Android gaming

[Beagle 2]

Why is it so shit? I've had a Nexus 7 for a year now, and a Samsung S4 for a few months, and it seems like every day I scour the Play store, hoping that something worth the asking price has finally come out, and it never has. Obviously the touch screen has a lot to answer for, virtually nothing really works beyond point and click or casual games. No, I don't want auto-aim and auto-fire on my fps's, what's the point in playing them then? But now there's stuff like the Ouya and the Nvidia Shield that actually seem to be pinning their hopes on Android gaming, you'd think that the situation might be improving. On the Shield's website it honestly seems to be trying to persuade you to pay £300+ on a device so you can play Burn Zombie Burn (I realise the PC streaming's the main draw).

Many people now have clip-on bluetooth controllers. Mine's in the post as I speak, but I'll doubtless only really be using it with my emulators, as support with native games is patchy and the games are shite anyway. Even just a single fire button on all android devices as standard would improve the gaming experience so much.

I personally much prefer to play games on handhelds, but I'm not convinced the Vita's worth shelling out for just yet, and when I have a device that should have so much more potential already, it's frustrating.

Recommend me some not shit Android games.

[Utter Shit]

It's the touchscreen element. It isn't conducive to any game that involves digital dexterity. I only really bother with strategy games that can be played at leisure and don't require fiddly on-screen controls.

[Beagle 2]

Just seems like more should be being made of the fact that controllers and Android consoles are now a thing then. Why don't any of the big Android manufacturers have at least one gaming-orientated model in among all their various iterations? Y'know, after the N-Gage was such a massive success.

[Benjaminos]

Recommend me some not shit Android games.

Monsters Ate My Condo! (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pikpok.mamc) - Adult Swim produced, fairly hectic puzzle/action game where you swipe different coloured condominiums into the gaping maw of various hungry monsters. Amusing, faintly-racist Japanese presentation. (Don't get 'Super Monsters Ate My Condo!' It is shit.)

Chip Chain (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appabovegames.chipchain) - Sort of a cross between Bejeweled, Connect 4 and Drop 7. Drop casino chips onto a board, link them together, cash them in for points. Better than I'm making it sound. Also free, and well-suited for a quick game on the bus.

Plague Inc (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.miniclip.plagueinc) - Design your own deadly virus, kill EVERYONE ON THE PLANET. Especially satisfying when everyone on the planet is infected with your contagious yet completely benign disease, and then you add dementia and anal prolapse to the list of symptoms.

Spaceteam (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sleepingbeastgames.spaceteam) - Co-operate with friends to pilot a spaceship away from a rapidly expanding supernova. By shouting things like 'set the bevelled nanobuzzers to 4' in an increasingly frantic manner and swearing a lot. Best played with beer.

Plants Vs. Zombies 2 (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ea.game.pvz2_row) - 'nuff said.

[mechanical_lobster]

World of Goo: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twodboy.worldofgoofull - Great puzzle/building game. You link bits of goo together to make structures to get bits of goo to certain places.

Space Chem: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zachtronicsindustries.android.spacechem - Another puzzle game that starts to become pretty complex after a while. You build circuits of sorts to combine/break/modify elements to make other elements. It gets pretty deep if you try to do everything efficiently (when you finish a level it shows you how you did compared to everyone else).

Osmos: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hemispheregames.osmos - This game can be pretty relaxing. It has some really great visuals and music. You touch your blob of water to make it go so you can absorb other, smaller bits of water. If you hit a bigger bit of water, it absorbs you though (and you die I guess). You move by shooting off tiny bits of yourself (so you get smaller and the bits you shoot out can make other things move/get bigger).

Frozen Synapse: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mode7games.frnsynapse - I haven't tried it on Android yet (I got it on one of the humble bundles but haven't played it yet) but the PC version is fantastic. You give orders to all your little guys (hide behind here, run down this corridor, get shot in the head etc), then press play and both teams orders are carried out at once.

If you like adventure games then Machinarium (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.net.machinarium.Machinarium.GP) and Broken Sword (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.revolution.bs1dc) are both really good (though I prefer Machinarium).

Checking out https://www.humblebundle.com/ every few weeks is handy. They often do sales that include the PC game + Android game for some stupidly low price (but you can pay more if you want to). There's one on atm for a good few games, but it's only on for the next 22 hours.

[Beagle 2]

Plague Inc (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.miniclip.plagueinc) - Design your own deadly virus, kill EVERYONE ON THE PLANET. Especially satisfying when everyone on the planet is infected with your contagious yet completely benign disease, and then you add dementia and anal prolapse to the list of symptoms.

Cheers, this is great fun! Although I haven't managed to wipe out the planet yet, I don't think anybody will forget the fallen 16million who succumbed to "Vadg-Itch" in a while. Still resent it asking me for money to get stuff to win the game though.

[brat-sampson]

I picked up Might and Magic Clash of Heroes  for the princely sum of 69p a few weeks back. A great little strategy/puzzle game dressed up like an RPG, there's hours in the story mode, multiplayer options that come along later (I believe) and yeah, it's great. It's been out on the XBLA-type things for a while now as well as I think DS but it works really well with the touch-screen controls and yeah, 69p! It's probably back to being more now, but I'd still recommend it heartily.

EDIT: Also if you're into that kind of thing there's a great free multi-console emulator called retroArch that was apparently recently taken down from the Play store following an unexplained copyright notice but can still be found here[\url]. It'll play every thing from nes to wonderswan to GBA etc, pretty much anything pre N64/DS eras. Speaking of DS, there's also a great DS emulator called [url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dsemu.drastic]DraStic. It's not free, but it works pretty damn well and a bunch of DS games are pretty well suited to the touch-screen input style.

[DocDaneeka]

All I really play is Pixel Dungeon a really slick roguelike, which works perfectly for touchscreens. It's also 100% free and has no ads or in app purchases.

[Joy Nktonga]

I'm well into Zombie Tsunami at the moment. It's a silly, one-note, and very cartoony side-scroller. The zombies bear more resemblance to frogs, the gameplay is very simple in a one-touch-does-everything way, and the missions can be frustrating but utterly achievable without spending (real) money, even though it's an option should you wish to go that route. Which leads me nicely in to...

Cheers, [Plague Inc] is great fun! ... Still resent it asking me for money to get stuff to win the game though.

This game (is quite brilliant but) does not need any money spent on it to complete it. Everything you need to succeed is right there for you as you progress. It just requires tenacity and time. A very clever game that I have managed to spread among my Android-using friends.

[Paaaaul]

New Star Soccer on Android is one of the most insanely addictive games I've ever played.

[Uncle TechTip]

New Star Soccer on Android is one of the most insanely addictive games I've ever played.

Yeah. Perfect mobile game too as it pauses between each attack. You can be distracted but not lose out, ideal for gaming on that platform.

A million pounds, it made for the author. BAFTA winner too.

Osmos is really nice, good find. Might even be worth the 1 pounds 87.

[Beagle 2]

New Star Soccer on Android is one of the most insanely addictive games I've ever played.

Argh, don't even. This thread is partly to find something to rid me of it again. I played it last year until my fingers bled, up until two in the morning every night, until I had achieved everything there was to achieve on it, then uninstalled it and vowed to never let it darken my door again. But I started another game of it the other night and I'm hooked again. Twat of a game.

[mcbpete]

Currently playing through Waking Mars -



Really enjoying it, nothing mind blowing (and I'm pretty sure I've spotted the plot twist many many times now), but it's sort of a reverse metroidvania where you have to make/breed/plant the creatures in each section instead of killing them.

[Gavin M]

Yeah. Perfect mobile game too as it pauses between each attack. You can be distracted but not lose out, ideal for gaming on that platform.

I don't know if you've heard but they've made an 1.5 patch to NSS that has several upgrades, it's already out on IOS and will come to Android at some point.  One of the things they've changed is that defenders can now move whilst you are aiming your shot, so this 'pause' benefit may no longer exist.  Apparently there are a few other tweaks that make the game a bit harder, which I probably welcome as I think the game can get a little easy, but I will reserve full judgment until I've played it.

[The Boston Crab]

wuld give 5 stars but the game froze so 0 stars fuck this shit longest pass 79 yds u?