Kingdom Rush by Armor Games is a tower defense game that gets everything right. There is not much new here, but what they do, they do REALLY well. This is a fun and challenging game where the rewards for success actually seem worth the time and effort.
Towers/Defense
The premise is simple. Bad guys are coming, and you have to place towers to kill them all before they reach the end of the road. You have four types of towers, archer (quick, physical attacks), mage (magic attacks), artillery (slow, explosive attacks), and guards (physical barrier defense). You also have two rechargeable attacks, reinforcements (where two blockers are placed on the road) and a fireball attack.
Upgrades
The upgrade system is one aspect that really makes this game stand out. Each tower is upgradable three times and then the fourth upgrade splits the tower into two branches. For example the Archer tower turns into either a Ranger or a Musketeer tower. Both options offer different strengths.
Once you have chosen a path for the tower, there are still two special abilities to research for even further customization. Each of these choices is distinct and creates a very different experience. Sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is a simple change in the upgrade of a single tower. You earn stars for defeating each level, and you can use those stars to further upgrade all aspects of your defense, both reducing costs and increasing damage.
Challenge
You will need all of the upgrades you can because this game is difficult! You will fail most levels at least a time or two before you conquer it. Traditional tower defense strategies work to some extent, but it not enough to simply put your heavy hitters in each bend and fire away. You will need to place your units carefully, upgrade just right, and micromanage each reinforcement if you want to win. Each level has two challenge modes after the main storyline which keep the game interesting. In these challenge levels, you are not allowed even one enemy to get through. You are looking at hours of time to finish every level and every challenge. However this never seems like a chore, the game is rewarding enough that frustration never sinks in. Aggravation from time to time sure, as you watch a lone wolf sprinting towards the finish line and you already placed your last reinforcement, but that’s not the same thing.
Graphics/Design
Each level has a distinctive look and challenge. The backgrounds change for each level, even if it doesn’t effect the gameplay. The enemies are cartoonish and very tiny. They are more detailed than necessary considering how small they are. Each enemy has a distinctive look and characteristics, but they are pretty much all dealt with the same way.
There really isn’t an opportunity to customize your defense to any one specific enemy, but you will find on some levels that the same type of enemy gets through over and over if you don’t deal with them. Some levels have multiple entrances and shortcuts for the villains. Some levels have additional helpers you can use. The variety of level design is another of the game’s strong suits.
 |
| on this level, enemies come from the bottom three openings |
Overall
Kingdom Rush is everything a sophisticated tower defense player is looking for. It is tons of fun, and very challenging. Even after many hours of play I am still not finished with all the challenge levels. There are lots of variations and new strategies to discover. If you like tower games, you will love this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment