I must have had my head in the clouds for a long while because I’d never even heard of Kingdom Rush up until this review. This is likely because the franchise has spent the majority of its wave of releases across mobile devices. Just a glance at the user reviews on the Android platform shows that the game is overwhelmingly adored by those who have paid the small entry price. Now, I love a tower defence game and have been consumed in the past by titles such as the original Plants vs Zombies by Popcap, so I was understandably excited to have a crack at Kingdom Rush now it’s made its way to consoles. The popular series is finally on the Xbox family of consoles and comes at a reasonable cost for the amount of content on offer.

Introduction

Kingdom Rush is a tower defence game that has predetermined waves of enemies across each stage. Your objective is to prevent the wave of enemies from passing through and reaching the other side of the level. If you allow too many past without killing them, it will result in a game over for that attempt. As you progress through waves, you will encounter stronger and harder-to-beat enemies.  Strategise and plan your attack methods in advance in order to move to the next stage but utilise your currency wisely or you could find yourself overwhelmed.

Gameplay

You start each level as a blank canvas and will have the flexibility to place structures down in specific slots scattered around the map. Choices are limited and so is currency so you must plan in advance how you want to play out each wave. If you can comfortably cope with the number of enemies the game throws at you then you can speed through the waves at a faster pace if you wish.

Structures can be upgraded for extra firepower as you gain currency but I found that this is something that comes in the later phases as you attempt to get an even spread across the whole map. You’ll unlock heroes throughout the game and these can be used to fight alongside the infantry you can spawn from dwellings. Everything is flawlessly done in minimal button clicks and whilst placement was sometimes a little fiddly, for the most part, the controls are pretty solid for a port. As with any game, you’ll start off easy and then the difficulty ramps up but it never becomes too intense and with a few stabs at some of the scraps it is achievable to score three stars across everything.

Graphics & Audio

Visually Kingdom Rush is well illustrated with a hand-drawn appearance that is awash with warm and well-blended colours. Whilst all the backdrops of each stage are basic with different paths for enemies to go down, the variance of the enemy types themselves is what keeps the game engaging and interesting. Performance is no issue on the Xbox Series X powerhouse; after picking up the mobile version for a quick comparison, the sound effects are identical.

In Conclusion

Kingdom Rush is an incredibly moreish tower defence game that is difficult to put down once you pick it up. Whilst this first instalment of the game is a little dated, they have done exceptionally well to port it across with a control scheme that works well. I am kicking myself for not knowing this game existed for the last decade but the fantastic thing is that it is a game that feels new to me regardless and I get to play it on the big screen in all its glory.

It remains faithful to the original and everything remains intact and whilst it is an older title, it still looks great despite its simplistic art style. There is plenty of gameplay here for your eight quid and it will keep you going for hours. If you’re a perfectionist like me, then you’ll keep going back for me to try and three-star all of the levels.