N.O.V.A. made some pretty big waves when it was first released for the iPhone because of it's promise to bring an amazing first person shooter experience to the iPhone, something that had never truly been accomplished. The game was supposed to be similar to games like Halo and for the most part accomplished it's goal. But the small screen space and lack of physical controls made it near impossible to have complete control, something necessary in this genre.
GameZone's James Pikover writes,
"NOVA HD is a step forward for iPad gaming. It proves that even a hardcore, FPS can be done on the portable console and play better than any previous FPS found on the PSP or DS. It’s a graphical achievement, and it’s a launch title no less. Sure, the plot is paper thin and the campaign is short at 5-6 hours, but for the price and the console, you’ll be hard pressed to find anything better."
Now this already makes it look worth the upgrade to an iPad. I´ll be watching this with interest......
The game features a few iPad specific control mechanics. You can toss a grenade with a two finger swipe, and adjust the size of the map to see more of it by pulling on the highlighted edge. Also included is a special targeting system for multiple enemies when using the rocket launcher.
Pocket Gamer:
When facing a seemingly insurmountable task follow former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's advice: don't retreat, reload.
Gameloft has done just that with readers' choice iPhone game of the year N.O.V.A., redeploying the tightly tuned first-person shooter to iPad.
Confronted by the challenge posed to its controls by the larger screen and different ergonomics of the device, N.O.V.A. HD doesn't retreat - it's loaded up with new features to try and combat our potential control concerns.
