Early iOS tower defense favorites like geoDefense and Fieldrunners proved that the strategy sub-genre could shine on a touch screen, and Kingdom Rush only continues that trend with a fantastically well-produced affair that's bursting with challenge, content, and excellent presentation.
Following an iPad-exclusive release earlier this year, Kingdom Rush comes to iPhone and iPod touch with a standalone native version, which offers the full original experience albeit for smaller screens. As the genre dictates, the goal here is to ward off waves of invaders by placing offensive towers, with Kingdom Rush offering a limited array of destinations for such buildings.
Despite only offering four base towers to choose from -- one that spawns armored soldiers and others that launch arrows, bombs, or magic projectiles, respectively -- there's quite a bit of strategy involved with the way you choose to upgrade the towers, and Kingdom Rush offers a remarkable array of options in this regard. Not only does each tower offer multiple upgrade levels, but higher-level ones can be further tweaked to add special features, like poisonous arrows or a magic spell that rewinds afflicted foes further back on the path.
And it's a slightly more active tower defense experience than usual, thanks to common soldiers that can be placed anywhere on the screen, as well as a slowly-reloading meteor attack that may save you in a pinch. All of the towers and skills can be further enhanced between rounds with stars earned through skilled play, and amassing enough stars can even unlock hero characters to unleash on unsuspecting foes.
Even with all of those benefits at your disposal, Kingdom Rush never feels lopsided in your favor -- quite the opposite, actually. It can be brutally tough on the normal difficulty level, but this trial-and-error strategic experience is worth savoring, with each failed stage only likely to better prepare you for the next effort. And there's plenty to see and play here, with 15 levels and multiple available challenges on each, plus the brightly-hued cartoon visuals and amusing sound effects prove a perfect match for the engaging action held within.
The bottom line. With slick production values, strategic play, and plenty of content, Kingdom Rush is an excellent tower defense experience that stands with the strongest such entries on any platform -- and it's a wicked deal for just a buck.
iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 4.3 or later
Excellent, intense tower defense experience with inspired upgrade system. Challenging campaign with plenty of content. Fantastic visuals and audio.
The Normal difficulty setting is rather daunting later on, though Easy is available.
