There are two ways to make a trial version of a game. The first way is to give players a healthy chunk of gameplay that gives a sense of the fun and variety that a game has to offer. The idea here is to get a player genuinely excited to own the game. Some good examples of this are the Prey and Lost Planet demos, which allowed players to experience several levels, play online, and gave them access to lots of cool weapons. The other way to make a trial game is to give players a very narrow view of the overall game, hoping that players will buy the full version just to see what they are missing. Unfortunately, this method can backfire and make players assume that the entire game is limited and not enjoyable. Such is the case with Stainless Games' latest Arcade offering, Novadrome.There might be a fun game in Novadrome, but we'll never know, because the trial version did very little to whet our appetite. Novadrome has over 20 vehicles to choose from, but the trial version gives you access to only two vehicles that aren't very different from each other. There are several weapons to obtain in the game as well, but the trial version gives access to one -- and only one -- of the most boring weapons ever devised. Just hold the fire button down ... yawn. If that doesn't sell it for you, why not have fun poking around on the entire three arenas the trial version affords you.
The gameplay seems a little chaotic, and not in a good way. There's simply too much stuff going on at once, and it doesn't feel very cohesive. The cars are small, and so are the power-ups. This makes power-ups easy to miss, and forces players to turn around for a second pass, wasting time to do so. The controls don't make this any easier either. Powersliding is relegated to a button for some reason, rather than being a function of braking during a turn. It's disconcerting when all you want to do is turn around quickly -- especially when you're being tailed.
Honestly, with more weapons, vehicles, and tracks, Novadrome might be passable. But as it stands, we're left with 8 cars chasing each other and all using the same boring weapon (imagine Street Fighter, only every character has exactly the same moves). It's very possible that the faults we see in the trial version could be overlooked with the addition of some variety. Unfortunately, based on the trial version alone, Novadrome is impossible to recommend, especially for 800 points. There just isn't enough content here to make a valid assessment, and so the only assessment we're left with is that Novadrome just isn't worth it.
Let this be a lesson to Arcade developers (and publishers) on how not to build a trial game.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-20-2006 @ 12:26PM
Andrew said...
Are trying to spite them by not buying it? What's not fair is this review. I say give it a chance before you crap all over it.
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12-20-2006 @ 12:32PM
KineticOnline said...
I kinda liked the trial so i bought the game after about 5 minutes (the time i normally spend on a trial) and i have to say i'm enjoying the game. I'd recommend it to anyone, im still not 100% sure but it possible this is the best live arcade game yet.
And there are alot of levels in career mode (i've been playing most of the day and i've lost count of the number of levels i've finished but and im still only 38% of the way through)
The further into the career mode i progress the more cars, arenas and modes i unlock.
About the upgrades, they are small because there are ALOT of them, and they only last for a small ammount of time. Its not too easy to see in the trial but the cars only seam to be similar the difference in speed etc later in the game is clear.
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12-20-2006 @ 12:36PM
Richard Mitchell said...
Andrew,
I haven't bought it because the trial didn't convince me that I should.
Kinetic,
That's good to hear. I had a feeling the full version might be pretty good. How about the other weapons? Are they specific to certain vehicles or do you pick them up?
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12-20-2006 @ 12:45PM
Measure said...
You mean the twenty minutes I spent looking for a weapon upgrade this morning were utterly useless?
Bah! Now I'm not buying this game on principle. Besides, I haven't even played through Assault Heroes yet.
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12-20-2006 @ 12:55PM
Zim said...
Agreed.
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12-20-2006 @ 1:08PM
Alex Keen said...
I felt the same thing. I was miffed at what I was supposed to do in this demo. Assault Heroes has it right. Marble Blast has it right. Novadrome... nada.
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12-20-2006 @ 1:16PM
Anthony D said...
THE GAME BLOWS......PERIOD!! NUFF SAID
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12-20-2006 @ 1:20PM
8dot3 said...
Well said Richard. If your game is good enough people will buy it. This is just like the movies that release and never get to reviewers, the studio hopes to sneak a turd past the audience.
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12-20-2006 @ 2:10PM
juicebytim said...
I agree that it's unfair to review a game off of a trial, as another poster mentioned. I didn't really enjoy the trial so much either, but this post was a bit unfair to the game.
On another note, where is the Marble Blast Ultra expansion!?
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12-20-2006 @ 2:14PM
micah said...
Did you guys notice that this post is not a review of the game, its simply pointing out that the trial verson can make or break whether or not people buy the game. The spirit of this post is not to say that the game is bad, but to emphasize then even a good game can seem boring if the trial mode is not done right.
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12-20-2006 @ 2:25PM
dan s. said...
Well, you've mixed a review of the game with a review of the demo system.
As the main poster on this blog you should have bought the game anyway to review it in its entirety instead of panning it because they didn't give you enough free stuff. Or at least linked to somebody who actually bothered to do a decent review.
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12-20-2006 @ 2:39PM
jcarpio said...
Actually I agree with Richard's assessment. I played the demo this morning and couldn't get into it. It was too plain and chaotic. I'm sure the full game is cool. but the demo didn't sell me on that fact. Assault Heroes' demo did however.
A demo should show how a game is going to be fun. this failed to do that. At least that's my opinion.
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12-20-2006 @ 2:41PM
thedge said...
Why do people just want to bash on games like this? It just seems like people play it for 5 minutes, don't get it, then come here to trash it. Let us know what you liked and didn't like so that we know you played. Then give an opinion. Doing things like this helps everyone here and prevents this from becoming a dumping ground.
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12-20-2006 @ 3:13PM
chrisr said...
Maybe it's just me, but I look to gaming blogs/websites for information about games, not so much for critiques of a game studio's marketing or product management style. All your points are valid, but only really in the context of a full review of the game, so do us a favor and buy the game (or better yet, get it free as a reviewer), and let us know what you think.
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12-20-2006 @ 3:20PM
Richard Mitchell said...
chrisr,
I probably will end up buying the game, especially after the reaction that this post has gotten. I was just surprised at how very little was offered in the trial version.
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12-20-2006 @ 3:58PM
warpped655 said...
I was dissapointed in the game, yeah the demo didn't show much, but I doubt that the rest is any fun simply becuase of the controls and god damn targeting system. (I hate auto-target, it makes a game bland and boring) of the 3 arenas that I tried, all of them felt the same, of the vehicles that I tried, the same feeling as well except for speed and control. the fact that there is no 'speical weapon' or anything to differentiate 1 vehicle to another besides armor, speed and control. which makes it even blander. the whole time I played it I thought bland. I was hoping for a good game, and got a probable dud. I wont be buying it...
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12-20-2006 @ 4:21PM
Kid Pyrrhic said...
I blind bought the title and do not enjoy it.
I gave it a chance, but the lackluster controls and weapon options are horrible. The physics in the game is non-exsistant. I'm not looking for Havok quality, but I'd expect something. Also, why is there absolutely no way to flip your vehicle back over outside of waiting for the game to do it for you?
Add in the fact that the first five stages of the career mode are just two types of gameplay back to back and you've got a yawn fest.
It feels like the developer wanted to combine Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby (which could have been awesome), but instead...its half baked.
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12-20-2006 @ 5:02PM
thedge said...
^^
This is my point.
People making mini harsh "reviews" based on little to nothing. A simple "start" "options" "controls" would show you that "Y" flips your vehicle and is a big part of controlling it during jumps as well.
Making broad generalizing buzz word comments does nothing but show you looked at it once, or read someone else's comments.
These are arcade games folks at a budget price. Have a little understanding in the approach and respect for what is being done.
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12-20-2006 @ 6:17PM
Kid Pyrrhic said...
You may want to check that again. I went through the entire controller and nothing flipped me back over. What controller settings are you using?
So since they're a budget price, we should have to tolerate weak games?
Novadrome does nothing special. This isn't RoboBlitz. It looks like BVG knew that had a weak product and dropped it on the Arcade. The racing is piss poor. The combat is piss poor. I'm not respecting garbage.
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12-20-2006 @ 9:01PM
joneses said...
its the "y" button as said above
i bought the game as i have so many points sitting there doing nothing. glad i did.
have to agree, if i relied on the demo to give me an idea of the game i would have waited for next weeks release.
the games not THAT bad, its not as fun for me as assault heroes but that is more my kind of game, this is a king of the hill third person deathmatch in cars, not really my kind of thing but fun.
more should be said about the lack of online content in marketplace for us poor old aussies who pay the same fees for a half arsed marketplace :P give me movie downloads damnit
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