The best defense is a good offense.
I never got around to playing the first Anomaly that was released, although I did hear about its unique take on the tower defense genre. Playing as the invaders sounded like a unique challenge that if done correctly, could offer up some great strategy game play. Now, trying out the PS4 version of the game’s sequel, I can say it does have a ton of strategy involved, but at the cost of being a bit too frantic due to many of its mechanics.
Anomaly 2 takes place after the war against the machines. For the most part, we humans lost. The Earth is a wasteland and warzone all combined into one, where humans are constantly in the run for shelter, supplies and their lives. Now, after discovering a method to take out the machines for good, the humans decide it’s time to strike back.
Platforms: PC, PS4
MSRP: $14.99
Price I’d pay: $10
Multiplayer: Online versus
More than meets the eye.
Players take control of a commanding officer who provides area of effect support through special pick-ups found throughout the maps. These can be healing effects, EMP attacks to shortly disrupt enemy towers and other helpful devices. Players also direct a convoy of attack vehicles that can transform with the push of a button into a different mechs with different attacks and abilities. The convoy moves along the chosen path the player initiates, which can also be changed on the fly by going into a tactical map and rearranging the path to take.
Running into different types of machine towers will quickly prove difficult when having to keep track of multiple things at one time. These include where the commander is located on the map, what the status of the convoy is as far as health and transformations go and knowing both what types of enemy towers are coming up in the path and what the best way to handle them would be. It can easily become a bit of a frantic mess if players aren’t careful.
We need to hold a management meeting.
Certain enemies will absorb successive damage and transform into a more powerful foe. For this, players need to transform their units to not fire as quickly. Knowing which units do what is essential, and if players don’t manage this properly, they will easily die. I seemed to have that problem even on the easiest difficulty. It became a more frantic string of events where I was trying to heal my convoy but trying not to get killed myself, all the while trying to switch my units over to their transformation. Granted, many of these things can be done in the tactical map view, which stops time, but even then, this game did not hesitate to kill me over and over again, to the point when I really was at a loss at what to do.
The multiplayer is another story. It allows player to play both sides of the fence. Playing the machine towers is much like a normal tower defense game, but with also a score win factor as well. Otherwise, players would be back and forth all day. The machines are just as, if not more complex to play as the convoy. Knowing where to place towers, when to remove them when the convoy player decides to change course, and managing resources to allow more towers is a decent mixture. Luckily, many players are in the same frantic boat I am, so it felt like an even playing field.
For a top-down view game, I actually really liked the look of the game. It was rather pretty looking, and when a ton of things were going on at one time, the visuals popped. Although, I did have some slow down in frame rate at times, it wasn’t too bad.
It will take some patience to really succeed in Anomaly 2. That, on top of a good, planned out strategy. Players looking for a challenge will find it here, and the multiplayer, while still frantic, offers up a nice change of pace from the story mode. For $15, hardcore strategy fans should take a look at Anomaly 2, but be warned, it can get messy in there and when it does, you’re going to need a cool head if you want to survive.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.