Kingdom Rush is a game that has been out on mobile devices since 2011. It was developed and published by Ironside Studios. It finally ended up on Switch July 30, 2020. If you have been living under a rock for the last 11 years Kingdom Rush is a Tower Defense game set in Medieval times. You must survive multiple waves of enemies by not allowing them to cross a border. The game has a great variety of enemies, so you never know what new challenge you will encounter.
Handheld Gaming Community game reviewer Steve reviewed it when it came out and identified some flaws in the Switch version that weren’t a problem on the mobile port. The primary flaws Steve found were the fact the game looks too small on the Nintendo Switch screen, the gem shop from the mobile version isn’t present, and the controls were a little off.
I am playing the Nintendo Switch version on a Nintendo Switch OLED. The review code was provided by the publisher Ironhide Studio. You can purchase Kingdom Rush on the Nintendo eShop.
I am playing the most up-to-date version and can report about those flaws almost two years after its release. Lets start off with the games appearance being too small on the Switches screen. It is still quite small on the screen, but at least serviceable on the 7″ inch screen on the OLED. The game still doesn’t allow you to zoom in. This seems to be an easy thing to add, since other games like Charterstone: Digital Edition have the zoom assigned to the right analog stick. The Switch still doesn’t have the gem shop nor does it award you gems when you play. Finally, the touch controls are now just about perfect, and definitely my preferred way to play the game. The controller controls are still ok, but awkward.
I have purchased the mobile version for my Amazon Fire on the Humble Bundle Store. I wanted to get a sense of how these two versions were similar and how they were different. One thing the Nintendo Switch version has going for it is that it is much more vibrant than the mobile port on Android. Other than not having the gem shop the Nintendo Switch version isn’t lacking anything the Mobile port has.
Should you buy Kingdom Rush for Nintendo Switch in 2022? Absolutely if you don’t have an iPad or Android Tablet, as this port is very good, despite its flaws. However if you have an Android or iPad device then I think you should just play Kingdom Rush on those devices. There are three reasons for this. Playing Kingdom Rush on a bigger screen is a much better experience. The load times for the Android version were much faster than the Nintendo Switch. The final reason is because it is free, albeit with in app purchases.
