Anomaly 2 Review

First thing’s first, if you haven’t played Anomaly: Warzone Earth then fret not, the sequel won’t throw you in the deep end. Thankfully though, if you have played the first edition of this clever ‘tower offence’ game, then there’s plenty of new content to get to grips with and enjoy.

For those not initiated; Anomaly presents a brilliantly crafted spin on the classic tower defence genre. Rather than organising and maintaining a path of towers, you play the opposing role guiding a convoy of vehicles through the turret-filled wastelands. All of this is set within a simple, but well presented, alien invasion storyline that, despite its horrible cliches and obvious twists, keeps you interested to the end of the 6-8 hour campaign.

Gameplay itself is very finely tuned and plays out brilliantly. While the player doesn’t control the vehicles directly, you can choose the path it takes through the areas and also pick up and place power ups, all whilst directing your character around the map. It’s a great, and not to mention original, system that creates a massively fast pace unlike anything you’ve ever played in a tower defence title. You’ll spend most of your time dashing back and forth between dropped power ups and the front of your vehicle column, which you will be guiding through the tower maze. In some ways, you end up relying too much on the repair ability but the others do help in certain situations.

The levels themselves are similar to the previous game; which means plenty of well designed challenges that evolve over the course of the campaign. Personally, I’ve found that tower defence games can often get the pacing all wrong and leave you confused and frustrated as your base explodes for the hundredth time. Thankfully, Anomaly 2 is paced perfectly and while I would, by no means, call this an easy game. It’s challenging just to the right degree and what’s more, each level comes with its own twist, from new vehicles, ways to use them, and new enemy types. It’s a constant system that greatly encourages you to adapt your strategy. You’ll never find yourself stuck in a rut playing the same collection of vehicles for each level as the game is just too good at finding holes in your devious plans. It’s a great example of how a short campaign can work really well. 11 Bit Studios could easily have dragged the campaign out a bit, but it’s a testament to their vision that they kept it short and very sweet.

Aesthetically, Anomaly 2 is a very good looking and stylish game. The semi-top down view provides a terrific outlook over the beautiful scenery that 11 bit have created. It’s by far the best looking tower defence game I’ve ever seen and, while the actual graphical quality isn’t mind blowing, the overall presentation gives the game a brilliant look. Alien, or ‘Machine’, towers are menacing, and the various types all look great as well as distinct. Your own convoy vehicles are also well designed, striking a pleasing balance between sci-fi and reality. Add much more varied scenery from the first game, like jungles, tundras and a torn up New York, and you’ve got a truly beautiful game. It’s a slight shame that you’ll likely spend very little time admiring it as you race around the levels plopping down repair fields, but it’s a nice touch all the same.

The convoy vehicles have also seen an upgrade since Warzone Earth; each one of them has a nifty alternative form which can be accessed with a double click of the right mouse button. This sees the vehicles perform a transformer style conversion into a similar, but strategically different model. For instance, the SledgeHammer is a very powerful cannon that’s great for taking out big turrets, but it can only shoot straight ahead. Give it a double click and it transforms into the RocketHammer, which, while less powerful, can shoot in all directions. It’s this kind of ‘strategy on the fly’ design that makes Anomaly 2 so engaging and can be found in every element of the game.

The scoring system from the first game makes a return, ranking you on various elements like swiftness and ruthlessness. These are then stacked up against other players in online leaderboards. Thankfully though, and in the series’ biggest step from Warzone Earth, this isn’t the only multiplayer element. Anomaly 2 features a fully functioning online multiplayer segment in which one player controls the convoy as per the single player and another oversees construction of the Machine towers.

It’s a really good idea that fully embraces the great groundwork already laid out in the campaign. Playing on the tower side can be very daunting and confusing at first as there’s a lot to think about all at once. Give it a few games though, and you’ll be deploying devious strategies like funneling and swamping. Laying towers down is actually so fun that I’m somewhat surprised 11 bit didn’t incorporate it into the single player, but I suppose this isn’t supposed to be a generic tower defence game. They’re pretty much selling it on the fact that it’s the opposite.

Matchmaking at the time of writing isn’t perfect, you can often be left searching for games for a good while. Thankfully, there’s a good community behind the game who are typically glad to help out new players and play multiple rounds with those who want to invest a bit of time into the multiplayer. So, all round a good online experience that’s likely to get a lot of people hooked, even though the number of maps and game modes are somewhat lacking.

Anomaly 2 is a great game all round and there’s no single element that drags it down other than the fact that it is very similar to the previous title in the series. This, even for experienced players of Warzone Earth, is easily forgivable as Anomaly 2 presents some great new features, particularly the online multiplayer. This segment gives the game a huge replayability advantage over the previous title and the campaign is better balanced and flows very nicely. The simple fact that all of this is available for a relatively low price is an even bigger incentive to go out and try it. Oh and the transforming vehicles are also a winner; you can’t go wrong with transforming vehicles.