NOVA-111

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 21
  3. Negative: 8 out of 21
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  1. FriedConsole
    Nov 5, 2015
    6
    When someone describes a game as “it has some good ideas”, you know you’re hearing the equivalent of being setup on a date with the matchmaker saying “he has a great personality”. “It has some good ideas” connotes a game isn’t going to be good but the person describing it that way doesn’t want to say it. Having said all that…Nova-111 has some good ideas.
    Watching shorts bits of    When someone describes a game as “it has some good ideas”, you know you’re hearing the equivalent of being setup on a date with the matchmaker saying “he has a great personality”. “It has some good ideas” connotes a game isn’t going to be good but the person describing it that way doesn’t want to say it. Having said all that…Nova-111 has some good ideas.
    Watching shorts bits of gameplay, you might think this is a strategy game or a rogue-like dungeon crawler but you would be very wrong. Nova-111 is actually a puzzle game. You might not even realize this through the first couple of hours because it starts off so slow and boring that by the time it gets interesting you realize there are almost always predefined ways to progress perfectly. The problem is that the save points are about 20-30 minutes apart which is not something you want from a puzzle game. Each level is broken up into four screens but you must complete all the screens with no option to save mid level. Dying will often have you repeat five minutes or more of gameplay to go back to the puzzle where you died.
    Each new enemy is like a new component to a puzzle when combined with other enemies. To achieve perfection on levels, you really need to use your brain, however, the game gives you the option to just take a few hits and brute force your way through to the end. This makes the game too easy and no incentive to solve the clever puzzles other than achieve a better grade at the end.
    For the most part this is a turn based game but it weirdly often has real time events that are incongruent with the rest of the game and simply doesn’t work. Many times I died taking a moment to solve a puzzle only to have to restart because something real time killed me. Upgrades are available to your ship but it really doesn’t affect much other than giving you the power to be even lazier and brute force your way through even more puzzles. The story is typical puzzle game fluff.
    I played through the game on PS4 and despite the occasional hard crash that would often cause me to lose 15 minutes of progress, it played fine. Since there is no cross-save, I only briefly played the Vita version but it ran perfectly.
    In summary, there is some fun to be had here and some clever and unique gameplay but it is surrounded with too much slogging boring stuff that I can’t recommend it. Maybe in the sequel it can be improved from a game you just want to be friends with to a love affair.    … Expand
  2. Kinokee
    Sep 3, 2020
    6
    A bunch of different mechanics but overall quite boring to play. I didn't mind the simple combat but there was something else missing. Yet what bothered me the most was each level being 3 stages where I couldn't select a particular one to replay. Missing one collectible in one of the stages means I needed to replay all three and gather each collectible for all 3 all over again. There'sA bunch of different mechanics but overall quite boring to play. I didn't mind the simple combat but there was something else missing. Yet what bothered me the most was each level being 3 stages where I couldn't select a particular one to replay. Missing one collectible in one of the stages means I needed to replay all three and gather each collectible for all 3 all over again. There's also no idea which of the three you missed the collectible and there are a lot of point of no returns on the map which are a pain when trying to explore. It feels more like a chore at that point.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. COGconnected
    Sep 9, 2015
    70
    It certainly is a solid game – albeit a short one at 3 levels – with a more deliberate, rather than twitchy, pace that will appeal to a certain slice of the gamer spectrum. For others the boredom may set in very quickly.
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  2. God is a Geek
    Sep 7, 2015
    80
    A unique blend of action and puzzle-solving that knows when to poke fun at itself.
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  3. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Aug 31, 2015
    65
    A witty sci-fi puzzle game that combines real-time with turn-based strategies. It achieves that blend well with a huge amount of mechanics and with the very entertaining commentary of Dr. Science accompanying you on your whole adventure.
    Read full review
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