Rise and Destroy, KingsIsle’s first effort to depart from the worlds of the spiral, was released back in 2015. I played it a bit when it first came out, but soon after, other IRL things and community responsibilities sucked me away from it. I just recently got back into it and am proud to say I successfully beat it. Having done that, I thought I’d share my experiences/thoughts on the game.

A Little Bit About It

In case you’re unaware, Rise and Destroy follows a group of monsters. These monsters protected their world with the help of the SERVOS. During a hibernation period, the monsters overslept and the SERVOS started to power down. While the monsters were sound asleep, humans came to the planet, abducted the monsters, and stole their power cells. Minerva, the leader of the SERVOS, came back online with dangerously low power levels. Despite that, she was able to send out a distress signal strong enough to awaken one monster – Trevor Wrecks. Now it’s up to you to make those nasty humans pay and find the rest of your monster friends.

Gems

Gems are the premium currency in Rise and Destroy. With it, you can buy extra gold, extra energy, legendary monsters, and creepling blueprint packs. Gems can be earned for free by completing different promotions, or they can be purchased from the in-game shop.

Energy

Like most mobile games, Rise and Destroy has an energy system in place. Each city costs energy to play, and you’ll need to wait until it regenerates (or purchase more) if you want to continue. Luckily, energy can also be obtained by watching promotional videos. The videos do have a “cooldown” though, so you’ll need to wait a bit until you can watch another.

The Monsters

When you start the game, you’ll only have access to Trevor Wrecks. As you progress through the game’s numerous cities, you’ll discover and rescue many more monsters. Each monster has 2 unique abilities and access to 1 element (fire, volt, or ice). A monster’s particular abilities may make them more suited for one city over another.

The Elements

Rise and Destroy has 3 elements: Fire, Volt, and Ice. Fire is useful when the buildings are very close together. Volt is helpful when there is a large clump of buildings near each other, but are slightly spaced apart. Ice causes the most damage when you send a building flying into another huge group of buildings.

Below is a list of all the current Rise and Destroy monsters. It is sorted by element, and describes what sticks out about each monster.

Fire

• Trevor Wrecks: Has a sustained laser beam
• Frankie Forearms: Very strong
• Baron Von Grizzlemoose: Can craft a shield and ram through heavy walls with ease
• LEGENDARY MONSTER – Brimm Stone: Flying monster, can enact a protective ring

Volt

• Manny Leggs: Can burrow underground (avoiding damage) and swallow + spit out buildings
• Maw-Maw: Can take control of nearby humans
• Flutterspy 042: Flying monster, can create a goo-spewing gun that does some work for you
• LEGENDARY MONSTER – Mecha Wrecks: A much stronger sustained laser beam than Trevor Wrecks

Ice

• Ivan Crushclops: Can leap over heavy walls (and makes a powerful impact)
• Moleton: Can reflect bullets and turn into a speedy ball
• Sharberus: Can use teleportation abilities and turns into a cyclone (eating up everything in the way)
• LEGENDARY MONSTER – Blubbertusk: Can dash forward through heavy walls and swing a tuna in all directions (which hits flying enemies)

Are Legendary Monsters Worth It?

Legendary monsters are monsters that are only available for gems from the in-game shop. They are very powerful and have their uses. That said, it’s certainly possible to beat the game without them. I didn’t buy any legendary monsters until I completed all 60 cities at least once. After having experimented with them all, I think the only legendary monster really worth investing in is Brimm Stone. Brimm Stone can fly — which allows you to bypass heavy walls and attack flying enemies without creeplings. In addition, Brimm Stone can also protect himself with his protective ring all while dealing some pretty big damage from a distance. Brimm Stone is the total package.

Favorite Monster

My favorite monster is Brimm Stone. It’s just SO EASY to deal some massive damage … and the ability to fly creates many more options. If we’re excluding legendary monsters from the favorite list, my favorite monster would be Flutterspy 042. Yes, I love flying monsters. I love the mobility they offer.

Okay, okay – if we exclude flying monsters from the list, my new favorite would be Sharberus. That feisty shark-pup thing can deal some crazy damage (and the teleportation is nifty!).

Gameplay

There are 9 different types of city objectives.

• Help a New Monster Break Free
• Destroy Everything
• Extract the Power Cells
• Outrun the Deathwall Laser
• Rampage Until Time Runs Out
• Survive the Ambush
• Defeat all Humans
• Stop the Meltdown
• Defeat the “Boss”

Each level objective has a distinctive Monster Cup Challenge associated with it.

1. Help a New Monster Break Free

When you’re ready to gain a new monster, you’ll be tasked with helping them escape from the humans. These types of levels serve as an introductory lesson to that particular monster’s abilities. I really liked that the game taught you how to use each monster before giving them to you. Although I could have explored each monster on my own, I appreciate that I already knew a little bit about how to handle them beforehand. Besides being fun, helping monsters break free is usually one of the easier level objectives to complete.

Monster Cup: Don’t Drop Below x% Health

I found this type of Monster Cup to be pretty easy to complete assuming that you’re on the cautious side. I didn’t rush into heavily guarded areas, and tried to take my time when going up against the powerful lasers. Slow and steady keeps you alive!

2. Destroy Everything

Certainly the most plentiful type of level is Destroy Everything! As the title suggests, all you have to do is demolish every single building in sight. These types of levels usually aren’t difficult to complete, but they can be challenging to get 3 stars on in the later part of the game. In most cases, keeping my combo up was necessary to obtain the points I needed to snag that third star. Volt monsters were especially helpful when trying to do this.

Monster Cup: Never Drop Your Combo!

This can be VERY hard to do in later parts of the game. As the maps get longer and more complicated, it can be challenging to constantly hit humans and surrounding buildings. This is partly due to overwhelming human forces in the forms of giant robots and powerful tanks. Volt powers and ice powers seemed to greatly help when I did these, as did using Flutterspy 042 or Brimm Stone (flying monsters).

3. Extract the Power Cells/Learn to Use X

These types of levels require you to find and retrieve a certain number of power cells/learn to use certain new features. They’re fairly straightforward, and I didn’t have any trouble with them.

Monster Cup: Don’t Collect Health Buildings!

Much like the “Don’t Drop Below x% Health” Monster Cup, this Monster Cup can be accomplished by remaining cautious. Take it slow, defeat everything, and you shouldn’t even need the health buildings.

4. Outrun the Deathwall Laser

Now this … this I found to be very challenging. I think I’ve had to watch an ad (to revive myself) nearly every time the deathwall laser has reared its head. My issues mainly stemmed from the heavy walls which took me awhile to destroy, and the game thinking I clicked places or selected buildings which I didn’t mean to. That said, these levels are significantly less painful when you finally get a flying monster. ;)

Monster Cup: Only Use (Insert Monster Here)

Because of the nature of the deathwall laser, these Monster Cups can be frustrating. Some monsters are just better suited for certain types of obstacles. I guess that’s why it’s a Monster Cup Challenge, right? In the event that I wasn’t able to complete a level with the desired monster, I leveled up said monster once and tried again. I rinsed and repeated until I was successful. That way, I wouldn’t waste any coins overleveling a monster I didn’t need to at the time.

5. Rampage Until Time Runs Out

Easy to complete (you could just run in circles if you really wanted to), but extremely challenging to obtain 3 stars on. Combo streaks are absolutely necessary and quickness is a plus. Oh, how I loved my volt monsters on these. I was able to take out huge portions of the map with just one zap. Time is ticking!

Monster Cup: Get 3 Stars Using (Insert Monster Here) Only

Not gonna lie, these types of challenges made me want to ragequit at times. I found it hard enough to get 3 stars using ANY monster, and now I’m restricted to one?! Actually, let me clarify, getting  3 stars wouldn’t be that hard … it’s getting 3 stars in so little amount of time that’s the problem. Nonetheless, learning to better effectively use monsters I usually didn’t play with was interesting. It required me to really think ahead and strategize what I was going to do. I carefully studied the maps beforehand so I was aware of where the big clumps of buildings were and which portions of the map I could probably bypass. I knew I wouldn’t have the time to smash everything, so I often needed to pick where I would strike and in what fashion.

6. Survive the Ambush

Similar to the “Rampage Until Time Runs Out” format, surviving the human ambush requires you to stay alive until time runs out. Creeplings are extremely helpful here, and in most cases, necessary to keep the human forces busy while you go and smash the map’s buildings. You’ll want to keep your combo up if you’re hoping to snag 3 stars.

Monster Cup: No Monster KO’s

Once again, creeplings will immensely help you when attempting these types of Monster Cups. If all else fails, just try to avoid the humans until time runs out. You can’t be defeated if you don’t go near them, right?

7. Defeat All Humans

As the game warns you when you first start out, humans must be destroyed! These maps contain special gates that won’t unlock until you defeat all the humans in the area. You must work your way through the level until you find the exit. Stock up on creeplings, and you should be fine.

Monster Cup: Don’t Drop Below x% Health

Depending on the map you’re facing, the human forces can be relentless. If needed, think about upgrading your creepling SERVO to help you get through it. Don’t forget to level your main monsters as well – this objective isn’t timed, so there’s no running away from the challenge.

8. Stop the Meltdown

As far as difficulty goes, the meltdown levels take the cake in my opinion. Not only do you have to fend off the pesky humans, but you also have to get to the metldown location in time. It took me quite a few tries to finally hit it right. Sometimes I’d get SO CLOSE (the meltdown was in sight!), but I ultimately ran out of time before I could reach it. Although picking your monsters wisely and planning your strategy is always a plus, I found that these types of levels largely came down to trial and error. The more I ran the maps, the more comfortable I became. I started to learn the shortcuts and was able to determine the small changes I could make that would create a big impact.

Monster Cup: Only Use (Insert Monster Here)

How do you make an already difficult task more difficult? Restrict the monster usage (Mwuahahaha!). For these, I took a similar approach to the method I used for the deathwall laser Monster Cup Challenges. If I failed miserably, I’d level up my monster and try again. If I failed again, but felt like I was close enough to try again, I would — this time learning from my failures and trying a different strategy. Then it was rinse and repeat from there. Level up —> Try again —> Try again (or level up again).

9. Defeat the “Boss”

Rise and Destroy currently has 3 bosses: Governor Francis (City 30), Dr. Ishi Ro (City 45), and Sgt. Randal Cooper (City 60). Of those, the only city I had a hard time with was Cooper’s. I thought it was definitely worthy of the (current) finale. Robots, Tanks, Humans, Lasers … oh my! Creeplings were a necessity here. Other than that, I tried to learn the map and find the quickest path to all the generators. I found flying monsters and volt/ice elements provided the best combination for me personally.

Monster Cup: No Swapping Monsters

Although the boss levels aren’t necessarily timed, the human forces are. There’s a circle on the right side of your screen that signals when the next wave of humans are coming. Since they’re the real challenge on these levels, I would try to make your way through each city cautiously, but quickly. Level up your creepling SERVO and put them to work. That way, they (the creeplings) hopefully will take care of the humans before you suffer from any significant damage. After that was done, I shifted my attention to the deadly lasers and took them out. Be on the lookout for Hamburger Stations and try to take out many targets at once. From there, it’s trial and error. See what you can do to limit your damage intake and maximize your speed. The human forces add up.

What I Want To See: Social Aspect

Currently, Rise and Destroy doesn’t have a huge social tie-in … something to keep people playing even when they beat the game. Sure, we can see our friends’ scores and try to beat them, but that’s not very interactive or cooperative. I’d love if KingsIsle incorporated a new social feature similar to AlphaCat’s invasions and EverClicker’s time gates. Perhaps introduce timed cities with A TON of buildings where you’ll need your friends’ help to smash them all? The player who destroys the most buildings in the group gets extra gold? Both AlphaCat and EverClicker have this type of social feature (and they’re a ton of fun!), so I think Rise and Destroy could greatly benefit from having it too.

Overall, I thought Rise and Destroy was a lot of fun. I hope more people give it a try so we can explore that desert area. Let me know if you have any questions or are stuck on a particular level!