iPhone Kingdom Rush: Frontiers

[Simpwn]

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers is a sequel to one of my favorite tower defense games for the iPhone/iPad. It follows the premise of the original. Bad guys spawn, you have limited places to put 4 different types of towers, you must kill the bad guys with your towers before they reach the end.

Each kill grants you gold you can use to build more towers. The towers you can use have their own strengths a weaknesses. The arrow tower hits fast but does light damage. The magic tower hits harder but is a little slower. The bomb tower hits hard and has splash damage, but can only hit ground units and shoots very slow. The guard tower spawns 3 little soldiers you an use to block the path and hold enemies in firing range of your other towers. The guards respawn when killed and can't attack air units. Each tower upgrades to a more powerful version and after lvl 3 can split into 1 of 2 unique upgrades which have varying degrees of powerful abilities. After completing a map you gain stars based on your performance. The stars can be used to upgrade your towers in between maps. Each tower has its own talent tree of sorts that grants improved abilities to your towers. You can respec at any time and it is often encouraged to help get past a particular map or challenge.

What is new in this release is the addition of a hero. A controllable unit that has their own special abilities and can level up by hitting/killing enemies. Each level provides points towards the hero's abilities. The hero adds an extra layer of strategy and defense to each map. There are multiple different heroes you can select from prior to each map. Note: some heroes you need to pay extra for.

There are a good selection of maps and varying range of difficulties and challenges to partake in. It's a strategy game that has provided me tons value in entertainment for the small price. Anyone with an iPhone/iPad I highly suggest this game.

The sequel is only available right now on iPhone/iPad but the original is available F2P here: http://armorgames.com/play/12141/kingdom-rush and you can also purchase the game on steam!

 

[Keleynal]

Heroes were available in the original as well, but they costed in game currency to unlock. The sequel gives you 1 hero from the start, and 2 others unlock as you play the campaign, no in game currency required. There are several other heroes available, but they all cost real money. In the case of the dragon hero, it costs as much as the entire game!

Breakdown of free heroes:

Alric is the hero you start with. He is a melee, tank style hero that has the ability to summon up to 3 sand wraiths to damage and block opponents. He has upgradable health to make him more beefy, and well as a multi strike attack to do more damage. He is best placed in choke points where he can hold a position almost as well as a barracks tower. He is able to solo most light and medium enemies, and can go toe to toe with large enemies for a decent amount of time.

Mirage is the second free hero that unlocks. She a ranged class, assassin style character. Mirage is able to throw knives and enemies from an increasingly upgradable distance. She can backstab enemies, causing a large amount of damage and a small chance of instakill. She also can teleport backwards when she takes damage, effectively microing herself. She is also very fast, so the best use for her is to stick her out of harm's way, raining attacks on enemies at key points, or picking off a few as they spawn. She dies very quickly in head to head combat, even against weak enemies, so she has to be watched carefully. Her high speed makes her a perfect go to for emergency mop up actions.

Cronan is a beastmaster who is able to summon pets, like a boar, an eagle, and rhinos to damage foes. The Boar and eagle are permanent, while the rhinos are summoned to stampede and then immediately leave. His value lies mostly in his persistent boar pets that can help defend key choke points. His attacks are fairly weak and he doesn't stand up to enemy units well. He's definitely my least favorite of the three. I use him if I want to make a level more challenging, but of course no hero at all does that even better.