IN A WORD: MAYBE
IN SHORT:
Zitat:
OF A SIMILAR NATURE TO: Other tower defence games.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Militaristic setting. Alien invasion theme. 4x gamemodes. Focused strategy and tactics. Only six units and four commander abilities. Formulaic gameplay. Very good production values. Tricky micro-management. Sometimes fiddly controls. Difficult latter scenarios. Can frustrate and overwhelm. Well-acted voice-overs. Designed for replayability. 3x difficulties. Requires persistence to complete. Some grindy achievements. Singleplayer only.
ACHIEVEMENTS: DIFFICULT. REPLAYS NEEDED.
STATUS: COMPLETED.
WHEN TO BUY: IIRC GIVEN AWAY AT LEAST ONCE. ON A V. GOOD SALE
More info below....
THE LOWDOWN:
Anomoly: Warzone Earth (A:WE) is a reversed tower-defence action-strategy game with a sci-fi theme and semi-contemporary military units. Set in (the now recent past) Iraq a comet lands near Baghdad containing the fragment of an alien starship, loaded with hostile invasion force. Later on the action moves to Japan around the city of Tokyo, with the core of the alien force providing a stiffer challenge.
Cue numerous maps with crisscrossed roads a paltry military force must navigate, to fulfil various goals and reach their final objective. The player plans the route of the convoy making changes as and when they please. A commander unit activates actions to aid progress, collecting credits to upgrade units and reinforce them with additional ones. The action is viewed from top-down, planning in paused-mode and orders given in real-time. Campaign missions take around 5-15 minutes to complete. Other modes substantially longer. All missions are rated with one of three badges from bronze to gold depending on their performance. None if was particularly poor. Medals consist of: Killing all enemies, most direct route and efficiency.
Post campaign there are two additional scenario modes to unlock. Bagdad Mayhem is a wave survival mode consisting of dynamically spawned waves on a single map. The objective is to destroy the core structures at the heart of the new wave. The Tokyo Raid plays like a dynamically generated campaign with a series of varied inter-linked maps and dynamic spawning. Both modes incorporate existing gameplay elements from the campaign. The goals here vary from exiting the map to destroy x towers and then some. Some levels have time limits. In both modes as per the campaign the composition of a force is up to the player but here the amount of available credits in far greater, so the range of options is greater. There are no checkpoint saves or restarting a particular level in either mode.
THE GOOD:
+ Random events mix-up mission maps.
+ Good range of upgradeable units.
+ Good range of enemies.
+ Re-playable missions.
+ Very slick production
+ Atmospheric cut-scenes with high quality voice-over.
+ Pretty graphics.
+ Very good voice overs (ENG).
+ Simple, balanced and effective tactical elements. Can upgrade units. Re-order convoy. Use abilities: heal, smoke screen, missile bombardment,
+ Very forgiving checkpoint system.
+ Speed up time with shift-key.
+ Great production values: graphical and audio. Parts of soundtrack bond-esque.
THE BAD:
- Units do not gain experience or level-up.
- Focused gameplay gets repetitive.
- Cant use strategic map to re-position commander.
- Can infrequently CTD on a shift-tab.
- 100% Completion will require the highest level of plotting precision.
- No unit history between campaigns.
- Some tricky micro-management.
- Fiddly controls during most overwhelming situations.
AND THE ORDINARY:
* 4x game modes: 1x main campaign, 1x wave survival, 1x dynamic wave scenarios and standalone missions.
* Compact campaign of 14 missions.
* Only six unit types. Only four commander abilities.
* Difficulty changes only damage inflicted or received by enemy units.
VERDICT:
In the end A:WE proved to be better than average tower 'offence' RTS with some engaging gameplay and its fair share of exciting and frustrating moments.
The near futuristic setting, military theme and Sci-Fi aliens as a package were an initial pull. Production values deliver a game visually above average and very good audio. The voice-acting mission objective delivery added a touch of immersion and provided some handy hints on how to progress. Game design was overall good, varying the obvious repetition from continuous play. The balanced introduction of new units, commander abilities and enemies aided this. Together making the pace of assimilating new mechanics easy. All of these aiding the general learning curve throughout the game.
Campaign length felt about right in terms of length. Though the un-dynamic nature of spawns and enemy composition fuelled a certain amount of repetition. The true driver to replay missions were achieving gold medals for achievements. At least the post campaign modes were very dynamic in comparison. Still once all medals and achievements are obtained, rising through the leaderboards will keep the hardcore playing.
Early to mid-game proved to be fun, balanced and rewarding. On later levels the weight of enemies and wide-ranging capabilities allowed some frustration to creep in. It forcing alot of stop-start micro-management. Most of this occurred during tense moments when too much action was happening at any given time. When it was not enough to just pause the game to plot the next course of action. Literally I found myself pause on and off continuously until the situation was back under control. Another reason for the very generous checkpoint save system.
If like me you need to restart checkpoints rather frequently then you will likely come across the problem of having to re-do aspects of the game that were or were not saved before it was made. Things such as re-ordering the formation, picking up drops, upgrading or swapping out units. Otherwise you guessed it, you will need to restart the checkpoint again and again.
Completing AWE to the highest levels will require above average memory muscle. At least in terms of the strategy and tactics required to gain the hardest achievements. Otherwise Steam and video guides are sure to be employed to avoid re-playing the same missions (and checkpoints) many a time. Being unable to remember what to focus on at a particular point in the mission, will become frustrating towards the latter stages of the campaign. Such as when to change the march order of the convoy or ensuring the necessary commander ability is in play at the right time and location. The application of these core elements are paramount to gaining the hardest achievements.
If you plan on acquiring this game be warned what is in store for you. Many people on my Steam list have played this game. Only two have completed it. Maybe a handful more than 10+ hours invested in it. Persistence and some adaptability will ensure mostly enjoyment and to some degree game completion. I initially stopped playing this for a good while because of the frustrating nature of micromanagement in the more 'enemy-heavy' areas of the maps. The partly fiddly controls when placing abilities added to this.
Perhaps the single-most feature that I would have loved to have seen was to have a permanent unit roster. Keeping the same units from mission one to the last, so they became veterans would have added a little extra to the pull of this game.
Overall AWE fulfils a decent tower 'offence' experience for those looking for one. Its production values bring its level to above average to good. The frustration delivered during the more intense latter stages of the game is something to be wary of. If it wasn't for the achievements I would have played each mission twice and plugged away not caring how many times my commander was downed or which units were destroyed. As it was I lost count of the number of checkpoints that were restarted from.
