Review

Developed by:11 bit Studio Published by:11 bit Studio Genre(s):
  • RTS
  • Tower Defence
  • Platform:
  • PC
  • Cost:$14.99 ESRB Rating:TEEN Players:1 (2 Online) Release date:May 15, 2013 Reviewed on:PC
    9

    Anomaly 2

    In a simple world I could begin and end this review by saying, “Anomaly 2 is a great game and you should go buy it!” However, since a one sentence review may deter my readers from ever visiting unitedfrontgaming.com ever again, I’ll elaborate on 11 bit Studio’s new sequel!

    Anomaly 2’s narrative takes place years after the first game. Based on the Earth’s current condition, it would appear that we’ve lost the war against an alien race of machine. Most of the planet is frozen tundra with the ruins of once great cities depicting how badly we’ve been beaten. Our only hope of survival lies in the hands of a group of scientists and their newly developed experimental weapon. All we have to do is make sure they are well protected once we attack with our secret weapon. Of course, this wouldn’t be such a substantial task if we had more than a garbled message cryptically describing the location of these scientists…somewhere behind enemy lines! Yeah, no pressure there!

    Other than the old storyline, Anomaly 2 does not exclude any of the trappings of the first game. Gamers will need to guide a convoy of military grade vehicles through a hostile environment filled with alien turrets. Gamers are equipped with a gridded map revealing the location of enemy towers to aide them with their mission. Accessing this map will pause the game and allow the gamer to guide the convoy on a designated path. The ability to access the map at any time comes in handy, especially since the convoys cannot be directly controlled and only guided. Gamers can, however, provide support via an assortment of power ups; a health power up, for example, will heal a unit that rolls through its area of effect once placed. The Commander unit (directly controlled by gamers) can place different power ups on the map at any time. Some power ups, like the EMP or Decoy, support the player by focusing on the enemies as opposed to a more defensive effect. Additionally there are the vehicles that make up each convoy. Gamers can buy, sell, and/or upgrade these units using the  resources collected in battle.

    These elements make up the bulk of the original Anomaly gameplay. Dramatic encounters that force players to change their path, interesting enemy types that need to be approached in specific ways, and multiple unit types to choose from rounded out the reverse tower defense formula. Combined, these mechanics worked well to challenge player’s strategic planning skills and encourage the ability to think on their feet. Anomaly 2 takes things a step further by adding in tougher objectives and deadly new enemies.

    One of the best things about Anomaly 2 was that each level presented a unique challenge. One level required me to protect a building in the middle of a city for a certain amount of time. What was interesting is how the enemy towers were spawning. Starting on the eastside of the map, a group of towers would pop up. If their main tower wasn’t taken down quickly, another row of towers would spring to life. This would continue until the towers were close enough to target the building I was protecting. The same thing was happening in the North, South, and West areas of the map just in different intervals. It was tough juggling where my convoy was headed and where I needed to be; do I destroy these turrets because I’m physically closer to them or do I try to take down the units that are closer to the building I’m protecting? The ones closer to the building were an immediate threat but if I didn’t stop this group from advancing they might become an even bigger threat down the line. In another mission I was forced to use  trucks filled with explosives to destroy enemy emplacements around a map. No big deal right? Well here’s the catch, I only could use a limited number of attacking units because  the explosive ones were also occupying  space in my convoy. On top of that, if the explosive trucks took too many hits, they would explode destroying everything around them…including the rest of the convoy!

    The fact that I was doing something different each level is a testament to the talented people over at 11 bit Studios. I mean, the basic gameplay mechanics of a tower defense game, classic or reversed, are repetitive by nature. I can imagine it being pretty difficult to fashion missions that honestly felt different from one another given that you are basically leading weaponized vehicles around a map. Anomaly 2 could have easily suffered from stale design that put emphasis on just getting to an exit over and over again.

    Besides the objectives on each map, the enemies populating the world of Anomaly 2 were also pretty original. New turret types would join the fight every few levels, causing me to rethink things along the way. For instance, one of my units had the ability to shield two units behind it and two in front. It did a good job keeping my convoy healthy, until a Predator popped up. Once it spawns it gives off a wave of energy that completely removes all shielding, leaving any proximal opposing units exposed. Making matters worse was its consistent tendency to appear in  groups; so now there would be multiple turrets all giving off the same shield-killing energy waves. To help fight back, I was able to utilize a new feature called morphing. All of the vehicles have the ability to morph (transform) changing their core functions. The shield creating unit morphed into one that shot out an electrical pulse to slow down attacking enemies. This would give me time to lay more power ups and give my units more time to shoot at the Predators without worrying about them instantly returning fire.

    Anomaly 2 is much better than its predecessors as it has everything that made the first one fun and then some!. The great level design and varying objectives keep the game feeling fresh after hours of play. Graphically, the game looks better than ever (I especially dig the snappy UI). If those things weren’t enough the game also features a new multiplayer mode. Here gamers can either be the humans controlling a convoy (similar to the campaign) or they can build towers as the enemy alien machines. The goal is to reach a pre-determined point limit by destroying the opposing side’s units or towers. The challenge comes from the assorted distribution of points earned from destroying certain units; some give more points than others. Both sides will need to level up by gathering resources in order to build better units and towers. These one-on-one matches tend to go back and forth as both players plot out the best course of action.

    My only issue here is that the convoy player seems to have a bit of an advantage. There are some strong long ranged units that completely obliterate all but a few of the alien towers. The alien player can place towers almost anywhere. That said, certain towers can’t be beside other towers; either it takes up too much space or it would give the alien player an unfair advantage. The convoy player can pause the game to sell and buy units based on what you’ve placed on the map. Meaning, they can change up their tactics much better than the person placing towers. For instance, if I placed a tower that is good against certain units, my opponent would see this. They’d be able to pause the game and, if they have enough resources, switch their units to better choices based on my defenses. It’s like rock paper scissors, but the other person can stop the game and change their pick based on what you threw out.

    To be fair there are ways around these guerrilla tactics though. Combining certain abilities can really devastate opponents. And, the alien side has an easier time gaining a large amount of points since the convoy is all they have to shoot at, they don’t have to circle the map to find high scoring targets. Still, it does feel a little lopsided. A couple of balancing patches could really help things. Besides that minor complaint, Anomaly 2 is a solid game. Great graphics, engaging gameplay mechanics, and a cool premise makes this a great title to add to one’s Steam collection…and so as I said before, Anomaly 2 is a great game and you should go buy it!

    Gameplay:

    10

    A fun game through and through!

    Graphics:

    10

    Despite the highly elevated camera position, the game is heavily detailed. Also, it features a snappy UI!

    Sound:

    8

    Most of everything sounds good here. The voice acting isn’t that great…not bad, but just not great.

    What's New:

    10

    The multiplayer tower defense vs. tower offense mode is genius. Though it doesn’t play as great as it sounds, the game does benefit from its addition.

    Replay Value:

    7

    The campaign is fun enough to warrant multiple plays and there is the multiplayer mode. The game is missing the extra modes from the first game though.

    Final Score:

    9

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