Thursday, January 13, 2011

Some of the Best Android Games

You've scoured the Marketplace.  You've installed App Finder.  You've searched for reviews online.  But yet you're still not satisfied with the gaming collection on your Android device.  You might even still be carrying around an iPod touch just waiting for the day when you can ditch it and finally go full on Android.  Myself, I've had the HTC Incredible for about 6 months and even though I still usually carry my Ipod touch with me the gaming scene is starting to shape up on the Android.  So just what is it that I'm playing on the platform?  Well, for starters we've got a few really good ports from the Ipod/Iphone world that have made the jump but there are also a few Android only gems that you should check out.  This post will be about games that I already have on the platform and in the future I'll add new posts to talk about new games.

First let's start with the games that have actually made it onto one of the precious 7 screens that we have in the HTC Sense UI.  I only have games on two of my screens, the farthest left two.  I have plenty of other apps that I use on a regular basis and I figure if I'm gaming then it's not really a big deal to just go to the apps and scroll to what I want.  I find that I install a lot of demo and free games and try to clean them up as often as possible but sometimes they just hang around and take up space.  Luckily I have the 16 gig sd card and use APPS2SD to get stuff over to the SD Card.  I still have the stupid out of space error occasionally on this phone that everyone else seems to have but I have more or less traced it down to the HTC Mail app that I use for work.  As long as I periodically clean it out then I can get the space issue to go away.  Sometimes marketplace apps won't even install when the space issue is rearing its ugly head but that's for another post.  What follows is a list of the games on my desktop and in order of playability (the ones I play the most are on the top) with a brief description of each...

WordFeud (Free) - This is like Scrabble only Free and you can play online.  I usually have 5-7 games going at one time and you get 48 hours to make each move.  Sometimes you can get into almost real-time playing if you have someone who checks it a lot.  I've also made a few friends here that I play regularly with.  Great game and a lot of fun to kill time while in line anywhere.

SlotManiac (Free) - Ok so this one is sort of a vice, I like slot machines.  They are easy mindless entertainment, I play them when I go to Vegas and love them.  This game gives you certain amount of free coin each day and you try to parlay that into a lot of money.  You also level up to play better and better machines.  Game Money can also be purchased with real money but I haven't gone there yet.

Angry Birds (Free) - These games are addicting but they can also get frustrating.  It's cool they are free on the Android platform.  See if you can get three stars on every level by taking out the pigs with your catapulted birds.  If you haven't tried this one yet go get it now.

Doodle Jump ($.99) - This game is a fun quick diversion and can be addicting if you get into the high score tables.  Basically just tilt your device back and forth to make the guy jump from platform to platform.  There are a lot of clones of this game including the popular World Attack on Android but I like this one better.

Reckless Racing ($.99) - A top down racing game that reminds me a lot of the old Iron Man 4x4 racing arcade game.  It can tend to slow down but that hasn't stopped me from playing it a lot.  Very fun if you like arcade fast paced racing games (Think Super Sprint)

Tropical Fish ($2.99) - This one kind of sneaked up on me.  It's the old match 3 type game but with a cute background story about a hot girl that likes to scuba dive.  The levels are challenging and I have probably played 3-4 hours probably only 20% into the total number of levels.

Fruit Ninja ($.99) - Slicing fruit with your finger is fun.  It's even more fun with Open Feint support and a few friends to battle it out with for high score.  Send me a note if you want my Open Feint ID so we can compare.

DynamoKid ($.99) - Another Open Feint game that grabbed my attention.  I love the looks and the music of this really cool side scroller.  The character moves all the time and then you press on the left side of the screen to make him jump and the right side of the screen to touch stars and or build platforms and or kill bad guys.  Kind of hard to explain but its the closest thing to mario I've seen that is done right.

NFS Shift ($.99) - An EA Game that is actually good, I downloaded a bunch of them when they had the $.99 sale including Sims and Tetris but this is by far the best one of the bunch.  Can get tiring and make you look stupid if you play it public but it is still a lot of fun and a great time waster.

. (Dot) (Free) - Another Open Feint game, not sure how they keep the quality up but hope they continue.  In the dot game you hold your phone flat and try to pick up circles while avoiding triangles.  If you hit a triangle your dot gets smaller, hit a circle and the dot gets bigger.  If the dot disappears then your game is over, see how long you can last.

Doodle Dash ($1.99) - Ok, another side scroller but this one has blood and guts in it.  Your guy is constantly moving left to right and you either jump or shoot.  The game graphics are great and the pace is frantic.  See how long you can last, wish you could jump and shoot at the same time but that is part of the challenge.

So there are 11 games worth looking into , they will set you back less than $15 and give you hours of entertainment in my opinion.  Others that have made it to my home screens but not detailed here include Checkers Free, Tic Tac Toe Free, Chess Free, Backgammon Free, Open Sudoku, Solitaire Free, SliceIt, Jewels, Doodle Bowling, Galcon and Robo 3.  Some of these will probably age out soon as they are not being played often enough.  I'll cover some more games soon, I just picked up Rope Cut, Mini Squadron, Jet Car Stunts, Humans Vs. Aliens and Gun Bros Beta.  Till next time...