KINGDOM RUSH VENGEANCE

Tower defense games are among the great clichés of IOS, but Kingdom Rush Vengeance ($4.99) manages to show that the genre has plenty of life in it yet. The time, you’re playing as the evil Vez’nan the Wizard, who uses his dark influence to build towers for destroying the good-guy minions who starred in the series’ previous games. Remarkably, its limitations make it fun. You can only enter a round with a custom load out of five towers, but you can choose from an impressive 11 free ones and five premium towers and equip them with up to three boosts. Fortunately, it’s not too hard on you if you don’t plunk out cash for the extra towers.