If the player’s convoy gets close enough to collect discarded alien resources that double as in-game cash, individual units can be upgraded or reinforcements purchased. Mission objectives range from mere convoy survival to elimination of specific targets, to item collection runs, to protection of guest units - most commonly some combination of these. Item drops are randomized so the player has to make expert use of whatever’s available, relying on knowledge of each enemy type’s offensive behavior and reaction time. Stealth bombers seem more concerned with dropping item pickups to refresh the supply of support abilities than with destroying enemies, but few players will complain. These include setting up repair and smoke screen zones, and deploying decoys that draw enemy attention away from the convoy for a limited time.
While viewing the proceedings live from an overhead perspective, the player needs to call on support abilities to minimize damage from enemy fire. Nor does player interaction end once a route is finalized for the time being. While the player doesn’t have to manage the convoy’s offensive actions – the soldiers on the ground will handle that themselves – the incredible amount of nuance in route planning provides enough complexity for the player to chew on all by itself. The path is shaped and continually re-shaped in realtime, as the player might want to circle around so the convoy can finish off an enemy, or redirect the units away from streets where adversaries enjoy triangulation of fire. The player’s best friend in Anomaly is the Tactical Map, a simplified layout screen where he or she uses directional nodes at urban intersections to shape the convoy’s path through a level. Naturally the answer is, “probably not much better than the people who run real-world conflicts,” and that’s a testament to the developers’ level and enemy design prowess. This is a game RTS fans can turn to for an answer to the question, how would I fare if I were in charge of a situation like that?
Many of us are used to watching on helplessly as news stories about besieged convoys in far-off conflicts roll into the local news, or perhaps vicariously sharing in the frustrations of military route planners in media like Black Hawk Down. In that context, there’s something eerily magnetic about a chance at the driver’s seat in the middle of a hot zone, albeit from the safety of one’s living room. Think of Anomaly as the flipside to Holy Moly! Dragons: rather than strategically placing units that take down a passing train of enemies, the player is in charge of forming and commanding the embattled convoy itself! Given Anomaly‘s urban setting and near-future level of technology, it’s impossible to deny the cultural factors that make this situation so compelling for a wide swath of gamers. Wells again – but its gameplay turns the Tower Defense genre inside out to wonderful effect, and its sheer production values suck the player right into its world.
Its premise is certainly expected enough – militaristic aliens have been reading a little too much H.G. When I upload screen caps from my iPod Touch I always label images with a game’s initials this time, they turned out to be “awe.” That’s pretty appropriate, because Anomaly: Warzone Earth ( Out Now, $1.99), courtesy of 11 bit studios and Chillingo, is one of the most awe-inspiring iOS titles in its price range.
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