Our Verdict
“ It ’s killing time ! ” shouts the small , faceless barbarian I ’ve just hired to defend my land . lovely , distinctive , and exceptionally charming , the boor rising slope rapidly became one of my favorite features ofKingdom Rush , a tug defence mechanism scheme secret plan for the iPhone , iPad , and iPod Touch . With a deft hand , app developer Armor Games offer a strikingly immersive , challenging , and humorous secret plan that is somehow more than the sum of its persona .
The towboat defense genre has been an older standard on the iOS platform . Simply intercept on a chassis emplacement and voila ! You have a justificatory tower that you’re able to promote and employ to defend yourself against wave after wave of foe . Kingdom Rush is just such a tower defense game , with about 20 delegation , two difficulty levels , and 75 stars to earn . Each mavin take in pay you an upgrade , or you could throw a bunch of lead together and unlock hero sandwich — herculean exclusive unit you could deploy to help your USA .
Nothing that Kingdom Rush does is specially original , but the overall package is exceptionally compelling . Your cartoonish realm is under attack , and you ’re give a mission briefing before each level detailing the phantasy United States Army you ’ll confront . Spiders , orcs , black knight , and yetis are part of the rapscallion ’ verandah of villain you ’ll have to defeat , and your armoury is just as familiar : magical towers , pointer towers , artillery , and soldier . The game acknowledges the debt it owes to predecessors , cite lands and character from Lord of the Rings and Warcraft . Each tug comes with its own unparalleled auditory sensation effects and theatrical role — gun towers will have wisecracking dwarves while magic towers will house wizards who care to quote Yoda and Gandalf . If you care referential humor , then Kingdom Rush will be uproarious to you ; if not , there ’s always the mute clit .
The cartoonish character will remind you of the graphics of Castle Crashers , a similarly humorous mediaeval game for the Xbox and PlayStation 3 organisation . The scale , of course , is very different , but the cartoonishness is reachable for jr. audiences ( though sometimes the voice communication may not be ) .
Kingdom Rush works because of its Libra the Scales and its brutal difficulty . make love where to deploy barracks , when to upgrade them or corrupt a fresh tower , and what upgrades to get for your U. S. Army are all exceptionally important conclusion that will be honor or punished by the game ’s immense challenge .
The wiretap controls are n’t the determining factor in your success — it ’s instead find by build order , placement of your troop , and how you choose to upgrade . If you purchase a handsome artillery emplacement initially , for example , you may take tutelage of low-toned - point wanderer with ease . But you ’d have to throw a lot of money to elevate it , and it wo n’t be emotive against sure heavily - armored or flying enemies . And you need to make these genial calculation quickly , as the game throws wave after waving at you pitilessly . Often , you wo n’t know that your strategy flunk until an intact undulation make it through your defenses and you go from hero to numb in seconds .
Bottom Line
I never think I ’d recommend a tower defense game for iOS , after the gold standard set byPlants vs. Zombies . While not quite as deep or as humorous , Kingdom Rush is nevertheless just as well built and just as fun . It belongs on your iPhone and , ideally , your iPad , where the game ’s big battlegrounds can really shine .
