The Counting Kingdom (iOs) Review
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“Magic, monsters, and math” It’s a little bit tower defense, a little bit math, and a whole lot of fun. The Counting Kingdom from Little Worlds Interactive is exactly the educational game you’ve been looking for. With great cartoony graphics and a simple to master mechanic that is loads of fun, your kids won’t even […]
It’s a little bit tower defense, a little bit math, and a whole lot of fun. The Counting Kingdom from Little Worlds Interactive is exactly the educational game you’ve been looking for. With great cartoony graphics and a simple to master mechanic that is loads of fun, your kids won’t even care that it’s a learning game.
Like most tower defense games, in The Counting Kingdom your castle is under attack. There are monsters everywhere, and they are determined to topple your towers. And you – a young magician’s apprentice – are the only hope to save the entire counting kingdom. Using a combination of powerful potions and sweet math skills, you can defeat the monsters and save your people – one tower at a time.
The basic premise is pretty simple. You can defend the towers one at time, advancing to the next only after you’ve defeated all the monsters. Each tower level is set up on a grid. Monsters approach the castle one block at a time, and you must defeat them before they reach the walls. Each monster has a number assigned to it, and you have three spells at a time that you can use on them.
The spells are numbers as well. Simple select a monster or monsters that will equal the number on the spell, and then select the spell to destroy them. For instance, you can use a three spell on a single monster labeled with a “3”, or on two monsters labeled “2” and “1”, or three monsters labeled “1”. Obviously, you’ll get the best results by combining monsters, as you’ll clear the board faster that way. In addition to combining the monsters, you can combine the spells as well, making for higher and higher numbers of monsters cleared at a time.
In addition to the spells, you also have potions at your disposal. These can be applied to the monsters to change their numbers – +1 adds one to the number, -1 subtracts one, and so forth. If you can’t match up the monsters to any of the three spells you have available, you can select another from your spell book for a penalty. That’s pretty much it. Keep the monsters away from your towers and math your way to victory. It’s pretty simple to figure out, and fun even for older players. My six year old daughter was able to play early levels easily. Difficulty ramps up as you get higher in level, but skill should ramp up as well as the game slowly leads kids into the mechanics of it all.
The Counting Kingdom has a colorful and fun look that will appeal to younger players, and it’s close enough to other favorite tower defense games in look and execution to feel both familiar and new to experienced young gamers. It’s fun to play, and math skills are definitely improving with each level – even if they never notice it. Better yet, there are no in app purchases to be begged for, and even parents may find themselves hooked on defending the kingdom. The Counting Kingdom is one of those rare educational games that is truly both educational and fun, and I can’t recommend it enough. Now they just need to come up with an algebra version for the older kids.