This is the second of our ‘Community XBLA Reviews’ for this week. Remember, comment on any (or all) of the five ‘Community XBLA Review’ (Sine Mora, Anomaly, Diabolical Pitch, The Splatters and Fez) posts in this week and one randomly drawn participant will win a code for Sine Mora sponsored by Microsoft SA.
This review of Anomaly Warzone Earth is done by community member Charl ‘PottyZA’ Potgieter.
Developer: 11bit Studios
Publisher: Microsoft
Platform: Xbox Live Arcade (also available on PC and iOS)
Price: 800MSP
If we had to give it a numerical score: 6.0 out of 10
Anomaly: Warzone Earth can be described as the reverse of a tower defence game. It is a game filled with great ideas, but unfortunately its execution fails to impress. The game is a port of the iOS title of the same name and comes with better graphics and more content than the original.
You play the role of a commander, which is your only directly controllable unit. You have to babysit a convoy of different units, which you handpick at the start of each mission, to a specific end goal. The choices are quite varied, but you can only have up to 6 units in your convoy at any given time. After your initial choice of units you must plot a path for your convoy to travel to the end objective. Along the way you will encounter many different types of enemy towers.
Your success depends heavily on your use of the commander unit’s power ups, which are air-dropped after destroying certain towers. These power ups include repairs, smoke screens, decoys and air strikes which help you make it through the gauntlet of enemy towers.
The game starts off very slowly and even after you have reached the point where the game kicks off its training wheels it still fails to excite. Anomaly isn’t a particularly difficult game; enemies don’t put up much of a fight and most of your failures can be attributed to silly mistakes. Unfortunately the power ups don’t drop consistently, you could easily end up with 5 smokescreen power ups while you desperately need repairs.
The main campaign becomes repetitive very quickly and can be quite frustrating at times (due to the aforementioned inconsistent dropping of power ups). It does, however, force you to think strategically and come up with the best solution to any given situation. After you’ve beaten the main campaign you unlock additional challenge modes: Tactical Trials, Baghdad mayhem and Tokyo Raid; which adds some longevity to the game.
The game has superb graphics, especially given the small download size and low price. The controls are also particularly good for a console strategy game, making it easy to navigate the ruined cityscape with your commander unit. The game’s sound is very good overall, but it is let down by the terrible voice acting and the limited soundtrack.
All in all, Anomaly: Warzone Earth is a game that you should try yourself. I wasn’t particularly impressed by it. I found it boring, but others have said that they thoroughly enjoyed it. At 800MSP it might just be well worth it for fans of tower defense style games.
Remember, comment below – stroke the man’s ego, tell him he’s awesome, tell us if you agree with him, or simply tell him you love him – and you could win a code for Sine Mora. Competition will close at noon on Monday 30 April.
Also, check out yesterday’s Sine Mora review by Chris ‘SpirosZA’ Hartley.
