Anomaly 2 - Tower Offense has Never Looked So Awesome

 The sequel to Anomaly Warzone Earth came out recently and I decided to grab it up since I was a fan of the first game. Let me start by saying this is what sequels should be like. Bigger, badder, and a lot of cool new stuff to use. First a little bit about the series. Anomaly is a tower offense / defense hybrid. You aren't defending from invaders. Those suckers are already here and they've laid waste to the planet. Your mission is to blast through them with your convoy and get the planet back.

You play this game by essentially switching between two phases. First you plan out your path through a virtual HUD display where you essentially pause the game and have an overall view of where the enemy forces are, checkpoints and your ending destination. This is where a lot of the tactical strategizing takes place. At anytime you can also reorganize and purchase units from the squad menu to the left. The second phase is the real time strategy part. Your troops will traverse the planned path you laid out and attack any enemies they come in contact with.

While the first game had a pretty neutral atmosphere, set in both Baghdad and Tokyo, which looked pretty much the same, Anomaly 2 has upped their game with diverse environments set in iconic locations. You start out in a cold ruins of New York City seeing the remains of the Statue of Liberty on the ground then make your way to the lush tropical climates of Rio. All of which have been transformed into a beautiful disaster by the machines.

In addition to going from point A to B the missions have a bit more variety as some missions you'll have to defend a fort or travel separate from your squad while avoiding traps. Also new to this installment is the unit morph ability. Just about all of your units will have a second transformation mode you can switch to on the fly. Mastering when to make changes can very well make battles a lot more manageable.

Another thing this game has added is an new competitive multiplayer option. You can go against another online player as either the squad or machines. The goal of which is to collect the most points by destroying the other team's generators or by having a difference of 500 points. This adds a new layer of gameplay and gives you a reason to keep playing past the single player game.

I did try a couple of matches and got spectacularly slaughtered by my opponent as both the squad and the machines. If you're playing the squad you more or less have the same attributes available as the single player game, with the exception that you have to purchase new technologies in which to give you an edge against the opposition. But since everything is in real time you have the added pressure about making snap adjustments as you don't stop moving and if you delay you can very well give your enemy time to gather more points getting closer to winning. Using the machines also have a bit of learning curve as they work differently than the squad controls. Controls that aren't as well explained as the single player experience. But learning via dying is good too, can't be spoon fed all the tactics, where's the fun in that.  Overall I thought this is a great game with enough variety to keep things fresh.

Micron - A Puzzling Rhythm to Beat

I started playing Micron from Indie Royal's Lunar Bundle. For those who haven't heard of it, Micron is a puzzle strategy game that has the simple objective broken up into individual levels of guiding moving balls to the target of the stage using various bumps to change the direction of the balls. The early levels are pretty straightforward and simple, increasing in difficulty as you progress.

What's also a nice aspect about this game is that each ball makes a sound every time it hits an object. So you create a rhythm while trying to complete a level. This makes the game all that more interesting as your actions directly influence the game melody. The level begins with a beat and builds from there with every bounce the balls make. And as you progress through the game the level zones change colors as they increase in difficulty.

Overall this is a very mellow casual game that is easy to learn but difficult to master. One of the things I'm surprised this doesn't include is a level editor. Of course at the time of this review I have not completed this game so it could very well be something that is unlocked at end game. While I do enjoy fitting in a game or two on the PC I can't help but think this is better as an Android app. So if you enjoy casual puzzle strategy games I encourage you to check this one out. It's available for PC/Mac, and mobile.

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Ys: Origin - Hack and Slash Dungeon Done Right

I became a fan of the Ys series late in life.  I wouldn't say the Japanese RPG are becoming a dying breed out here in the west but gaming has evolved from just waiting for games to get a translated version from SquareEnix.  There's many others that are sold straight from the Playstation Store in their original Japanese form. Ys is one of those underground cult series that not many people would hear about but are nonetheless widely popular and loved among the fans.

Ys: Origin, the most recent in the series takes place before the events in Ys 1 and gives us a new cast of playable characters different than the main series hero, Adol the Red. On our journey into Ys we get to take control of three different characters as they travel through The Tower in search for the goddesses of Ys and the Black Pearl. Without notifying their protectors the goddesses set off on a quest to Tower with the Pearl and it's your job to find them.

Congratulations! At the beginning you can choose between mid-range ax fighterYunica Tovah or long range magician Hugo Fact. Each unfolds a slightly different story as you climb up The Tower. Yunica is your average impulsive gogetter, who is entirely too perky, wears her heart on her sleeve, and totally devoted to the cause. She's the type who rushes head first into any situation without much thought.

The complete opposite is Hugo Fact. In short Hugo's an cocky prick who believes only in his own power, never asks for any help and just thinks the mass group of heroes are a mindless pile of idiots. Of course you'll find out he's just an insecure brat who is trying to get out of his older brother's shadow. He opens up more to the villain Epona more than any of the other heroes he came to the surface with.

Now if you were wondering, Yes you play this entire game in The Tower. You will not leave The Tower for the entirety of the game. Now if you remembered the tower/school in Persona 3 all that constant fighting got a little bit monotonous and tedious because all the floors pretty much looked the same.  Very little changed until you got near the top no need to worry about that here. There's a lot more variety in the dungeon sections that you won't get bored looking at the same type for too long.

Aside from your simple hack and slash RPG Origin features some really punishing bosses at the end of each section. You'll die at least once on each while you figure out the boss' attack pattern. You won't beat this game going out guns blazing.  And as the story unfolds you'll find yourself really committed to uncovering the reasons of your visit. Who is pulling the strings and answers to all of life's little questions. There's a full cast of NPCs to help you along your journey, either by giving sage advice on what to do next or strengthening your weapon. The other heroes and villains are a decent complement especially as you progress in the game.

In addition the game is easy to pick up and play for an hour or two put it down and pick up where you left off, without getting lost on where you have to go next... which is usually up. After you finish the game with one of our lovely heroes you get the option of playing as one of the villains as you uncover the story from his point of view. There's also your standard Boss Rush and Arena challenges that get unlocked as you complete the game with other people and at higher difficulties. Ys: Origin is a great game and won't disappoint any gamer who's looking for a good hack and slash dungeon crawler.