The original Anomaly: Warzone Earth took a fresh, new approach in the ubiquitous tower defense genre by flipping the traditional roles around, having you play as the creeps fighting against the towers. The fun, challenging gameplay led to a sequel (aptly named Anomaly 2), which introduced the very cool creeps vs. towers multiplayer. Well, those darn alien towers are back in a third installment, Anomaly Defenders, except this time, you are the darn aliens.
Platforms: PC
Publisher: 11 Bit Studios
Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Genre: Traditional Tower Defense
Release Date: May 29, 2014
ESRB Rating: Teen
That’s right – while Polish developer 11 Bit Studios flipped things around with the first two games, they’ve flipped things back to a “normal” tower defense format for Anomaly Defenders, with you placing alien towers against the invading human creeps. Fans will definitely get a kick out of playing “the other side,” where those annoying, powerful towers we used to hate are now our best friends.
As you progress through the 24 levels, you can unlock new towers, upgrades, and abilities in the tech tree – including the devastating Behemoth and Scorcher towers, Harvesters that generate funds for your tower building (these also attract the humans, which is extremely useful for funneling them into deadly choke points), EMP blasts, temporary firepower or shield boosts, repair abilities, and so on – all familiar to the Anomaly fan. The humans also gain new vehicles and abilities as well, so things can get quite hectic and challenging, especially in the later levels. However, as in the previous games, the difficulty builds up at a comfortable pace, so even casual players won’t get overwhelmed too quickly.
It’s a fun game, but the problem is it feels more like an expansion pack than a true sequel. For example, the story is … well, there is no story. With only a very brief introductory cutscene, you are plunked right into the action with virtually no preamble or explanation of what the heck is going on. Fans know the scoop – the humans are retaliating by attacking the alien homeworld – but new players would have no idea why this is happening. There is also no voice acting, but this is actually a good thing since the acting in the previous games was atrocious.
The well-designed levels offer unique challenges, like multiple entry points, lightning strikes that can completely disable your towers, and damaging meteor and bombing strikes. As if dealing with attacking humans wasn’t enough! Things can get quite crazy as a result, and failure is primarily due to your strategy and tactics rather than any faults with the gameplay. Note that if you do find yourself screwing up, you’ll have to start the level over from scratch, as there is no checkpoint system or rewind function.
As far as tower defense games go, Anomaly Defenders offers fun, challenging gameplay, but compared to the innovations of the first two games, it’s nothing special. There is no multiplayer, no Commander to control, and none of that special uniqueness that made the series so exciting and original in the first place. Basically, it’s just another competent tower defense game with little that makes it stand out from a very big crowd. That said, the production values are at their usual high. The game looks fantastic, with great graphics and artwork, and, as always, the musical score is outstanding.
Sure, it’s fun to play as the aliens, but a game that is primarily for fans of the series doesn’t have much to attract newcomers (who would do much better playing the original instead). If this is Anomaly’s final chapter, it’s a bit of a letdown. Hopefully 11 Bit will consider making a true sequel with more of the innovative tower offense action we have grown to love.
Review Disclosure: A review copy of Anomaly Defenders was provided by 11 Bit Studios for the purposes of this review.
