If you’ve been keeping up with mobile for any amount of time, it’s likely you’ve heard of Ironhide Studios. They’ve firmly established themselves as a top-tier mobile developer with the quality of the Kingdom Rush tower defense series. After a brief stint of trying something different with the wonderful Iron Marines, Ironhide Studios has gone back to basics with Kingdom Rush Vengeance, yet another tower defense game that has all the polish and flair you could hope for. Show  Defending demons Just like previous Kingdom Rush games, Vengeance is about strategically placing towers so you can kill enemy units before they can reach some sort of goal point. The main twist that Vengeace brings to this formula is the fact that you're playing as the bad guys. This means that all the orcs, death knights, skeletons, and goblins you were in charge of killing in previous games are now under your control as you vie to defeat the knights and elves that took it from you. Although this may make Vengeance sound like more of a tower offense game, this isn't the case. You're still building towers to defeat forces that rush toward you, just like you have in every other Kingdom Rush game. Custom caltrops Although there isn't a huge amount that Vengeance does to change up its tower defense formula, the key to this game's success is the amount of customization it offers. Where previous Kingdom Rush games offered all the same towers for you to build in a level, Vengeance offers a custom loadout of five. On top of that, each tower has a set of three, distinct power-ups you can invest in once a tower has reached its max level. This, combined with the fact that the game offers a diverse set of hero characters with their own upgrade trees and equippable items, and it's clear that Vengeance is the biggest, baddest Kingdom Rush game yet. To help you experiment with all of this choice, Vengeance also offers up unique challenges for each of its levels that force you to try new combinations of towers, heroes, and items to succeed. Package deal Tower defense is a pretty well-worn genre on mobile, but the secret ingredient that makes Ironhide releases so special is the way each game is immensely detailed and polished. The same is true here for Vengeance. It's a super colorful game, with backgrounds that bustle with activity. Moreover, the levels have clever and unique quirks and the sense of balance throughout the game feels really well thought through. If I had to take some umbrage with Vengeance, it would be the same issue I had with their previous release, Iron Marines. Even though both are premium games, both offer additional content that is locked away behind a paywall, and there's also some consumable currency you can buy more of to purchase single-use items. To be fair, I was able to complete Vengeance without engaging with any of its monetization systems, but their mere presence cheapens an experience that is otherwise immaculate. The bottom line Kingdom Rush Vengeance proves there is still room for new, great tower defense games on an App Store that sometimes feels overloaded with them. Although it still has some annoying monetization stuff in it, Kingdom Rush Vengeance is the biggest and baddest the series has been. A few IAPs doesn't change the fact that this is a must-buy. Kingdom Rush: Vengeance is the latest addition to the Kingdom Rush saga as well as being my first experience with the tower deference mobile series. The biggest change in Vengeance that sets it apart from the previous Kingdom Rush titles is that of perspective. Kingdom Rush: Vengence puts players into the shoes of the villain, that being the evil wizard Vez’nan and his legion of monsters, rather than the good guys. As someone who hasn’t touched too many mobiles games since first purchasing a phone capable of capacitive touch input, I was surprised to see just how far games have come on the platform in terms of presentation and Kingdom Rush: Vengeance is no exception. Starting the game up for the first time, players will be greeted with a comic-book inspired opening sequence. The game has a very light-hearted, Saturday-morning-cartoon feel, with the evil wizard Vez’nan coming off as your typical loveable idiot, tyrant archetype. This cartooney feel translates especially well into the actual gameplay, with every character, background and visual effect feeling well animated and rich in aesthetic flair and personality. Humour is another huge aspect of Kingdom Rush: Vengeance that helps elevate the game apart from its contemporaries. Most unit types across both the player side and enemy lines seep with personality, making the game feel quirky and light-hearted. The sound design in the game reflects this adherence to the off-the-wall nature of the game, with most characters delivering genuinely funny quips that compliment the cartoon feel of the title. Unlike most tower defense titles, Kingdom Rush: Vengeance relies on the use of different types of towers, rather than the usual reliance on different character classes or units — not to say that Kingdom Rush doesn’t offer players with character types, rather the central focus is on the formation of towers. Characters include an eclectic mix of warriors, archers, builders and more specialized unit types such as mechanical clockwork spiders, units that compliment and act as a buffer against larger hordes of enemies. One of the more unique aspects of Kingdom Rush is the inclusion of distinct characters known as Heroes — Unlike standard units, Hero units are specialized and powerful characters that generally act as tank characters, best suited for the end of the line, preventing enemy units from invading the player camp. In true tower defense fashion, Kingdom Rush: Vengeance escalates the action and micro-management required to successfully clear a map, oftentimes encouraging players to replay older levels to grind out their levels. Players can also purchase additional premium hero characters and towers that offer unique abilities and boons that can’t be found anywhere else. Those who may be apprehensive or against the notion of in-game purchases should consider the fact that Ironhide studios made all their premium content actually feel premium, not only helping players best some of the tougher levels but legitimately expanding the base experience of the game. Some of the standout characters and tower abilities that I found to be compelling during my time with the game include a spell of rejuvenation, goblin thief and juggernaut character, with the spell of rejuvenation granting players with a means of healing themselves during tricky sorties, the goblin thief providing valuable resource collection and the juggernaut, a powerful sentinel type of character, who basically allows players to brute force their way out of otherwise perilous situations. One aspect of Kingdom Rush I appreciated was the inclusion of tutorials for whenever the game introduced new mechanics to the game. As someone who was unfamiliar with the tower defence genre, I found the tutorials to be well implemented and insightful, rather than extraneous or redundant, helping me ease into the more nuanced elements of gameplay. If I had to recommend the best way to enjoy Kingdom Rush, players should consider playing on a tablet or a the very least, a large format phone, as I found some of the sprite work in the game to be rather small, in addition to the beautiful and colourful art really coming to life on a larger screen. Who is the most powerful hero in Kingdom Rush Vengeance?Eiskalt is a very powerful hero, if not the most powerful hero in Vengeance, with both great damage and superior crowd control. His ability to constantly slow down enemies makes it far easier to manage enemy flow, and he is also capable of dishing out high aoe-damage. What is the best tower placement in Kingdom Rush?If you use any Melee Towers at all on a level, you will want at least one of them close to the exit, supported by at least one magic or ranged tower that is as powerful as possible. This is the point where a lucky enemy who slips through your other defenses can be stopped. How many towers are in Kingdom Rush Vengeance?However, Kingdom Rush: Vengeance's new tower loadout system has provided the team at Ironhide Game Studios a chance to add additional towers to the roster. At launch, Kingdom Rush: Vengeance will give players 11 towers over the course of the game, and locks five more behind a paywall. What is different about Kingdom Rush Vengeance?A stark difference from previous games is that Kingdom Rush Vengeance does not feature four primary towers; instead it has a multitude of already specialised towers available for construction, and of these, five towers can be brought to each battle. |
