its money are a few of the top tier racing titles like Need For Speed Shift and Real Racing HD.

Alright, so what it looks pretty? Any gaming system that is ~10” and held in your hands is going to be visually dazzling. Yeah, sure, I get that, so let’s move on to the controls. They work exactly as you’d want them to. I feel as if I’m being a bit blunt in this review, but the reality is that N.O.V.A.’s control scheme functions exactly as it should. The digital analog stick on the left controls walking and by touching anywhere on the right side of the screen controls your camera and aiming crosshair. It’s that simple. If you’ve played games with similar controls before and had a hard time with them, then they didn’t get what N.O.V.A. did to the controls right. Every FPS game on the App Store should utilize their control scheme because it flows fluidly and makes dual analog shooters feel as natural as any console gaming controller.

I’m not going to get into the addictiveness of their local and online multiplayer or go into any detail on how if future App Store games are as good as N.O.V.A. the gaming market is about to change is big ways because that’s not what people care about during the launch of a new platform. They want to know which game will blow my friends mine the most and I promise you N.O.V.A. HD is that game.

With titles like N.O.V.A. HD along with the plethora of other AAA titles the iPad App Store seems to be shaping into the “premium App Store” that Apple eluded to a ways back. If you are looking for a game to fool around with on launch week, N.O.V.A. is your best bet. Not only will it amaze your friends with its graphics and control simplicity, you will actually have a blast playing it!