Written by
Albert H. Gates
Nova Drift is a 2D shooter game with a spaceship theme. The mobile version of the game is published by Chimeric Games. It’s a product of Chimeric’s dedication, released on various platforms and continuously receiving updates to this day.
Introduce about Nova Drift
Gameplay
In Nova Drift, you control a spaceship, battling enemies across the galaxy. The controls are quite simple but slightly different from other games in the genre. You are provided with a joystick in the bottom left corner of the screen. The joystick has two rings; if you drag the cursor out of the inner ring, the ship will move in the direction you specify. If the cursor is in the inner ring of the joystick, your ship will only rotate and not move. In the right corner of the screen is a virtual button for you to command the ship to attack.
Every time your ship destroys an enemy, there’s a chance they’ll drop a small experience orb. You’ll gain experience if you collect them. Once you’ve collected enough experience, you’ll receive an upgrade. You can upgrade your weapons, hull, or shield.
In Nova Drift, your ship has two main defensive stats: shield and health. When taking damage, the shield will decrease first. Once the shield is gone, the ship will lose health if it continues to take damage. The shield will regenerate after a period of time without taking damage. Note that all effects applied to the shield will disappear along with it. Therefore, when your shield is gone, your ship becomes significantly weaker.
Game modes in Nova Drift
Nova Drift offers different game modes; you can toggle one or more modes on or off to change how the game works. The game has 5 game modes as follows:
- Practice Mode: Enemy attacks will be slower, giving you more time to clear out the current wave of enemies. Additionally, your spaceship will take less damage from all the threats in the level. In this mode, Nova Drift will not save your score. You also cannot unlock new content or achievements after completing a level in this mode.
- Endless Mode: The level continues until your spaceship is destroyed, even after completing the final battle. This mode is unlocked after successfully defeating the final boss in a non-practice level.
- Wild Metamorphosis: A rogue-lite style mode. There are 37 randomly generated upgrades throughout the level, making the game more unpredictable and full of surprises. Unlocked at Rank 14.
- Draft (Simplified Mode): Unlocked when you reach Rank 50. The level starts with 35 upgrade points and the first attack wave is as difficult as the 120th wave. Simplified mode allows you to skip the grinding time at the beginning of the level and go straight to the most intense combat phase.
- Daily Challenge: Unlocked at Rank 14. Normal gameplay mode but with 2 random bonus settings that change daily.
Customize difficulty
Nova Drift offers a Challenge Mode with 7 supplementary challenges. You can activate these challenges to significantly increase the difficulty of the levels. At the same time, Nova Drift will also increase the points and experience you receive after each level, depending on the number and type of challenges you have activated. The supplementary challenges in the game are as follows:
- Danger Zone: Attacks occur faster, and new enemy units are added more frequently in each wave. Unlocked at game level 4.
- Enemy Territory: Levels begin with an attack of difficulty level 12. Unlocked at game level 8.
- Elite Enemy: Enemies in attack waves are stronger. Increased spawn rate of Elite and Champion-level enemies. Unlocked at game level 12.
- Hostile Universe: Levels feature more comets, asteroids, and black holes. Unlocked at game level 16.
- Nemesis: Unlocked at game level 20. Bosses are significantly stronger.
- Mayhem: Increases the effectiveness of the challenges above by 25% (if activated).
- Annihilation: This is the most difficult challenge, only activated when all the challenges above are completed. Each wave of attacks will have more enemies, increased proactiveness in attacks, and reduced delay between attacks.
All of the aforementioned challenges (except Annihilation) grant you a 25% point bonus and 4% experience if activated, for a total of 150% points and 24 experience. The final challenge – Annihilation – doesn’t grant points or experience, but the increased number of enemies means you’ll receive more points.
Download Nova Drift APK for free on Android
Nova Drift has an extremely simple core gameplay, but the surrounding mechanics and features are very deep. With a large and diverse number of upgrades, you can freely create your own play style. Nova Drift’s greatest strength lies in its game modes and supplementary challenges, ensuring the game never becomes too easy or boring.