My main complaint against Nova Island is with the randomness that goes into battles. Unfortunately, as with all games, Nova Island isn't perfect and has a few flaws to consider. You can also keep things fresh by editing and creating new decks, choosing new trainers, and acquiring new cards to unlock by playing against others. Once you get the hang of it, the gameplay is quite fun. My own matches tend to drag out a little longer, since I'm more into wars of attrition than razing the earth with fire and salt. The general rhythm of matches ranges from super fast to a more moderate pace, depending on the strategies each combatant is using. Matches can be fast-paced or drawn out wars of attrition depending on your strategy They also each have a cost to play, so you have to weigh your options carefully before putting your Friends on the line.

Each Friend, has a designated amount of Nova that they can generate for you once played and they can lose or gain more depending on buffs and debuffs played throughout the match. Some Friends are like plants, others are tiny robots, some are space jellyfish and so on and so forth. You get Nova by playing Friend cards, which are all cute lil' card critters. This distinction actually matters, since the first person to reach 20 Nova triggers the end of the match, but may not be the one who has the most Nova once the final score is tallied up.

The goal of each match is to get to 20 Nova first or to have the most Nova by the time the match ends. So what the heck even is Nova? They're the in-game currency that you acquire through battling and which you can then use to purchase new cards, new trainers, or unlock specific events or challenges. Then you've got trainers like Aster, who specialize in stealing Nova right out from under your opponents' feet. Each trainer has a speciality and comes with their own set of special moves that, ideally, combo and synergize with your deck well.Įach trainer has special abilities that synergize well with certain cards and decksįor example, Flora and her decks may ideally be based around plant-like cards and feature shared keywords like 'bloom,' which buff your initially small friends into big, beefy Nova-collectors. Almost like Pokémon in concept, Nova Island features a handful of Trainers, who are optional characters you can swap in and out to command your decks. The UI has a sleek, simple interface and the characters and cards are, frankly, adorable. The first things that most players will notice about Nova Island are its lovely graphics and art direction.

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