After watching the trailer for 11 Bit Studios’ Anomaly 2 I was thinking “Anomaly 2? I didn’t even know there was an Anomaly 1.” After looking up Anomaly: Warzone Earth on Steam I found that I’d actually purchased the first installment a while back, and just never gotten around to playing it. I felt so bad that a game this good could have slipped under my radar and even one that I owned, so I decided to dive headfirst into a game that has totally taken tower defense and flipped it on its head.
Anomaly: Warzone Earth takes place in the near future where two pieces of what are thought to be asteroids have collided with Earth landing in Baghdad and Tokyo. As your unit is closest to the action, you are the first to respond. Upon further investigation you find out that these anomalies are actually aliens, and only you stand in their way.
Anomaly Warzone Earth is much like a tower defense game but in reverse. Instead of strategically placing your units on the map and waiting for your enemies to come to you, you take the initiative and lead your units into the fray. The map lets you choose from various routes through each level. With this kind of control you can either take the easier route and avoid most enemies or you can go in guns blazing and rake in the money to upgrade your units.
What is really great about Anomaly is that instead of you being the invincible, almighty eye in the sky you’re vulnerable and on the ground controlling the commander of the 14th Platoon laying down supportive skills. The commander regenerates health after taking damage but if you take too much damage you will go down for a few seconds and be unable to move or help your squad.
There are four different supportive abilities that are available to you during the game. There’s repair, smoke screen, decoy, and airstrike. Each ability has different ranges and time limits so you really have to take into consideration when and where you place them. Abilities are mostly air dropped in after destroying an enemy or there are automatic drops when you get to a certain part in the level.
There are six units available to the player, but only two are available from the start. Every few missions new units will be unlocked. Individual units have the potential to upgrade three times, increasing its attack power and armor. Coincidentally there are also six kinds of enemy units, not including bosses, and they also are introduced every few missions.
When you have finished the campaign and want to test you skills as a commander you are able to play wave time attack levels and compete for the best score online, and there are even some extra side missions to help sate your Anomaly needs.
While playing Anomaly Warzone Earth I only found one large issue. Some of the unlocked units didn’t make a big difference. I noticed was that the beginning units are probably the most powerful when upgraded and the most cheap to upgrade. The APC has insane armor, while the Crawler has overpowered damage. This being said towards the end I didn’t even have need for most of the other units. Other than that small inconsistency it’s a well made game with solid gameplay. And three difficulties levels to choose from will suit your replay needs.
+Solid gameplay
+Unique game concept
+Good level design
- Lacking in the unit department
Review Score: 8/10
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