Kingdom Rush

            Lately, I've been obsessed with mobile gaming, because with the little time I have to write these days due to college, I need something I could just pick up and play. And considering the fact that the PS4 has been announced and so far it sounds like that it's going to continue the trend of turning a gaming console into a clunky mess that I'll have to pay around $1,000USD for just so I can play the latest FPS, I'm not that rich.
            One game I've played is Plants vs. Zombies which I downloaded for free on my iPhone when it was the featured "app of the week" on the app store. It was a surprisingly fun game, even with the game's title. Seriously, Plants vs. Zombies? I understand that we live in a stoner generation where everything ridiculous and surreal is cool, but have we, as humans, really run out of ideas? Maybe, if movie theaters have anything to say about it, but I digress. Along with playing this "hidden gem," I decided to revisit a game known as Kingdom Rush which can be played for free on Kongregate, but can also be bought for the iOS for a dollar off the app store. Though I bought it for my iPhone due to my sad iPhone addiction, it was worth it; Kingdom Rush is quite possibly one of the best tower-defense games one could play.
            Developed by Ironhide Studios and based on the Middle Ages, you are a general who is tasked with building a defense to keep the marauding forces from over-running the kingdom. You do this by building towers in predestined spots for an amount of gold. You have four types of towers: The archer tower, mage tower, artillery and barracks, with each tower having its own strengths and weaknesses. Archers have a fast attack, but do low damage and do not harm heavily armored foes much. Mages deal more damage and ignore an enemy's armor, but have a slower attack-rate and are useless against enemies with magic resistance. The artillery does great splash-damage to all enemies, but fires very slowly and lacks accuracy. Barracks units' jobs are to hold enemies at bay while your ranged towers pick 'em off. And in case your defense layout isn't effective, you can call reinforcements to keep the enemy busy or call down a fire storm to level your enemies, but even then you can be overwhelmed if you don't manage your towers effectively.
            When you beat a level, you unlock a "heroic" and "iron" challenge. Heroic is where you build towers to defend against several huge waves, and the iron challenge is where you construct towers to defend against one super wave along with certain restrictions (I.e., no artillery, etc.). As you advance in the game, you unlock tower upgrades and eventually you get access to a final upgrade which branches out into two options, each with its own special abilities. For example, after I upgrade my barracks to level 3, I could upgrade to a barracks that allows it to train either paladins or barbarians. After that, I can invest gold in special abilities that will make its units more effective on the battlefield, such as giving them the ability to heal or giving them an area-of-effect attack. In addition to these upgrades, you may also upgrade the overall effectiveness of your tower classes, fire storm, or reinforcements outside of battle with the stars you earn from levels and can be redistributed as pleased. These special abilities can add an extra layer of strategy when managing towers which are essential if you want to beat the game's challenges.

Trying different tower combinations is essential to building a formidable defense.

            Kingdom Rush can be very difficult. First of all, you have to manage your funds and you must strategically place your towers. You earn gold for every enemy you kill which allows you to build more towers, but a lot of the time enemies are mixed which can prompt you to rebuild towers. If you have a tower in a bad spot, you can sell it for less then what you paid, but a lot of the challenge is trying to decide what, where, and when you should build or upgrade. The levels themselves--especially the challenges--are like a sort of puzzle that averts simply building a million towers to beat a level and is also made interesting due to the many options at your disposal, all while trying to figure out how to kill that damned necromancer.
            The main difference between the online and iOS versions is the shop, which features items that can give you an edge...for a price. Recent updates also added hero units to both versions, each with their own special abilities and stats and can be moved to any spot you wish. Three can be unlocked, but four additional heroes may be purchased as premium content. Honestly, while the shop and hero units are nice additions for newbies, veterans may find it pointless since the regular game is beatable without items nor heroes.
            Either way, Kingdom Rush is a very addictive game that should be owned by anyone who owns a smartphone or iPad and has an affinity for tower-defense games. With the amount of options for your defenses, it is always fun to experiment and try out different defense strategies. Personally, I'd just get the iOS version; for an addictive game, the small price tag is definitely worth it to show support for Ironhide Studios.