Kingdom Rush – Nearly the First of a Kind for Tower Defense

The game itself differs in several ways from the average Tower Defense. In Kingdom Rush by Ironhide Studio, we can only set up defense towers in predetermined places. We can choose from 4 types of buildings: three shooting towers and one barracks, which spits out up to three soldiers whose task is to delay the enemy’s march. In addition, quite quickly, we get access to two spells during the fight: firestorm and summoning “reinforcements” in the form of a pair of me… peasants, who will hold the enemy in place for a few moments.

The whole game is about building towers wisely, using available spells, and directing the hero in the long run. For each completed map, we get stars (up to 3, depending on how well we defended ourselves), which are used to upgrade our towers and spells, and gems, for which we can buy disposable items that can be used later when needed (it’s worth mentioning that during the game I didn’t have a “need” even once).

As for the hero: after playing a few maps of the Kingdom Rush campaign, we get access to the hero. He is a tough fighter/player who helps us with his strength and skills. They make a walking turret: melee characters stop the enemy with themselves and beat them over the head while shooting ones spread death in less direct ways, for example, by firing several arrows at once.

Kingdom Rush – Options

A pretty cool and rare thing in the genre is the “interactivity” of the boards. It’s not present on every map, but it’s worth mentioning when it is. The most memorable experience for me (strangely enough) was the ability to free an oversized Yeti from a cave, which hurt enemies who were unlucky enough to get too close. Also, you should look at the gameplay “packaging” in Kingdom Rush: nice, cartoonish graphics in a rather unique style. Well, not counting other games by the same developers. However, the most important thing about it is that it looks good on both a smartphone and a ten-inch tablet.

This all takes place across the twelve boards that make up the campaign and another six that unlocks after completing the “story” portion of Kingdom Rush. The latter, however, is an entirely different ride: while the game’s campaign is pretty straightforward and, after a while of “learning” the game, doesn’t cause much trouble, trying to complete the additional stages can cause the beginnings of gray hair.

Micro-payments

If this game is to have any flaw worth specifically going around, it’s the micropayments. However, it’s not some vast pain: we only have new heroes to buy whose strength is (from “minimally” to “a little bit”) more significant than the ones we get during the regular game. No, using these heroes is not necessary to pass Kingdom Rush. Heroes bought for cash should be treated as a kind of “casual mode”: a game that is quite simple and undemanding (especially for those familiar with the genre) can be simplified even further. That’s the whole story. And an interesting fact: the version sold some time ago as part of the Humble Mobile Bundle allowed access to ALL the characters, along with passing subsequent missions of the campaign.

To Take or Not to Take?

All in all, it’s a take, even though Kingdom Rush itself isn’t free. It costs one dollar on the AppStore or two on Google Play (free now). $2 for a game for a few hours of continuous play? Of course, that’s assuming that we’ll only play the primary campaign and not the side missions or higher difficulty levels. Then we can safely assume that we’ll spend another few hours. I’m for it! And one more thing: PC gamers who like the genre can always say hello to the flash version of the game. Or with the strictly PC version available on Steam. But it will deserve a separate review.

Stay tuned for more reviews on the Kingdom Rush sequels!