Nova Drift review - "A challenging roguelike space shooter"

• Fast-paced space battles
• Tons of upgrades to unlock
• Play multiple challenge modes at once for a deeper challenge

Nova Drift is a mobile arcade space shooter that takes the classic gameplay of Asteroids and adds a roguelike twist. Continuously evolve your ship to take on tougher alien foes in this simple but sweet arcade experience.

Nova Drift is a brilliant Space Shooter

In this vibrant space shooter, your goals are simple: upgrade your ship and dodge enemy attacks while also taking out enemies as you rack up points. You’ll also need to avoid asteroids, comets, and singularities as they appear.   If you’re sucked into a singularity, you’ll take damage. However, you’ll emerge from the other side as long as you have enough health to take the hit. Avoiding singularities can be tricky since they’ll pull you in if you don’t keep moving, but move too fast and you may appear on the other side of the screen, which can put you directly in the black hole's path.

Each time you level up, you’ll have several upgrades to choose from. Your first few upgrades each round will focus on your ship's gear, while later upgrades unlock and upgrade mods. Gear includes your ship’s weaponry and shield. Split Shot unleashes an array of bullets that fan outward, while Pulse unleashes an electromagnetic blast.

Use Mods to Improve Your Ship in Nova Drift

Most mods improve your ship. For instance, the Adrenal Module mod lets you deal increased damage when you’re injured. Regeneration lets your ship repair itself faster, while Velocity increases projectile velocity and weapon damage.   Then there are mods like Drones, Ally, and Mines, which can be discharged every so often. No matter your ship preferences, it’s always good to have at least one of these external buffs to help with crowd control.

Once unlocked, you’ll have a chance to unlock upgrades for these abilities. For example, with turrets unlocked, you have a chance to unlock War Machine, which improves the rotation and rate of fire for turrets. There are multiple upgrade paths for your ally. Choosing Guardian lets your ally repair other allied constructs, while the Interceptor upgrade increases your ally ships’ speed.

Starting out, you’ll only have access to practice mode. However, the more you play, the more new game and challenge modes you’ll unlock. Among the available modes are Practice, Daily Challenge, and Wild Metamorphosis.

Turn On Wild Metamorphosis Mode For an Extra Twist

Perhaps my favourite, Wild Metamorphosis mode, unlocks less predictable Wild mods. The Hypermetabolism wild mod boosts ship regeneration by 60 per cent, but reserves 15 per cent of your hull, which can't be healed. Conversely, Wild Mod Heavy Caliber sacrifices projectile velocity for increased projectile size and damage. These special mods add a deeper level of challenge to this arcade experience.

You can activate multiple challenge modes at once, which increases your score and experience bonus. Hostile Universe challenge mode makes comets, asteroids, and singularities appear more frequently. Elite Enemy, on the other hand, increases your chances of running into Elite and Champion enemies.

After each round, you’ll be asked to type your initials, which will appear on the scoreboard with your score—a fun nod to the arcade games of yore that inspired Nova Drift.

Nova Drift Features Arcade-like Controls

The touch controls for Nova Drift took me some time to get used to. On the lower left side of the screen are two arrows, which you’ll use to change the direction your ship is facing. On the lower right side of the screen are buttons for moving your ship and firing at enemies. At first, I found the controls a bit challenging. However, as I got used to the controls, I began to appreciate how well they emulate those found in old-school arcades. If you’re not a fan of rotating the ship with the arrows, you can replace it with a virtual joystick by going into settings.

Nova Drift is a gorgeous space shooter with tons of upgrades and modes to unlock. You’ll enjoy familiar space shooter gameplay intertwined with strategic ship building.

While the controls take some time to get the hang of, they offer a more authentic arcade-style experience than a typical virtual joystick. With stylish graphics, a plethora of ship upgrades to unlock, and multiple modes with which to test your ship piloting prowess, Nova Drift is a rather engaging arcade roguelike worth exploring.