A New Android Owner's Guide to Gaming
More than 30 great games.
Congrats on your sexy new Android-powered device!
Whether you’re an iOS veteran testing the Android waters with a Nexus
7 tablet or a non-techie that just ended up with a Samsung smartphone
because that’s what the Verizon store recommended, you’ve now joined the
ranks of hundreds of millions of other Android users.
You’ve probably already downloaded apps for Facebook and
Twitter, something for music and photos, maybe a chat app... but let’s
be honest. You’re going to spend a lot of time playing games on this
thing.
This is where IGN comes in. With more than 100,000 Android
games on the market, there’s undoubtedly a few for you, whether you just
want to kill some time with a simple word game or own every console and
have always thought all mobile games were just too casual.
So, let me explain - no there is too much. Let me sum up. Here’s the scoop on Android games:
Controllers
Casual gamers won’t ever need to consider a dedicated
controller for Android gaming. Touch screens work just fine for... just
about everything. In fact, more and more game makers are finally
figuring out how to build intuitive and fun games built from the
ground-up with touch in mind.
Serious gamers might want to consider a controller.
But if you’re a core gamer that simply can’t abide touch
controls? As you wish. You should consider grabbing an Android
controller. Plenty are available, and for now there isn’t a clear
must-have option. It boils down to how much money you want to spend, how
big and heavy the controller can be, and which games are support.
We’re big fans of the MOGA. It’s small, light, and feels
great. At $50 it’s a little on the pricy side, but you get what you pay
for. Curious gamers should check out our full review.
Other controller options:
Use your existing PS3 controller for Android gaming.
A great, but pricy option. Cost is the only real downside.
A slightly more affordable option from Nyko that is still totally competent.
Five Must-Download Games
Enough foreplay - let’s talk about the games! You can’t go
wrong with any of these five excellent choices. All five can be nabbed
for just $7. What are you waiting for?
Don’t be fooled by Cut the Rope’s friendly graphics or cartoony, candy-loving mascot Om Nom. This is a serious puzzle game.
Each of the game’s 250+(!!) stages give gamers a devilish
new puzzle to solve. Casual gamers can satisfy themselves just by
poking, prodding, and yes, cutting each level’s gadgets until they
successfully get the candy into the eagerly awaiting mouth of Om Nom.
But more serious puzzle gamers will get hooked trying to collect each
stage’s three optional stars in the process.
Cut the Rope brilliantly keeps gamers on their toes by
introducing new gadgets and gameplay twists. Gravity-flipping switches,
candy teleporters, moving fans, and plenty more keep the puzzling
gameplay fresh.
Popcap’s Plants vs. Zombies
has grown into a bona-fide cultural phenomenon over the years, but it
wasn’t always this way. PvZ started out as “just” a super-fun,
accessible, polished lane defense game with a demented sense of humor.
It’s simple enough for hesitant gamers to jump in and have
fun, but ramps up slowly and steadily until you’re furiously tapping to
keep zombie football players at bay with perfectly-placed plants.
PvZ has come to every game platform under the sun, but it
arguably feels most at home on mobile. Placing plants and collecting
currency feels great on a touch screen, and the bite-sized stages are
perfect for killing time.
Rovio’s Angry Birds might get all the attention, but its spin-off Bad Piggies
is actually the better game. The brilliance of Bad Piggies is that
players get to invent the solution to each puzzle instead of just
discovering it.
At the beginning of each stage you build madcap vehicle to
house your pig using parts like soda bottle rocket jets, umbrella
parachutes, and toilet plunger “grappling hooks.” When built right,
these vehicles will satisfyingly trundle through the obstacle-laden path
to the goal. But failure will put a smile on your face too, thanks to
the Disney-esque cartoony explosions and alarmed piggy expressions.
Even though Kingdom Rush can at times be frustratingly
tough, you’re all-but guaranteed to keep coming back for more. The
game’s pop culture-laden humor, wealth of secrets & character
upgrades, and completely fair balance will keep you coming back for
more.
Kingdom Rush’s big secret (besides simply being
super-polished and smile-inducing) is in its spot-on balance. You will
lose some tough stages multiple times, but you always have an answer to
whatever challenge the game throws at you. Packs of smaller enemies slip
by you? Use more artillery. Flying enemies trip you up? Next time try
more archers. It's a game that teaches you how to win, one level at a
time.
In any of Rayman Jungle Run’s 70+ levels you’ll swing over
dangerous spikes, hover past bottomless pits, wall-jump into the sky to
collect hidden medallions and plenty more - and you’ll do it all with a
single finger. Jungle Run’s ingenious one-button controls create an
exhilarating, fast-paced, skill-based platforming experience without
dumbing things down. It’s a perfect example of how to do a touch-screen
platformer right.
Jungle Run also deftly recreates the gorgeous and whimsical visuals
found in its console big brother. The cheerful music, fantastical
painterly visuals and perfect controls make the it the best mobile
platformer available on Android.
Plenty More Winning Choices
With more than 100,000 total games on the Google Play
store, there truly is something for everyone. The great thing about the
five picks above is that you can’t go wrong with any of them - they’ll
provide hours of fun for gamers casual or hardcore, young or old. Below
we’ve put together a list of more Android gaming greats that probably
won't appeal to everyone, but you might want to give a shot.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of Android greats (if it
was we’d be keeping you here all week), but it is a great starting-off
point to fill your phone or tablet with even more gaming goodness.
Word Games
Words with Friends - Zynga’s social, turn-based take on Scrabble is incredibly addictive.
Hanging with Friends - Same social turn-based addictiveness found in WwF, now applied to Hangman.
Spelltower - Letter blocks fall from the top of the screen into a well, Tetris-style. Spell words to eliminate them.
Boggle - One of the original word games now available in digital form, courtesy of EA.
Puzzle Games
Triple Town - A match-three puzzler with a twist. Your matches build homes, castles and more.
Zookeeper DX - Swap blocks to make matches, Bejeweled-style. Plenty of play modes will keep you busy for hours.
Puzzle Craft - Complete puzzle minigames to earn resources that help you grow and nurture a village.
Flow Free - Puzzle minimalism at its best. No fancy sound or graphics, just hundreds of tricky line-drawing puzzles to solve.
Action / Arcade
Super Hexagon - Notoriously hard. You’ll play for hours, never lasting longer than 30 seconds.
Funky Smugglers - Funky airport security fun. Remove smuggled grenades and other dangerous objects all to a fantastic funk beat.
Fruit Ninja - The quintessential time-killer. Slice fruit with your finger. Avoid bombs. So simple. So zen. So brilliant.
Flight Control - draw lines from plane to runway to help them land safely. Easy... until there are dozens of planes landing at once.
Endless Runners
Temple Run - Swipe up, down, left and right to avoid obstacles in arguably the biggest endless runner of them all.
Into the Dead - Tilt to avoid zombies in PikPok’s atmospheric first-person runner.
Punch Quest - Jump button? Who needs a jump button? Rocketcat’s take on endless running just has TWO punch buttons.
Canabalt - Perhaps the original endless runner, Canabalt is still fast fluid fun.
Gravity Guy - Floor giving way? Swap gravity to run on the ceiling in Miniclip’s addictive runner.
Shooters
Modern Combat 4 - A compelling Call of Duty clone on your phone? Inconceivable!
Shadowgun - A sci-fi cover shooter from Madfinger Games.
N.O.V.A. 3 - Gameloft’s take on Halo-style sci-fi FPS action.
Dead Trigger - Freemium zombie blasting with plenty of weapons and stages.
Dead Space - EA’s mobile dead space spinoff is more than a cash-in. Creepy, intense fun.
RPG
Final Fantasy III - Square’s FF III port is pricy, but this is the full jRPG 3D remake.
Chrono Trigger - If you never played this all-time great, now is the time.
Magicka - Mix and match elemental magic to make your own spells.
Chaos Rings - Square-Enix’s biggest original RPG adventure to hit mobile yet.
Knights of Pen and Paper - Play as a group of kids... sitting around a table playing Dungeons & Dragons. Super cute, super fun.
Adventure
Machinarium - Machinarium’s puzzles can be maddeningly hard, but the incredible artwork makes up for any frustrations.
Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery - A monumental achievement in art and design. A must-play for the soundtrack alone.
The Room - Creepy, clever, and wholly unique. Who knew little puzzle boxes could hide so many challenges?
Broken Sword - The mega-hit 90s adventure game redone and enhanced.
Parting Advice
Amazon vs. Google
Google Play isn’t the only place to grab big Android games.
Amazon also offers more than 50,000 apps. This is a much smaller
selection than Google, but virtually all of the biggest and best games
are available in both marketplaces. So poke around both and feel free to
use whichever appeals to you the most.
One feather in Amazon’s cap is its free app of the day promotion. Every day a paid Android app is available free-of-charge. Nice!
Free Doesn’t Always Mean Free
There are free games, then there are “free” games. Most
free Android games fall into one of three categories 1) those that are
truly free - just download and enjoy! 2) Those that are free but
supported with ads - can be annoying and battery-draining. 3) Games that
claim to be free but will eventually force you to pay up to have fun.
It’s this third category you need to look out for. There’s
nothing wrong with a game offering a free demo but then asking you to
pay up to experience the full game - developers have to make a living,
after all. But gamers just need to keep in mind that often paying $1 - 5
up front for a high-quality, lengthy mobile gaming experience is often a
better option than downloading a bunch of sketchy free alternatives
that may or may not end up asking money from you anyway.
Watch for sales!
Finally, patient Android owners can take advantage of some
pretty crazy sales to grab great games on-the-cheap. Big games go free
on Amazon on a regular basis as we mentioned earlier. Additionally,
around big holidays like Christmas, companies will drum up buzz with big
game discounts.
How big? A while back to celebrate 10-billion app downloads a variety of games were available for just 10 cents. Great games for just a dime are pretty darn hard to beat.There are too many great Android gaming options to list them all here, but hopefully this will help serve as a starting-off point for new Android owners. If your personal great Android game pick wasn't included, leave a note below to help out your fellow gamer!
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