So let me be perfectly honest for a moment. I had no intention of playing Super Senso, at first. I was actually at the GungHo booth to try out Let It Die, but by some witchcraft got redirected to Super Senso instead. Wanting to be a good sport, I started tinkering with the free mobile game, and was quickly happy that I did so.
While I know next to nothing about the plot of Super Senso, that’s really not important. The reason for that is Super Senso plays remarkably well, with very intuitive and precise controls that just seem perfectly attuned to what the game requires from players. You control an army and need to build units from silos to take out the enemy core. Every turn, that core is also assailed by a laser from some satellite, and depending on how many enemy units you crush prior to that, you’ll get point multipliers. So if you crush a lot of units, those multipliers will do massive damage to your foe’s resources. Do enough damage, and you’ll eventually win. But there’s a lot to love about this simple premise executed with such finesse.
First, and this is not hyperbole, Super Senso immediately reminded me of Advance Wars, in the best of ways. Though there aren’t any commander units trading banter, the key mechanics are all very similar. Each turn you’ll be rewarded with crystals which serve as the currency to develop your army. If you don’t spend all your crystals in a given turn, you’ll have extra with which to play around. The nice thing is, you are only limited by how many crystals you have, so if you’ve stockpiled a bunch, you can churn out a ton of units all in one turn, then unleash them upon your enemy! It also didn’t hurt that there is a huge variety of unit types, though the ones in the demo were primarily robotic units and military vehicles.
All in all, I was very pleasantly surprised by Super Senso. If I had a device to play it on, I would be doing so as we speak. It’s that good. And since Intelligent Systems seems to have forgotten their beloved Advance Wars series, fans can get their fix for free with this well crafted mobile experience!
