Anomaly Warzone Earth; Donkey Kong Jr.; The Expendables 2 Videogame – Review shorts

A quick-fire review summary of some of the titles we've been playing over the last couple of weeks.

Anomaly Warzone Earth

A twist on the standard tower defence genre – in which entrenched defences hold off waves of hostiles – sees you become that encroaching force as you push through enemy lines to reach your goal. To complicate matters you don’t have direct control over your troops, but rather map out their route via a handy map instead, tracing out the path of least resistance while quickly making split-second adjustments as the situation dictates. Beyond that you’ll also be healing your units and making use of power-ups in a hectic and highly addictive strategy title which has already enjoyed much success across formats.

Price: £7.29
Format: PS3 (also on iOS, Xbox 360, PC)
Developer: 11 Bit Studio
Publisher: 11 Bit Studio

Donkey Kong Jr.

The tables are turned as Mario, presumably sick of having oil drums hurled at him, has taken the troublesome Donkey Kong captive, cue the eponymous Donkey Kong Jr. to come to his aid. Being a nimble ape his journey to the top of the tree means more vine swinging than barrel leaping, but in essence gameplay remains faithful to that of the original Donkey Kong. However, as a re-release of the NES version first released in 1987 the game is less junior, and more geriatric; and so perhaps unavoidably rough around the edges and particularly short of content. Worth picking up as a curio for anyone keen to experience the origins of the platformer perhaps, but only just.

Price: £4.50
Format: 3DS via eShop
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

The Expendables 2 Videogame

Another nail into the coffin of the film tie-in sees Barney, Gunner, Caesar and Yin Yang (aka Sylvester Stallone and friends) doing exactly what they do in The Expendables movies, namely: shooting lots of enemies, making scenery explode and all the while spouting the kind of hackneyed dialogue that everyone thought went mercifully out with the 1980s. Alas any chance of fun provided by the four-player co-op is rendered null and void amid dull shooting mechanics, lacklustre presentation and relentlessly repetitive gameplay in a game which could have been mindless entertainment, but falls way short of the mark.

Price: £11.99
Format: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Developer: ZootFly
Publisher: Ubisoft