Developer: 11 Bit Studio
Publisher: 11 Bit Studio
Platform: PC, Linux, OS X, iOS, Android
Anomaly Defenders – Review
Anomaly Defenders is the latest and last installment of the Anomaly series by 11 Bit Studios. While the previous installments introduced us to the tower offensive gameplay, the end of the series has gone back to its traditional roots, namely the tower defensive gameplay. If you missed the preview of Anomaly Defenders, you can read it here.
Story
In Anomaly Defenders, the story is hard to find. In fact, other than the thirty second intro video that somewhat explains what is going on in the newest installment, there is no story in the game itself. However, the story that is there goes as followed. The humans have struggled in two different wars against the alien invasion. Now they are fueled by rage and are plotting retribution by attacking the aliens on their home planet. The only way to safety is by escaping via the launchpads. This is where you as the player come in as you will need to build towers to defend the launchpad long enough for it to safely take off into the air.
Graphics
The graphical features from the previous Anomaly installments, especially the strategically ones, is not something you will find in Anomaly Defenders. Due to this, the latest game feels less and less of a true Anomaly game. However the graphics remain outstanding and the details do much justice to the alienated world you are fighting in. As I said in the preview, the general feel of the maps are quite dark and it remains that way throughout the entire game.
Sound
While there is some ambiance sound in Anomaly Defenders, it is not something you will be listening to much. Your ears will be tuned in for the warnings, or at least they should. The several types of warnings makes the gameplay somewhat easier as you will know when another attack is coming, even if you are looking at the completely opposite side of the map. Other warnings such as the meteorite impacts that are imminent on one of your towers will let you know that your tower will be damaged. The most useful warnings may be those of your enemies morphing as you will be able to see if you have the correct towers for that type of enemy in the area or not.
Gameplay
The first few levels of the game eases you in quite nicely but those that are familiar with tower defense gameplay will find the first six to seven levels rather boring. After that the difficulty starts to increase in a nice pace. By adding more threats, other than the attacking convoy, the game continues to be engaging as you come up with more strategies to defend your launchpad. Meteor impacts, airborne enemies and morphing abilities will be the main cause to make use of the various towers you will receive after unlocking. Placing one type of overpowered tower will not do the trick here, unlike many other tower defense strategy games. Both your tutor and the descriptions of the maps give enough away to know when and how you will need to spend your technology points in your skilltree. Perhaps they give away slightly too much of which towers will be best to upgrade for a specific type of map. Those who dislike reading will be in luck while those who read the descriptions will start finding the game unchallenging. This makes me less keen on the tips.
The maps are well designed. Each map has several possible routes but by building harversters on carusaurum deposits you will decide which route the humans will take. This seems to make the game less challenging but the enemies you are facing are vigorous when attacking in large numbers. Combined with the other threats you are facing and nature’s finest outbursts, mayhem and chaos is certainly noticeable. The replayability in Anomaly Defenders is there for the most part due to the leaderboards that are up and running. Each mode has their own leaderboard with an overall global score as a fourth leaderboard to compete in. Noteworthy is that the routes of each map stays the same, even when changing the difficulty but the nature surrounding it goes through a change. This means that, even if you play the same level on all three difficulties, you will most likely not be able to use the same tactics.
Conclusion
Many fans of the tower offensive gameplay will be stumped to see a reversed tower offensive gameplay in the latest installment of the Anomaly series. In fact, due to this change, many fans will not be found of it at all as Anomaly Defenders is a true tower defensive game with some extra twists to stay somewhat refreshing. While the sudden gameplay change is strange, it does fit the storyline they have going for Anomaly Defenders. As part of the Anomaly series, the game feels less exceptional than it should. However, the game is still a stellar title in the tower defense genre with magnificent graphics.
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