Anomaly Defenders

 PC
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 32 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 32
  3. Negative: 7 out of 32

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  1. sswam
    Sep 15, 2014
    7
    I'm enjoying this twist on the Anomaly series.

    Unlike some reviewers, I appreciate the chance to play with the Anomaly units from the alien point of view. While the "tower offence" style was innovative, I think it's even more innovative to suddenly switch the point of view in the final instalment of the series! The game is not quite so polished as previous Anomaly games,    I'm enjoying this twist on the Anomaly series.

    Unlike some reviewers, I appreciate the chance to play with the Anomaly units from the alien point of view. While the "tower offence" style was innovative, I think it's even more innovative to suddenly switch the point of view in the final instalment of the series!

    The game is not quite so polished as previous Anomaly games, nevertheless I'm finding it very enjoyable. Kill the humans!!    … Expand
  2. Angelore
    Jul 17, 2014
    6
    Anomaly Defenders is a short, and cheap looking game. As a fan of both Anomaly and Anomaly 2, I feel like developers just decided to have some easy money.

    The only thing that is common between this game and the previous ones is the name. Indeed, this is a TD, not a reverse TD, so this should be expected. It is still pretty fun to play, since you will quickly remember all the units and    Anomaly Defenders is a short, and cheap looking game. As a fan of both Anomaly and Anomaly 2, I feel like developers just decided to have some easy money.

    The only thing that is common between this game and the previous ones is the name. Indeed, this is a TD, not a reverse TD, so this should be expected. It is still pretty fun to play, since you will quickly remember all the units and you will have some idea about how your towers will work.
    There are three difficulties in this game, they differ not only by the sheer number of enemies, but also by different map layouts. Speaking of maps, there are some with unique mechanics, which force you to use different strategies (which is always good to have).

    Not when we are done with positive sides, let's look at the negatives.
    The game indeed looks pretty cheap. Since it uses A2 engine and assets, it still looks great ingame, but the interfaces look like they were made in photoshop in 5 minutes. Which is very strange, since you will look at the interface through the whole game, right?
    The story. In short - there is no such thing in AD. The one stub that is present is stupid and uninteresting.
    The tech tree. Though having a tech tree in TD is a good idea in general, in AD you will not have to make a choice most of the time, since there is an optimal build where you can ignore anything else (yes, you will not even need to adapt it to "special" missions. Also I would like to point out the problem, where you encounter a hard mission, but instead of thinking of a strategy, you can just grind tech points on easy difficulty and then just breeze through it on hard.

    So, as a result, we still got a solid TD, if you will play at hard difficulty, you will get some real challenge. But you will see no story, and probably become annoyed close to the end, because it becomes pretty repetitive.

    TL;DR: 6/10, grab it on steam sale, if you are a fan of TD (or Anomaly), or don't, if you are not into it.    … Expand
  3. ave
    Mar 10, 2015
    7
    Compared to existing Tower Defense games, Anomaly Defenders is a decent one.

    The game twists the original storyline by placing you, the commander, at the side of the machines, as you plan a counterattack against your own kind, humanity, which now can strike the final and fatal blow. Your job is to prevent the 24 launchpads to be destroyed in order to send remaining aliens into space.    Compared to existing Tower Defense games, Anomaly Defenders is a decent one.

    The game twists the original storyline by placing you, the commander, at the side of the machines, as you plan a counterattack against your own kind, humanity, which now can strike the final and fatal blow. Your job is to prevent the 24 launchpads to be destroyed in order to send remaining aliens into space. All of this without any second thoughts, simply to ensure the survival of the machines. How kind of you.

    The game features a bunch of good and proven ideas, with a nice execution. Towers comes from the Anomaly Warzone serie - so you kinda feel at home - and are accessible via a Tech Tree, from which you can buy or resell technologies if you need; along with abilities and improvements (armor, critical damage, energy pool, buying and selling cost).

    Caurasaurum is the ingame currency used to buy towers, and Energy can be grabbed on destroyed enemy units to activate special abilities like Repair, Shield, Rage, Sniper...

    Like many Tower Defense games, each level is a combination of a tutorial and a puzzle. The game in some extent tries to push you from your comfort zone each time you have found an optimal placement for a tower, or a deadly combination of towers. But anyhow, Anomaly Defender can be reduced to a puzzle even if there is some tension in selecting the right place for towers since they occupy more or less space.

    The strange thing about Anomaly Warzone is that, in spite of its qualities, the gameplay becomes sometimes repetitive, the most intense moment being the beginning of each level where you analyse and plan your towers placement, then simply repair and upgrade them as the human forces grow stronger.

    There is really a radical loss of pacing compared the Warzone serie, in which you have to constantly re-route your squad, run for energy ressources or carefully place abilities like Repair.

    This might be an example of the difference between a game like Anomaly Warzone with a novel and solid core concept that can sustain even a barely good execution ; and a game like Anomaly Defenders who spawns inside an established genre, without an outstanding concept, but with proven ideas and a good execution.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. CD-Action
    Oct 22, 2014
    75
    Not as innovative as previous games from the series, but 24 maps, 8 types of towers, 6 special abilities and 10 variants of enemies are enough to provide a couple of days of fun. [Sept 2014, p.70]
  2. Softpedia
    Aug 6, 2014
    85
    Anomaly Defenders is a good final hurrah for the tower defense series from 11 Bit Studios. It has gorgeous maps, fun and hectic gameplay, and a lot of strategic opportunities via the deployable powers and the complex tech tree. What's more, the difficulty modes that affect the layout of the maps are quite impressive.
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  3. Everyeye.it
    Aug 6, 2014
    75
    The last chapter of the series is, unpredictably, the most conservative one. And it's a solid Tower Defense: but it's just another Tower Defense.
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