Kingdom Rush: Alliance | A Lesson In Careful Design

[@Voduke789]

For one of your first videos, the quality of the editing, audio, and script are all so crisp. You made fair points and, in my opinion, hit the nail on the head about Kingdom Rush having a winning formula that it can stick to with each game. Best of luck with your future endeavors!

[@fabianyusif4152]

Hi boss

[@Thee_Holland]

My goodness, is that THE Voduke! Wow, it's an honour that you've watched my video, and thank you so much for the kind words; I'm sure I'll do another Kingdom Rush video in the future! Thank you again so much for watching :D Ps. I really loved your Ranking All Heroes in Kingdom Rush video - it was truly phenomenal and so well researched!

[@Voduke789]

@@Thee_Holland Thank you very much, I'm happy to receive such flattering treatment haha! Take care :)

[@Thee_Holland]

@@Voduke789 You too!

[@ivraDiaNCE]

Good video, and I agree with a lot of these points, but I dislike having multiple defense points in every level. It makes levels less interesting and more samey when you always have to split your heroes and towers. Thinking of some of the best KR levels ever made, many of them have one defense point (Pandaemonium, the Citadel, and Fungal Forest) or the defense points are so close that you basically end up with one choke anyways (Dusk Chateau is a perfect example of this). To me, it can be more interesting when the path is unique rather than having to split your forces constantly.

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi there Ivra, I'm so glad you enjoyed the video! I've read your comment, and I think you make a great point! I never thought about how fun some of those levels you mention were, and how that might be because they have only one chokepoint... that's such an interesting thought! I guess we can only hope that Ironhide adds one of these single-exit levels to the expansion levels when they release, although I have e feeling they won't. But you really do make a good point!

[@megadumbo6]

I agree

[@zachkri8418]

I haven't finished Kingdom Rush Alliance yet, but it is such an improvement from Vengeance from my pov.. The thing that I've always liked in the Kingdom Rush series is the sound effects from tower abilities, enemies dying, background and etc.. To see that the sound effects came in back in Alliance is more than welcome and an instant improvement from Vengeance like it used to be in the first 3 Kingdom Rush games..

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi Zachkri, thank you so much for your comment. What you're saying is really interesting, but I'm not sure I fully understand it. Do you mean to say that the sound effects in Alliance are better than those in Vengeance, or are there actually sound effects in Alliance that have been directly taken from the first few games? I'm really curious to hear your answer!

[@zachkri8418]

@@Thee_Holland sorry, english is not my first language 😅.. I meant that the sound effects in the first 3 kingdom rush games are what makes me love the series.. the graphics also makes me a fan of Ironhide, but the main turn off in Vengeance for me is the lack of sound effects that were evident in the past 3 games..

[@Thee_Holland]

@@zachkri8418 I understand now! And you have great english, that wasn't the problem at all, I was just a little confused. But I agree with you, and I should've actually probably talked about sound design as well in the video! It's definitely a huge part of what made the first few games so good, and I'm surprised I forgot to mention anything about it... so I'm very glad you commented!

[@thunderxp4456]

You're wrong about the "dragon bug" that you mentioned, normally dragons in kingdom rush always have a Blindspot below them which they cannot attack, this is just a game mechanic they they don't explain, dragons are supposed to have blind spots near or below them. Look at KRF, KRO, KRV and in KRA. It's all the same.

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi Thunderxp, thanks for your comment! I think you're totally right, it's most likely an intended feature since it's been there for so long. But that doesn't mean it's a good feature :'D

[@TaskForce-ql3bx]

Which is why Murgluns trait was awesome in vengeance with the orc barrack or the mausoleum

[@Thee_Holland]

@@TaskForce-ql3bx Which trait were you think of, TaskForce?

[@TaskForce-ql3bx]

@@Thee_Holland the lava dragon’s passive where she drips magma drops directly below her doing true damage. It dealt a ton of true damage DPS so hovering over a barrack unit was awesome.

[@Thee_Holland]

@@TaskForce-ql3bx Oh yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that is a cool ability, although I would still love to see the dragons' primary attack being able to target enemies close to them

[@zapphoenixstudios2065]

Great review, I personally think that being able to move the reinforcements is a good improvement as it leaves more room for strategical use, especially in combination with the skill tree, choosing the Linirean reinforcements upgrade together with Linirean heroes gives you melee reinforcements that are hard to kill even if damaged (and you can use heroes abilities to heal them), so you can use them in multiple close lanes (by moving them), especially if you make it so waves in two lanes come one after another and not at the same time, on the other hand you can use the dark army reinforcements and heroes and then you will have reinforcements that may be able to reach enemies further down the path (dealing damage before enemies reach them) as well as lanes far away (and flying enemies) but they won't have much resilience and are less capable of delaying enemies. The ability to move these reinforcements give these strategies more dynamics and room for critical thinking. But I do think it mostly comes down to preference.

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi Zapphoenix, thank you so much for commenting! I think you make a great point, and I would love to respond to it! I really do agree with everything you're saying in terms of using the reinforcements strategically (whether you've upgraded them to be the Linirean or Dark Army variants). The only thing that kind of ruins this way of using them (to me) is how quickly they despawn! But you are still right that they can be used more effectively than in previous games now that you can move them. I just wish they'd last longer, so they didn't disappear when you were trying to reposition them. But thank you for commenting, and I think you make a very good point!

[@zapphoenixstudios2065]

@@Thee_Holland thank you! I absolutely agree, maybe they should have made this an upgrade

[@Thee_Holland]

@@zapphoenixstudios2065 Yeah, it definitely could've been an upgrade!

[@MarkTheDevourer]

This was a very well made video and I feel like it would be a valuable video for iron hide and their fans to watch. Also, I’m so glad to see someone else who likes Torres’ design! He’s the best, he’s so lovable! Edit: this is only your fourth video on your channel? Wow I’m impressed. It’s very well made. Well done!

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi Mark (or should I say "oh hi Mark"), Thank you so much for the comment and for all of the really nice words! Yeah, Torres is such a unique hero that he's easy to appreciate - I love that he can build towers on the path, it's a pretty creative ability :D Thanks again for the comment!

[@MarkTheDevourer]

@@Thee_Holland no problem. It’s a great video! Although funnily enough I tired making my name Torres the Devourer and the change never went through for some reason. Keep up the good work!

[@Thee_Holland]

@@MarkTheDevourer Dammit! I really hope you find a way to change your name; it's important we spread the word of the great Torres :') Thank you so much!!

[@muhammadhasby648]

Great narratives! It such a pleasent to listen to.

[@Thee_Holland]

Wow Muhammad, that's really kind of you to say. Thank you very much :)

[@Thee_Holland]

Thank you so much for watching! Did you disagree with any of my points or maybe have some of your own? If so, feel free to leave a comment!

[@AffectionateArcticFox-yl8gs]

Yeah, Artillery towers are not heavily emphasized anymore.

[@Thee_Holland]

@@AffectionateArcticFox-yl8gs That's interesting, do you mean like you can easily beat the game without them because you don't need AoE as much?

[@AffectionateArcticFox-yl8gs]

@@Thee_Holland yeh, kinda feels like it. It's somewhat "almost possible" Try to do a game without artillery and focus on just magic towers. It can maybe work. The chance is hard but it is possible

[@Thee_Holland]

@@AffectionateArcticFox-yl8gs I think you make a really good point! I just played Kingdom Rush: Frontiers the other day, and that game had waaay more enemies in some levels, completely overrunning you if you didn't have any artillery - which felt pretty cool! I'm sad Alliance doesn't have any of those challenging hordes...

[@AffectionateArcticFox-yl8gs]

@@Thee_Holland yeh, its more simple spaced out formations.

[@kylekanz]

This is a super small oversight but why is the necromancer suddenly apart of Veznans army in this game but in frontiers it would be considered part of King Denas’ army since we play as Linerean in Frontiers?

[@Thee_Holland]

Wait you're totally right, Kylekanz... that's a really good point! Maybe they switched sides, the traitors!! But no, that is a valid criticism; thank you for pointing that out

[@hajoeijgenraam295]

Ironhide releases these interviews with towers and heroes from time to time, the necromancers said something like they have no real allegiance and like to play both sides

[@Thee_Holland]

​@@hajoeijgenraam295 Thanks for the clarification Hajo, that's a good way for them to explain the inconsistency!

[@Norm-is-normal]

I subbed

[@josealmanza148]

Great review bro

[@Thee_Holland]

Thank you so much, Jose!

[@bentaylor6742]

Really good video, a agree with pretty much everything. I was a little disappointed with this game though because 1. They make you pay extra for several towers which is dumb, if I buy the game I'm expecting to buy the whole game not part of it. I accept that with the heros because they're not really essential to the core of the game, but the towers was too far. And 2. Because there are no bonus levels. One you finish the campaign that's it, the end. There isn't even an endless mode. Again it feels like I've just bought half a kingdom rush game

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi Bentaylor, thank you for commenting and for the very kind words; I agree with you on everything you're saying! I play on PC, which means I get all the towers for free, but the fact that you have to pay for them if you're not on PC really sucks! I agree with you that it's fine with heroes but way less so with towers... To your other point, I do believe the game will get bonus content at a later time, but the fact that the game has NO bonus levels at launch does feel kind of cheap. And so I agree with you that Alliance does feel kind of like half of a Kingdom Rush game :'=)

[@Tigrie5934]

I see why you are fed up of having to pay more for all towers on mobile, it takes away a BIG part of the game. For the lack of bonus levels, this is normal, most elite stages have been added as updates in all KR games, and the next update for KR: Alliance will be in October, with new stages, a tower, the return of Boneheart as a hero + another hero.

[@Thee_Holland]

@@Tigrie5934 Thank you for clarifying, Tigrie, I actually didn't know that most elite stages were added in updates to the older Kingdom Rush games... excited to see what's to come in the future for Alliance!

[@Norm-is-normal]

Personally I thought the game was pretty underwhelming, I don’t like the new art style of the newer kingdom rushes, and like you said I don’t think they used the alliance factor and well, and the game doesn’t offer anything too unique from the other games.

[@Thee_Holland]

Hi Norm, I agree a lot with your points. I will say that I do miss the old art style as well, it was very characteristic. And yes, the game also fails to innovate very much on the Kingdom Rush formular. But then again, that's what makes it a "Carefully Designed Game", and at least you can still have fun in Alliance, even if it does miss the mark somewhat when it comes to creativity. Thanks for the comment!