Sentinels of Freedom

Custom Character creation was a nice surprise, I expected to only use pre-made characters. Also I didn't realize when I purchased the game that these were the Heroes from Sentinels of the Multiverse card game. That was an enjoyable surprise.

I bought this for $2.50 its worth about that much. No real advancement, no mods, no travel powers, etc. Its a very basic of a super hero game and its sucks.

Sentinels of Freedom feels like a pulp action superhero genre. The Sentinels of Freedom have superpowers but not the reality bending powers of cosmic superheroes. Your heroes are about the equivalent of a well armed and trained unit. Comparatively goons are squads of individuals working in concert to inflict heavy damage on you. Given multiple squads, the quantity of goons would rival a private army. Cover and positioning are important to minimize threats. The good news is that squads move at the same time. So 3 or 4 units will move on their turn rather than take individual turns. You create a custom character with your choice of powersets. Each powerset has a power list of which there are 3 categories one of which is usually a reactive ability such as overwatch or counterattack. Minions and companions are present. Each minion can have different effects such as restricting movement or causing damage in an area. Support abilities like leadership and healing are also available that can provide group buffs or create a regenerating character. Characters don't level up in the usual sense, instead they unlock additional power options. or gain ability slots In certain cases this can be as simple as unlocking a heavy attack for additional ap cost. As a core member in most assaults your character will unlock most of the power options early on. Health and Action points remain relatively unchanged so you gain more options and sometimes more power but for trade off costs. Character backgrounds and themes can also affect performance such as increased action points or longer movement. The premade unit powers appear unique. This means that you can mimmic their abilities but they have their own powersets. Missions as a result can be rather quick or a slog depending on strategy employed. At later missions, enemy combatants can summon units as well which can lead to a longer fight. In a lot of ways this could be likened to a turn base version of Freedom Force. The key difference is that Freedom Force has a character mod and scenario builder and character improvement as they gain health. Some later missions are a bit choppy. They are divided into phases and some phase transitions are abrupt as villains fall back. Sometimes this occurs instantaneously which is a bit jarring as opponents right next to you disappear because a main target was removed.The difficulty of having a lot of goons also makes some turns slower than most if goons are not eliminated quickly. Their turns take up a great deal of time. Area attacks, overwatch and rapid response can prevent this from becoming unwieldy. Other options is to spawn your own army so as to balance the turn dynamic. Bugs occur from time to time and enemy units end up outside the map and you have to reload the mission save point. Overall its not bad and lighting and effects are decent. Character models are a little like action figures but its serviceable. Camera angles are sometimes difficult as objects do not become translucent. As such in narrow alleys a catwalk or rotation of the map can cause blindspots. Turn based, power customization, tech - in a lot of ways it delivered what it set out to do. The controls feel a little rough but they're functional. This game feels like it could use another round of polish but it also feels under rated. Unfortunately development appears to have halted which is a shame as this work shows promise.There are posts on the length of game being 14 hours. I think this is based on Chapter 1 release and not including the Chapter 2 release.

Do not buy. Abandoned and it's not even finished.

Although the game does have some interesting character creation options, this tactical superhero squad game is held back by too many negative factors; bad graphics, terrible enemy AI, and a needlessly obtuse damage resistance/weakness system.

If your really into super heroes and turn-based games this game could work for you. The game is more about taking down lots of enemies and grinding through what sometimes feels like endless enemies verse fewer stronger enemies. You do get to build your own hero and the creation is fairly good and something i wasn't even expecting. There are not a lot of games in this genera so your certainly limited with options but this one id say is worth playing. I would not put this up to the level of a game i love by any means, but it's certainly fun. It does have some unique mechanics and the story is serviceable and does have me interested in seeing more. It's not a hard core RPG, it's more a little hearted romp. I only put in a few hours and a few missions so far. It's not at the level of Freedom force, but it's a pretty solid modern game that i'm sure a fan of super heroes or turn based characters could enjoy. I am interested in putting a few more hours into it eventually. Mechanically the game was sound and pretty easy to understand as well once i figured out a few little quirks of how the powers worked. Over all, it does have enough uniqueness to it that it's worth giving a shot.

Let me be perfectly clear: The game has issues. The hair styles are poor, the customization of your single hero leaves a lot to be desired (maybe allow me to individually color parts? Customize my weapon's colors separately from my outfit? Maybe give a preview of what each attack FX appears to be in the character creation with a basic attack animation? That would be nice), and the attack/defense weaknesses make little sense unless you're willing to remember what each comic book sounding attack is based off of what defense type (Thank god for five little icons that tell you if the attack will be strong or weak against them...When you're in range, have that ability selected, and not if you just hover over the ability allowing you to see what enemies may be weak to it which would allow you to plan out your moves better. Also, not if anything hip high is between you and them, or oddly the mechanical T-Rex units from the Hero Unity), but despite all of these issues I am having fun with the game. If you are a fan of the newer X-Com-like strategy games you might like the combat style (Although it is more simplified. No cover system after all). If you like classic Super Heroes you might love the very comic book feeling of the game...If you like both like I do you're probably laughing as the first "Boss" of the tutorial "Freight Train" seems to really get too far into his train aesthetic and yells 'Choo Choo' as he bowls through Heroes and calls his rear his caboose. It's dumb, it has flaws, but in the end it is fun. Wish I could say more, but I do honestly think they need to polish it with the most basic of basics. Creating your own Hero is kind of a big deal and should be a selling point, but right now it is painfully lacking in the actual customization department (Love how the history and personality details you choose can affect combat stats, but I hate that it doesn't have more dialog options for those kinds of choices). In the end, buy the game if you like the newer X-Com titles and Cheesy Comic Book Super Heroes. If you like one but not the other you won't like this game. Even then, I hope and pray the developers do a little more to allow for more customization. EDIT: I have beaten the first chapter at least and can say the story and characters are...About as old school as can be for comics? It's fun, it's stupid, and it works to make you laugh at the absurdity of it and does kind of help you get to know them. The lore in-game you can read is fun enough, but I would like to learn more of it.

It's a fun story-driven tactical turn-based combat game. Challenging without being overwhelming. Plus it's Sentinels of the Multiverse. What's not to love?

playing a comicbook hero,yay. More powers, more costume options,more body types. Interaction with the environment,i.e. throw objects,destroy objects? Good base game,good core mechanics

I got stuck in a level where I was almost dead, but as soon as I moved I would get shot by an enemy. There isn't an option to start the level over, just revert to the most recent auto-save (which was right before I move). So I guess I have to start the whole game over? Game was fun until that.