Novastorm

Novastorm is an on-rails space shooter built around the then-new ability to play pre-rendered video straight from disc. The player controls a fighter craft moving along a fixed path above planetary surfaces, through tunnels, and among the wreckage of ships, dodging obstacles and shooting down waves of enemies. The ship can move across the whole screen, collect weapon upgrades, and must survive to the end of the segment, where a bigger opponent awaits. The game is short but unforgiving: collisions with the environment are punished harshly, and progress requires learning where each obstacle appears and where the safe path lies. Weapon upgrades are also lost after being hit, so a single mistake often means finishing the rest of the segment with basic weaponry.

Visually, it was one of the most impressive titles of its time. The background consisted of smoothly played pre-rendered animation with a level of detail that consoles of the era couldn't achieve in real time, with game objects moving over it. The result felt like a flight through a sci-fi film, though at the cost of the environment being non-interactive and the route always the same. Sound and music relied on dense electronic motifs that matched the sense of speed and helped maintain tension through to the end of each segment. Meanwhile, the console only had to handle the moving objects and overlays, which was exactly the trick that made the game look significantly better than its actual computational demands would suggest.

Contemporary reviews varied depending on how much the reviewer valued spectacle over depth of gameplay — the technical side drew admiration, while the actual gameplay was described as simple and repetitive. Novastorm is today a typical example of the first wave of games that tried to use the disc as a cinematic medium, and in that sense it has documentary value. As a game, it works best in short sessions, where the player can enjoy the speed and visual assault without being bothered by the fact that the path can't be influenced in any way.