Back in 2011, 11 Bit Studios established a new form of tower-defense game called Anomaly: Warzone Earth, which put players in the attacker’s shoes and the A.I. as the defendants.  This blueprint worked splendidly, mixing both tower defense and action strategy in a single game. Following the triumph of the original, Anomaly 2 batters hard this new variety and keeps its class on a higher ground. While the sequel doesn’t draw out too many differences from its original, the newly introduced competitive  multiplayer mode puts in an additional component that doubles its excitement. A polished interface, reinforced with new units and more intricate scenarios, Anomaly 2 provokes nothing but excitement.

Anomaly 2 sets up an incredible post-alien invasion scenario where players must scavenge around for a device called Project Shockwave. Capable of bringing down the entire alien defense, Project Shockwave is the last remaining hope for liberating mankind. Players take the role of a commander tasked with retrieving said weapon. During this expedition, players will come across numerous hideous outer-space machines defending their captured territories. The campaign consists of 14 chapters and lasts 4-5 hours, but offers a unique experience that no other tower defense game has done before. Summarizing the plot points of its predecessor, Anomaly 2lays down a narrative that newcomers won’t feel confused by.

The unique abilities of the commander make Anomaly 2 more interactive. While directing a unit remains the core liability, repairing them and setting up decoys are equality important. Progressing through the liner path before them, units are greeted with intense bombardment from alien defenses constant repair necessary to keep your troops alive. Decoys draw fire away from your main force, however, allowing players to bring down enemy towers while taking little damage. Commanders also have an EMP ability to disable short-ranged enemy defenses.

While setting up the course for units to follow, commanders can upgrade, buy/sell or rearrange units based on the fly. These strategic adjustments are necessary depending on the force the units encounter in each stage, forcing the commander to reevaluate his tactics when coming across different enemy types. While the gameplay hasn’t changed much from the original, these new abilities add a sort of freshness to the game.

Anomaly 2 can be viewed from two different perspectives: tower defense and action strategy. Off the routes, the game is mostly a tower defense, wherein players can alter the movements of their units. An overlay map shows the locations of enemy towers and the roads to those towers which you use to direct units about the area. On the routes, however, it’s a different ballgame. As the commander, players get restless constantly repairing units and using fitting abilities such as blasting EMP to momentarily disabling enemy units, or powering-up units that concentrate firing on a single target etc.

Besides the single-player campaign, the newly introduced multiplayer mode remains Anomaly 2’s most absorbing feature. In this competitive mode, players test their skills head-to-head for leaderboard supremacy. Unlike other tower defense games, Anomaly 2 lets one player to control the convoy and the opponent controls the defenses. Except for the utter difficultly, players managing humans will have the single-player campaign feel, while managing the alien defense requires a large amount of time to master the units better. Both players can earn points by destroying units, and eventually more multiplayer maps unlock –five to be exact – that add new abilities and units. Competition at the multiplayer mode gets really intense, while some of the maps require a hefty amount of time to finish. The multiplayer community has the potential to grow into a thriving arena, as it’s well equipped with features like match-making, leaderboard, stat tracking, ranking and a very inclusive tutorial. If the players need a reason for coming back to this game, it’s undoubtedly due to the multiplayer.

Presentation wise, Anomaly 2 does a decent job to keep things realistic. Elements that were lacking at the original such as cutscenes, detailed surroundings, and narratives make the play more pleasing this time. Stage designs and animated clips such as units transforming different shapes are a delight to watch. Each of the missions has something new to offer whether it’s a new vehicle, mechanic or even an enemy tower. To keep the monotony away there are unexpected situations where a player need to defend the base. Since a big part of the game involves strategy, sounds effects are a major concern. Though they blend fine with the game but don’t provide anything restful when playing for longer hours. Dialogues exchanges, however, are concise and praise worthy.

A lot of people complained about the game’s lack of variety from the original in terms of gameplay, but I find them being a little harsh towards the developers, while the game costs only $14.99. Any game with such innovativeness and addictively worth lot more than that. More verity in terms of tactical approach players can imply during missions, and additional features to turn the gameplay more complex is certainly welcoming. It’s never simple to make a mixture of fast-paced click-happy and slow-paced strategy genres, but Anomaly 2 is a breathing example of that. Not only the tower defense genre fans, but the strategy lovers won’t want to miss a piece of the gripping experience of Anomaly 2.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed @SarwarRon