,
in which you play some sort of evil god intent on crushing all of
mankind. You do this by developing viruses, which spread through the
air, water or human contact, gradually wiping out countries, continents
and, if the wind's literally blowing in the right direction, everyone.
.
It's a sweet flying sim, which sees you float about in the clouds
having a lovely time, collecting things, boosting and generally being
quite happy about it. The cheery vibe is broken a bit when adverts and
in-app purchase requests pop up, but it's happy enough before the money
men turn up.
We had low expectations of Activision's odd decision to rework its ancient platform game as an
,
but it turned out surprisingly nice. Key to its winning nature comes
from the variety of the levels, which sees the adventuring hero
endlessly minecarting, endlessly motorbiking and endlessly whipping, in a
thoroughly enjoyable little game.
Angry Birds maker Rovio proves it's not a one-trick bird-pony with this, a bizarre and quirky
.
You have a toolbox at your disposal, used to build a flying and/or
driving machine, which then has to trundle its way through a level. It's
silly, but at least attempts to shove out some new ideas.
that has you taking control of a small airline and attempting to ramp
up customer numbers. It starts out with a few simple freight runs before
you expand the fleet, open up new routes and generally get a bit
panicked about how many people are depending on you for their holidays.
The
tower defense genre is heaving on Android, thanks to the poke and press
play mechanics being ideally suited to touchscreen play.
is a great example of the simplified strategy concept, presenting its
war action in a futuristic neon style that looks awesome on any phone
with the grunt to do it justice.
Kariosoft's made a big thing for itself by using its management style of game across various scenarios, with
being one of the best. You take control of a club, then stress about
signings, money, tactics and more. It's slightly robbed of some fun via a
desire to use in-app purchases to squeeze money out of players,
ironically mirroring the state of the game it takes inspiration from.
that has a bit of a sense of humour about itself. There's some
turn-based play, but it's more about bringing together the off-pitch
lifestyles of players with the crucial money matters of the football
universe. Like Pocket League Story there are some in-app cash demands,
so prepare to be badgered for payments after you've progressed some way
through.
pixel-art recreation of the Star Wars universe, in which players
embrace the dark side and go to work creating Death Stars to please the
man in black. A massive challenge, made even more massive should you
choose to play it without resorting to taking the shortcut of paying
real money for in-game cash.
There
is some arguing as to whether this is "free" as it's rammed with in-app
purchases, but there's no dispute as to its quality. Sonic's
is, appropriately, an endless runner, with the hedgehog jumping left
and right to avoid obstacles placed around its familiar green worlds.
is one of Android's most popular franchises, with this update
introducing a few new tricks and weapons. It's the same sort of
experience as its earlier chapters, though, with players swinging ropes
to throw sweeties around its colourful screens. Masses of levels and a
mid-to-high fun level.
is a staggeringly clever online pub quiz app, where you play with
random strangers or friends. You can pick from a massive amount of
categories, from riddles to sports through to Adventure Time, so you
won't be caught out by subjects you don't know. Its simple quiz rounds
only take a couple of minutes to get through, plus there's a seamless
offline challenge option so you can mentally battle people who then take
their turn later. It's loaded with questions and constantly updated
with new categories. A real treat.
21. Beach Buggy Blitz (free)
Offers something approaching
big console quality
on Android, in a game rammed with pretty worlds, loads of vehicles,
power-ups, upgrades and more, plus the graphics engine can adapt to more
powerful hardware and throws in more effects if you're using something
with a serious number of cores. There is some level of in-app purchasing
on offer, but it's mild and easily avoidable.
22. Deadly Bullet (free)
Has a plot involving something to do with the future, but it's best skipped. The game's a
top-down shooter,
but instead of controlling the nutcase with the gun you get to "be" the
bullet, which you control using left and right turns. This slow-mo
bullet then winds its way around town, exploding power-ups and the bad
future people.
23. Voxel Rush (free)
A very pretty and minimalist racer,
where the usual beach/mountain/lava environments have been binned in
favour of bold slabs of colour. It's stylish, motion controlled, ready
for multiplayer action and integrates Google Play Game support for solo
achievements and leaderboards.
24. Nightbird Trigger X (free)
What the developer calls a "point shooting game,"
Nightbird Trigger X
is a one-button pony where your little man has to shoot a point in the
screen to progress. But there's stuff in the way. Annoying moving stuff,
that means you score less and take longer if you can't find the target
with your first bullet. Simple, but free and a little bit original.
25. Toca Kitchen (£1.99, US$2.99, AU$3.68)
If
you want your kids to play something free from the looming menace of
in-app purchases, give the awesome Toca Boca apps a spin.
Toca Kitchen's
a super little virtual playset, giving kids safe access to knives,
blenders and microwaves, with which they prepare meals for a series of
fussy in-game characters. Super-cute and a blast for even the youngest
kids.
26. Spaceteam (free)
This is bonkers.
Spaceteam
uses the Android hardware to the max to build a properly innovative
multiplayer-only game, where between two and four players come together
to shout exciting space terminology at each other while battling the
control panel of an exploding ship. It's very silly, like something that
only came out on the Wii in Japan.
27. Toast Time (£1.99, US$2.99, AU$1.28)
If it needs pigeon-holing,
Toast Time
is best described as a combat platform game. Thing is, you're only a
toaster, and your weapon is... toast. So it's sort of a toast-based
physics simulation as well, with the kickback from the toast knocking
the toaster around the screen and requiring constant compensation.
Because there's a clock that needs protecting and... it's best you play
it. It's good.
28. Ridiculous Fishing (£1.99, US$2.99, AU$3.68)
Quite possibly
one of the best
uses of the mobile phone accelerometer tech there's ever been, this,
with motion control sending your fishing line down to the depths of the
sea while you avoid fish. Then, on the way up, it's how you catch them.
That's when it goes ridiculous, as the fisherman chucks them up in the
air -- and you shoot them to bank the money. Silly, but a must play.
29. Super Hexagon (£1.99, US$2.99, AU$3.68)
Another mobile classic.
Super Hexagon
has two controls -- rotate left and rotate right. That's all you need
to navigate the endless maze that spins out of the screen, in one of the
mobile world's hardest, coolest, best-sounding and most moreish games.
We order you to buy it. You literally have to.
30. Threes! (£1.20, US$1.99, AU$2.40)
The sort of silly maths game you might've played in your head before mobile phones emerged to absorb all our thought processes,
Threes!
really does take less than 30 seconds to learn. You bash numbers about
until they form multiples of three and disappear. That's it. There are
stacks of free clones available, but if you won't spare the price of one
massive bar of chocolate to pay for a lovely little game like this
that'll amuse you for week, you're part of the problem and deserve to
rot in a freemium hell where it costs 50p to do a wee.
31. Minecraft Pocket Edition (£4.99, US$6.99, AU$9.25)
The build 'em up phenomenon works
brilliantly well
on Android, thanks to the creator of the desktop original taking the
time to do it justice. It's a slimmed down interface you see here with
on-screen buttons, but the basics are all in and the Survival and
Creative modes are ready for play -- as is multiplayer mode over Wi-Fi.
32. Heroes of Loot (£1.72, US$1.99, AU$3.30)
The entire back catalogue of solo indie creator OrangePixel is worth exploring, but his latest is
the best yet.
It's a stylish 2D dungeon explorer, with masses of quests, classes and
secret areas to unlock. Plus it supports a wide range of Bluetooth
controllers, for easier play if you've got a compatible lump of buttoned
plastic.
33. Flight Control (£0.60, US$0.99, AU$1.20)
An exciting new genre all of its own when it appeared,
Flight Control
created the world of the top-down air traffic control simulator.
Literally three million times more exciting than it sounds, it's played
by swiping 2D aeroplanes into runway landing slots, avoiding collisions
and scoring for successful landings. Perfectly suited to touchscreen
play.
34. Pac-Man Championship Edition (£2.60, US$3.99, AU$5.00)
Not just the same old Pac-Man that's been emulated, re-released and cloned for the last 30 years.
Pac-Man CE
is a fresh reworking of the maze game, with jazzy graphics, scrolling
mazes and pumping sounds updating the concept for the kids of today. And
the dads of today. Anyone after a really smart puzzle game, in fact.
35. Game Dev Story (£1.60, US$2.50, AU$3.00)
The "Story" that started Kairosoft's domination of the simplistic business world sim,
Game Dev Story sees
you take charge of a software house and attempt to create a smash game.
The sweet pixel-art characters then battle with the complexities of
design and the stresses of arbitrary internet reviews from people who
haven't even played it (ahem), in the pursuit of a money-making smash.
6. Raiden Legacy (£4.45, US$4.99, AU$10.00)
Quite possibly the greatest 2D shoot 'em up of all time, the
Android conversion of Radien
is every bit as impressive as the original. A choice of control
schemes, display and difficulty settings make it a little more
manageable on touchscreens, plus, seeing as this is the Legacy edition,
you get Raiden, Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2 and Raiden Fighters
Jet.
37. Pointless - Quiz with Friends (£1.49, US$2.48, AU$2.80)
The bafflingly popular TV series has its own
official app
based around the UK version of the show, complete with cartoon effigies
of its two 'Jeeves and Wooster' style hosts. Facebook integration means
you can play cross-platform with friends or just spend 7.5 hours a day
playing it at work. Although it can be guilty of repeating questions and
categories, there's still enough content in here to waste masses of
everyone's precious lives.
38. Football Manager Handheld 2014 (£6.99, US$9.99, AU$12.00)
Explodes through the usual Android game price ceiling by
charging £6.99,
but, in this case, it's worth it. The full app offers a superb,
stats-heavy mobile take on the classic management series, hardly
skimping on any minute detail in the transition to mobile. Manage
transfers, the media, match days and more in one of the sporting gamers'
must-get titles.
39. Canabalt HD (£1.99, US$2.99, AU$3.68)
The newer,
slightly posher version
of the original game, the one that pretty much invented the "endless
runner" genre that now clogs up the gaming sections of the app stores of
the world. You are a man. You run along rooftops to a techno
soundtrack. That's about it, only it's much more enjoyable than it
sounds.
40. Another World (£1.70, US$1.99, AU$3.49)
The
classic 2D puzzle platformer
that wowed the simpler folk of the 1990s with the very occasional bit
of 3D, has arrived in perfect form on Android. This 20th anniversary
edition has the original graphics plus the option of an HD refresh, but
what's really about is getting to play one of gaming's most loved
classics. On your phone. For a couple of quid. Madness.
41. GTA Vice City (£2.99, US$4.99, AU$5.53)
Seem
to remember people thought this was quite good. For the price of a pint
(if you're somewhere northern) you can own one of the largest and
most highly-rated video games
of all time, to pop in and out of on your mobile phone. On-screen
controls are never going to suit a game like this, but they are at least
fully customisable -- so you can get it how you like it.
42. Terraria (£3.14, US$4.99, AU$5.70)
Sort of a Minecraft... platform... puzzle 'em up,
Terraria
players dig and mine and fight their way through randomly generated
worlds. Resources make weapons and houses, weapons and houses mean you
stay alive, plus there's Wi-Fi multiplayer support that has it nearing
parity with the version sold on desktops.
43. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (£1.99, US$2.99, AU$3.68)
Not
the easiest thing to play using on-screen buttons, but the fact this
exists at all is a marvel. It's also a glorious conversion, with Sega
finally taking the time to do
the best Sonic
justice. It's been remastered into widescreen and supports a wide range
of Bluetooth controllers so, even if you don't yet own one, you'll be
able to enjoy it fully when you eventually do.
44. Osmos HD (£1.79, US$2.99, AU$3.45)
A
lovely little ambient puzzle
thing, in which you play a cell thing and make it your business to
absorb others. The residue you fire out makes you smaller, though, so
efficient use of your biological systems is a must. It's a chillout
experience more than a game, with the surreal concept joined by some
equally relaxing ambient music. A charmer.
45. Colin McRae Rally (£1.49, US$1.99, AU$2.80)
Cars.
Cars going round corners and sometimes down straight bits. That's what
you get here, in this nice looking recreation of the old PlayStation
race favourite. On Android,
Colin McRae
lets users race four cars including Colin's classic Ford Focus, cars
you get to smash around 30 separate race stages. Based on the beloved
Colin McRae Rally 2.0 from the PS2, you really can't go wrong.
46. Broken Sword: Director's Cut (£3.99, US$4.99, AU$6.58)
This cult classic
from an earlier wave of the big home consoles has been converted
beautifully to Android, capturing the slightly odd and amusing adventure
perfectly - and with an interface that really works on today's
touchscreens. It's an "indie" game from before there were indie games,
silly and with some excellent and challenging puzzles.
47. Worms 2: Armageddon (£2.99, US$4.99, AU$0.99)
Very old and very good,
the Worms series led the way when it came to making strategy games fun.
The comedy combat action is turn-based, with players alternating at
having pop shots at each other with their weaponry. This slower pace
means it's ideal for online and local multiplayer, as the odd glitch
doesn't ruin the experience.
48. Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition (£6.99, US$9.99, AU$13.99)
The
strategy titan has a hefty price tag attached to it on Android, but
that's OK as the immense challenge it contains is likely to burn for
longer than the sun. The first Baldur's game, this
faithful reworking
of the 1998 classic also includes several of the PC game's post-release
expansion packs, just in case the standard 60-hour marathon quest isn't
hardcore enough for you.
49. Carmageddon (£0.69, US$0.99, AU$1.28)
The stupid game
about running people over that got on the news when it launched back in
the mid 1990s. The news wasn't particularly bothered about it arriving
on Android last year, which is a shame as it's actually quite a fun
thing to mess around with. And the once shocking graphics are laughable
by today's standards, giving the slaughter of pedestrians a more
tragi-comic edge.
50. Final Fantasy VI (£10.99, US$15.99, AU$19.99)
At time of writing, Square Enix's Android remakes of the Final Fantasy series only go up to
Final Fantasy VI,
which is probably just as well as we think the world may well explode
should FF VII ever appear on Android. But chapter VI of the RPG series
is almost as good an experience, offering a vast quest and the usual
hours of unrelenting storytelling.
