Hey folks –
I’ll keep this one short – the NOVASTRIKE update is finally out. Again, highlights of the update include trophies, tamed difficulty modes, customizable controls, XMB playlist support, and more.
You can also read about the NOVASTRIKE trophy requirements on PS3 Fanboy’s trophy page.
I’d definitely like to thank QA, developer support, and my account manager – they were very responsive in helping us get the update out this week. As always I’ll be reading and responding to comments here.
57 Comments
hey Kevin, i like nova alot. its very fun and now with the trophies and XMB playlist im gonna play this S**T out of this game lol. well i was wondering is there a way to make the ship stop? lol cuz i keep on moving nonstop. i would love to controll my spaceship. well gotta go. plz get back thnx.peace
Heya Mxdeftone. Regarding making the ship stop – no, it has a fixed minimum velocity (similar to older games like Time Pilot). Of course you have the afterburner for speed bursts, but I also know that isn\’t your question. :) That fixed velocity and the fact that most weapons shoot in the direction the ship is flying is obviously something that clearly differentiates us from the current dual-stick shooters. I\’m glad you\’re enjoying it, though. If you have any other questions please let me know, and thanks for the support.
Kevin,
It’s interesting that you mention Time Pilot. That game was the style of shooter that Novastrike reminded me of. I had overlooked the initial release of Novastrike, but the news of the game update made me pursue more info about it. Though I would have loved to try a demo first, (I now understand one will be in the works) I made a blind purchased and enjoyed what I bought.
Your previous post about the history of making this tile was an interesting read. Thanks for posting the info. I do quite enjoy industry inside baseball.
Hi there, Shrewder. I\’m glad you\’re enjoying the game despite not having been able to try a demo first. And regarding the earlier post you referenced – if you liked that you might enjoy this:
http://www.psu.com/NovaStrike-Post-Mortem-Interview–a0003932-p0.php
However, if you don\’t make it through that I certainly understand. It\’s easy for me to be verbose. :) Thanks again for the support, though.
so kevin what other games have u guys made so i can buy them!sorry before novastike u guys was not known well.i have taken notice and i want to help u guys become a success so let me know what games u guys at tiki had made before so i can buy it!!!
That\’s a pretty awesome gesture, erico316. That said, NOVASTRIKE is our first released title (although we\’d love to finish our original title we were developing – Galaxy\’s End). Seriously, though, thanks for the kind sentiment. And I hope you\’re enjoying NOVASTRIKE.
Tiki Games rock!
Thanks, cell989.
your right man. it does seperate this game, giving it a unique style of shooting. plus i love the music support. i will work very hard to earn these trophies. (im after the hidden ones lol)
Hi again, Mxdeftone. Cool, good luck!
Ok Im ready to talk about the new novastrike. Previously I was not able to get past the second level on recruit. Now with the new tweaks I was able to finish the game on the soldier difficulty. I’m not sure if this is more thanks to the difficulty of the game itself being tweaked over all, but it seems like its much easier mostly because of the much improved controller layout. Switching between weapons directly with the face buttons is much more effective than having to cycle through them one at a time. I think certain parts of the game are still pretty difficult, like destroying the searer battleship before it reaches and annihilates your friendly bases. As of now I have earned 75% of the trophies and I have already begun playing the game again on the hardcore difficulty, which even though is supposedly just as hard as before, seems much easier. Like I said, I think this is due to the greatly improved control scheme. I had alot of fun playing through the game this time and I will definately reccomend Novastrike to my friends. Thanks Tiki Games for standing by your product. Even though the game was kind of a lemon at first, I knew it had potential, and its excellent that the developers of even small games like this are willing to stand by their product and improve it. I realise that not all developers would have done that, so I really have a new gained respect for Tiki games. Although I didn’t expect it, I would have thought that we would get something really special from the guys who helped worked on Planetside (that’s correct, right?) Thanks again, and buy Novastrike if you’ve been considering it!
Hi Wipe3ou7. Thank you for your detailed feedback. And yeah, the customizable controls definitely help along with the tamed difficulty (particularly with RECRUIT and SOLDIER).
I\’m happy to hear you\’re able to enjoy the game now (as well as beat it). Thanks again for the post.
If anybody wants to know the hidden trophys they are ;
Don’t You Die On Me
The friendly rebel Heralder must survive through the end of Khara (Stage 3)
Abrupt Ending
Prevent the Harbinger from reaching its final destination.
Perfectionist
Finish the game without failing a single objective on any difficulty
Now to get the harder setting trophies im still struggling bad.
What the heck, Azmo85. Who gave you permission to post all the hidden trophy requirements.
Consider yourself banned.
Just kidding. :) If you need any tips ask away.
azmo85 thnx man i will inform my friends on tha hidden trophies. i cant get pass the 3rd stage. but i was wondering (srry if im buggin kevin) the trophy for 500 ships destroyed, is it kill 500 ships in one stage or 500 added all up in completed stages? thnx again tiki games rules!!
Hi Mxdeftone – don\’t worry, you won\’t bug with me questions. Regarding the Destroyer Trophy (and the other cumulative stat-based trophy – Ground Sweeper) – your progress is saved as you progress through the stages.
So for Destroyer (what you cited) if you pass Stages 1 and 2 and save the game then quit and continue later – you\’ll still just need to make up the difference. So if you killed 300+ in the first couple stages then reloaded the game you\’d only have 200 to go.
Hope this helps.
A friend of mine unlocked i been tryiong over and over i basically lost one objective on mission 3 and lost the trophie i will give it another crack later on today no doubt.think to get all these hidden trophy i can only do on recruit as the other settings far too hard for me i still end up dying :(
Hi Azmor85. Sorry to hear that – I\’m certainly happy to provide tips if you have any detailed questions.
Mr McCann if I may make a suggestion; changing secondary weapons is still not quite fast enough, I like to quickly switch from my shredder to the bomb and back quickly so that i can destroy ground targets in a single pass. its very hard to do this so I have found that its easier with shredder on X, bomb on O, vulcan on Sq, and spreader on Tri. But then I have to move other weapons to awkward buttons. I hope you can understand that. Anyway I think a simple and good solution for allowing quick selection of secondary weapons without sacrificing the ability quickly select primary weapons would be to include an option that lets you have everything bound to X, O, Tri, and Sq. Basically all the weapons on the dpad would be on those buttons also in the same order, but to select them you would hold R1. So for instace X is Vulcan, but R1+X is Shredder. O is spread, and R1+O is bomb, etc. Is there any way you could add this?
Hi Wip3ou7 – it\’s something we definitely gave thought We had something else bound to R1 that we ultimately removed (it wasn\’t useful enough), but then we went straight into submission. But I\’ll definitely give it thought – it\’s a completely understandable request. Hope you\’re still enjoying the game in the meantime.
Basically include a bindable “ALT” key
I’ll be purchasing this Game as soon as I get home. Thanks for the Update.
Hi FDPfrankie – thanks, appreciate the support – hope you enjoy it. :)
;contiued from 161 and 162;
This would also eliminate the need to take your left thumb off of the L analogue stick when changing secondary weapons. This is how I would really perfer to play NovaStrike. Thanks for listening Kevin!
Nice update, the trophies are too easy to get though. Really they should be achivements you can be proud to show off, not something granted during normal play.
I played for only a few minutes and already unlocked 3 trophies, as much as I would hate to have practically unobtainable trophies, handing them out without real accomplishment is just as bad.
I support Tikigames, and updating Novastrike is a great move in my book, but if your next game has trophies that anyone can get blindfolded, well I will definitely think twice about getting it.
Hi thedevilsjester. I certainly understand where you\’re coming from, but at the same time I looked at this as a $10 game – I didn\’t want folks really having to grind for trophies.
That said, I think you\’ll find if you get the Unstoppable (beating the game on VETERAN) and Legenndary (beating the game on HARDCORE) – well, you\’ll definitely be in the minority with achieving those.
Again, I do know what you\’re saying, but at the same time I want most trophies to be sommething players can achieve. Even though NOVASTRIKE is a $9.99 game, I didn\’t want to relegate the majority of trophies just to players that are really experienced at top-down shooters. But I still included Unstoppable and Legendary to help distinguish the players that really blast their way through. There\’s no way to fake your through those difficulty settings.
Anyhow, I hope you understand – with these smaller-scale games we\’re far more limited in the number of trophies we can have, and I don\’t want customers that buy NOVASTRIKE to only be able to get a couple. That said, thanks for supporting the game.
It’s late – regarding my response to post 165 – there’s no way to fake unlocking trophy. Dumb choice of words on my part. :) But the response was mostly to say I still reserved a few trophies for experienced shooter gamers, while reserving the majority for more casual gamers. Maybe I should go to bed.
And with the stellar grammar in the last post of mine, it’s definitely time to go to sleep…
Hey Kev how many trophys do you have?
Hiy tommycroning. I think I only have five (in the actual release version). I\’m not rushing to grab them all just yet as I\’ve had to earn them dozens of times internally for testing purposes. Heh. But I\’ve had some runs on HARDCORE (internally) where I managed to get all the trophies (perfectionist being pretty challenging on that difficulty).
TikiGames Rock! Kevin…You are the best man. I just D/Led the game and was waiting for this update to come out and I am pumped up. Im a big time “top down” shooter fan. I own Star Dust HD,EverydayShooter,1942 and even blast Factor so I was really pumped when I heard about Tiki patching this game with upgrades and trophies! I love how you guys stay connected to the players(On this Blog)and answer almost every post that comes your way. Is this game as big as Metal Gear Solid 4? No…But is it a blast to play and now with trophies a deeper game to get into? Yes! I will be looking forward to more games from you guys down the road and Im very impressed that this is but only your 1st game so far. Making games takes talent but it also is a great thing to have a developer that is connected and cares what the players want and ask for. Good job Tiki. By the way…Are you guys starting work on a second title? If so I cant wait!
Thank you for the compliment, Magnum357, and I\’m glad you\’re enjoying the game. We\’re presently not working on a second title. That said, I\’d love to finish our \”original\” game we were developing – a real-time strategy game for the PSP called Galaxy\’s End). Finishing that game would give me a lot of closure, and I still feel Galaxy\’s End was going to be a pretty solid game when we had to put it on hiatus and do NOVASTRIKE instead. But right now we simply don\’t have the financial resources to finish Galaxy\’s End. Hopefully someday, though. Appreciate the interest.
you have been really cool with all the comments that you have responded to so far. not many people have left feedback of how the game is playing so far. this game is still way to hard, I would hate to see how it was before! Im only playing in easy too. you should get 10 lives on EASY
how did this game get released on this difficulty? you want gamers to injoy your game. you should of made the easy difficulty easy. someone should of been fired over this. if not your just not doing your job.
Hi mag1cman. Sorry that you\’re still finding it frustrating – I\’m actually going to be putting up a short guide either later today or tomorrow. This initial guide is more weapon-oriented, but I\’m also looking into writing a more detailed walkthrough guide. Still, thiis initial guide will hopefully help folks better understand when certain weapons should be used. I\’ll post here when I\’ve finished it.
i don’t know why my posts won’t show up but either way.
You guys have made this game more enjoyable to me. I wasn’t able to past the first mission on the 2nd stage. Now i’m on recruiter it’s obviously easy but shtick it’s so much more enjoyable now. Thank you so much for releasing a patch like this. It just shows you really care about the people who bought your game.
I give you a tip of my hat..er..beanie since i wear that so much…lol..
Hi s0nlxaftrsh0ck – glad to hear it\’s more enjoyable now. Sorry about the frustration with the original release\’s difficulty.
Kevin a guide would be much appreciated. I’ve finally made it out of Khara2 (only lost 1 ship on Soldier difficulty) but now I can’t get past the Searer. I guess that’s why there is a trophy for bringing that beast down. :-)
Hello again, LCaruana. I\’m hoping to put the guide up later today. Hope it helps (again, this initial guide is just going over weapons for now). Nice job on Khara2, btw.
To me its like having a trophy that says “Get past the ‘Menu Screen'”. Thats really pretty pointless because everyone is going to make it past the menu screen, thats no challenge at all.
Trophies are for things that you manage to do above and beyond, that require skill, that give the players incentive to try and try again. They shouldnt be handed out like gold stars in a special ed class.(i.e. everyone gets them).
Sure you have a couple of trophies that are pretty tough, but then you have a decent amount that are given to you for no reason at all. The “destroy this type of ship” ones are the worst, you could have at least added some additional requirements. Maybe require that you kill the ship within some time limit that starts on the first hit, or many other possibilities that would have made them challenging.
Trophies are half the selling point of a game for me. Especially a short game. It gives me reason to play it over and over again, instead of running through it and never playing it again.
I hope that you consider this on your next project, like maybe making your RTS for the PSN?
Hi again, thedevilsjester. I guess we\’re going to differ in opinion here some. I know what you\’re saying, but there are a lot of casual gamers nowadays, and part of the reward I want to give them is to just advancing through the game. A lot of folks still find the game pretty challenging, so I wanted to make sure they got trophies along the way for making progress. You sound like you\’re pretty experienced at these games, so I\’m sure that getting the trophies isn\’t too hard for you in NOVASTRIKE.
All the trophies in NOVASTRIKE are based on progress of some kind, so I don\’t see anything wrong with rewarding players on that. And again, there are a few tougher ones where the more experienced gamers can really separate themselves.
I\’m not saying future games from us won\’t have more difficult trophies to achieve – they definitely will (and hopefully we\’ll be able to work on a larger game where we can have more trophies overall) – but we\’ll always have some just to reward players for progression in certain areas as well.
Im back! Grab The trophies that i have missed in mission 5 ( damned Searer ship )Abrupt Ending and the Perfectionist. Finished the Soldier mode ( easier after played recruit before) so, the only things left are finish the game in veteran and hardcore modes.
For someone that dont played 5 minutes of this game before the patch I think that im really liked of the game now. Thanks Kevin.
Hi again, JBruno. I\’m definitely glad you like the game now (and certainly it\’s nice to know you\’ve gotten more than 5 minutes out of it with the update). Sounds you\’re doing pretty well – VETERAN is definitely a step-up in terms of heavy action from SOLDIER, but I imagine you\’ll get through it. Then HARDCORE (which if you beat VETERAN is definitely feasible). Electro-Mines are your friends!
@LCaruana ,
I beat the Searer in soldier difficulty, because I missed it in the Recruit mode before the trophy.
Dont change your weapon, use the default armory combo ( that you have when you start the game ). Changing weapons in middle of combat let your ship open for enemmy atacks. Dont worry if the Searer doesnt appear damaged in the begin, your only worry must be avoid the side missels from the ship. After the first Island the ship begins to blowing up. Keep firing and avoid the missels, never trail the Searer in your back because of the power mines that cancel yours ship forcefield. Stay Always side by side and you will got this trophy belive me.
I got it in the second ( of three ) island.
I didn’t get a chance to play Novastrike pre-patch, but I must say that even on Normal difficulty, I’d have to restart the level maybe 5-10 times, especially the later ones. I really think your game could be better if it had a less frustrating way of dealing with player death–say, a checkpoint system after every objective.
I beat the game on Normal, but only after punching several holes in my wall. I tried the first mission on the hardest difficulty and was killed nearly instantly. I can’t imagine anyone beating the game on this difficulty. ONE life and when you die you start at the beginning of the level?! Why are you so punishing?
Please patch in checkpoints!
Hi ironfozzy – sorry that you had such a frustrating experience. We still are watching the feedback here, of course, so I appreciate you taking the time to post.
As to us being punishing – well, that certainly wasn\’t the intention (especially for RECRUIT and SOLDIER), but at the same time did want one extremely challenging mode (HARDCORE), which is why when we did the update we toned down VETERAN some, but at the same time introduced a higher mode – so the players that really wanted to separate themselves could.
Again, sorry you had the frustrating experience on SOLDIER, though.
Btw, I went ahead and wrote a Weapon Overview Guide and put in our website – it’s on the main page, the top link. Here’s the direct link to it:
http://www.tikigames.net/NOVASTRIKE/NOVASTRIKE_Weapons_Guide.pdf
Anyhow, I hope it helps some of you. Again, it’s not a walk-through – this one is more about when and where to use certain weapons. Honestly, it’s not my best writing by any shot (kind of tired), but I did want to get something up to try to help those that are still frustrated by the difficulty. And I feel understanding the weapons more is key to that.
This weapon guide helps a lot. I never would to know that the Disperser can hit a enemy so far away. I tried sometimes but many enemies are hit between my shot and the original target.
About this weapon specifically, the main problem for me is the low rate of fire, a increase in this case could be great, and become the use more enjoyable.
Other than my comments about trophies, I find the difficulty level of the game its self, perfect.
Let me elaborate. I am not a pro at top down shooters by any stretch of the word, yet I was able to nearly complete the game on Recruit (the easiest mode) almost without dying. As I would have expected from the easiest mode. (My only real deaths were from getting in front of an ally ship, that is very aggravating).
The only thing that I could wish for, related to the difficulty levels, would be an addition to the note about each difficultly level making it obvious what mode is intended as the “Normal” mode. Its hard to tell because some games just have Normal/Hard/Harder, and some have Easy/Normal/Hard, etc…
Hello again, the devilsjester.
Regarding the difficulty levels, basically what they are is:
RECRUIT = Easy
SOLDIER = Normal
VETERAN = Hard
HARDCORE = Very Hard
But yeah, I know the actual descriptions (when you highlight the difficulty modes) don\’t outright say this. Sorry about that. And I hope you\’re still enjoying the game, even though I know we didn\’t see completely eye to eye on the trophies.
I still enjoy the game very much. The only real game play element (other than the near instant death if you get in front of a big ally ship) that gets in my way is the ship turning.
You cannot seem to turn the direction you want just by a tap on the analog, you have to hold the direction, and releasing the analog often has my ship turned to some odd angle that wasnt even close to where I was or where I pressed on the analog.
Other than that, the game is great. Is there any plans for content expansions?
Hiya devlisjester – yeah, I know exactly what you\’re talking about regarding releasing the stick and having it go a bit off angle at times. It\’s something on our list I\’d like to look into more (as it annoys me at times, too).
The instant-death for getting rammed by capital ships – yeah, I know it can be severe. It\’s a tough thing to balance as we had it where it was tough to find a middle-ground – either it was too soft or too hard. In the end I leaned toward more deadly (as it was silly to have the ship pushed around by a capital ship), but I know it\’s still severe. I\’ve got a lof of things I\’d like to look into more, and the couple items you mentioned are on that list.
Thanks for the feedback.
Glad you\’re enjoying the game overall, though.
I finally got a chance to play it today; it’s very fun. Trophies and in-game music only made the experience better.
Hi bigd2510 – glad you\’re enjoying it. :)
hello i am just wonder if the us psn will see a demo of nova strike a demo= a buy from me because i wanna test out a level to see if it worth my money it just the way i know i am geting my money worth thank you i plan to get this game i just need a demo
The instant-death isnt so much of an issue because its avoidable, but that turning thing makes it to where I cannot play for too long because I have to constantly hold the analog, and that isnt comfortable after awhile.
Anyway I look forward to future patches, and would even purchase content updates (as long as there were not too many freebie trophies).
Sort of off topic, but is there any plans to finish your RTS and maybe port it the PS3 (PSN)? I can definitely see the RTS under the hood in NS, and think that we really need an RTS game on the PSN, and even though I really enjoy Pixel Junk Monsters, it doesnt really fill that need.
Hey again, thedevilsjester. Regarding Galaxy\’s End – it\’s something I\’m pretty regularly looking into to try and find a way to finish it. What I would like to ultimately do is finish the PSP version, but then do a PS3 version (but taking advantage of the PS3, of course). We spent a lot of money on the PSP version, so I\’d like to finish that. But I also would like to see it on the PS3. But I don\’t know if it will happen – although I\’d absolutely love to be able to do both versions. Thanks for the interest.
Hello
As one of the few europeans that has laid the paws on this little game, I can only say I am enjoying a lot, now there are a lot of people waiting for the release here in Europe, but was wondering about the Perfectionist Trophy, know the requirements, just wondering if – lets say you play Stage 1 and 2 flawless, misses out on the first chapter of Stage 3, and then restarts Stage 3 and continue to complete the game flawless – do you get the trophy or is it lost first time even if when restarted you do it perfect?
//WhiteWolf (7/16 Trophys)
Hi whitewolf_dk. Cool to hear you\’re liking the game (like your icon, btw). As far as Perfectionist goes – yes, what you said works. Perfectionist only measures progress toward the trophy when you advance to the next stage (saving the game) – not if you restart a stage from the stage summary (or ingame menu). Hope that clears things up for you. Good luck grabbing it.
If anyone’s still reading.
Everyone should buy this game, so I really don’t what to do this.
BUT
Visit http://www.pslevel.com to take part in a trivia contest if you would like a chance to win a voucher for NOVASTRIKE.
Hey Kevin M! Can you please shed some of your knowledge on my previous question I asked # 39…
Here it goes again:
Thanks for bringing the 2.42 update goodies to this game! IN-GAME MUSIC AND THROPHIES ROCK!
I will be buying this on payday!
One question though. Are you guys working on a multiplayer offline? co-op? PLEASE?
I want to play with my friends and bros!
Thank you again!
Hiya LN_MEXWARRIOR. I\’m glad you appreciate the update bringing trophies and XMB playlist support.
Now with regard to your multiplayer cooperative-play question – if we have the opportunity to do another significant update (like this last one) then I don\’t want to release it without cooperative-play. Having said that, I can\’t guarantee that right now. It\’s the top of our list for things we\’d like to add, but it\’s a sizable undertaking to do it right, and right now I can\’t promise it because we need to see how the game is selling (including the upcoming European release).
As much as I don\’t like saying this – if the cooperative-play is something you need to have in order to purchase the game – then don\’t buy it just yet. Because I simply can\’t say it will happen yet. It\’s kind of a catch-22 as we need more sales to have the possibility of doing it, but at the same time if it\’s a key feature that makes the buying decision then again – I don\’t know if it will happen.
I don\’t want to mislead you into picking the game up by simply saying \”It\’s high on our list!\” It is – it\’s the highest feature we\’d like to add – but at the same time we need to see how NOVASTRIKE continues to sell. We are an extremely small developer, and very financially strapped (and it\’s not my money – heck, it wasn\’t easy convincing the funding party to let me do this first update). And I haven\’t had a paycheck (voluntarily) in a ridiculously long time just so I can make sure my team is paid and keep this going. So I\’m sorry to disappoint you in this regard, but I do want to be straight about it.
Hey Kevin, I was playing Novastrike the other day and noticed under Trophies it says “Novastrike Trophies” instead of just Novastrike I was wondering if you will be correcting that with a simple patch? or whats the news on that.
@188
Its not as simple for a console developer to supply a patch to their end users as it is for a PC developer.
A PC developer has a free hand, and can make tiny little patches to their hearts content, while a console developer has to have the code submitted, approved and signed by Sony.
My point being that its unlikely that you will see a “simple patch” that addresses small things like that. Its more likely that small things will be rolled into a much larger patch (if ever).
@ Kevin
Dont let those publishers tell you that no one wants a RTS on the PSP, I know plenty of people that would jump on that without hesitation. Though I would prefer a version for the PSN simply because of trophies.
@ Kevin from # 187:
I’m really impressed by your answer because you can’t get any more straightforward. I appreciate the truth(other game developers should learn this)!
Even though offline multiplayer is a major selling point for me I will still be buying Novastrike on payday!
I hope many more people do as well(specially in europe) so that maybe we can see an offline multiplayer option.
Once again thank you for bringing the new update! Keep us posted on any news about Novastrike or New games you might be bringing to the PSN!
Sincerely,
LN_MEXWARRIOR
Hi again, LN_MEXWARRIOR. Thanks – I certainly appreciate the support. And I hope you still manage to get enjoyment from the game once you have it.
And yeah, I\’m hoping it does well in Europe. Even if it matches the U.S. in terms of the sales rate so far it will be very helpful.
Likewise I\’ll definitely be doing future posts on what we\’re working on (NOVASTRIKE and otherwise). Have a good weekend.
Kevin, I’ve made it through soldier and have all the trophies except for Unstoppable and Legendary. After I completed the game I notice that I could repeat the campaign again on Solider but with my upgraded ship(Soldier+). My Question is if I complete it again will I then be able to Play Veteran with an upgraded ship and continue the process until I get through hardcore? I’ve already started a new game on hardcore but I seem hoplessly stuck again on stage 2. I was just wondering if it would help to go back and continue on Solider+. Thanks again for taking the time to respond to the many comments here on the blog.
Hi LCaruana – no, the upgraded ship is just for the current difficulty level.
That said, I\’m considering making some videos of stage play-throughs (maybe one on SOLDIER for folks having a tough time with that, and another on VETERAN or HARDCORE) – then maybe posting them on gametrailers.com. These would be pretty large, but folks can skip to the parts they\’re having trouble with.
If some of you want this enough I can try to create a pure \”visual\” guide (just watching me playthrough – how I use the weapons, attack tactics, etc). Honestly, it would take a couple weeks for me to do (as I just can\’t dedicate a day to that right now), but if enough of you think it might help then I wouldn\’t mind doing a couple video playthroughs (trying to cover the Easy/Normal and Hard/Hardest areas).
Save your money. This is the worst shooter yet on the PSN. I’m a big fan of top down shooters, but the controls in this are horrible. (even after the update). Everybody knows that controls are everything in this genre.
Hi D_HILIFE – sorry you feel that way. It\’s definitely not a twin-stick shooter like SSHD or Geometry Wars. Anyhow, if I can offer an help let me know – again, sorry you\’re not enjoying it.
well i just bought the game today thinking that i would finally have trophies, but i could never download the game update, playstation needs to get to work!!!! im tired of this BS! and the game is not too good cheaply made and enemies are faster and have better weapons!!! the bottom line is that ps is letting me down as a loyal customer.
Hi fattonny – the store version should be the same version as the update at this point. After you\’ve run the game are you not seeing NovaStrike trophies under Trophies on the XMB? I\’m just trying to find out what the issue is.
Well, I did purchase the game on Friday this week and I have to say, I like it a lot.
At first I wasn’t sure what the heck I was doing, but after a while you get the hang of it and it’s a great game.
I got one trophy so far and trying for more.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Hiya GGCAN – glad to hear you\’re enjoying it. NOVASTRIKE definitely has a bit of a learning curve (more than I anticipated), but I think it has more to do with players that are used to Geometry Wars and SSHD shooter types. We\’re basically a different subgenre of a shooter. Anyhow, I still check here regularly, so if you have any questions please just fire away. And thanks for the support.
I am working on Hardcore and let me say it is HARDCORE so a walkthrough would be AWESOME!
Hi Enforcer_X – yeah, I know it\’s challenging. I\’ll try to put some time into providing a guide (and/or a video playthrough for it).
I have a question, and it is loosely related to the patch.
I dont have troubles with the difficulty of the game at all, but trying to imagine killing the last boss before it arrives at its final destination is just…insane. And for only a bronze trophy no less?
When I kill that boss, even on Recruit, it takes me a good 20 mins _after_ it arrives. Is there some trick to it?
Hi again, thedevilsjester. Okay, regarding the Abrupt Ending trophy – I can generally get this fairly often between the second and third stop for the Harbinger using the following strategy.
1. Start off right away by unloading the Disperser and Heavy Rockets into its outer component that’s facing you while it’s on the way to the first stop
2. Keep using the electro-mines and beam to wipe out the Daggers the Harbinger launches to get more megapacks (and more Disperser and Heavy Rocket ammo) – this way you can keep attacking the Harbinger with the heavier weaponry. Also, it can be useful to drop mines in the path of the Harbinger not just to kill the Daggers but to damage the outer components as it passes
3. When the Harbinger reaches the first stopping point don’t kill off the shield conduits right away – instead use electro-mines to farm the Daggers some (so they drop megapacks) to get your Disperser and Heavy Rocket ammunition filled back up
4. After you’ve gotten ammunition again you can kill the shield conduits so that it starts moving toward the second stop – again, unload the Disperser and Heavy Rocket on the Harbinger’s outer component that’s facing you. Try to make sure Daggers won’t intercept projectiles (especially heavy rockets) – the goal here is to try to take out the weapon components (at least three of them – potentially four) before it reaches the second stop
5. Once it reaches the second stop go ahead and repeat step 3 – don’t wipe out all of the shield conduits until you’re refilled you Disperser and Heavy Rocket ammunition, then finish off the shield conduits so the Harbinger begins its journey to stop #3
6. While the Harbinger is on the way to stop #3 keep attacking the outer components with the heavy weaponry. If you can wipe out all the weapon bays and one hangar (so five of the eight outer components destroyed) then you can basically do an outer circle that in the same direction that the Harbinger is rotating – using your afterburner you can get it so you can afterburn along with it, then turn and face it and attack it with the Disperser and Heavy Rocket (where it’s exposed), then continue doing this more. You’ll need to keep picking up megapacks to replenish your heavier weaponry, of course.
7. Even if step 6 doesn’t finish it off before it reaches stop #3, you can then replenish your heavy ammunition weaponry again, then once again let the Harbinger loose by destroying the remaining shield conduits. Now it’s headed toward the final destination so you need to kill it before it reaches the last stop. Repeat circling it with the afterburn to attack its exposed spot – if this proves difficult then you can try killing another hangar off (so six of its eight outer components destroyed) that’s facing you giving a bigger exposed area to target.
Note that you can also use the beam and electro-mine when you’re circling around it to further damage it. I hope this makes sense when reading it, but if it doesn’t just let me know. As I stated earlier, I’m going to look into doing a video capture of me playing some of these tactics some to provide a visual aid as well. But in the meantime I hope this gives you a possible tactic – and if anything isn’t clear please just let me know.
I think I get it, I have to focus everything on one spot to open it up, and then destroy the inner part without needing to destroy its outer components (except to expose the inner), all the while filling up on bigger ammo during each pit stop, and using mines to keep the Daggers at bay.
When I destroy it at its last stop, I usually do so by destroying every single component and then the ‘flying saucer’ portion.
Yeah, that\’s the idea. Again, you need to take out at least five outer components to make it possible – you circle around it as it rotates, afterburn to expose the main body, do a quick turn toward it and fire, then burn a bit more to keep the side exposed, and repeat the process. Hope you manage to nail it. Again, I\’ll be checking here to see how it goes.
Kevin, hi..
I do have one question….not sure how to use the in game music where I can play my own HDD music.
Some of my other games, there’s a button within the game, but for some reason I don’t see that in Novastrike.
Or do I just go to my HDD music and select to play ?
Thanks for supporting this game so much on this blog.
Hey Kevin…
No need to reply back to my 199 question…just figured it out.
You just go to your HDD music while in game.
Lovin this game so far.
Hiya GGCAN – yeah, it\’s definitely nice listening to playlists (glad Sony got support for that in while playing games – it was pretty straightforward for us to hook it up). Hope you continue to enjoy the game.
Sweet to hear the In-Game XMB patch is relatively easy. I am hoping this becomes more common. I will definatly be more likely to purchase a game from your firm as i now know you will support upcoming features and are willing to except feedback from your customers. Might i suggest actively getting this out on the web, as it is sure to drive some sales. I know alot of people really do not care about trophies, maybe they do not know about the “Playstation Rank” that these effect. I can see the Novastrike at the top of my games list on the PS3 for a while…. I lud da trophies…..
Hi again, MrCamo. I think most of the games you\’ll see adding trophy support and XMB playlist support are not surprisingly Sony games – most other publishers aren\’t going to bother with patching a game (as they probably have teams working on other projects now). Although it\’s nice to see Bionic Commando will be adding a trophy patch at some point – good on their part.
It was easier for me to add trophy support and XMB playlist support since Tiki Games is my own studio and we were already committed to addressing the initial feedback from customers. Glad you like the support, of course.