It really does feel like when all else fails, it’s best to build a roguelite. Or a roguelike for that matter. We care not which.
And that feeling seems to be most prevalent in the shooting scene, as players rinse and repeat, dying and continuing forevermore. Picking up only the merest of resources as they go.
We come to Nova Strike then with a bit of a cynical head on. This is a vertically scrolling roguelite shooter, which will task you with trying to get further and further with every run, learning from your mistakes, making the most of earned skills.
A little bit of us sighed when the chance came to take in a run. Amplified by the second and third attempts. It got no better after a few more plays. But slowly and surely Nova Strike clicked, to the point where we enjoyed the blast, urged on by new opportunities. In fact, we got a teeny tiny bit addicted. That’s not to say it hasn’t absolutely kicked our ass.
Nova Strike is a simple game. Taking charge of a tiny little ship, it’s your job to navigate your way north, up the screen in order to reach an end portal. In your way are enemies, as you’d expect. Shooting them rewards in terms of cash and resources, both of which can be used to enhance your ship, your weaponry, your shields and more.
Ship control is decent. Flying around the procedurally generated screens can be a joy, dodging the hundreds and thousands of bullets that come your way. With a shield that is diminished with every hit, and a health bar which drains even more rapidly, Nova Strike is generic shoot ‘ em up fun. Reflexes entirely dictating your success.
That ship starts off as a weedy little gunner. A hold of the A button fires out an unlimited supply of front facing bullets, each of which needs to hit the target. Further weapons come about, picked up on the fly, attaching themselves to your little ship. Again, you’re looking at lasers, homing missiles, electrifying fields and the like. All are limited in use, with a couple of options accessible at any one time. Don’t expect to be wowed by their presence but we have become a little partial to a superb energy arc which is brilliant for placing directly over opponents, draining their health.
But no matter how kitted out you become, you’ll discover death in Nova Strike. And you’ll discover it very frequently. This is a roguelite though, so that is to be expected. And it’s here where those gathered resources can be pumped back into your ship, readying you for another crack at the waves of enemies and big bad bosses.
There are strategic calls to make here though. See, your ship is limited in terms of chip slots, in which you can attach various add-ons . And in further twists, whilst multiple slots are available, opening up a range of playstyles, you can only install one of each type. Weapons, movement, stealth, repair, firing and so on. Maxing out your ship slots is key, as is attaching various one-shot options to the triggers and bumpers. These come in handy when all hell breaks loose, leaving you to deliver further damage in order to rebuild those resources.
Each of those comes with its own slot requirements. Basically the better the Chip, the more slots it’ll take. It’s up to you to mix and match, switching in and out ideas and plans.
Make a bit of progress and you’ll fast have more pieces of equipment than you know what to do. Throw in mid-stage ‘pop up shops’ that do similar but require cash in return, and things can fast get exciting. You’ll want to spend that cash too – unlike resources, they don’t carry over upon death.
Levels are split into short fire chapters, each over in just a minute or two. There’s a choice to make at the end of each, as Nova Strike offers up additional goodies; more coins, extra resources, a bonus weapon and such. It’s a nice little decision to have to make, and we’re quite partial to a bonus Chip or five, even if we’ve found it rare to make too much of an impact on proceedings.
Running a big boss at the end of any level means you’ll want to have ensured that as many resources have been dropped onto your ship as possible, if only to give yourself the best chance of coming through unscathed. Just be prepared to take some serious pain. The bosses in Nova Strike are multi-layered, bullet-hell monstrosities that take some doing to get the better of.
It’s here where we’ve got issues with Nova Strike. While it plays really well, ship movement is concise and the whole equipment and resources ideas are clever, this is a brutal old beast. We’ll admit that we got to a point where we realised we’d had enough of trying to blast through, being beaten back and left to rinse things over and over again. And whilst those early moments failed to click, only for enjoyment levels to reach a peak, it wasn’t long before they started dropping again.
Roguelites by their very nature urge you to play over and over. They tempt you with nuggets, asking you how far you want to go in order to taste them. But the balance has to be spot on; you’ve got to want to be teased. Not left frustrated. And on a few too many occasions, Nova Strike has left us bereft. Hell, we’ve even chucked the controller the way of our kids to see if their younger fingers and faster reflexes were more of a match for Nova Strike’s brutality, only to have it placed firmly back in our own hands a little later.
The thing is, for Nova Strike to succeed, it needs to be a little less demanding. It needs to reward just a tad more. It needs to ease off every once in a while, letting the player feel like they are in control. Perhaps it’s the random nature of how the levels and chapters have been put together, but there’s little room for manoeuvre with this one.
That’s not to say we won’t keep going back to Nova Strike. The premise is one to love, the visuals can feel neat and at times the whole Chips and equipment systems excel. But at others, the constant beatdown is a bit too much to take.
