Always imitated, never equaled. In the world of mobile tower defense titles, there is Ironhide Game Studio's Kingdom Rush series, and there are all others. Nobody does it better, and they've rounded out their hat trick with the release of Kingdom Rush: Origins.
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Origins retains the basic gameplay elements - four different tower trees, heroes, a cheeky and pop culture-laden storyline - while creating a new experience that's just different enough to keep you coming back for more. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Longtime fans of the series, and tower defense games in general, will be right at home with Origins. Everyone else just hasn't discovered it yet.
There is something immensely satisfying playing a game that just works on all levels. Every bit of Kingdom Rush: Origins is finely polished. The touch screen controls are great, the designs and animations are never dull and whoever they have on level design over at Ironhide should get a raise. Frontiers, the second game, left me a little cold; I played it, but the maps weren't up to what we got in the original. The towers were less inspired. It is still a fabulous game, but I revisit the first title more.
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Origins fixes all of that. The maps here are brilliantly thought out. Not a single one feels like a retread of any previous iteration of the game.
True to its title, the game follows the events before the first and second game. Here, you command the Elven forces as they make their way across a world map designed to look like Middle Earth.
A big draw in the Kingdom Rush games are the Achievements. They're fun, pop-cultured infused challenges with names like 'Valar Morghulis','Killtacular' and 'I Volunteer As Tribute!'. Most you won't even be aware you're earning, while others will take quite a bit of time to achieve.
The most emphatic recommendation I can make to the threequel is this: During a particularly bloody conflict while commuting to work, I missed my stop completely. Not in a 'oh, I'll just get out here and walk the few blocks' kind of missing a stop New Yorkers often do, but the 'Christ almighty, I was supposed to get off four stops ago.' A lot of handheld games are designed to grab your interest for only a few fleeting moments here and there. Kingdom Rush: Origins wants all of you, and you will gladly give of yourself freely.
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Kingdom Rush: Origins was reviewed on an iPhone 5S with a code provided by the publisher. It is now available for iOS, Android and Amazon for $2.99, with an iPad version going for $4.99. It's worth every penny.
