Review: Royal Revolt 2
Freemium castle-defense-and-raid game Royal Revolt 2 has just been updated for game controller support.
Games like this have become very popular on the App Store since Clash of Clans exploded in popularity. With its continued dominance over the Top Grossing chart, it’s no surprise that similar games would riff on the successful formula. Royal Revolt does just that, though with a degree of polish that might just be enough for it to eke out a place of its own.
The formula here doesn’t stray far from the traditional “raid some other guy’s castle and buy defenses for your own” system, neither in gameplay nor in monetization. You lead a hero on an assault on a series of towers and troops owned by another player. You have the ability to summon other minions to fight with you and use special attacks, all with the ultimate goal of destroying the enemy’s castle. Doing so earns you gold, which you use to buy buildings, level abilities, and train troops. Each of those activities has an associated timer, which you can speed up by using a premium currency – gems.
Currency comes quickly and goes far at first, long enough to get you hooked into the game. Then it trickles more sparingly, and buildings take longer and longer to be constructed. If the idea of having to wait to play your game doesn’t sound like a fun gameplay mechanic, you’re right, it isn’t designed to be fun for the player – it exists entirely to drive sales of the premium currency. If you aren’t a fan of monetization like this, it’s unlikely that this game will change your mind.
Royal Revolt 2 has a high degree of polish in its presentation, and the price to entry – free – is certainly nothing to complain about. Fans of freemium social games should give this one a shot. For the rest of us, being able to command your hero with a controller isn’t enough to overcome addiction-based monetization and aggressive, fun-delaying timers.