Raid Rush
Raid Rush is a tower defense game praised for its engaging gameplay and addictive nature, but recent updates and aggressive monetization tactics, particularly an overwhelming number of forced ads and a 'pay-to-win' progression system, have significantly soured the user experience.
Raid Rush is a free-to-play tower defense game that many users initially found fun and addictive, offering engaging gameplay and a challenging experience. However, recent updates have introduced a high volume of intrusive ads and a progression system that heavily favors in-app purchases, leading to widespread frustration among players.
What users like
What users complain about
- Excessive and frequent forced ads, often long and unskippable, interrupting gameplayR1R2R3R5
- Game becomes 'pay-to-win' or 'pay-to-progress' after initial levels, with difficulty spikes forcing purchasesR1R4R7R12
- Tower card selection in battles is too random, making progression dependent on luck rather than skillR15R41R47R58
- Slow progression and upgrading system, requiring extensive grinding or payment to advanceR19R20R23R31
- Game suffers from bugs, crashes, and performance issues, including overheating devicesR43R48R52R54
- Recent updates have negatively impacted gameplay, progression, and overall enjoyment for long-time playersR5R19R33R39
- In-app purchases are considered overpriced and offer poor valueR7R21R22R32
- Poor customer support, including ghosting users and banning accounts without reasonR26R28R50R54
- PVP mode is unbalanced and favors paying playersR77R78
Latest update · v1.484
What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):
Hey! In this update, we made performance improvements and fixed some bugs. So you can continue to enjoy the Raid Rush.
Recurring themes
Who it's for
This game is for players who enjoy tower defense games and are willing to tolerate a high volume of ads or pay for in-app purchases to progress R8R9. It might appeal to those looking for an engaging and addictive game for short bursts R9. It is NOT for players who dislike frequent, intrusive ads, expect fair progression without spending money, or prefer games where strategy consistently outweighs luck R1R2R4R15.
Evidence note: The recent reviews skew heavily negative, with a strong consensus on the issues of excessive ads and pay-to-win mechanics. Positive reviews often mention enjoying the game early on or before recent changes. The developer's notes mention 'performance improvements and bug fixes,' but these claims are contradicted by multiple recent reviews reporting crashes, bugs, and overheating R43R52.
Frequently asked
Is Raid Rush a pay-to-win game?
Does Raid Rush have a lot of ads?
Are there technical issues with Raid Rush?
What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.
- [R9] Fantastic Game: Played for the first time and I can’t put my phone down. Love how engaging the game is and getting the rewards when you complete all the rush’s
- [R11] DG: Very very fun and good
- [R53] Realy realy good: It helped my get past the awful game that is brawl stars it’s addictive and satisfying Look at the Tesla when it’s hitting multiple targets
- [R62] Great addictive game: Spend hours everyday playing this game. Some levels seem impossible to clear, but still fun especially when you get the hang of everything. I’d definitely recommend this game. The challenge games are ok, but after about lv4 are impossible to complete…
- [R4] Pay to win: Very good concept, unfortunately the game is soo random, it’s hard to play unless I am using gems for extra cards etc. On a game like this that allows you to generate and give unlimited levels and entertainment, forcing it through the first 25 levels so you can earn money is a scummy thing to do. I’ll cancel the £15 per month. Good luck with your game.
- [R8] Really decent TD. No fuss.: Just nice and easy to get into. If there are ads, I haven’t seen any in my first hour or so.
- [R81] Thomas Harris:review: Challenging and intense, I would recommend this from 8-50.It was a pleasure playing this game to entertain me on long journeys or when Borden strikes on a rainy/snow or hailing. 5 stars without any consent.
- [R117] Great game so far: Just started but really fun so far
- [R100] Brilliant: Love the way you’ve to build you’re own road also
- [R1] Don't download: Absolute rubbish at first I enjoyed it then after a certain point it starts spamming ads on top of that the games are rigged it's purposely doesn't give you cards you need to place down because it tries to force you to buy subscription so you progress faster
- [R2] Ads Ads Ads: If you like watch ads to progress, or got loads of cash to burn this games is for you!!
- [R3] READ: Was very good game to start off with and then after a few weeks of playing I’m hit with an ad every single battle. Idiots
- [R5] Adverts: The developers have killed this game it is constantly pausing for adverts, I think this is new as I don’t remember it happening before, I won’t be playing anymore due to all the bloody adverts.
- [R7] Good game but want your money: Enjoy playing the game now and then but it’s very money oriented, wants you to purchase things on every angle and getting tiresome, could be so much better if it was a one of price to have free access
- [R12] Pay2win game: Nice game for few hours/days but later one RNG kills you all the time, you need to spend money to play this game.
- [R15] Best phone game ruined by horrible system: Should be 5 star however, when you have 6 towers you shouldn’t be waiting 38 ROUNDS JUST TO GET ONE OF THOSE TOWERS!!!!!!. Way too many ads and some of those ads being ones you can’t close so end up having to close the app an reloading. Events are won by whoever has the biggest pockets.
- [R41] Grind grind grind: Gameplay is clear and graphics great. Issues: 1 - interstitial adds are painfully frequent and long, it’s worth making a minimal payment to get rid. 2 - only being able to select from ‘random’ tower and path choices in each battle changes the game from one of skill to one of luck. 3 - progression without paying is initially possible, but upgrading heroes and unlocking better tow
- [R47] Typical pay to win tower shooter: It’s very random what you are offered for next additions - so bit random as to win conditions I have been contacted by the developer who says the card selections are random - whilst that’s fine it can make games impossible to win Waiting for an update
- [R58] Poor Design!: Having spent the best part of £100 trying to get this game to be good, I give up! It’s literally pot luck on what cards you get dealt. I would gladly pay for this to be a traditional TD game where kills earn points to upgrade towers rather than relying on getting lucky with what cards come next. Deleted out of frustration of having to either pay to upgrade towers rather than make the
- [R19] 2/5: I’ve been playing this app for years, but the levels are getting harder and harder to beat. Upgrading towers is really slow, and everything feels the same now, so I’m getting a bit bored.
- [R20] Another money grab: Starts off for the first week appearing to be a very playable game, in which time people give good reviews. After a week adverts just start in the middle of the game, the boss’ manage to hold on by 3-4 hit points to destroy your base and the progression slows to almost a snails pace. Save your time, frustration and money play something else
- [R23] Best tower defence mobile game: Really good game with plenty to do the and is very active game with lots of players really good but takes time to build up hero’s and towers and work your way through campaign if you don’t want to pay to play
- [R31] Becoming tedious: I have had this game for a long time now. I enjoy it mostly and keep coming back to it. But I keep going off it and having long periods where I don’t play because it’s become so tedious to progress after a point. Having to replay over and over because it keeps giving you unhelpful options to be able to properly defend the base. Trying to force you into spending gems to continue.
- [R43] Not great: Now won’t load saying corrupt data, what a a pain
- [R48] Help: Love the game but when upgrading towers to mythic they disappear please help
- [R52] Game crashes: Great game when it works. It’s always buffering during games. I’ve paid to stop advertising but still have to watch for bonuses. The adverts keep crashing and have to restart my phone to make it work. Got latest iOS and running on fibre optic, so the problem not with me.
- [R54] Crashing game: I have tried to log into an account I had where I had somewhat high level towers the game kept crashing and wouldn’t let me log into that account I have redownloaded the game and made a whole new account which has really upset me
- [R33] Forced ADDS!: Was good game till 27/02/2026 - as do to some update now they’re forcing adds - plays adds like 5-7 times per level what’s like 10min in total - forces to purchase monthly pass if wanna avoid this. I was watching like 10 adds a day at least do to my choice what made some cash for developers but now due to forcing watching adds constantly what’s frustrating they just lost a small pla
- [R39] Waste of time: Used to be a good challenging game but with each update it gets worse. You can only get so far without paying which is somewhat understandable. Main issue I have is with the weekly challenge game and endless battles. Weekly challenge has been updated with ridiculous healing units, you have the Big Horn boss which usually 1 shots you even with 2 revives you can’t pass the level. It’s
- [R21] Good but expensive: Addictive game, but got to spend lots money to really excel at it
- [R22] Confusing prices: As much as many developers give the token line about ads being essential etc. I have no idea how anyone could justify such a pricing structure akin to a triple A full purchase title for some very basic features. Hundreds of dollars for the chance of a character or a monthly subscription to skip three ads a day for a gem reward. Have people completely lost touch with how money wor
- [R32] Adverts ruin this: Great little game… but the ads are sinister in volume and content. And it’s just getting worse as the game gets better! Forced to watch 2 or 3 ads every minute or two… adds can be repetitive, in a foreign language and worryingly, hard core porn ads. And the prices at its online shop are ridiculously pricey… which is a shame as it’s a great game ruined by greedy dodgy behaviour
- [R26] Banned account: Once again my review of this app has been removed. This company has stolen money from me. They banned my account for absolutely no reason after I spent real money on the game. They refuse to acknowledge my tickets. DONT NOT PLAY THIS GAME!!
- [R28] Loads of Pop-up ADs: Pop up ads can be up to 3 times during 1 map/play, not quite fun tbh and it takes the game support more than two weeks to reply
- [R50] Poor: My second account I’ve had. I lost the first one due to losing my phone. Tried to ask for help from the developers, was completely ghosted. No interest whatsoever in helping. I had occasionally spent money on towers and packs but now I will never sink another penny into this game and I advise others not to.
- [R77] PVP has ruined the game: Was really enjoying this game and playing it for a few months now. However the new update taking out the epic campaign levels and replacing it was PVP has kind of ruined the game in my opinion. Would be good if they brought the epic side of the campaigns back out. I don’t do the PVP mode which has ruined my fun with the game
- [R78] Ok for PvE. PvP is an unbalanced joke.: PvE is fun enough, but don’t waste your time with PvP. I played and lost all 8 games I had (as a rank 0 noob) because the enemy’s HQ in every single match always had double the health of mine, and their cards a lot higher rarity. No skill involved, just pay real money for easy wins.
- [R17] Pay to get anywhere!: You have to pay not just to win but get anywhere after a certain point. Will be deleting soon! Shame, was a good game, spoiled.
- [R37] Pay to win: Great game until chapter 11,wave 10. At this point you will need to part with cash to defeat this level and continue as the difficultly spike is ridiculous
- [R10] Forced Ads: I really liked this game, until I kept getting fed ads during gameplay! Seriously? The game has its issues but I could put up with them because overall it’s a decent tower defence game… but those ads. Man! I’ve just deleted out of principle and will now DL Bloons or similar.
- [R63] Lost progress: Spent 2 hours playing and got a bunch of good towers, closed the app and went back into it and lost the whole 2 hours of progress. This is the third time its happened with little to no help from support. Deleted!
- [R110] Drains battery: All good except it drains battery too fast. Faster than call of duty mobile.
- [R86] Very hard to progress without spending: This game used to be fun and fair. But recent changes to the upgrade system and severely nerfed drops make it very hard to progress with without spending some serious cash. If you’re new, then find some other game that treats you better. Subscription cancelled.
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store