Anomaly – Warzone Earth (forum) is basically a reverse tower-defense game. The computer builds the towers and you try to get past them.
The game works on Linux, Mac and Windows. Installation on Linux 64-bit was painless: just unpack the archive and execute the game.
By default, it runs in full-screen mode which is a bit of a problem for me since I have two screens. Alt+Enter toggles between full-screen and windowed mode.
Your goal is to lead a train of 5 armored vehicles through a dangerous area. You can heal the vehicles, give them directions, change their order, add and remove units. In later stages, you will get decoys that draw enemy fire, or smoke grenades that cover your for a time.
Some tactical tips:
- Don’t rush. In most levels, you have lots of time.
- Crawlers have a slightly higher range than the basic enemy towers. If you circle an adjacent city block, you can often take out some of the enemies with little or no damage at all.
- Heal units using corners. Place the repair item in the corner and four units will be in range instead of the normal three.
- If you need to heal the leading unit, place the repair token a bit ahead so the unit gets enough exposure.
- Keep an eye on health. If a unit is losing a lot of health and you can’t reach it or you’re out of repair tokens, you can put them in a different place in the train. If the first or last unit is out of range, move the damaged unit there. Losses are really expensive in this game.
- Try to clear all enemies. In the first levels, supplies will be dropped anywhere but soon, they will be dropped after destroying enemy towers. Plus, each kill gives you a bit of money that you should spend on more units or upgrading existing ones.
- The first unit takes most damage. Upgrade it first.
- When a unit is under attack, you can cancel the effects by dropping a repair token.
- If you walk in circles around the basic towers, they will aim at you. That way, you can buy your tanks an extra moment since the turret will first have to turn back before it can open fire.
- Plan ahead. The closest reward might not be the easiest. Try to single out towers. Drive past and out of range to repair or recharge shields.
- Each tower has a specific weakness. Exploit them.
- Some can’t turn. Don’t attack them head on; drive by instead or kill it from behind.
- Behemoths do area damage. Use a decoy and place it far away from your units.
- When you need to squeeze through a bunch of towers, use a smoke bomb.
- Decoys work well with flash towers but you need to place it at a distance or the damage will spill.
Dismissed.
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