Legends of Kingdom Rush
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Legends of Kingdom Rush
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this game.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Legends of Kingdom Rush is an action strategy role-playing game for Apple Arcade. There's some mild cartoon and fantasy violence, including a visible drop or two of blood from injured characters. There are some violent comments, too, like "You'll save money on scarves…because you'll lose your necks!" Fallen warriors disappear once defeated, while members of the player's party are resurrected at the end of the round. This title is part of the Kingdom Rush family, which covers a number of apps. Finally, one character shows a lot of cleavage.
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What’s It About?
Unlike the tower-defense games in the previous Kingdom Rush adventures, LEGENDS OF KINGDOM RUSH is a turn-based fantasy role-playing game (RPG) in the same universe. The Apple Arcade exclusive lets you create a traveling party of warriors -- each with their own weapons and abilities -- that venture out to stop a malevolent force from devouring the land. By selecting a core crew of melee or range fighters, as well as summoning help from several support characters, you'll traverse a map, make decisions along the way (with results dictated by a die roll), and engage in battles against foes, such as orcs, wolves, goblins, shamans, and many other threats (all pulled from previous Kingdom Rush games). While in various outdoor locations, the combat takes place on a semi-transparent hexagonal grid, which shows where each of your characters can move to (and target) on a given turn. Your goal is to deplete the health meter of your enemies by selecting whom to attack, how (often with more than one weapon or special attack), and in which order. You may also use obstacles, target an item (like TNT crate), heal your party on a given turn, and many other decisions you must make. In between battles, you'll rest to heal, enlist help from new recruits, level up, unlock new skills, and get to new areas on the map (from lush forests to frozen wastelands to farmland to rugged mountains).
Is It Any Good?
This is a really entertaining and challenging RPG (role-playing game) that's easy to learn, but tough to master. Part of the fun in Legends of Kingdom Rush is experimenting with your heroes to see which ones are best suited for the job, and attempting to finish a block of the map before you can move on. Otherwise, you're forced to repeat that portion of the world (such as "Krum'thak's Dominion"), which has a couple of dozen areas in which to fight. You can also play out one of the 100+ randomly-generated narrative elements, such as being ambushed, finding a wishing well, opening an abandoned chest, and so on. Sure, it could be frustrating to suffer a defeat and have to replay a world you're three-quarters of the way through (and with just your core party, to start) but this challenges the player to rethink strategy and tactics. Combat is at the core of the game, which is highly enjoyable -- though sometimes a tad repetitive -- as you face off against all kinds of enemies and must assess the hexagonal area to flesh out a winning fight.
As with previous Kingdom Rush strategy games, humor is very much a part of the experience, with quirky dialog sequences and situations, and over-the-top characters borrowed from classic RPG lore. Plus, there are memorable (and zany) party members you can enlist, such as the maniacal old coot Zapper, the hot-tempered Barbarian, and the gung-ho Bombardier. The charming cartoon graphics and cute animation all add to the overall experience. And because it's an Apple Arcade game, you need not worry about any in-app purchases, loot boxes, paywall locked content, or sitting through annoying ads that ruin the all-important immersion. Seasoned role-playing game fans and newbies alike, and those somewhere in the middle, will find countless hours of fun with Legends of Kingdom Rush. It's not a cakewalk, but losing a battle only makes you want to get back in there and give it a go again and again.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Legends of Kingdom Rush affected by the inclusion of limited amounts of blood? Is blood necessary at all in this game, since there's so little of it? Does the blood add anything to the experience? Would the impact be intensified if there was more blood shown?
Is there a reason why only one of the 16 or so playable characters is a person of color? Or should we assume those who wear a helmet, mask or hooded cape, may also be BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)? Does it not matter, since this is a fantasy game -- and some characters are green orcs?
Game Details
- Platform: Apple Arcade
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Available online?: Available online
- Publisher: Ironhide Game Studios
- Release date: June 11, 2021
- Genre: Role-Playing
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More, Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- ESRB rating: NR for Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Last updated: July 12, 2021
Our Editors Recommend
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Kingdom Rush
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Might & Magic Heroes VII
Sprawling strategy game with frequent fantasy violence.
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Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Huge, gratifying portable RPG has slightly mature themes.
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