Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 4/10
- Offline: 10/20 (80/200)
- Online: 10/20 (120/200) Can also be done over Wifi.
- Approximate amount of time to 200: 30+ hours (8-12 hours if you spend around $20).
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Number of missable achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: Windows Phone 8 ONLY (1 GB RAM Required).
Introduction:
N.O.V.A 3 is another impressive first-person shooter from Gameloft. Following the never-ending trials and tribulations of Kal Warden, N.O.V.A. 3 continues the story as Warden is yet again recalled into action, this time to the ruins of San Francisco to aid an old friend. The graphics are the main selling point of this game. The gameplay gets a little repetitive, moving from one objective marker to the next across the game's entire single-player campaign. It will without doubt remind you a little bit of the Halo series, but that is not a bad thing. The controls can be frustrating at times on the smaller devices, but overall they offer a solid experience. The game also boasts full multiplayer support online and over Wifi. The online community is routinely less than a couple at any given time and the servers are downright bad, so don't get too excited about taking your skills online to prove yourself. Currently the game is listed at $6.99 in the Windows Phone Store.
Step 1: Single-player campaign (10 for 120 ):
The single player campaign consists of 10 missions that get progressively harder. You must complete all of them. There are no difficulty-related achievements, which is good in theory, but that is actually because there is no difficulty setting at all. The game is rather forgiving in checkpoints, and most of the achievements are easy. A majority can be completed by replaying some of the easier levels. The last of the campaign achievements requires that you purchase all the upgrades. This will take around 10 hours of grinding to earn enough credits to do so. See the guide for more information.
Step 2: Multiplayer (10 for 80 ):
The online multiplayer community in this game is already dead. With that said, your best bet is to find other players to boost with. See THIS thread for other players looking to boost. However, the servers are very unreliable, kicking any and all players from the game at will. Even getting to the online multiplayer menu within the game can be impossible at times. Most of the achievements only require you to find one other partner, but the "Against All Odds" achievement will require two others. The "Fly Swatter" achievement may require you to spend another $12 to unlock. See that specific achievement for more information. With no server issues (unlikely), you should be able to knock most of these out in a couple of hours or less.
Conclusion:
N.O.V.A 3 is actually a very good shooter. The campaign is meaty for a phone game, but the lack of an online crowd and the added server issues really makes the entire multiplayer half of the game a fail and essentially unplayable. The achievements are not too bad, but you will definitely need to set-up a boosting session with a couple other players. The game is quite a grind unless you spend the additional cash. If you spend the $12 or find someone with a jetpack that will let you kill them, you can cut out 10 to 15 hours of multiplayer boosting. If you pay the $7 for campaign credits, you can cut out another 6 to 10 hours of single player grinding.
[x360a would like to thank Arsenic 17 for this Roadmap]