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In Anomaly Agent , you play as the reddish - hirsute , decidedly sassy Agent 70 . As a extremity of Tday , an organisation committed to keep the rude order , Agent 70 aims to halt so - called Anomalies that disturb the world ’s Libra and create substantial chaos . When a last - hour grant delay his promotional material , Agent 70 must traverse down an organized group of anomalies in what may be his most complicated and dangerous caper yet .
The word anomaly , which means something that deviate from the standard or what is expect , has see a bit of a warp in the dictionary in recent years due to the word ’s popular employment in scientific discipline fabrication and horror , particularly in media such as the SCP Foundation , The Backrooms , and The Mandela Catalog . In the slip of these franchises and Anomaly Agent , what these so - call anomaly deviate from is realism . Anything wear the title “ anomaly ” is something unknown or supernatural that defies the lifelike order of things as the Tday organization visualize them .
unknown and supernatural Anomaly Agent certainly is . In Agent 70 ’s normal 9 to 5 , you ’ll be croak against such anomalous entities as gravitational force - hold up egg machine , time - traveling villains , an army of angry clones , and jumbo men set to squeeze you . Anomaly Agent makes great role of its reality - delineate concept , throw unusual and interesting enemies your way and twisting levels and mechanics in unexcepted ways , sometimes outright flip a level over as you voyage it .
That said , I care the plot had gone a little further with its theme of world - warp supervillains . Most levels conform to the game ’s prevailing cyber-terrorist 80s - futurism topic . The game could have merge thing up by having us dog a baddie into a haunted house or some back - in - fourth dimension hamlet , make each level drastically dissimilar from one another .
That is n’t to say the levels in Anomaly Agent are uninteresting . Each one is thematically different , even if it still falls into the theme of sci - fi cityscape . You ’ll fight down your way across rooftops , pursuit enemies across a moving railroad train , and brawl in a saltation bar , with no two area in the game feeling the same .
Anomaly Agent ’s gameplay is fun and pretty standard for the Metroidvania writing style . You battle your way across a sidescrolling plane , using introductory attack jazz band and a variety of weapons and appliance collected as you go on . raw gadgets often come with mechanics that interact with both the combat and platforming segments of the game and give you some prison term to dominate the novel mechanics by setting up puzzles based on your new tool in the immediate areas after unlock it .
To me , the boss fights were the most thrilling panorama of Anomaly Agent . Each one was entirely unique and featured their own mechanics that , while not incredibly difficult to learn , required you to pay attention . Each one was fun and manage to be right challenging without feel like a Dark Souls - esque wonk .
The game rewards fashionable use of jazz group with an increment in coins dropped by shoot down opposition , which in turn can be used on upgrades . Interestingly , your dialogue options also dismiss a exceptional humor - establish up-to-dateness that can be used in the shop class . I found that being nice had much in force rewards , giving goop health boosts in the workshop .
I detect that most of the other upgrades were uninteresting stat improvements or were n’t very helpful . Most upgrades simply increase ammo size , give you a chance to crit , or have a poison mechanic the biz seems to really want to labor on you that I just did n’t find super exciting or interesting to habituate .
The canonic combat is topnotch fluid , involving a mixup of your normal tone-beginning , dodges , firearms picked up from clone opposition , and your agency tools , which include a shape - shifting cricket bat and a used bag . Navigating the many enemies in Anomaly Agent require you to dodge , parry , and stun in straightaway and calculated succession . One of the more interesting mechanics is that clones , which make up your introductory enemy horde , will commingle together if allowed to , becoming far more dangerous versions of themselves with better tactics and more harmful attacks .
My favorite aspect of Anomaly Agent has to be the game ’s mold of character . Anomaly Agent manages to bring a superb stamp of flavorful character to living without the use of a heap of dialogue , allow their designs do a lot of oeuvre and portraying personality through short , one to two - time bursts of fundamental interaction . Some personal favorites include your maths genius gadgety partner Eva and the grouchy Chief , who is get some height - concern issues due to Agent 70 ’s improper handling of a size anomalousness .
likewise , Anomaly Agent tells a very interesting , cockamamy , and supernatural story without using a lot of exposition or long , drawn - out cutscenes . There are even moments where Agent 70 is given the chance to influence events as they unfold , pay players a probability at multiple closing and warrant more than one playthrough .
at long last , major prop have to be given to the developers for the secret plan ’s visual and audio design . If you ’ve read my review , you ’ll be intimate by now with how much I appreciate the craft of pixel art . Anomaly Agent makes use of minimalistic pixel designs that convey characters beautifully alongside hand - drawn portraits that convey the character to aliveness . Each level ’s music is amazing as well , fitting the 80 ’s cyberpunk vibe immaculately and never managing to get former , even when I find myself stuck play back the same spot over and over again .
The Final Word
Anomaly Agent is a wonderfully weird adventure , full of foreign and interesting characters and fluid mechanics that are satisfy to execute . player should have a bam exploring the unearthly , humorous future earthly concern and fight down to keep thing normal in this modern spin on a classic writing style .
strain Hard Guides was provide with a microcomputer review copy of this plot . Find more detailed look at popular and upcoming titles in theGame Reviewssection of our website ! Anomaly Agent is available onSteam .
