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Sentinel 4: Dark Star is the latest in the Sentinel series of tower defense games. It’s in a science fiction setting, and you’re fighting aliens for… some presumably good reason. Why, among hundreds if not thousands of tower defense games on Android, did I pick this one? Well, it’s got very good mechanics and some really intense action. I’s got very nice graphics, an excellent user interface, and an astonishing amount of customization for your forces. But, ultimately, there’s a more basic reason.
No other tower defense game I’ve played has ever done such a good job of making me feel like the relentless alien horde advancing on my base actually wants to kill me.
In addition to your turrets, you also have various forces— attack drones, a powered armor suit that can be repositioned at will to key strategic points, predeployed friendly troops on some levels— that attack and impede enemies and can in turn be damaged by them. This adds a lot, not just in gameplay but in tone—you’re looking at a war zone, not a shooting gallery. Many enemy types can also damage your towers, whether by returning fire as they pass, lobbing long-range projectiles, or inflicting damaging effects on whole areas. Other tower defense games have done this, but seldom are they this aggressive about it. The enemy actually seem like they’re trying to fight their way through your defenses, instead of just scurrying past it and hoping for the best.
Maps usually have multiple paths and entry points, as well as armored barricades between them and your base to defend.. Things gets frantic as you rush your commander from hotspot to hotspot struggle to maintain your defenses at vital chokepoints as the enemy assails you from multiple directions, and decide when to call in fire support and other assistance from the eponymous Sentinel, orbiting high above the battlefield. You can issue orders while paused, mercifully.
More than any other tower defense game I’ve played, it doesn’t feel like an abstract exercise in resource optimization. It feels like a battle. I can’t recommend it enough.
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