This game in between A.W.E. and its sequel exchanges some of the original’s gameplay for more convenience.

User Rating: 7 | Anomaly Korea PC

INTRO:

The previous game in the series, Anomaly: Warzone Earth (A.W.E.), pitched itself with the buzzword of “Tower Offense”, supposedly a reversed take on tower defence. The game between it and its sequel, Anomaly 2, would do the same, so in it, the player again takes on the role of a minder for a convoy of heavily armed war machines.

However, there are a few differences. Some of these differences are exciting, such as a re-design of an existing unit and a new alien tower. However, some of the other differences may seem too much of a drastic change which brings the series away from its original ideas. Such differences were likely brought about by the fact that the game has its roots in the tablet platform.

Note: this review is based on experience with the Humble Bundle version of the game.

PREMISE:

The sequel begins itself by changing some of the canon which was established by the previous game. The previous game ended with the building-like alien invaders being severely weakened by the player’s efforts at directing a convoy of plucky war vehicles to knock out critical alien assets.

Anomaly Korea tosses out any notion of a resolution of the conflict, simply by resorting to a tried-and-true story-telling plot device which can be simplified to the following (clichéd) sentences: “We were wrong. This is just the beginning.”

There are lines which are more cringe-inducing.
There are lines which are more cringe-inducing.

Of course, that makes for a perfect excuse for the sequel to return to familiar gameplay but with some additions and changes.

CAMERA & CONTROLS:

During an attempt at a level, the player is given a bird’s-eye view of the battlefield, specifically over a small region which grants the player a view of a dozen towers or less, if they are densely populating the region.

For better or worse, the camera is affixed to the convoy by default. Moving the screen away disables this, of course, but if the player enters the tactical map mode to redirect the convoy and exit into regular view, the camera resets back to the convoy. This is usually convenient, but there does not appear to be any way to disable this when it is not.

Unlike its predecessor, Anomaly Korea has its roots in the tablet platforms, so it has to be ported over to the computer platform. Fortunately, 11-bit Studios does not have problems converting most of the touch-screen controls over to mouse-input ones.

There had been some less than thorough adaptions, unfortunately. For example, some control inputs can only be performed with mouse-clicks, such as the prompt to resume the game after having set it on pause, and the option to skip cutscenes.

Fortunately, there are functional hotkeys for bringing up the convoy and tactical map screen. There will be more elaboration on this screen later.

CONVOY – GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW:

The first gameplay mechanism which the player is introduced to is the convoy. Like the convoy in the previous game, the one in the sequel is the player’s most important asset; losing all of the convoy’s members is a straight game-over.

You are going to see such visuals a lot when playing this game.
You are going to see such visuals a lot when playing this game.

The convoy can only have a limited number of members though, and all of them form a conga line; each subsequent member behind the lead member follows the member immediately in front of it, whether into safety or grave danger. There is still no way to halt the convoy outside of in-game cutscenes; the convoy continues moving according to the detour instructions which the player has given to it.

Like in the previous game, the player can swap members of the convoy around to rearrange it into tactically practical sequences, such as (most commonly) placing the member with the strongest defence and/or most health remaining in front if only to absorb the first shots of looming alien towers.

The convoy can be augmented with the use of support abilities, which can be divided into buffs for the convoy or de-buffs for the the alien towers. Most of them have either temporary or immediate effects, so the player must time their use to maximize efficiency of their uses. After all, support abilities are finite in supply.

Generally, the player’s main goal regarding the convoy is to get it from point A to point B, keeping at least one of the members intact. This is easier said than done, of course.

M.I.A. COMMANDER:

The biggest change since the previous game is that the player’s avatar in the previous game, the soldier in the nigh-indestructible Commander suit, is completely missing in Anomaly Korea.

This cool-looking bloke does not appear in-game at all - trailers are misleading.
This cool-looking bloke does not appear in-game at all - trailers are misleading.

Instead, the player is an omniscient observer, able to call down support abilities wherever he/she wishes and can always have a view of the convoy whenever and wherever he/she wants. The camera is also within the player’s control, whereas in the previous game, it is anchored to the Commander.

This perhaps addressed an issue in the previous game, which is that the camera was too restrictive. This has also made the calling down of support abilities a lot more convenient.

Picking up supplies is also easier than ever; the player only needs to click on them to pick them up. Given the player’s control of the camera, the player can even look back at areas which the convoy has passed and pick up any supplies which he/she has missed.

However, the removal of the player character also means that the previous game’s tactics, such as tricking the alien towers into spending their valuable first shots on the player character, are not applicable here.

Overall, one can argue that the increase in convenience more than compensates for the loss in sophistication. Yet, it can also be argued that 11-bit Studios could have retained the Commander and give him some other functions.

As an elaborative example, in addition to being used as a sponge for the alien towers’ first shots, he could have been armed with a weapon which suppresses the capabilities of specific towers, giving the convoy an opening for a quicker breakthrough.

More importantly though, the absence of the Commander unit may also give rise to allegations of misleading marketing. After all, the trailer for the game had the Commander appearing as a target for a particular alien tower, and for him to be missing in-game can rouse said complaints, especially from veterans of the first game.

That the Commander suit is referred to in-game in some voice-overs though he is never seen in-game at all may also cause more ire. Eventually, even the references to the suit go away as the player goes further into the game’s levels.

CONVOY UNITS:

As mentioned earlier, the convoy is made up of war machines. Most of these are familiar to veterans of the first game, such as the tough and fast-firing but low damage APCs. The glass-cannon that is the Crawler is the next to be re-introduced, and soon the Shield Generator, which grant shields onto adjacent units, returns to the fray too. The fire-spewing but short-ranged Dragon is the last unit to be re-introduced.

In the previous game, these units have simple functions due to their limited armaments. Therefore, any sophistication which they contribute to the game was indirect, i.e. through the composition of the convoy.

However, early on in the game, the game introduces a seemingly new unit, the Horangi (Korean for “tiger”).

This unit is much like the Tank from the previous game, but it charges up its special ability as more towers are destroyed. When fully charged, the Horangi can release a powerful explosive round with significant area-effect damage; upgrading the Horangi reduces the number of charges needed. Considering that there are clusters of towers which would be in the player’s way, this is useful.

Use the Horangi's ability often: spam them to get rid of Blaster clusters.
Use the Horangi's ability often: spam them to get rid of Blaster clusters.

The player is given the convenience of releasing the special ability of Horangi tanks whenever he/she wants. However, this convenience is limited by the inability of the player to direct and release the special ability to where it would have the most optimal effect; the unit picks its own target, and will not switch targets until its current target is knocked out or it is forced to reset its targeting through some other means.

There is perhaps a balance issue with the Horangi: considering its useful special ability, wiser players may opt for the Horangi over the other more mundane units, especially in the earlier levels before the game introduces a certain gameplay mechanism which comes with the sequel.

Compared to the Horangi, the Supply truck, which returns from the previous game, handles the charging mechanism in a much more balanced manner. Like it did in the first Anomaly game, it obtains charges from destroyed towers to create supplies. However, in return for its usefulness, the Supply truck is completely unarmed.

CONVOY SCREEN:

Managing the convoy is important, so there is a screen which is dedicated to this. This is of course a hold-up from the previous game, where it worked before and does work in this game too.

Bringing up the convoy screen puts in-game time on-hold, so the player can take as much real time as he/she likes to shift members of the convoy around. This is also the screen where the player purchases new units for the convoy, upgrade units to improve their stats or sell existing ones to free up space.

It is worth noting here that the convoy screen and tactical map screen are practically the same screen, albeit with different user interfaces.

NOTE ON SHIFTING UNITS:

It has to be mentioned here that the game fails to inform the player that when a unit is shifted, the facing of its turret (if any) is reset. The unit must rotate its turret to pick a new target.

This is an issue which was in the previous game, so it may irk some veterans of that game that this issue still remained.

RESOURCES:

Part and parcel to the purchasing and upgrading of units are resources, represented in-game as “funds”.

The player gains resources from destroying alien towers, but these rewards are very small; the player will have to destroy many towers if only to accumulate the funds necessary for a purchase of a new unit or upgrade.

Instead, most of the player’s funds would come from gathering the resource known as “Carusaurum” (or “Caurusaurum”, or something similar; the writing for the game slips up on a few occasions in this matter).

There was a time in video game history when shooting things lets you pick them up.
There was a time in video game history when shooting things lets you pick them up.

Like it did in the previous game, Caurusaurum often occur in-game as caches which are scattered all over a map. Like the player did in the previous game, he/she collects the resource by having units shoot at the caches.

This caused an issue of units either ignoring caches to shoot at towers or ignoring towers to shoot at caches in the previous game. This issue would occur again in Anomaly Korea.

If the game needed any streamlining, it should have occurred here instead of the removal of the Commander.

TACTICAL MAP SCREEN:

Calling the screen in which the player sets the detours for the convoy as “tactical” may seem a bit of an exaggeration, but the player’s most important decisions are indeed made in this screen.

As mentioned earlier, the convoy is crewed by eager grunts who are too stupid to understand any orders beyond “follow the line”. The player will need to set the lines which they will follow, away from dangers which the convoy cannot deal with and into the fray when the player knows that they would come out a little worse for the wear but otherwise victorious.

Setting up routes can be time-consuming, so it is fortunate that bringing up the tactical map sets in-game time on pause much like bringing up the convoy screen does.

The tactical map also marks out special zones, conveniently.
The tactical map also marks out special zones, conveniently.

SUPPORT ABILITIES:

Placing down support abilities, which are practically power-ups, is something which the player will do a lot. Most of these will be quite familiar to veterans of the previous game; they worked before, and they work just as well in Anomaly Korea. Like in the previous game, support abilities are generally obtained from air-drops, which are usually only delivered after the player has destroyed towers.

There is Repair, which obviously repairs units in its area of effect at a rapid rate. This is also the only way to put out fires caused by a certain tower which will be described later.

Then, there is Smoke Screen. Among the power-ups, this is perhaps the least reliable because it has luck-dependent effects. Towers which are attempting to target convoy units which are in Smoke Screens may mess up their aim occasionally, thus missing their shots.

Next, there is the Decoy, which dupes towers into shooting at it. However, this is only useful against a few towers because the Decoy can be destroyed.

The Airstrike returns in this game, though it does not appear to be as powerful as it was in the previous game. It is still very much capable of taking out clusters of Blasters.

Anomaly Korea does introduce a new power-up, which is Boost. It is perhaps the best power-up in the game. In fact, it is the first power-up which the game introduces.

Boost increases the damage output of units in its area of effect. Damage per shot is not the only statistic increased; the units’ firing rates are also greatly accelerated, and even their range is increased. The resulting cumulative bonuses allow a convoy to clear swathes of towers incredibly quickly. Therefore, this power-up is usually the rarest.

That is, if the player does not exploit the Supply truck. They can generate Boost power-ups, which can be deployed to clear towers and accumulate charges, which in turn go into generating more power-ups again. The game does have measures to prevent this exploit from being too overpowered though, namely a clearly-mentioned limitation in the description for the unit.

Different support abilities also require different numbers of charges. For example, Boost needs 8 charges by default, while the arguably more situational Smoke Screen only needs 7. Upgrading the Supply truck reduces the number of charges needed, and the truck so happens to be quite cheap to upgrade.

If the Supply truck is coupled with the Horangi, there are few things which can stand up to the convoy. This is, however, a balance issue which reduces the utility of other units.

There are few things which can stop this loaded convoy.
There are few things which can stop this loaded convoy.

ALIEN TOWERS:

The aliens have not changed much since the original game, though they are not any less peculiar because of that. Where most sci-fi stories about aliens have them looking vaguely humanoid and thus familiar, the aliens in 11-Bit’s story are practically buildings – hostile, imposingly big, intimidating and very heavily armed buildings.

The aliens’ invasion strategy remains the same; they spread nanotechnology about Earth, especially its cities, and make use of its minerals to sprout towers all over. The towers then proceed to protect their important assets by shooting at anything which encroach.

The Blasters, which were in the previous game, are still the most ubiquitous of the alien towers. Their small size, compared to the other towers, still allow them to appear as tight clusters which can pile a lot of damage onto the convoy if the player does not think of ways to quickly thin them out.

The Scorchers, another type of returning tower, appear next. They have noticeably shorter ranges in this game than they did in the previous game, but they are still capable of wrecking a convoy if the player lacks the wit or caution to prevent the convoy from going up lanes which they are covering.

Reports such as this can be read in in-game documentation.
Reports such as this can be read in in-game documentation.

The Stormrays also return. These towers fire lightning bolts which can zap almost half of the convoy, in addition to slowing the convoy down. However, they are still stymied by Smoke Screens.

The Flamers are towers which are introduced in this game. As their name suggests, they burn any convoy unit which comes too close; if there are multiple convoy units in their range, they switch targets to make sure that each unit in the convoy is set on fire. Units which are set on fire take additional damage over time.

Get rid of Flamers quickly with the Horangi's super-shot ability.
Get rid of Flamers quickly with the Horangi's super-shot ability.

Then, there are the support-type towers. These would be familiar to players who have played the previous game. These towers happen to have capabilities which either affect another gameplay mechanism, or are sophisticated enough that sections in this review are dedicated to commentary on them.

THE ENERGIZER:

Being still not afraid of legal action from Energizer Holdings, 11-bit Studios has the Energizer tower returning again.

The Energizer is still capable of leeching the energy of support abilities which have been deployed in its range; after gaining enough energy, it discharges it to rebuild towers which the player has knocked out earlier. Considering that this is an incredibly annoying ability, the game does demonstrate this to the new player with an in-game cutscene.

(The rebuilt towers do grant funds when destroyed, but the Energizer has a massive area of effect. This means that the convoy can be caught in the midst of an entire city block filled with towers.)

The area of effect of an Energizer is clearly depicted in the tactical map screen, and even in regular view too. This convenience was not in the previous game, and it is much welcome because it makes planning approaches to the Energizer a lot more convenient.

Indeed, if the Energizer is in the way, it is the player’s interest to eliminate it, because its range is as far as its area of effect.

THE HACKER:

The Hacker returns from the previous game. In A.W.E., the Hacker is an incredibly annoying long-ranged turret, which turns the convoy’s units against the Commander.

Since the Commander is completely missing in Anomaly Korea, the Hacker instead disables the convoy’s weapons and also damages it over time. The Hacker also retains its ability to shoot through obstacles which otherwise block other towers.

These designs make the Hacker even more annoying than ever. Fortunately, the developers realize this too, and have implemented a feature for the player to mitigate this setback. Unfortunately though, this solution may seem like a hackneyed attempt to have the player tapping (or clicking) on more things, making the game seem even more like a typical game for the tablet platform.

Anyway, the first step of this solution involves showing the area of effect of the hacking, specifically as a circle. On the circumference of this circle, there are three numbered circles which are smaller, but not too small as to allay the impression that they are very much intended for display on touch-screen devices. Clicking/Tapping on the numbered circles in their order as shown disables the hacking.

To players with very quick reflexes, this makes the Hacker’s capability quite trivial to deal with. Of course, the Hacker can just hit the convoy again with another hacking attack, so it still remains the nuisance that it was.

MISSION DESIGNS:

As mentioned earlier, the player’s goal in just about any mission is getting the convoy from point A to point B. The missions are actually more sophisticated than this statement would suggest; the sophistication can be found in how the player would move the convoy about and the routes which he/she would take.

At first, the player undergoes missions in maps which have simple and linear paths from point A to point B, with perhaps a few alternate routes. However, every subsequent mission has a more complicated map than the previous one; they contain more detours and turns of different shapes, which can range from simple 90-degree turns to quarter circles. The shapes of these detours can determine how effective the player’s special abilities are, among other consequences.

Moreover, the aliens will place more and more troublesome formations of towers, often requiring the player to place special abilities carefully. For example, the towers may be too dense for Decoys to work for long; in this case, the player may want to drop Airstrikes on them, or time a Boost so that the convoy knocks them out in short order.

There are also special conditions in just about every mission. For example, there is one level where the player is informed about pre-ranged alien artillery, which bombards specific zones within twenty seconds after the convoy has entered them. The player cannot always avoid the bombardment zones, and when he/she has to go into them, he/she has to get the convoys out before the bombardment arrives.

No need to check the timer; the racing red beams are obvious enough.
No need to check the timer; the racing red beams are obvious enough.

Another couple of entertaining examples are a mission which has zones which prevent the player from purchasing reinforcements for the convoy and a mission which has zones which disable the use of specific special abilities after the first unit in the convoy has entered them.

Most of these conditions are entertaining, but there are ones which are not as fun to deal with. These are conditions which restrict the convoy to specific types of units. For example, in the aforementioned mission with artillery strikes, the convoy is restricted to just APCs and Mobile Shield Generators. These restrictions can seem more like a hassle than a challenge.

MISSION DIFFICULTY:

Prior to attempting any mission, the player is given the opportunity to select the difficulty setting for the mission. The designs for the difficulty settings (“Casual”, “Advanced” and “Hardcore”) are nothing refreshing though: they are the usual exchanges between the ratio of damage which the player’s convoy receives from incoming attacks and the ratio of damage which towers receive from the convoy.

Picking higher difficulty settings reward the player with score multiplier bonuses which will be described later.

Regardless, it is in the interest of the player to pick the highest difficulty setting anyway, especially if the player is a veteran of the previous game or strategy games in general. This is because the game can be quite easy; if the player has figured out the most efficient routes to either clear out towers or bypass them, victory is assured. Afterwards, any additional challenge would come from trying to break the player’s own score records (or in the case of the Steam version of the game, other people’s).

That is not to say that there are not some excitingly dangerous moments though. These moments, which generally occur in the much later levels, have the player plunging into an area which is heavily infested by towers. The only way out is to frantically but accurately place support abilities in order for the convoy to gain the edge which it needs to prevail.

SCORE:

For players who chase scores, Anomaly Korea has a system which tracks the points which the player has earned from his/her performance during a level.

Generally, doing just about anything to progress in a level grants the player points. Bringing down towers, in particular, allow the player to rack up high scores; a combo counter increases with each consecutive kill made in quick succession, before being applied as a multiplier to the base amount of points from knocking out the towers.

The score which the player has accumulated throughout a level is further bolstered by additional points which are only granted upon completing a level. These additional points are obtained from having leftover supplies, among other things; finally, a multiplier is applied to these additional points, depending on the level of difficulty which the player has chosen. “Hardcore” has the highest multiplayer, of course.

The player's rewards for completing a mission are numbers.
The player's rewards for completing a mission are numbers.

It has to be said here that the Humble Bundle version of the game does not have any leaderboard functions, much less anything akin to a system of achievements. This is, of course, not an issue to players who care little about such things.

MEDALS:

Performing well in a mission grants the player “medals”, which as their names suggest (and in context of video games), are purely cosmetic rewards.

Usually, the medals for killing many towers and completing the mission with no casualties are not mutually exclusive from each other. Players with quick wit (and who can exploit the time-pause of the tactical and convoy mode screens) can earn both in the same attempt at a level.

The Steam version of the game does offer challenges posed by requirements for achievements, of course, for those who care about filling their accounts with such digital trophies.

ART OF WAR TRIALS:

It has been mentioned earlier that the story-based missions in the game are quite easy and the player may want to play them at Hardcore settings for them to pose a satisfying challenge.

However, the game does have a separate set of particularly challenging missions, which are supposedly part of a training simulator.

These missions rely on restricting the player’s access to assets, as well choices for the convoy’s composition. These are a lot of rather artificial challenges, but learning how to make do with what one has for these missions can make one feel rather smart.

Part of those skills involves being a cheapskate.
Part of those skills involves being a cheapskate.

Incidentally, these missions involve overcoming specific alien towers, which are often located in troublesome locations, or making use of a certain unit. For example, there is a trial which places one Hacker behind a ring of concrete walls in the middle of the map, and the player ostensibly has to run a gauntlet of other towers while it fires off hacking attacks with impunity.

(With that said, this particular trial can be ended prematurely if the player realizes that Airstrikes are not stopped by concrete walls.)

VISUAL DESIGNS:

Like A.W.E., Anomaly Korea is quite the looker. Without the need to animate particularly articulated models, e.g. humanoid forms, and with the camera designs negating the need for minute details like balconies and stairways for buildings, 11-bit can focus on delivering more of the same pizzazz as seen in A.W.E.

There are splendid fire effects. There are dynamic and generally well-applied shadows. There are detailed light sources on many models. There are plenty of polygons for the otherwise simply-animated human units and alien towers.

In other words, there would be few things which veterans of the previous game have not seen.

Yet, there is a notable visual difference between Anomaly Korea and A.W.E. This can be seen in the colour palette used for one game and the one for the other.

Anomaly Korea has much higher colour contrast, typically by making use of stereotypical Oriental architecture to include unlikely colours into the game, such as teal and magenta (which are used in arched gateways). As garish as they are, they do make Anomaly Korea look different from A.W.E.

VOICE-ACTING:

Like its predecessor, Anomaly Korea has forced stereotypical accents. One of the starkest examples of these is the accent for the only supposedly Korean character, Lt. Park (whose surname is already a typical choice, though to cut the game’s writers some slack, “Park” is a common surname in Korean culture).

Then, there is the usual language used by spirited military archetypes. The player can expect clichéd examples of this such as referring to war machines as “toys”, having weapons “locked and loaded” and achieving objectives “at all costs”.

If there is any practicality to the voice-acting, it is that they provide the instructions for missions. Even so, the delivery of voice-overs over radios – especially when they are given with phony accents - is superseded in clarity by the subtitles (which is turned off by default but should preferably be activated).

MUSIC:

The game’s soundtracks are composed by Piotr Musia, which also did the soundtracks for the first game. Speaking of the first game’s music, some of Anomaly Korea’s soundtracks appear to be recycled from the previous game’s soundtracks.

An example is the Oriental soundtrack heard early on in the story mode of the game. This one sounds a lot like the music which was used for the Tokyo levels in the previous game.

In fact, there may only be four original soundtracks for Anomaly Korea, if one is to do research on the game’s music, namely by looking up Piotr Musia’s portfolio. Yet, they do not sound particularly new when compared to the soundtracks in the previous game; they may even be re-visited versions of the latter.

SOUND EFFECTS:

The previous Anomaly title prided itself on inundating the player with noises of (sci-fi) battle: Anomaly Korea would be no different.

Explosions happen a lot in the game, each one a sonic release which can either seem gratuitous to more receptive players or grating to jaded ones. Whatever the player’s regard for them, one cannot accuse 11-bit of not being enthusiastic in designing the sounds for explosions.

Then, there are weapons-fire. Most of them are recycled from A.W.E., so veterans would find them all too familiar.

What is not familiar though are the sound effects for the Horangi’s special ability and those associated with the Boost power-ups. This is not necessarily for the better, unfortunately.

The Horangi, when it is fully charged, lets out a deep rasp. This is perhaps still alright for one’s ears, but the release of its special ability is accompanied by a loud synthesized noise which can be more grating than it is gratifying.

As painful as these sound effects can, they are far less bad than those for the Boost power-up. Units which are Boosted have additional qualities added to the sound effects of their shots, including deep bass and amplification. These sound effects can be deeply uncomfortable to listen to without a fine-tuned audio system.

MISCELLANEOUS MENTIONS:

Unfortunately for players who want to take screenshots while playing the game, there does not appear to be any control input which is dedicated to taking screenshots (at least in the Humble Bundle version of the game). Third-party software such as Greenshot does not seem to work either, at least with the game’s default executable settings.

To be able to take screenshots in the Windows version of the game, the player will need to launch the game with the compatibility option of “disable desktop composition” disabled.

CONCLUSIONS:

Some of the changes which Anomaly Korea tries to implement in order to differentiate it from its predecessor can seem flawed, such as the omission of the Commander. Furthermore, some of its similarities which it carries over from its predecessor have only been made worse, such as the clichéd writing for the forgettable characters’ lines and their hackneyed voice-overs.

Yet, despite these flaws, Anomaly Korea retains enough of the original’s entertaining “tower offense” gameplay so that 11-bit can prove, once again, that it is not merely peddling buzzwords.