KingsIsle's Rise & Destroy: Getting Started

KingsIsle recently unveiled a brand new mobile game - Rise & Destroy! While dinosaurs and monsters of all types were asleep in their cave, humans wrecked their world, and stole powerful energy cells and more from the monsters. Now it's time to take revenge.

A New Kind of Game

With news of a new mobile game at KingsIsle Entertainment (which actually came a long time ago with no details), I imagined it to be an action/adventure genre, and while it might still fall into that category, it's a bit different than I expected. It's closer to something like Cut the Rope or other App Store classics, but this isn't your run-of-the-mill Angry Birds.

NOTE: This post is based on the original version of Rise & Destroy.

Trevor Wrecks

The first monster you get is Trevor Wrecks. Every monster comes with two basic powers and an element. Trevor's is Fire, but you'll learn about that later on. His first/left power is "Roar," which is an AoE attack hitting in a cone shape with more power than usual. His second/right power is "Wrecker Beam," which is a precise laser beam that can be aimed and rotated for massive damage.

Monsters reside in the Cave. The Cave is home to SERVOs, who are robots performing different functions to aid your journey. There are seven total SERVOs, but you will unlock them progressively until level 39, at which point every SERVO is available to you. While you pay gold to upgrade them, you actually unlock them through collecting power cells in levels.

Evolving Monsters

One such SERVO that is one of the most essential is the leveling SERVO (Our dear friend Wellington). You level monsters here for gold from levels 1-10. The SERVO itself can and must be upgraded as well to unlock higher levels and other abilities. At level 5, a monster "evolves." It gains an enhanced appearance and its first/left power is upgraded. At level 10, it evolves again, with a new appearance and an upgrade to its second/right power.

All monsters have different stats to increase, labeled, in order, as follows: Live Longer, Hit Harder, Resist Damage, Hit Faster, and Move Faster. You'll notice later on that some monsters have higher base stats and higher max states than others. Each monster, therefore, has specialties. When you level a monster, it automatically gains increases to two of its stats (already predetermined for you with each level increase).

Exploring the Store

While you will earn more monsters as you progress, you can also purchase three legendary monsters from the store. Let me give you a basic tour of the interface and game. This will also show you everything available for purchase from the store. The app is free, but offers in-app purchases.

City 1: Getting Acquainted

That's all pretty cool, but what does gameplay actually look like? Screenshots and the basics can give you an idea, but it's not quite the same. Am I one to disappoint?

You'll notice in this video that you see the introduction cinematic. This is something you can replay any time through the options menu you saw in that first video. Here, I am learning Trevor's powers and the different building types. Note that some fall over one space opposite from the direction you attack them. Some implode in a "+" shape. Others are smashed immediately when you step on them.

You'll also notice that soldiers drop in from the sky. You'll see red marks on the ground indicating when something is approaching from above, and this will be true for different attacking towers, tanks, and more as you progress. If you remain in that red, you will take damage from the falling boxes, missiles, or whatever else is coming down, so move. You must then deal with the soldiers.

As you destroy buildings, you'll find that your combo meter increases. You must continue destroying buildings to keep the combo meter up. It goes all the way up to 10x the normal points, and on many levels, it will be necessary to maintain the combo to score all three stars.

All levels have objectives. For your first one, it's simply to escape. That means that you're running to reach a destination, and it doesn't matter what you attack or leave behind. On other levels, such as City 5, for example, you must destroy everything. There are several more level types that I'll explain in future posts. Once you get all three stars on a level, you unlock what's called a Monster Cup Challenge. To complete the challenge, you must replay the level and complete a particular goal. In the case of City 5, you must keep up your combo the whole level. Others will require that you don't collect health buildings, or that you only use a specific monster, or that you keep your health above a certain percentage.

The Adventure Continues

The most common type of level objective is to Destroy Everything (hence the name of the game). This is precisely what is required in levels 2 and 3. It should be noted that any one type of level rarely appears more than twice in a row and never appears three or more times together. Perhaps the game's strongest point is that you are always doing something new. From unlocking monsters to learning elements, to extracting power cells to unlock SERVOs, to deathwall lasers, to surviving ambushes, to boss battles, and more. For now, let's take a look at levels two and three, and a closer look at the cave.

That's it for this time around! Stay tuned for more videos, screenshots, and information on Rise & Destroy. You can stay up to date on the progress of the game by following Rise & Destroy on Twitter, liking them on Facebook, or giving their Google+ page a visit. I'm hoping this gets you as excited about the game as it does me!

What do you think of the game so far?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!