Nova-111 (PC) Review

Not one, not two, but 111 scientists have been trapped inside a strange-looking maze world, and they probably aren't alone. Indeed, hidden amongst the surreal architecture, flying rubble, and weird fauna of this, otherwise beautiful and dreamy underworld, are numerous creatures - and a variety of traps to add to the fun. Thankfully, the protagonist of this story, a yellow… cube-something, hides more than meets the eye inside its small size. That isn't to say that this hostile environment isn't a tough nut to crack, though.

Dr. Science will be the first one to go aboard this sci-fi Swiss-knife, and from the moment he does so he won't shut up! He is supposed to be the one that will help with the gameplay mechanics, and he does, yet his main mission is probably making bad puns and silly jokes all...the...time. Then again, this is a long and - nasties and scientists aside - lonely quest, not to mention that ignoring him is a piece of cake since he has no voice. Something feels strange, however. While this clearly starts as a turn-based experience, it turns out that time isn't exactly something clear in here.

Each action equals one turn. That seems to be the rule for everyone. When approaching an enemy, for example the first one, which is a flying pink… chicken, it will get somewhat irritated and start his attack routine, and then the "hero" will just have to back up one step to avoid its hit. Unsurprisingly, there are some things that don't like following the rules. Cheaters include pillars that fall when something passes bellow them, critters that leech life, jellyfish-like monsters that explode, and many, many more, all in real-time.

This turn-based/real-time hybrid sounds strange, yet the result is far from disappointing or hard to grasp. This system's main strength lies in how it transforms what would otherwise be just another been-there-done-that puzzler, into something that requires both a strategic way of playing, as well as the ability to make quick decisions. The player, for instance, can take advantage of the various real-time hazards in order to, A, start one up, and, B, manipulate the enemy into taking damage from it.

To spice things up, numerous power-ups can be found; power-ups that enable shooting a laser, teleportation, and even time-freezing. As expected, these can't be used indefinitely, since they use 'Science' power, which replenishes after a certain number of turns. Additionally, hidden around the place are health and Science fragments that increase each respective stat when enough are gathered - and, taking the bosses into account, they will be needed.Summing up: the concept is easy to understand, very original, and, thankfully, lots of fun, and yet it feels as if something is missing.

First of all, exploration isn't really that exciting, since it's mostly a matter of knowing what path to follow, rather than searching around for hidden, or hard to reach, areas. The biggest flaw, however, is that, while new levels usually introduce a new element - power, obstacle, or enemy - things get boring way too soon. Why? For starters, the various problems that will be faced aren't really that challenging to really make anyone feel involved, and, finally, some of them are used more than once, to the point of being far too often. The only real challenge in Nova-111 is speed-running for leaderboard rankings, but other than that, the puzzle genre has seen much better.