Anomaly Warzone Earth Review

Anomaly Warzone Earth Review

I love a good tower defense game. Sure, there’s a lot of garbage in the genre, but I count Defense Grid and Pixeljunk Monsters Deluxe as two of my favorite games of all time and Plants vs. Zombies gets a strong nod for being hilarious. After playing the recently released Anomaly Warzone Earth, it is definitely getting added to my list of favorites.

Some people have called Anomaly Warzone Earth a reverse tower defense game and that fits to a certain extent, although the gameplay still feels a lot like traditional tower defense games despite the twist. This big twist is that instead of building the defenses to defeat an incoming force, you’re the incoming force. You can have up to 6 units at a time and though they move automatically, you can choose and change their route, upgrade and purchase additional units, and support them with various powerups like healing & decoys. There’s a nice mix between methodical strategy (the game pauses when you adjust your route and purchase or upgrade units) and frantic action (grabbing power-ups and trying to deploy them before one of your units gets destroyed).

Quite possibly the best thing about Anomaly Warzone Earth is just how well designed the campaign levels are. Each new level seems to add a new twist, whether it’s a new unit, a new enemy or a new situation that adds a twist to the gameplay. For example, one of my favorite levels in the campaign was one where you couldn’t purchase any new units but instead your additional units were scattered about a relatively open stage and you have to decide the best way to grab them all before making your way to the exit. Another neat level had you escorting a damaged transport vehicle to a repair station and so you had to use your units & power-ups to destroy or distract enemies in its path.

The presentation values deserve special notice. Simply put, this is one of the best looking indie games I’ve ever seen. There’s a cool pre-title screen cutscene that wouldn’t look out of place in a $60 retail title, the in-game graphics look excellent, the switch between the gameplay and tactical views (used to view the map and change your route) is slick, and the music, sound effects, and voice acting are all solid.  Controls are great and responsive and load times are minimal. In short, very professional.

The game is relatively short and can probably be completed in about 5 hours, but it’s filled with replay value. There are 3 difficulty levels and various medals for efficiency, directness, and brutality to be earned. In addition to the scenario levels (of which there are a little over a dozen), there are also 2 story-devoid, score-attack focused wave attack levels for additional playtime. On the Steam version (which is the one I’ve been playing), there are several leaderboards to compete on. Steam achievements are intelligently thought out – I especially like how every single level has an achievement tied to a secondary objective like saving up X number of power-ups or never letting your commander unit pass out. I’ll definitely be playing this game long after completing the story mode to improve my scores and earn achievements and medals.

Really, my biggest complaint about Anomaly Warzone Earth is that I wish there was more of it. As complaints go, that’s about as positive as you get. Here’s hoping that quality DLC and expansion packs follow the initial release.