Do you like multiplayer focused indie games with high octane action and simple controls? Have some friends who are of the same mind? Well then welcome to Nova Nukers! for the PC. With a free for all gameplay formula, run around and hunt down your friends on small battlegrounds with a rather unique setting and concept. Those who enjoy simple indie games with an emphasis on fun action might enjoy Nova Nukers! by developers Lemonbomb Entertainment.

Nova Nukers! is a third person action game with a multiplayer focus. Players will do battle with others as they try to capture one another and win each round till they claim ultimate victory. Run around spherical planets and worlds all while dodging bombs, missiles and other strange gadgets to avoid being taken by your enemy player. Go online with friends and compete with up to 4 players or face off against the AI offline. If you like fun and exciting free for all games then you’re going to enjoy Nova Nukers! Now get those grenades ready; you’re going to need them!

Nova Nukers! doesn’t have a true story mode. Players assume the role of anthropomorphic warriors who aim to be number 2one. Shoot, knock down and capture your fellow warriors to become the victor! Be careful though, your opponents want the same thing. Do you have the skills to be the last man…animal standing? Find out in Nova Nukers!

Indie developers really have quite a challenge stacked against them when they make multiplayer focused games. As more indie games release in the gaming world, a strong developer must create something that stands out and screams our game is different than all the others. Developer Lemonbomb Entertainment clearly wants to shout that out with their third person multiplayer game Nova Nukers! and we here at Honey’s Anime were down to see if their attempts worked or not. After putting some time into Nova Nukers! we definitely have a lot to share with you folks. Here is our review of Nova Nukers! for the PC.

Nova Nukers! doesn’t have a story mode or plot to it. Players choose from anthropomorphic beings to run on spherical planets/battlegrounds in order to capture foes after knocking them down with weapons and other gadgets. The premise is simple enough and with only one game mode to choose from this is the very essence of Nova Nukers! as a whole. However, this is where Nova Nukers! misses a few marks while equally being a game that does stand out from other titles like it.

The action element of Nova Nukers! is quite different and extremely easy to learn but with room to master. Players will gain random items, weapons and gadgets to destroy the landscape of the area their in and to knock down an opponent. Once an opponent is down, players will then attempt to capture them by holding down a button all while the other player will attempt to escape before being taken down. Depending on the match settings—with player being able to increase the capture amount for a win—the round will continue till all players are caught or defeated by falling into pits and or into lava/poison. It’s a simple formula but that’s what works for Nova Nukers! as a whole.

Thanks to having numerous weapons and items, Nova Nukers! gives players a vast amount of ways to capture their opponents. For example, there are simple grenades that players can find that create small explosions or you can even use a terraforming gun that destroys the landscape to make players fall or ruin an escape. Add to this the fact that there are several planets to play on with each bringing different hazards and areas to maneuver on and Nova Nukers! gives players some means of getting better as they play. What’s also neat is that in games with more than 2 players, down players can assist—or annoy—enemies with lasers that are shot from the sky into their area of choice. As you continue to play Nova Nukers!, you’ll gain even more to unlock and that gives Nova Nukers! a bit of replay value. However, this is where Nova Nukers! also begins to show its numerous issues.

As a game, Nova Nukers! lacks a lot of content. As we mentioned, there is no story mode and there aren’t any gameplay variants. This means if you begin to grow tired of Nova Nukers!’s fun but repetitive gameplay, you won’t have any way of escaping this. To make matters worse, if you fail to find opponents to play with or don’t have any friends willing to hop on Nova Nukers!, you’ll be left with the AI, which can be quite simple to defeat on even harder difficulties. Nova Nukers! is literally one mode online or local and that is all you’re getting. This wouldn’t be such an issue if Nova Nukers! was maybe $9.99 or cheaper, but instead, Nova Nukers! is nearly $20. Maybe in the future, this can be remedied by developer Lemonbomb Entertainment’s adding some free content but as it is, Nova Nukers! doesn’t offer enough to warrant the price tag.

We also wish to mention that as of this review, Nova Nukers! online community is non-existent which doesn’t help. For the purposes of testing the online capabilities, we needed to rely on a friend to test the online elements. We even hit quick match at the same time and found each other within seconds. Nova Nukers! needs more online players as it is right now, it’s basically a ghost town. Seriously, make sure to get some friends to buy Nova Nukers! with you so you’ll have real opponents rather than bots to verse as it does make Nova Nukers! more enjoyable overall.

Finally, let us talk about the graphics and sound for Nova Nukers! We actually, really enjoyed Nova Nukers!’s vibrant colors and unique designs. Each character looks different and even the various landscapes follow in that theme. The music works well to make fun and chaotic battles more intense too. Nova Nukers! feels like it could be a cartoon series and that is perfect for its E rating. We would have loved a narrator or maybe some clever lines from the various characters but it’s not a detriment and Nova Nukers! works for what it offers visually and audibly.

Nova Nukers! is a fun idea that misses some marks here and there. While the multiplayer element—with humans or against the AI—is silly and truly unique, Nova Nukers! doesn’t have anything else of substance to really make it the stand out multiplayer game it’s clearly trying to be. With only one game mode with little variances aside from match settings, planets to play on and items that can be turned on and off ala Super Smash Bros. style, Nova Nukers! lacks a lot of replayability after the first few hours. A fun story mode or even different gameplay modes could have made Nova Nukers! worth the almost $20 price tag but as it is, we think Nova Nukers! is a bit too expensive for how little it offers. If you have some friends looking for a fun local or online multiplayer game then we recommend Nova Nukers! for the sheer fact it tries so hard to be different than other third person multiplayer type games and exceeds in that regard. However, if you want a multiplayer game with more substance and value, we might consider waiting for a price drop on Nova Nukers!

Having played a lot of indie multiplayer games here at Honey’s Anime, we always appreciate when a developer tries something new with original designs and concepts. Nova Nukers! has a ton of creativity behind it that works quite well in execution but doesn’t have enough to keep players wanting to come back for more. Maybe some updates will fix these issues that Nova Nukers! has, but for now, it’s a game that we only recommend to those who truly love chaotic but fun third person multiplayer titles and have some friends willing to shell out $18 dollars on a game. Do you think Nova Nukers! will appeal to you or are you going to wait for more content to be added before diving in? Why don’t you let us know your thoughts in the comments down below? Remember for all your gaming reviews and article needs, be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime.