13
May
breakout

Google Plays Breakout With Image Search Results For 37th Anniversary, Works On Android Too

Posted by in Games, Google, News

Sometimes you have to assume that there are entire teams at Google whose sole job is to think up fodder for nostalgic technology bloggers. Case in point: for the 37th anniversary of the classic arcade game Breakout, Google has thrown together another one of its elaborate Easter eggs. Do a Google Image Search for "atari breakout", and the results will turn into the smashable blocks, with your mouse working as a control for the paddle. It even works on Android, assuming you use a compatible browser in desktop mode.

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Interestingly, the prototype version for the original 1976 Breakout hardware was designed with help from Apple's future dynamic duo, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

03
May
bonusicon

[Bonus Round] The DRM: Death Ray Manta, Emilly In Darkness, Lemegaton Master Edition, And Wizard Ops Tactics

Posted by in Games, News, Roundups
Last Updated: May 13th, 2013

Welcome to the first entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Without further ado:

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The DRM: Death Ray Manta

The chuckle-inducing title of this game has nothing to do with digital rights management. In DRM, you're tasked with shooting things until they blow up (the American way!) in a dual-stick, top-down arena shooter that borrows some liberal style cues from the Geometry Wars series.

04
Apr
unnamed (5)

[New Game] Sega Takes The Highway To The Danger Zone With Arcade Flight Sim After Burner Climax [Updated]

Posted by in Games, News

You might not have heard of Sega's After Burner [sic] series if you don't frequent the arcade. It's one of Sega's oldest franchises, centered around flight simulations of fighter jets, though the games' arcade origins give them a more casual approach to the genre than, say, Ace Combat. (In fact, the games have always felt a lot like Space Harrier.) The last entry in the series, 2006's After Burner Climax, just touched down on the Play Store for a cool three bucks.

Players will pilot some of the Air Force and Navy's finest machines, including the F14, F15 and F18, through 20 stages against a variety of airborne enemies.

22
Mar
Screen Shot 2013-03-22 at 12.57.57

[New Game] Crumble Zone - A Beautiful, Colorful, Space Shooting, Alien Loving, Game - Arrives On Android

Posted by in Games, News

Crumble Zone has all the ingredients for a great action arcade game. Aliens? Check. Guns? Check. Great artwork? Check. Best of all, it just came out on Android and it's free!

So here's the deal: you're the alien, naturally, and you have to shoot down a load of meteorites and asteroids whilst rotating around a planet that you're trying to save. The more space rock you destroy, the higher your score.

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Despite the simple premise, the game promises to keep you playing until your battery has run dry. If the graphics don't get your attention (they probably will), you'll still be busy beating your score or playing multiplayer mode, so if you tend to procrastinate a lot then watch out.

22
Mar
unnamed

[New Game] NAMCO Brings PAC-MAN + Tournaments To Android For Free

Posted by in Games, News
Last Updated: March 28th, 2013

Sometimes, classic games are just better. If you're tired of playing through endless variations of Temple Run and flinging animated birds across your smartphone display, then you'll no doubt be glad to hear that NAMCO has just released PAC-MAN + Tournaments on Android.

The app has been designed so that it remains very similar to the original arcade version of the game, and you'll be able to play PAC-MAN Classic to your heart's content with a virtual joystick at the bottom of the screen. If you want to try something a little bit different, you'll find new tournaments and mazes to play through too, with achievements available throughout the game, bringing PAC-MAN into the 21st century.

18
Mar
unnamed

[New Game] Plasma Sky Delivers A Beautiful Space Shooter, Plus Lots And Lots Of Lasers

Posted by in Games, News

I love classic arcade shooters! Neon graphics, fast moving foes, and chirpy sound effects. That style takes me back to the days of playing Asteroid or Galaga on massive cabinets, where reflexes and planning were fundamental and a quarter only bought 3 lives. Spikepit Games brings some of that feeling back with Plasma Sky, but you can keep the change in your pocket.

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Like other entries in the Shmup (Shoot'em Up) category, you are in control of a gunship as it battles through an army of oncoming foes. The standard fare of choreographed enemy waves and boss fights is backed by a familiar old-school techno beat, and collectable power-ups improve the ship's guns and grant special advantages like slowing enemies to a crawl.

27
Dec
metalslugtiny

Metal Slug 3 Is On Sale For $1.99 (Normally $6.99), Brings Retro Side-Scrolling Shooter Action On The Cheap

Posted by in Games, News

You know us, here at Android Police. We have simple tastes. We like old school games, we like getting things on the cheap, and we like things that go boom. Which means that this sale on Metal Slug 3 is right up our alley. While this title is normally around $7, it's available for $2 right now on the Play Store.

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This game originally came out for the Neo Geo and its nostalgic graphics have been lovingly recreated for Android. You can also link two handsets together via Bluetooth to play cooperatively with friends. Not bad. Get in on the explode-y action via the widget below.

18
Oct
unnamed

SEGA's Zaxxon Escape Review: A Classic Game Successfully Reimagined For Your Phone

Posted by in Games, Reviews

Readers of a certain age might remember pumping quarter after quarter into arcade machines back in the day. Maybe one of those arcade games was the classic shooter known as Zaxxon. Now 30 years later Zaxxon is back as a fast-paced tunnel racer that requires some quick reflexes. It's easy for a reimagining of classic titles to go off the rails, but how does Zaxxon Escape fair? Let's see.

Gameplay

There's not much of a backstory here; you are in a space ship and have to get out of Zaxxon's asteroid city through a series of randomly generated tunnels with an explosion hot on your heels.

04
Oct
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[New Game] Zaxxon Escape: Sega Reboots a 30-Year-Old Classic With Tilt Controls And In-App Purchases

Posted by in Games, News

Remember the hours and hours you wasted as a kid plunking quarters into the Zaxxon machine, scorning the other kids for playing 1942 and Galaga? Yeah, neither do I - odds are pretty good that if you're reading this, Sega's admittedly unique isometric shooter was slightly before your time. Still, there's got to be plenty of Android gamers eager for a nostalgia trip in 3/4 perspective, right? For those middle-aged gamers, Zaxxon Escape is now available in the Play Store for a mere buck. At the cost of just four single-run games from 1982, that's a bargain.

But hold on to your quarters, shmup fans.

21
Sep
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[New Game] Noodlecake's Velocispider Successfully Combines Retro Arcade Action With A Robotic Dinosaur-Spider Hybrid

Posted by in Games, News

Noodlecake, the makers of Trainyard, HueBrix, and Continuity, have just made available their latest entry in the Play Store, Velocispider. Before continuing, I should explain that Velocispider's titular protagonist is a half dinosaur, half spider robot. Knowing that, the rest of the game's characters are relatively sensible.

The premise of the game is simple – you are a robot spider dinosaur with rare eggs to protect. The CEO of the Robot Seafood Corporation wants those eggs, and will send  thousands of enemies your way over the span of 20 levels. Gameplay is even simpler – Velocispider is a fixed-view shooter, in which our spider-dinosaur hero fires continuously upward as wave after wave of enemies approach.

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