➤ The last defense 🎮

Released in August 2011, Anomaly: Warzone Earth introduced groundbreaking mechanics to the strategic subgenre of tower defense, proposing an offensive approach in which the player managed mobile units on the map instead of towers, with a view to dynamic and strongly gameplay. characterized by the tactical elements.

Acting on a button it was in fact possible at any time to pause the action and change the route of the convoy, turning around it in the role of a foot commander who had the task of releasing bonuses and upgrades of various types on the ground. An original and effective formula, which not surprisingly has earned the appreciation of critics and audiences, and which has produced over the years two other episodes: Anomaly Korea and Anomaly 2. The latter has perhaps collected less than it actually deserved. , given the presence of the innovative mechanics related to the ability of vehicles to transform and therefore assume two different assets for resistance, attack and special abilities. Having explored far and wide the possibilities of the offensive approach in the strategic field, the developers of 11 bit studios have therefore decided to close the saga with a chapter that marks a sort of return to normality., and in which we put ourselves for the first time (multiplayer aside) in command of the alien towers, engaged in the last defense of their planet from the attack of the most dangerous race in the universe: humans.

On the asshole side

Illustrating the functioning of a classic tower defense is not complicated, and in the case of Anomaly Defenders we have a relatively linear campaign, made up of twenty-four increasingly difficult missions, in which the connotation of the scenarios plays a key role.

In fact, forget the "corridors" that maybe you are used to organizing in other similar productions, because our human opponents will sometimes be able to surprise us, changing the path of their raids to get to attack and destroy the launch station, which is the last hope for our race to survive by settling on another world. It is not a question of artificial intelligence, however: from that point of view the work carried out by 11 bit studios is disappointing, given that there is no readiness on the part of our opponents that characterized human decisions in the previous chapters. However, it is impossible to organize the defense if not by playing a throw-in, that is, waiting for the enemy troops to define their own route and placing units accordingly. You can try to distract the attention of humans by building resource extractors, devices that allow you to create and upgrade towers more quickly (together with energy, to be collected with a not-so-comfortable click every time we eliminate a vehicle), to attract them with a diversion and take time, especially during the more complicated phases of each mission, when heavy vehicles take to the field. From ours we will have a rich and multifaceted arsenal, with all those damned stations that in the past we used to curse and now offer us their power, passing from the basic models to the more advanced and resistant ones, for a total of eight variants. To unlock them we will have to spend the technology points earned with the completion of the levels and proceed within an interesting tree structure, whose ramifications can also substantially change our approach to battle.

11 bit studios closes the Anomaly saga with a "normal" episode, solid but uninspired

Too normal?

To be the final episode of a rather significant saga in the panorama of strategic titles, Anomaly Defenders unfortunately arises in a sketchy way from the narrative point of view, introducing the story (the humans who, after years of oppression, decide to go and solve the problem of invaders on their own planet, once and for all) but without in any way delving into its aspects.

In short, it is pure and simple gameplay what awaits us in the single player campaign, which this time is not accompanied by multiplayer mode but offers a number of stages above the average for the franchise. We cannot speak of a normal tower defense, given the intertwining of paths that also leads our strategy to be dynamic, to adapt to situations quickly and to make the most of the upgrades (which can be activated by clicking on each unit and spending part of the energy collection by eliminating opponents); However the revolutionary charm of the previous episodes inevitably ends up getting lost in a substantially traditional blend, which will make those who expect something unusual turn up their noses. Anomaly Defenders does not lack challenge and overall duration, especially in relation to a very affordable selling price, but the game seems to have been made with less care and passion than usual. Also from a technical point of view, given that the detailed settings and direction seen in Anomaly 2 are missing, and you have to be satisfied with design solutions that have basically already been seen, with the only positive note of a cinematic soundtrack, really beautiful and engaging. .

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Processor: Intel Core i3 350m
Video card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 8

Minimum requirements

Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core 2,4 Duo, 2 GHz AMD Athlon X2,8
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GS, ATI Radeon HD 4000
Memory: 2 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista

Recommended Requirements

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad 2,7 GHz, AMD Phenom II X4 3 GHz
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, ATI Radeon HD 5770
Memory: 4 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 7

Comment

Version Tested: PC Digital Delivery: Steam Price: € 9,99 Resources4Gaming.com

7.0

Readers (1)

8.0

Your vote

From a "grand finale" one usually expects a narrative at the height and a last dose of substantial novelties, but Anomaly Defenders is none of this and actually presents itself as a less inspired episode than usual, rather traditional in its mechanics and devoid of sharp details. A good tower defense, sure, solid and challenging, but whose gameplay appears distant from the freshness of the offensive approach of the previous chapters. Some elements of the experience are interesting, see the need to organize their towers in a dynamic way, adapting the settlement to the journey made by human troops, but in general there is little memorable in this new production. In short, Anomaly Defenders represents the hasty closure of a franchise that probably had said everything, and which this time plays the card of normality to greet its fans.