Gameloft, the game publisher with arguably the most advanced Android games, which you, unfortunately, won't find in the Market (I guess they really hate giving Google the 30% fee), announced its latest daily Christmas promotion. On the 22nd day of December, Gameloft is giving away Hero Of Sparta, an RPG with awesome 3D graphics, for absolutely free.

The game's dedicated page lists it at $4.99, but this special url offers the freebie in exchange for your phone number, which Gameloft promises to use exclusively for sending the download link.

While all countries are supported, not all phone models are. Fortunately, Gameloft provides this list of compatible hardware:

  • HTC Google Nexus One
  • HTC Desire/Bravo
  • HTC Incredible
  • HTC EVO 4G
  • HTC Desire Z
  • HTC desire HD
  • HTC My touch 4G
  • Motorola Droid
  • Motorola Droid X
  • Motorola Droid 2
  • Motorola Milestone
  • Motorola Motoroi
  • Motorola Milestone 2
  • Motorola Jordan
  • Samsung Galaxy S
  • Samsung Vibrant
  • Samsung Epic 4G
  • Samsung Fascinate
  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVP35uA7zzw

[/EMBED_YT]

I found it funny that when I read their blog post an hour ago, the game was rated 6/10, and now, only 15-20 votes or so later, it's rated 9/10. Tweaking ratings much, Gameloft?

Nevertheless, a free game is a free game. Download away.

Update: I had to jump through a few hoops, and the whole download experience left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth - the download is initiated from a webpage linked in an SMS message, except what it downloads is a 22KB "100% Free Games" app, which just opens the same page when started. This confused and annoyed me greatly. However, when I clicked "Download" on that page, the 2.25MB game APK started, and I was finally able to install the game. WTF, Gameloft?

The game started fine on my EVO 4G and required another 66MB of data to be downloaded (I recommend you enable Wi-Fi before starting it). After playing it for a while, I was pretty impressed. Once you manage to actually install Gameloft games, they're quite amazing.

Source: Gameloft, @Gameloft