Legends of Kingdom Rush – Review
Follow Genre: RPG
Developer: Ironhide Game Studio
Publisher: Ironhide Game Studio
Platform: PC, iOS
Tested on: PC

Legends of Kingdom Rush – Review

Site Score
8.8
Good: Very nice graphics, Fun gameplay, Good rogue-lite elements, New experience each time
Bad: Story mode can be completed in a few hours, Not that good music
User Score
9.5
(2 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)

Judging a game purely on looks isn’t always the best way to go about it. At first glance, Legends of Kingdom Rush looked like yet another cheap mobile port that isn’t worth your time. We were proven very wrong assuming this as Legends of Kingdom Rush is actually a pretty well-made game that delivers a fresh experience every time you play thanks to its rogue-lite elements.  

Story

It all begins in the Linerean Capital: this city is overrun by the Dark Army and they locked up our hero Gerald the paladin. Everything seems hopeless but a mysterious rogue decides to free Gerald so he can make his escape. Fighting through the city, it becomes clear that something much bigger is going on and the civilians of the neighboring villages are in dire need of your assistance. As Gerald is a really charismatic person, he will pick up wanderers left and right to join his cause and ultimately vanquish the Dark Army. A large cult is worshipping an Eldritch God that is spawning monsters. If Gerald and his allies cannot stop the invasion, then the monsters will consume everything within reach.

The story flows pretty nicely with a comic-book style introduction and ending of each chapter. There are four chapters to enjoy, and  there is enough replayability to keep you entertained for hours.

Graphics

Visually the game looks fairly decent, although initially, it looks like a mobile game ported to the PC. The overall quality of characters, animations, and locations prove otherwise. The overworld map is big but feels very lively as there are things moving around and it is not just a static map. All the characters look small and this adds a retro charm to the whole experience. While in combat, you always have a clear overview of your characters, enemies, and area of engagement. The animations are nicely done, both in the overworld as well as during combat. Not only is everything animated quite nicely, but each area also has its own unique enemies and there is a wide variety of different maps where the battles take place.

Sound

Even though the graphics of the game are quite good, it seems the sound design was not a priority. In the menu, overworld, and during combat, there is music playing, but this sounds rather neutral and won’t influence the player that much. Luckily, the music does not get boring or repetitive after a while, so that’s a good point. A nice touch to the overall sound design is that each of the eighteen heroes has been voiced and will speak out during actions. We do regret that the cutscenes are not narrated, as this would have added a lot of charm to the equation.

Gameplay

Legends of Kingdom Rush is a turn-based strategy game with rogue-lite elements that make each run a very unique experience. It all begins with the first level where we see Gerald breaking out of the occupied Linerean Capital. This short level serves as a complete tutorial on how the combat works, as well as an explanation of overworld events and party mechanics. These items are nicely explained and give you a good overview of how to tackle the real game. Each run will be unique thanks to the randomized event placement and your heroes will always start at level one. In order to grow your characters, they will gain overall experience after each chapter, unlocking more skills that you can choose from while leveling them up in a run.

In its entirety, the campaign only consists of four chapters, which you can go through in a couple of hours if you are either skilled enough or lucky enough with your random followers. The game contains eighteen heroes and your party always starts out with three heroes. You’ll get to choose a legendary leader and two followers when embarking on a new adventure. You can unlock most characters by either completing objectives or unlocking certain achievements. There is always room for more they say and during your overworld scouting, you’ll stumble across a friendly soul that wants to join you. This extra character is always random, and it will not be readily available after your run. This means that if you encounter a random hero you like, you’ll still have to find the correct way to unlock it.

What makes Legends of Kingdom Rush a fun game is how easy the combat is to learn. The fights are turn-based on a honeycomb grid, making it quite easy to see the spaces and calculate your range. At the top of your screen, you can see the turn order, and ideally, you use this information to kill enemies before they have a chance to do something back. The combat itself consists of two stages: movement and attack. First, you need to move and then attack, unless your character has a perk that allows for movement after combat. At the bottom, you see your skills and you can easily see what these skills do by right-clicking them. Contrary to most other turn-based games, you won’t have the ability to use any items while in a fight. Luckily, there are some heroes that can regenerate health, but this is quite uncommon in the game. Lastly, one interesting combat feature is that melee-based characters will regenerate armor and rangers will increase their shooting range if they haven’t moved during the previous turn.

Keeping your crew healthy and fit is essential if you want to survive through the campaign. The damage you receive isn’t automatically recovered after each fight, but you have some healing items at your disposal in case you need them. Having your partners fall in combat is not the end, as they will recover, but their health pool will shrink. Careful planning is a must, as fights can be easily lost or won if you know how to handle your gear. Each character has its health pool and some also wear armor. There are certain attacks that pass through armor, so be sure to pay attention to your enemies.

Conclusion

Legends of Kingdom Rush is a hidden gem that can provide hours of entertainment. Thanks to its randomized runs, you can have endless fun with the many unique locations within a chapter. Its story is well told and manages to fill you in with the details in only a few pages of the comic-book-styled cutscenes. The quality of the graphics is pretty high and the game is just a visual piece of art. Therefore it is a bit sad that the soundtrack felt a bit lacking, but the voiced heroes at least make up for that. The gameplay is easy to learn, and with the large variety of heroes, you can spend a lot of time trying to create fun and interesting teams.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
Legends of Kingdom Rush – Review, 9.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings
MC_JP


Never give up on a dream. It might be a long nightmare, but one day it will change into a beautiful reality - MC_JP 2014

1 Comment

  1. […] more than ten years, the acclaimed first entry to Ironhide Game Studio’s Kingdom Rush series is now available on Xbox. Sold for £7.99, Kingdom Rush invites players to experience its […]

    VA:F [1.9.22_1171]
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