''Anomaly: Warzone Earth'' is a real-time strategy

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

by 11 bit studios. The game was initially announced in late 2010, and released on April 8, 2011 for Windows and Mac OS X.

Plot

The game is set in the near future, where sections of an alien spacecraft have crash-landed in several major cities around the world including

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. The player assumes the role of the commander of an armor battalion (referred to as "14th Platoon" in the story) sent to investigate anomalies that have occurred in the vicinity of the wreckage and gather information on what is happening in the affected areas, as the anomalies are interfering with radar and satellite imagery - and to neutralize any threats that may exist within the anomalies' field of influence.

Gameplay

The style of the gameplay has been described as "reverse

", "tower attack", and "tower offense". Players control a convoy of vehicles investigating anomalies around sections of a downed alien spacecraft, which are protected by various types of defensive towers that have to be destroyed. Players do not directly control the vehicles in the convoy, rather they set paths for the convoy to follow along city streets, while also dropping power-ups such as decoys or smoke-screens to aid the survival of the convoy. In addition, players can purchase and equip a number of different units with varying offensive and defensive attributes to make up the convoy. In the Windows, Mac, Linux and XBLA versions, players directly control a soldier on foot (dubbed the Commander) whom they use to pick up and drop the power-ups for the convoy. The iOS and Android versions omit the Commander in lieu of the player directly placing power using the touch-based interface. In addition, the iOS and Android versions do not feature the levels set in Tokyo.

Release

''Anomaly: Warzone Earth'' was released on PC and Mac on April 8, 2011; and was released on

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

on August 11, 2011 as separate apps for iPhone and iPad. An Android version followed, initially as an exclusive release on the Amazon Appstore, on November 29, 2011, then as a general

Android Market Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sys ...

release on January 25, 2012. The game was released on Xbox Live Arcade in April 2012. A beta linux version was created but quickly scrapped as it was too buggy.

Reception

''Anomaly: Warzone Earth'' received strong reviews from critics. GamesBeat gave the game a score of 80/100, saying, "While it's hard to control, Anomaly is still playable and enjoyable as long as you take the time to really master the interface first.". ''Select Start Media'' awarded the game 7.9/10, praising the unique idea of "tower offence" and solid gameplay. As of November 14, 2011, the iOS version is one of the highest rated iOS games of all time on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

with a score of 94. In June 2011, OS X version was awarded with Apple Design Award during

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. At the end of 2011

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

has posted their annual

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and App Store rewind lists, where ''Anomaly: Warzone Earth'' has been entitled Game Of The Year Runner-Up. iOS version was chosen Game Of The Year Runner-Up by '' TouchArcade'', and was named the "Best Strategy" iOS game of the year in ''TouchGen'' Editor's Choice Awards. The PC version was also nominated by ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' for the Best Strategy Game of 2011 title.

Sequel

In August 2012, 11 bit studios announced that a sequel titled ''Anomaly: Korea'' will be released. The game, set several months after the events of ''Anomaly: Warzone Earth'', featured new units and new powers. On February 28, 2013, 11 bit studios announced on their social networks that ''Anomaly 2'' would be coming out soon. The game was debuted at Boston's PAX East on March 22, 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anomaly: Warzone Earth 11 bit studios games 2011 video games Android (operating system) games BlackBerry games Cancelled Linux games IOS games MacOS games PlayStation Network games Real-time strategy video games Tower defense video games Video games developed in Poland Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Apple Design Awards recipients Headup Games games