Review
Early in the PlayStation days, 3D games and graphics went through a weird growth spurt. On the one hand, everything was being put in 3D even if it didn’t need to be, including text, which sucked. On the other hand, everyone thought Full Motion Video would be the end-all-be-all gaming upgrade. Having played with my LaserActive system for a while, I felt it was time to go back for a second look at Novastorm.
Like Silpheed on the Sega CD, the game is essentially in-game graphics laid over moving video footage. To fake the effect that the graphics are 3D, there are invisible damage barriers mapped over the ground and random objects to ‘dodge’. This situation is problematic because you’re so busy trying to move around the screen that you forget that this barrier is there. More than once I found myself almost dead due to slamming into the invisible ground.
The gameplay is fairly simple; you have no control of the gameplay – all you need to worry about is moving in 8 directions and shooting the bad guys. Enemy ships fly in from the sides and scale in from the center of the background. In most cases, this wouldn’t be so bad, except Psygnosis gave the Scavenger ship insanely large bullets and power-up options. This leads to your blind spot – you can not see in front of you. Several moments in the game, you can stay in place, hold down the fire button, and you’ll see your score rack up with no idea who or what you were shooting at.
Each of the stage bosses and the final boss are part of the full-motion video graphics. You destroy them by aiming for specific spots on the video and unloading your salvo. Rather creative in this department, bosses can range from a giant lion, squid, and base stations. Two discs long, the game has 4 stages broken into 4 sections each, half on each disc.
The game’s difficulty comes from the blind spot issues and that uneasy feeling of never knowing where the invisible barriers are. On Normal, I was done within 2 stages. On Easy, I plowed through the game on 2 ‘continues’ (i.e. using the Stage Select) and barely survived the final boss. There are moments in the final stages where you will take an ungodly amount of damage for no reason – there’s just no way to avoid the bullets and barriers at the same time.
With the adjusted difficulty and a Level Select to help you keep going, Novastorm is a pleasant guilty pleasure, if nothing more. Those looking for investment won’t find it here, as the game is no more than an hour-long tops, but it does have a nice arcade aspect to it. It’s fun to go back to every once in a great while, but not one you’ll tell your friends about years from now.
The Good
- Excellent CG Footage
- Decent FMV Actor
The Bad
- Confusing Hit Detection
- Difficulty spikes caused by said issue
Final Score: 6 / 10 – Good
Like Silpheed on the Sega CD before it, Novastorm is a blast to play at first sight, but once the wow of FMV footage wears off, it’s a competent shooter with difficulty issues.
Novastorm only hides one secret so far.
