Babel Rising 3D

Babel Rising 3D Review

by on January 18, 2013

Being an all-powerful deity is hard work. At the end of the day, the last thing you want to do is come home to find a swarm of Babylonians erecting a massive tower leading right up to your heavenly doorstep like an army of meddlesome ants. So instead of kicking back in ye olde recliner and grabbing a cold one to unwind, it’s time to blow off some godly steam and unleash serious wrath upon the populace below. Smiting droves of persistent peons in Babel Rising 3D gets to be an overwhelming chore at times, but the cathartic chaos is immensely satisfying in short bursts.

Incoming waves of diminutive foes toting bricks and mortar instead of more menacing armaments prove to be equally dangerous in this interesting 3D twist on the tower defense genre. The Babylonian menace often swarm en-masse, and every time one of their builders reaches an unfinished piece of scaffolding, they disappear and plonk down their cargo, raising up the unholy tower centrally located in each stage higher and higher. Like any invasive pest, letting one or two through the defenses isn’t a big deal, but keeping the little buggers from completing the spiralling structure in each intense stage gets more challenging as their numbers increase.

A bevy of destructive elemental powers offer a strong range of options for keeping the invaders at bay, though thwarting their efforts with a mix of fire, water, earth and air takes some strategic planning to persevere. Raining down bolts of lightning, flinging mighty boulders, unleashing walls of flame and freezing foes are among the many ways to defend your domain, yet each ability must re-charge between uses. You can also only select two core elements to draw power from in each level, so pairing move sets that complement each other can make a huge difference in battle. Victory doesn’t come easily. Fortunately, the rewards pile-up with each win, and spending your hard-earned bounty to boost your powers and unlock new skills is useful in later stages.

The Babylonians aren’t pushovers, either. Before long, they’ll send priests with immunities to certain attacks into the fray, and getting rid of them can throw a wrench in your plan. Others will tote cursed idols that temporarily disable certain powers when you inadvertently hit them. Regardless of what your foes throw at you, their biggest advantage is their large numbers. Early stages feel slow and simple as they trickle in a few at a time, but things ramp up steadily to the point where it’s dizzying to keep up with the rushing hordes.

Tapping back and forth between elements on opposite corners of the screen isn’t the most intuitive control scheme, particularly since executing each power also requires some quick tapping, flicking, and dragging. And that’s in addition to constantly rotating the screen 360° to stay on top of Babylonians approaching from different sides… It’s easy to get overwhelmed and slip-up on Babel Rising 3D’s more brutal areas. The occasional lack of precision isn’t a game-killer, though frantically juggling your way through slaughtering large groups of enemies winding multiple paths up the tower simultaneously gets exhausting.

Every time we quit in frustration, it wasn’t long before Babel Rising 3D’s civilization annihilating shenanigans drew us back in again for more mayhem. As repetitive as it can get at times, the wanton destruction grows addictive, and there’s something about crushing each malicious peon before they can do damage that’s utterly fulfilling. It might not take that long to thrash and blast through 15 stages set across three challenging chapters, but it’s a mostly entertaining romp, nonetheless.

Download this app: Babel Rising 3D for iPhone / iPad

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Review courtesy of Tap!