Like predecessors Anomaly: Warzone Earth and Anomaly Korea, 11 Bit
Studios’ Anomaly 2 turns classic tower defense upside down. Instead of
fortifying a base with turrets, cannons, and soldiers, Anomaly 2 places
you in command of the incoming horde. Armed with a combat suit capable
of setting up decoys, detonating EMP pulses, and healing units, you'll
be tasked with leading a convoy of tanks, armored mechs, drones, and
mobile labs through hostile territory, blasting through metallic alien
defenses to clear roads or liberate important objectives.
As the
third entry in the series, Anomaly 2 has firm command of the game’s
basic conceits: Missions, friendly units, and enemy types are varied and
work well together, and the large maps are flexible enough to support
multiple play styles. For example, enemy Chargers are vulnerable to
missile attacks, and if your squad isn't equipped to handle them, you
can call in new units on the fly or avoid the fight altogether by
changing the convoy's route.
With
new waves of enemies spawning and objectives changing mid-battle,
playing Anomaly 2 often feels like putting out multiple fires at once.
Quick hands and good timing are often as important as critical thinking
and sound tactics, and Anomaly 2 addresses our biggest gripe about its
forebears: Lieutenant Simon Lynx has never been easier to control.
Getting through Anomaly’s long, arduous missions is satisfying, but
suffering a loss – or worse, a game crash – after 20 minutes of chipping
away is frustrating, especially since the difficulty ramps up
significantly toward the end of the campaign.
Anomaly 2’s story
mode is a prelude to its new, intricate multiplayer mode, which pits a
convoy (a "Squad") against a player-controlled alien installation (the
"Towers"). The defense-oriented aliens play more like traditional tower
defense or real-time strategy games, as you must gather resources,
create chokepoints, and unlock new towers to succeed. While multiplayer
matches can be difficult to find, dedicated players will find a
fast-paced affair with the nuances expected from the genre. The campaign
mode is great training for Squad players, however the complex Tower
mechanics suffer from a lack of tutorials or a single-player component.
The bottom line.
Anomaly 2 improves on earlier games in the series and puts enough spin
on the tower defense genre to attract new players and veterans alike.
