Originally released as a free to play browser game in 2011, Kingdom Rush has since been ported to both Steam and iOS devices as a fully-developed tower defense game.
Mobile gaming has shown a lot of potential ever since our phones became as powerful as personal computers, but very few mobile games rise to the challenge of becoming great gaming experiences. For the most part they are quick, casual games that are good when you have a few minutes to spare, but are widely disregarded by a large number of gamers. The developer of Kingdom Rush, Ironhide Game Studio had more ambition than that, and set out to develop a mobile game that carries the same level of detail and depth that would be expected of a fully developed PC or console game.
Kingdom Rush is part of the growing genre of tower defense games where you earn in-game currency by defeating increasingly difficult waves of enemy creeps. The creeps march down a lane that you must defend; you purchase constructible towers and strategically place them to attack creeps and defend your land. In Kingdom Rush you are also given a powerful hero to level up and control, helping defend your weak spots. There is quite a lot of depth that can go into your strategy, given that each of the four towers are upgradeable with diverging tech paths, and your choice of hero comes from a pool of 12 different candidates.
The first thing you will notice when you launch the app is the level of quality as Hyperduck Soundworks’ wonderfully produced music emanates from your speakers. The soundtrack gives the ‘little game’ a grand feel as most of the music is themed after fantasy battle music, with loud horns, beating drums, and the upbeat cadence of violins.
The voice work for Kingdom Rush is also quite charming as all of the towers, units and heroes have unique phrases that accompany their placements, and then again when they receive that sought-after upgrade. There is quite a variety when it comes to the delivery of lines and the accents of each voice, all perfectly suited to the unit or character they accompany.
The music and voices fit well with the art style of Kingdom Rush, which looks elegant on the small scale of a hand-held device. Everything is simple, yet carries a level of detail that makes everything perfectly distinguishable and unique. As you advance through the campaign, scenarios the background regions change in style, bringing a refreshing amount of variation to a genre that can be quite limited.
The campaign in Kingdom Rush, on that note, is quite long. There are also varying levels of difficulty to create your own unique gameplay experience. You are tasked with defeating the demonic hoard that has risen up in the east, seeking strange and magical relics from the Kingdom. You start with the ability to control one of three unique heroes, with the option of purchasing 9 more as you move with your army from one campaign scenario to the next.
Once the main campaign has been completed a multitude of post-game options open up for you, should you wish to continue your time with Kingdom Rush. On top of the three levels of difficulty for each map, new scenario options are now available for them as well: there is Heroic Mode which beefs up the enemy waves to Elite and then removes your hero from the map for an added challenge and sense of irony; then there is the Iron Challenge mode, forcing you to face off against one super wave with a finite amount of money to build and upgrade your towers with.
There are a host of other features packed tightly into Kingdom Rush – an extensive achievement list for the completionist lurking inside you, shops for you to spend in-game currency, and even a skill-tree to add another layer of depth your style of play. Furthermore, there is an extensively detailed compendium of the enemy creeps that includes weaknesses and backstory. Most of the story of Kingdom Rush is fleshed out through the compendium or the pre-map “debriefing” screen.
It is no surprise that Kingdom Rush has been ported to a larger screen through Steam, as the controls tend to get a little wonky with the touch screen. This not only makes it extremely difficult to micro-manage your hero against enemy creeps, but often leaves your hero to die from the oncoming attacks. In heated moments when you want to select specific towers it is very easy to miss-click several times before finally getting it right, losing precious seconds when you need them most. These control issues could possibly make the game harder than it should be at certain moments, but they were never a major issue during our time with Kingdom Rush; the port to mouse makes perfect sense and is much appreciated.
Outside of the minor touchscreen problems that are to be expected of a mobile gaming device, we found Kingdom Rush to be an amazingly charming and unique experience on our iThings. Kingdom Rush is definitely a game that we feel you shouldn’t miss, as it’s so rare to have such a detailed game wrapped up into a mobile experience. You will get hours of enjoyment out of Kingdom Rush, with its lengthy campaign and its re-playability, making it well worth the $0.99 price tag.
We hope you love Kingdom Rush as much as we do; good luck defending your lanes.
Brian Kale
@brianwkale
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