The Anomaly series has a special place in my heart, as its debut in 2011 was a perfect example of a game releasing both in the right place and at the right time. After being inundated by iterative tower defense games in the early years of the App Store, the geniuses at 11 Bit Studios managed to come up with a title that not only flipped the entire concept on its head by allowing you to be the attackers, but also came with an unprecedented level of graphical fidelity compared to its peers. While the future was bright for the series in these formative years, fast-forward to 2017 and many of the Anomaly games were at threat of being eliminated by iOS 11 and the 32-bit Appocalypse, and later disappeared entirely as Chillingo's offices closed. However Anomaly 2 [$14.99], the most recent entry in the franchise, has today been re-released out of nowhere on the App Store, and is compatible with the latest versions of iOS. While Anomaly 2 is in the form of an entirely new app with a premium $14.99 price tag - so former owners will not be able to redownload it - it's still good to see the series come back from the dead.
As much as it's great to see Anomaly 2 back, let's address the elephant in the room - namely, why this latest, self-published version of the game costs an extra $10 from its previous release. This increase will infuriate previous owners the most, especially as there appears to not be any new content in this edition of the title (as far as we know, at least). However,...