All too often, games are broken down into specific categories such as strategy, first-person shooter, or even tower defense. These categories can often limit the games or cast a negative public perception, leading to poor sales or critical reception. Thankfully, not all games stick to these categories; instead, some choose to branch out and create a separate path. 11 Bit Studios does just this with the follow up to their Tower Offense game Anomaly Warzone Earth, Anomaly 2.
What makes Anomaly 2 more than a standard tower defense or strategy game? Basically, Anomaly 2 flips the roles around and makes humanity the aggressor in a changing battlefield. Instead of setting up the soldiers in an area populated by walls and attacking enemies, 11 Bit populates various battlefields with evil robots hell bent on destroying all of humanity while taking over the earth. As First Lieutenant Simon Lynx, your mission is to successfully guide your convoy through each area while destroying these enemy machines—called Towers—without losing every single unit under your command.
That description may sound basic, but Anomaly 2 actually has a decent premise. Lynx is a member of a very small group of survivors with the goal of destroying the Towers and figuring out why the Earth has placed in a permanent winter. This mission takes Lynx across North and South America before finally sending him to Antarctica. During this mission, Lynx is paired with various scientists, a grumpy military commander, and a slightly crazy Southern convoy commander. They make up the team known as Yukon that becomes the main focus in Anomaly 2. This story is pretty cool, but it unfortunately gets forgotten during the missions. The sheer task of successfully navigating the battlefield makes the story less important, and you start to forget which slightly stereotypical ally needs what objective fulfilled. This is unfortunate because the narrated cutscenes between each mission are quite interesting.
So, how does the Tower Offense work? There are multiple options for navigating each enemy-infested area and multiple assortments of vehicles/weapons. Each mission—there are 15 total—has a start and end point, but you decide what happens between them. You begin by setting a course across the map that will hit all of the important points without crossing the biggest enemies. Next, you choose a convoy consisting of 1-6 vehicles that will work well against each enemy type. After those two details are decided, you take direct control of Lynx and use him to closely follow the convoy. However, controlling Lynx isn’t a simple matter of walking around a map. You actually have to use Lynx to distract enemies, repair the convoy members using the Repair bonus, and pick up other bonuses that are left by destroyed Towers. You can then use these bonuses by sneaking up on enemy towers and setting them off before the convoy arrives. One of these bonuses (EMP) disables every Tower within range until they are fired upon, which works extremely well when trying to navigate past a group of larger Towers. Another bonus (Decoy) distracts the Towers for a short time so the convoy can either sneak by or simply get a head start in the battle. The fourth and final bonus (A.I.M.) forces all of the convoy members to focus their fire on one specific target instead of targeting various Towers. Using these four bonuses at the proper times can quickly change every battle.
There are multiple paths to navigate the terrain, but each path has a different set of destructive enemies that must be destroyed. Some of the enemies in Anomaly 2 are Predators that hide underground until the last second, transforming lightning Towers, Scorchers that destroy certain paths using lasers, and deadly behemoth Towers with pulse blasts. Of the many Tower varieties, the Scorchers and Predators are possibly the most destructive, which could be overwhelming. Thankfully, 11 Bit provides a nice assortment of vehicles to combat the alien threat, including a long-range tank that transforms into a rocket launcher (the Sledge/Rocket Hammer), a fully automatic machine gun tank/flamethrower mech (the Assault/Hell Hound), a shielding airship, and a portable cloaking device. In addition, 11 Bit also provides supply vehicles and a heavy-duty support tank.
Some Towers fighting with the convoy.
Now, the Towers and convoys are mostly an even match, but some of the larger and later missions require a good deal of planning. Certain vehicles work best against specific Towers, and incorrectly deciding on vehicle types can be downright catastrophic. Luckily, Lynx has the ability to pause the action and deploy whatever combination of vehicles will work the best at that exact moment. For example, the rocket hammers work best against standard enemies, but the Assault Hounds work better against shielded Towers. So, Lynx can destroy multiple Towers, quickly pause the game, and sell the Rocket Hammers, purchase some Assault Hounds, and get back into the action without losing any time. This strategy of shuffling around units can get expensive, but each map has multiple sources of money lying in wait for Lynx’s convoy. This money is mostly used to purchase new vehicles or upgrade the existing ones.
If constantly switching between unit types isn’t your favorite thing on the planet, don’t fret because Anomaly 2 has another option. You can use Lynx’s gear to change the convoy’s path at a moment’s notice. This ability is especially useful in the later missions when the enemies and terrain are changing for very strange reasons. In fact, this ability to constantly change the path means that each level can become a massive puzzle involving destroyed Towers, broken convoys, and faster completion times. Better times and fewer friendly deaths are great because they result in gold medals, and who doesn’t like those?
The red marks are all enemies, so changing your path to avoid them is very important.
The puzzle/strategy aspect of Anomaly 2 is by far the main reason to play. Each mission requires that you find the best combination of convoy vehicles for the specific situation. This fact especially holds true during the final mission, which is one of the hardest levels I have every played. You can’t simply load up on Assault Hounds or Rocket Hammers and expect to defeat the final boss or the mass amount of enemy towers. No, this final mission takes careful planning, and it could easily take 3-4 attempts before success, even on the casual difficulty.
The other main reason to play Anomaly 2 is the setting of a destroyed Earth. Each level is different in a major way, including the weather systems. Earth is technically in a permanent winter, but the alien Towers and their cocoons play hell with the weather between the levels. Plus, the levels and battles look fantastic on the PS4, pairing well with the buttery smooth performance and big-screen experience.
Anomaly 2 is a great game, especially when you only have a few moments of free time. The levels load quickly, and a successful run through each map could take anywhere from 7-25 minutes. Not too shabby when you need a quick gaming fix. Even if you get tired of the different campaign missions, there is a separate multiplayer mode that combines the Tower Offense and Defense. In this mode, one player is on defense as the Towers, and the other player controls a convoy with the purpose of destroying every Tower on the map. The mode is fun, and it gives each player the chance to set traps or go out hunting, depending on their preferences.
Look, Anomaly 2 may not have the most memorable story or characters, but that honestly doesn’t matter very much. All you need to know is that 11 Bit created a very entertaining twist on Tower Defense games with a great multiplayer mode and a really fun campaign. Anomaly 2 is absolutely worth playing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.