Ten Android games Not everyone will agree with me that the Nexus 7 tablet is nigh on perfect but I can't imagine anyone seriously questioning its ability as a gaming machine. With a quad-core CPU and a 720p IPS screen, we're off to a good start. It's also the perfect size and weight to hold in both hands but still give your thumbs free range to …
I second that about native adventure games... That used to be my favourite genre of games back in the 90's... And I've actually been playing some of the original sierra adventure games on my tablet in DosBox... Space quest ]|[, Space Quest V.... Police quest 1-3.... Conquests of Camelot.... They're all great. For the old fashioned text ones I just use a bluetooth keyboard.
I also recently played Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in Dosbox... that's based on the Scumm engine. I'll need to try it in ScummVM. The Monkey Island games would be awesome on my tablet. Star Trek 25th Anniversary Edition works great in Dosbox too.
What about some good RTS games? I think the form is perfect for the classics like Dune2.
Here are some more classic games I'd like to see ported to android or new variations created:
Warcraft 2
Starcraft
Dune 2
Space Quest 1-6
Police Quest 1-3
Myst
Cheers,
Troy.
> but I found this puzzler extraordinarily difficult and was constantly rummaging about on the web for walkthroughs
Use the little book icon on the menu. You play a little maze game with the key in order to unlock the book which then gives you useful hints.
Don't be put off by the the fact that the game can be challenging; the music, the art work and the way the story is told is absolutley superb.
I played Carmageddon to death in DOS way back in the day, and now an enhanced version is coming to Android and iOS. Looking forward to that one!
Also, there are emulators for Megadrive, GBA, SNES etc. Not to mention ScummVM (as mentioned above) and DOSBox. That opens up a huge number of games to Android. Nothing too taxing, of course, but there are plenty of fun games out there!
I think the main thing for tablet/phone gaming is that it's something to fill dead time - "I have 40 minutes until my flight boards, what shall I do with this time?"
To that end, IMHO games need to be:
1) quick. I should be able to complete a game or two during that time
2) resumable - when they say "group 4 may now board" I need to be able to shut the game down without losing a great deal of work.
3) absorbing, but not too absorbing: it should entertain me but not keep me from hearing the previously mentioned boarding announcement.
It seems that many of the games in this article meet those requirements, which is good.
Suprised you missed some of these games - they're all on my Nexus 7:
* Riptide GP. A paid game, but one actually used at Google I/O on a Nexus 7 to show off the Tegra 3 graphics.
* Droidfish. Super strong chess program that can use multiple cores on the Nexus 7 and it's free too.
* Beebdroid. An excellent free BBC Micro emulator with access to dozens of classic BBC games.
* MAME4Droid. Difficult to get the ROMs legally, but a brilliant free arcade machine emulator nevertheless.
* Osmos HD. The classic PC game turns up on Android and it's just as ambient as ever. Paid, but a demo version available too.
* PewPew - vector graphics used to their utmost in a great little free shoot-em-up.
Osmos HD got listed back in February (see <http://www.reghardware.com/2012/02/28/mobile_gaming_week_ten_android_games/>).
I downloaded Osmos HD, Babel Rising, and Refraction thanks to that article. I'll probably be checking out Oscura thanks to this article.
(Meanwhile I'll check out Droidfish. Thanks. Chess and chess-style games are of interest to me, and I've already got a Shogi app and a Laser Chess).
I regularly play Radiant Defense, it is very distracting and because how the saves work something you can pick up and drop. The only annoying thing is it tries to push add'ons if you fail a level alot. The humour is pretty good and does wrap some semblance of a plot around the game. The tricky part of the game can be learning a level, a combination that was good for a previous level may be terrible for a later one. I still haven't worked out the point of the science centre (with the added weapons that brings).
I bought Radiant HD, think space invaders on steriods, like defence the humour is good and I was playing that game in and out for a year without getting bored (GTA3 & Sonic4 didn't get a look in). It also has DPAD support which works very well on the Xperia Play so I don't know how good it is on a normal phone.
Hexage haven't done many games but they seem to be a developer to watch, not astro-turfing only game programmer I know works for One Touch and they do iPhone football games (not my thing),
Some goodies on the list but your review missed massive factors.
Strike fleet omega is a freemium game, impossible to progress after a while because upgrades cost. You have to unlock mega credits (cube like things) and you get maybe 2 or 3 in later levels, if you are quick and good. However you need 40 or so to buy chepaest upgrades (try an artillery ship to level 3, or buy the advanced fighter carriers)
It is only thanks to peer pressure that replaying early levels unlocks 'material' allowing a replay value, otherwise you wouldn't be able to progress or upgrade either. And replaying early leavels actually require you to spend mega credits on the doomsday weapo as a demonstration on how to use it. Seriously bad game if you don't want to spend real money on a suppodesly free game.
Now I support free games, but I worked it out that it would be over 20 quid if you want to be able to upgrade and but enough to get the all the ships.
Radiant HD as well is a must purchase or you will struggle, half those turrets you show in your screen shot are a purchase only affair with unlock packs. Only a quid each or so, but there are 5 or 6 of them.
To my mind one of the most important things for Android games is how they control. The article would've been a lot more useful if it'd explained that for each of the games. Comments like "The control layout is carried over from Shadowgun, which is no bad thing" don't help if you don't know the control layout of Shadowgun...
Don't forget 'Great Little War Game' and its follow-ups.
My girlfriend is always complaining that I spend more time playing this than talking to her. But then, pretty much anything is better than talking about fluffy kittens / pretty dresses / celebrities, or whatever the hell else it is that women talk about.
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