Anomaly: Warzone Earth

Anomaly: Warzone Earth on the iPad is a decent value at $3.99. It’s ideal for short play sessions. Its variety of modes will keep you coming back, and if you stick through the campaign even more modes open up. The gameplay can be challenging, and it may not look as pretty as its big brother on the PC, but don’t count it out. Anomaly: Warzone Earth is a perfect challenge for any strategist, and will have people looking over your shoulder to see what fate you’ve decided to bestow upon those evil aliens. If it can distract me from a drunk guy and an apple fanatic it will most likely have you ...

An inverted tower defense with very nice graphics, a military-space atmosphere and at a budget price. Could this have gone wrong?

Graphics and sound are very impressive for a XBLA game. Voice acting is performed well and adds to the experience. The story is, at times, campy but, when looking at the overall plot of the game, the dialogue fits. Alien spacecraft debris has landed in Baghdad and Tokyo and 14th Platoon is sent in to investigate both sites and neutralize any threats that are posed. Simple, to the point, and easy motivation to finish the game's campaign.

The game has a nice overall look with the graphics and a sort of dirty look to everything (although that might be because of the ruined cities from the aliens). Everything stands out nicely with enemies draped in bright reds and your vehicles/commander in a light blue. All of this helps more than you think when later missions require quick thinking and awareness of all the surrounding towers and your line of six units.

Anomaly: Warzone Earth is exciting, clever and ultimately addictive. There’s a level of innovation here that we rarely see in AAA gaming, and we’d like to see more of it please. If you have any interest in tower defence whatsoever, this is an essential purchase.