Just like last year, the App Store on the iPhone and Mac was again bursting with countless new apps. Also in 2018, every editor of iPhoned will again choose one app as favorite of the year. In our opinion, these are the very best iOS and macOS apps of the year. Wouter closes with Kingdom Rush Vengeance.
Kingdom Rush Vengeance: The best iOS game
Like fellow iPhoned editor Erwin, I chose a game as my favorite “app” of the year this year. There have been no iOS apps in 2018 that I have definitely started using; my homescreen and fixed group of applications has been unchanged for a while. A lot of cool iOS games have been released, and Kingdom Rush Vengeance was my favorite this year.
Now I’m not a huge iOS gamer, but I like to make time for the Kingdom Rush series. The tower defense genre is not very popular anymore, but luckily the Kingdom Rush series keeps this up. The game principle has not changed very much, although Vengeance brings a nice twist. You now play as the bad guys, taking on the characters from the previous three Kingdom Rush games.
That doesn’t have a huge impact on gameplay, and that’s okay at all. You still work strategically to put the correct towers in the right places to prevent the enemies from reaching the end of the road. In the beginning this is fairly simple, but it quickly becomes a lot more spicy. Kingdom Rush Vengeance is a challenging game and with all the different towers, powers and enemies you will never get bored.
As you complete levels you will get new heroes, you can upgrade all kinds of things and focus on the achievements. With the latter you earn red diamonds, with which you can buy all kinds of new tools to take out the enemies. Furthermore, the game looks very cool due to the cartoonish graphic style and different worlds.
Not a perfect game
Although Kingdom Rush Vengeance is the nicest iOS game of 2018 in my opinion, there is still something to criticize. For example, the game contains quite a lot of in-app purchases, while you already pay 5.49 euros to play. Those in-app purchases give you access to new heroes and towers, and while you don’t need them to finish the game, it’s a bit of a shame that you have to pay extra for them. With a free game we would have understood those paid extras, but now it feels a bit redundant.
In addition, I would have liked the levels to be a bit shorter. In each level you get a number of waves of enemies sent at you, and that’s actually a bit too many. You start with four waves, but soon it becomes 12 to 15.
As a result, it takes quite a long time to finish a level (if you don’t lose), and therefore Kingdom Rush Vengeance is not always suitable for short game sessions. If you have fifteen minutes to kill on the train, then it’s fine, but if you want to play something for five minutes, you better start another game.
Still, I had a lot of fun with Kingdom Rush Vengeance and hope that new levels will be added quickly with updates. At 5.49 euros, the game isn’t cheap, but if you’re looking for a fun mobile game, don’t miss this one.
The favorite apps of the iPhoned editors:
- Erwin: Fortnite
- Florence: Adobe Premier Rush
- Lars: Pixelmator Pro