CHROMA SQUAD review

(Reviewed by Melody Werner)
Chroma Squad is a tactical RPG inspired by Sentai (like Power Rangers or VR Troopers, or really anything by Saban) that you can find on Steam and was developed by the same folks who did Knights of Pen & Paper, Behold Studios. In it, you play as a new studio that produces a Sentai show called Chroma Squad (the squad name you can change to whatever you want, as well as a few other customizations, like your studio name, your catch phrase, your actor's names, and so on). Your goal is to become the best studio and have fun in the process.

The battle system(s) is (slash are) fantastic. Not only does it fit in thematically, but it also works like a dream. It really comes together because you feel like you're working as a team. Can't reach an enemy on a turn with your heaviest hitter? Have one of your other guys get in between the two and use the team command so your heavy hitter can use acrobatics to hit the enemy on that turn. But the stronger battle system, I feel, is the one where you play as the mecha. The punch system works wonderfully too, probably just as well, but it has a risk/reward factor that really feels far more satisfying to pull off.

The music in this game is fantastic. It has the "chip tunes" style and sounds perfect, getting you in the mood to kick some kaiju ass. And there is enough variation that no track gets too old too fast. The pixel art looks great, and the animations are rather smooth, making the game come together very well in the visuals.

Another strength of the game is its humor and the theme. The comedy is cleverly written enough to get a chuckle out of the player here and there. The game gets very cheesy, but that's because it is honing the feel of its inspirations, which deserves praise as it replicates the theme it was going for perfectly. More so, the entire style of the game comes together to make it feel like you're actually playing a Power Rangers roleplaying game--not once have I thought "Hey, this doesn't feel like a Sentai at all!", and that really testifies to how faithful it is to the Saban formula, in RPG form.

The game is about 9 hours long, if Steam's measurement is correct, and for the six or so dollars I spent on it on sale, it was well worth the price and kept me entertained for the entire play time.

If I had any problems with the game, after completing it, it'd be that the final episode is way too long. It starts out fine, with a battle against the main villain of the game, then when you beat him he locks you in the room which begins spewing gas and you have to beat all of his minions, and then you have two final boss fights immediately afterwards (the standard battle and then a mech battle). Excusing that every bit of it was well designed and tense, it just doesn't give you a break between all of these parts which could've stood on their own as their own segment. It's so bad that my computer crashed partway through the first part of the final battle, and thus, I had to replay the entire stage over again. That being said, it's still a fun episode, it's just that it is sorely lacking breaks between parts and I had to bitch a bit about having to replay the entire level over again.

Chroma Squad is definitely worth your time, even if you're not a Sentai fan, as long as you are at least somewhat into roleplaying games. It works very well as a TRPG, but I feel it really comes into its own as a Sentai TRPG. Chroma Squad gets a 9/10.

Awesome

Summary:
A very solid RPG with two great battle systems (definitely have to give kudos to the mech one though), fantastic chip tunes music, some great pixel art, some great humor, and the hokeyness you'd expect from something trying to replicate Saban's Sentai feel. If you want a good turn-based RPG and you're tired of waiting for Square Enix to stop being a terrible ass publisher and release the type of games that saved them from bankruptcy, then Chroma Squad is definitely worth checking out.