Sentinel 3: Homeworld

One of the best tower defence games. I had this on the iPad and loved it. It plays the same way on Steam. I am running it on a Mac M3 within VMware Fusion 13.5 on Windows for ARM. Runs perfectly.

Cool and simple TD, awesome soundtrack.

Solid TD but I rather play it on my phone and I don't play on my phone so...

AbandonWare.

It's a ported game from smartphones and it's NOT WORKING with Windows 11

Resolution can't be adjusted and the game crashs every two minutes (!)

Steam does NOT refund.

Indulge in that: Steam is selling AbandonWare which isn't working with Windows 11 and not refunding (!)

Brings back childhood memories, and still holds up today. The issues with the port are honestly marginal, get it on sale if you're worried.

It's fine. This is a Tower Defense game. The graphics are modest, the music is repetitive but Okish. The story is not the big deal.

No bugs but some stuff can cause a crash but is random and very rare. Runs on Win 7.

Overall, it's entertaining but among the many TD games available it might be just above the meh side. It features two big campaigns, endless mode, and other variants. The game is unpolished and unbalanced. The enemies are bullet sponges and all your towers fully upgraded, and plenty of them, would not kill at times a single big target. So, later rounds would be all about using special powers and losing whenever the very slow recharge for them fails to get there on time. So, the game totally throws out of the window the strategy and the synergy, that is what makes the TD games interesting. It includes cards and achievements, but one of them gonna take you a long time to get. Anyway, here's a lukewarm recommendation but just because I feel generous today.

Decent but basic tower defense game. Well above average for Stream TD games.
The game has a sci-fi feel. I have only tried a few maps, but they are pretty small and basic, and show no sign of pathing ever being a thing. NOTE: In the second campaign they do get more interesting, but still no pathing.
One of the nice touches is the inclusion of a commander unit, that gets upgrades and and abilities and aids nearby towers with some undisclosed amount of additional damage. I like that the commander acts as a tower, however, and not a personally controlled unit, allowing me to focus on the TD aspect of the game.
Note that it can jump between barriers, after a few levels, but you don't control it in any way.
The towers are pretty basic, three steps of upgrade, with no decisions or variants. Blah.
There are also strategic options, which I always like to see. I have only seen the first, guided missiles from the sky. Seems to be effective.
The enemies seem to be some sort of insect race. There are fliers in the mix, but they still follow the path, the only difference being that some towers can shoot them and some cant. I suspect eventually I will get a unit that can only attack them, but I am still only a few levels in.
You get money, but there only seems to be one thing to spend it on, new slots for the number of tower types and strategic options you can use. Blah. Your commander bumps seem to come with certain levels, and they are automatic, without a choice to be made.
There are two commander types right now, though I have only played one, uncertain how different it could be.
You can unlock endless modes for each level, which is nice. You can earn cash and commander experience there, which is nice, it makes endless worth doing. With nothing interesting to spend cash on though, it is of limited value in that department.
One of the nice features, and one that the lack of has made me stop playing other games, is that if you quit out mid=way of a long game, it saves your progress. Very handy.
I would say the biggest and most odd shortcoming is the complete lack of fluff. Everything about the game screams of there being a story of some sort, but if there is, the developers decided to keep it a secret. Shame, it can go far to make a game more interesting and immersive, and requires zero programming skills.
Over all it is an easy thumb up, but falls short of two. Really could use more options as to upgrades and such, a simple encyclopedia of the units, friend and foe, and some sense of story. It could be a much better with what seems like very little effort.
ADDENDUM: The second time I loaded the game, there was some background story at the start. Not sure why it wasn't there the first time. So there is some fluff, but it is still fluff lite in my opinion.
ADDENDUM: Over a dozen more hours in, and still enjoying it.
ADDENDUM: Over twenty hours in, and I have reached the second campaign, and it is quite a jump in sophistication. Really enjoying this one.

Conceptually simple but increasingly challenging and engaging tower defense game. Also, loads and is ready to play in seconds on a modern computer. That counts for something. Can use as "brain break" while working.

I purchased this TD game during a sale with a number of other games so it took a while for me to get to it. I wish I had tried it sooner as it is a pretty good TD game once you get the hang of it. The graphics are good but not spectacular while the audio soundtrack and effects are OK, probably what one might expect from a game from 2010. I would rate Sentinel 3 as a 7/10. At the time of this review the game was selling for $7. Well worth buying and playing at less than $5.

The game completely resets every time I exit the game. I have to start the campaign all over again, and options are also set to default.

Loved the mobile version, and this is essentially a direct port but using mouse instead of finger. It's a shame they didn't spend extra time tuning it for desktop use. The graphics are blurry, and some of the interactions are clumsy to do with a mouse. Still a gg tho, and definitely worth it for the price.

Unique and addictive Tower Defense. I take exception to those who say this is a terrible port. I am one of those who played this game on an android device years ago. Yes the slider bar to pick maps is a bit wonky ..No F. .Big Deal...I like this game better on PC.

What is really different about it is your mobile robot gate defender. It's not like an NPC in Dungeon Defenders. He can only jump jet from gate to gate which he defends and repairs. It makes for some interesting strategic options... Stand, repair and defend one gate or another.

The power ups and skills are very engaging and this is one of the best Tower Defense games I have played.

An average game in 2018 which was great in 2010 I suppose.

Sentinel 3 is the third game in series. It adds some new fresh mechanics. It distinguish the game from other TD games.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1409129806
The plot is usual. Aliens attacks earth. You need to protect it. Enemies go from entrance point to your base. If 1 alien reaches it you lose. But.. there are gates on the path. Enemies need to make a lot of attack to destroy it. So, basically, you place towers near gates and protect it.

You have 10 towers and 10 special abilities. Actually, you start with 1 tower and unlock new things during the game.
There is a commander. A strong unit who stands ton the path and fight with enemies. You can improve his different parameters and learn abilities.

There are some flaws. The game is very repetitive. One wave - one type of enemy. Later stages don't get harder, but get more waves. You start with 15 per mission and finish with 120 per mission. It is not satisfying.

So, take this game only if you want to kill some times or like casual TD games
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1409129886
Pros
- The game has interesting concepts of "gates".
- You have a hero to control. He has several abilities
- 10 towers and 10 special abilities
- Interesting to watch the process

Cons
- Bad/old graphics
- No info about health/abilities of enemies
- All waves are similar. 20-50 units of X type
- Missions don't get harder. Amount of waves increases. prepare to fight 120 waves in a mission!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1409129831

Resume

Did I enjoy the game? Yes I did, but it is far from the best TD game there is.
In fact I was bored with it around the 5 hour mark, it is a simple TD. It is a must buy when it goes on sale, and if you are looking to do 100% achievement from my understanding your looking at around 90+ hours of just "grinding". For a TD rating I would give it a 6 1/2 out of 10.

Pros:
Simplistic TD
Graphics (enjoyed)
The commander was cool
The Price

Neutral:
Commander (The hero, who takes a very long time to level up)
The levels


Cons:
Towers felt not balanced at all.
Grind Heavy to get all Achievements.
Grind Heavy to level up (unless you start with the Easy difficulty & move to the hardest).
Repeat music (i think) after a while I just muted the game.
Bored me, and I don't know why.

As a fan of genre, I could say, so-so. If you are not one of us, I can't recommend.
Pros:
- Save game on exit, in the middle of fight. Not much Tower Defenses can offer it.
- Campaign 2 is much better balanced, so you probably can enjoy the first half of it.
Cons:
- One wave - one enemy.
- Interface are very unresponsive. You can stomp a gun tower 3 or 4 times, before it shows you an upgrade menu. Because map moves a few pixels up/down every time you click on battlefield.
- Extremely linear path of the enemies. You can see 1-2 branches on higher levels. But you still may not use it, because
- Extremely short playable in-game path. If you choose to defend first gates, you can build up your defense on 3-4 cells and win the level. I repeat, on most levels enemies don't go anywhere, just make a few steps by the stright line. So you can just throw out the rest of the map. This is not a bad balance, because here's the first gates and you probably should defend it at all cost. So, this is how it must be played.
- Maps are repeating. Once I had the same map two times in a row. And won it with the same weapon setup. Why?
- Levels not getting harder through the campaign. There's just more and more waves. Remember, I said you can enjoy the first half of Campaign 2? It is because in second half I was surprised to find 120 waves. And I asked myself, what am I spending my life on? Add here, that on any level you are fully build up by half of the waves and then you can go make some coffee, read news or play another game. Just come back from time to time an upgrade something.

So, in the end, game is boring, repetative and linear.

Pro:

• Four difficulty levels.
  
• Double speed option.
  
• You can build and use abilities while the game is paused.

• Options are limited to fullscreen/windowed and sound levels.
  
• Graphics ported directly from the mobile version.
  
• Lazy port with mobile features still intact (e.g. you have to buy upgrade slots).
  
• Respeccing the commander is expensive.
  
• Towers and abilities lack creativity.
  
• Levels take too long.
  
• Little variation in enemies.
  
[*]Too few placement options.

Ok, first thing - that "recommend" is more like "take it at your own risk". Shame there is no such option. With that said - game is not exactly bad, but it has a lot of flaws. But let's start with good part - game has lots of maps (35+), lots of modes and difficulties and nice interest system where you have to keep your defences to minimal, which adds to tactical part. That's about it for the good part.

Now about bad stuff - first of all, game is really long. Each stage (except maybe very early ones) lasts at least an hour. On it's own that wouldn't be so bad, but you can't speed up the game more than 2x. Considering that some games has 3x, 5x, even 9x speed ups - very poor desicion. Next thing - in every stage to collect more money (and gain more interest money) you have to do your best to kill enemies withlou building anything. So you have to use abilities and your commander (yup, you have movable unit to help you) for a good 20-30% of the stage. Way to go for a TD, instead of tactical managing limited resourses you must jump around to collect money. Another bad thing is - there are basically only 8 types of enemies with small variations, nothing interesting really. If that was a game for 20-30 hours, it'd be ok, but game for 100h+? Definitely bad. And there is more! Towers are majorly disbalanced, by the end of the game you really need only 4-5 towers from given 12 - as if 12 was too much to make it more or less balanced. Well, that's it for big ones, i may also add couple small ones - bad graphics (but i guess if you play TD you don't care like me, still had to write about it), repetitive music (remember 100h+ of gameplay, on the other hand you can turn it down - again, like i did) and small glitch when you choose chapters, but that's not really an issue, just a bit annoying.

So. After all that you may ask why i even put "recommend" on it. Well, not everyone completes games on 100%. If you want to complete campaign and leave, i suppose, it's not so bad. I give this game 5/10, because it's badly flawed and artificially prolonged, but you may still enjoy it. Just don't go too deep.

This is one of my favorite Tower Defense games from mobile and I like the PC port, would have been nice to see some exclusive PC content but the core game is still here and that is good for me.

I hate myself for trying to play this game, it starts out good (first hour) but then it's the same over and over again. The more difficult it gets the longer it takes to clear the stages (it actually doesnt raise the difficulty) so its always easy. It just takes forever, It's will slowly drain the life out of your soul,

2 campains / 40lvls of the same stuff, 4 difficulty settings = 160, + endless and challenge mode = i dont know 40 more / 200 levels

A level usually takes 20min on easy and up to and hour on hardest, on endless mode its infinite so if you want to beat the game, its atleast 200hours. And it's the same thing over and over again, you dont need to think or do, just sit there and watch for 200hours, sounds like fun right? well it's not!

This game BARELY cuts the mark for that yes, and it's for the reason everyone assumes: the port is clearly an afterthought and I was never allowed to forget that while playing. For example, I eventually started pausing mid level every time I wanted to upgrade a tower, because actually selecting one with the mouse is a hit and miss thing - it tries to grab and slide the screen instead, which is utterly useless since the whole map fits fine in my screen. And don't start me on the level selection slider. The appropriate asking price tipped the scale towards yes for me.

That huge aside aside, this is a solid tower defense game of the more traditional variety, with fixed paths and some interesting mechanics - just don't expect a reinvention of the wheel. The maps of the campaigns repeat once too often for my liking, however they're intersting enough and at times challenging. I like the difficulty, though the curve can occasionally be steep and some grinding seems to be encouraged. It is mildly addictive, the graphics are fine and scale alright, the music is okay but can get very repetitive. All in all, as TDs go this one is lukewarm: decent, not great, not bad.

Pet peeve: It's really sparse on information about the levels, the enemies, the towers and the upgrades. I especially miss details on the enemy types (an icon and a level are not info enough in my book). More practical details at the level selection page would also help plan what towers/weapons to pack along. However, since many of the maps are pretty solidly geared towards one or two winning strategies, you could consider that part of the design: this is less a plan ahead and stratgize sort of TD and more a "jump right in and take the hits as they come" one. Personally, I consider the lack of information just another sign of a game made for smaller screens and less reading.

So buy? Yes, I suppose, if you're a TD fan and running dry. Especially if it's discounted and practically free. There are many MANY great TD games for PCs out there and this isn't one of them, but it gave me enough hours of fun to pay for itself.

As tower defense goes this is a great example. I wouldn't say it brings anything truly unique to the table, but gameplay is solid, re-playability good, and progression fun. Advised to any TD fan.

This was a solid tower defense game on android. The Steam version suffers from being a lazy port. The controls haven't been properly reworked for PC, the slider where you select your mission is slightly bugged (clearly intended to be swiped with a finger and just badly ported over for mouse), and the graphics are poorly detailed when viewed on a normal sized computer monitor or TV.

I think if these guys had just put in a bit more effort, it could have been a good port. As it is for now, there are better tower defense games to be played instead.

Solid, Simple, Tower Defense for fans of the genre. This is primarily a fixed path, but flexible tower placement game. Not a maze builder.

After about 30 minutes of play, it appears to just be a bug free, direct port, of the mobile version. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I already own the android version and have beaten it before. Too many mobile to PC ports are buggy right off the start. So far this works fine for me in either full screen or windowed mode. Thumbs up to a smooth mobile to PC transition for the Devs.

It’s a good addition for fans of the genre, especially if you don’t already have it on your tablet or phone. This is best for those that prefer a more 2D tower defense where you focus on upgrades and tower placement like Onslaught, Fieldrunners, iBomber Defense, or Defender’s Quest.

If you prefer a more complex fully 3D tower defense that uses more of the PC’s gaming power I’d recommend checking out Prime World: Defenders, Dungeon Defenders, Sanctum (1 or 2), or Defense Grid.

I enjoy both the simple 2D and complex 3D Tower Defense games. So I was more than happy to add Sentinel 3 to my Steam collection.