Game: Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Platform: PC
Publisher: 11 Bit Studios
Developer: 11 Bit Studios
ESRB: N/A
Genre: Reverse tower defense
Players: 1
What's Hot: Great twist on tower defense formula; missions are lengthy and varied; large, detailed maps to play through; 10 bucks
What's Not: Story and dialog are cliche and boring
Review by: Andrew Webster
Tower defense games have quickly gone from being an exciting new sub-genre to possibly being the most oversaturated type of strategy game there is. So it’s always nice to find a game that does something new with the formula. And that’s just what Anomaly: Warzone Earth does. It’s game that has you taking on the role of the offensive force, instead of building up defenses; this significantly changes the feel of the game, turning it into something approaching a simplified RTS.
In the not-too-distant future, aliens have descended upon the planet, taking over Baghdad and Tokyo, enshrouding them both in a mysterious dome. You command a small squad that’s been tasked with entering these domes—the titular anomalies—to see just what’s going on. And things aren’t good. The aliens have set up defenses all over the streets, forcing you to fight your way through as you explore.
Anomaly plays almost exactly like a standard tower defense game, only in reverse. Instead of erecting turrets and other defenses to protect your base, you play the offensive side that has to make its way through those mazes of turrets. At any time you can have up to six units in play and you also control a tiny little dude in some sort of power suit. The units will move and fire automatically, but you can control where they move by creating a route on the game’s map that can be re-adjusted at any time. This is where much of the strategy comes into play. Choosing the correct route is paramount to success, so thankfully the map provides data on where enemy turrets are located, allowing you to plan accordingly.
There’s more to the game than just setting a route and passively watching your squad battle its way through, though. The power suit-clad commander also plays a large role. This character is completely under your control and has the ability to access various power-ups to help the squad along. Chief among these is the ability to heal units, but you can also throw down smoke screens to confuse enemies, or drop decoys to divert their attention. These power-ups are limited in number, but you’ll pick up new ones as you down bad guys.
And just like in every other tower defense game, you’ll also earn cash that can be used to buy new units or upgrade existing ones. As with the route planning, picking the right units for the situation at hand can mean the difference between making it out alive and being outright destroyed. There’s only a handful of units available, some of which you’ll unlock as you progress through the campaign, but each one has a specific function. Often when you find yourself unable to get past a certain point, simply changing up the unit types will help you push through.
With only 14 missions, Anomaly’s campaign may seem a bit on the anemic side but most of the missions are actually quite long and involved, spanning large portions of the map. They’re also varied, constantly throwing different objectives at you, forcing you to switch up your tactics regularly. Sometimes you’ll simply need to make it from point A to point B, while other missions will force you to destroy certain enemies or protect certain allies. And, thankfully, checkpoints are plentiful, so if you end up dying you won’t have to replay large portions of the mission again.
Though it’s set in the future and features an advanced alien race, Anomaly actually has a strong sense of reality to it. The bird’s eye camera angle and gritty urban environments almost make it feel like you’re watching a clip from the news. Unfortunately, the story often takes you out of that, with annoying dialog and suspect voice acting. It also ends on an awful twist that doesn’t really make all that much sense.
Then again, strategy games don’t require a good narrative to be enjoyable, and for $10 Anomaly is definitely worth your time. Whether you’re a tower defense fan looking for something new or someone intimidated by the world of real time strategy, this game has a lot to offer.
You can order Anomaly: Warzone Earth at the game's website:
http://www.anomalythegame.com
Andrew Webster is a contributor to GameShark and is also the social games editor at Gamezebo and a contributing writer for Ars Technica. He writes lots of stuff for lots of places and spends too much time on Twitter.
