strategy - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

[New Game] Arma Tactics THD Brings Top-Down, Turn-Based Military Strategy To Tegra Devices

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

Armchair generals, take note: tactical games are making a comeback. This top-down micromanaging genre was once dominated by the likes of Shining Force, Tactics Ogre, and Final Fantasy Tactics (and just recently by XCOM: Enemy Unknown) but it's surprisingly perfect for touchscreen devices; see the Great Little War Game series. The ARMA series is known for painstakingly realistic shooters, but it's stepping back for Arma Tactics THD to give the player a bird's eye view of the battlefield.

You control four commandos whose mission plays out on an impressive 3D grid, strategically moving and utilizing their weapons in turn-based combat. (If you're wondering what that's like, Call of Duty players, imagine chess with guns.) Each soldier specializes in a different tactical role, with unique weapons and abilities assigned to him.

May

Leviathan: Warships Review – You Wouldn't Buy A Speedboat With A Hole In It, Right?

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Apps/Games, Games, Reviews

The seas are a dangerous place, lads. The Marauders are thick amongst the waves, and you are but an inexperienced young commander, seeking to make a name at the helm of your fleet. Your ships are heavily armed, but it's going to take more than firepower to stay afloat in Leviathan: Warships. This game is heavy on strategy, long-term planning, and attention to detail. As good as some aspects of this game are, the controls threaten to sink it before we even get out of dry dock.

Gameplay

My first impression of Leviathan was that of another top-down real-time strategy game (RTS).

May

Ship Just Got Real: Leviathan Warships Hits The Play Store, Available For Most Tablets

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

About three weeks ago, Paradox Interactive released what could possibly be one of the best game trailers we've ever seen. It was for its then-upcoming game Leviathan Warships, and was chock-full of more ship puns than you can shake a stick at.

In fact, it was so good they decided to release a second trailer, with even more puns.

If you've had enough puns (I'm kidding – there's no such things as too many puns) and are ready to actually play the game, it's now available in the Play Store. ~~The second trailer above notes a price of $10, but it's listed for $4.88 right now – most likely a launch sale price~~.

Apr

[New Game] Planets Defense Lands On The Play Store, Reminds You Of How Much We Want StarCraft

Posted by Cody Toombs in Games, News

There is no denying that real-time strategy games are a hard nut to crack on mobile devices. It's tough to fit all of the intricate play mechanics, complicated strategy, and extensive storyline into a touchscreen. Planets Defense does a great job of making the controls work for high-speed gameplay and micro-management, but it still isn't quite a fully realized strategy experience. All things considered, it's still lot of fun and one of the best efforts I've seen.

Imagine mixing together the artistic style and baser strategies of StarCraft with the simple command and combat of Galaxy Empire. As you might have guessed, the result is very familiar - it has been done several times in the past.

Apr

Dynamite Jack Review: So Good I Won't Cheapen It With A Pun About 'Explosive Fun'

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

In Dynamite Jack, you play the part of a space marine that has been captured by the enemy and forced to work in the Anathema Mines. You don't have time for that nonsense, so escape it is. It seems like your alien captors are not the brightest stars in the cosmos – they leave explosives, flashlights. and keycards laying around everywhere. Lucky for you.

Gameplay And Controls

You start at the lowest level of the mines, and your goal in each stage is to find the exit denoted by a shimmering point of light. You wander around the top-down maze of tunnels and facilities in search of the necessary tools to take you to the goal.

Mar

Oil Rush Brings Beautiful Real Time Strategy To Mobile, But Only Invites Snapdragon S4 Devices To The Battle

Posted by Cody Toombs in Games, News

Since the dawn of mobile gaming, a handful of genres have struggled with the transition to tiny screens, while still keeping usable controls. Oil Rush is Unigine's attempt at one of the most daunting categories, real-time strategy. The game doesn't come with just another slightly different control scheme, it's equipped with a full storyline, high end graphics, and voice actors! Oh yeah, and a pretty high price tag...

Set during a post-apocalyptic war in which a nuclear weapon has melted the ice caps and flooded Earth, the remaining inhabitants fight to control any last remaining oil reserves. Players are introduced to the story by beautiful cinematics and skilled voice actors, with the main character and narrator sounding like a raspy Malcolm McDowell.

Mar

[New Game] City Conquest Is An Innovative Mix Of Tower Defense, Tower Offense, And Real Time Strategy

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

If you're looking for something new in the stagnating world of tower defense, this is it. City Conquest turns the genre on its head, by forcing players to defend their own territory and attack others simultaneously, with a combination of real-time and turn-based gameplay. It's a bit hard to wrap your head around, but trust me, the experience is well worth the effort. City Conquest is a free download in the Play Store (ad-supported, no in-app purchases) for devices running Android 4.0 or later with a resolution of at least 960x720.

Like the RTS games of yore, each round starts with a Capitol (town center/nexus/construction yard) for both players.

Dec

Flower Power: Eufloria HD Review

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

My fondest memories of the original Star Wars films were the starfighter dogfights. The first time you see the assault run on the Death Star, or the ill-fated attack on the second before it was finished, it's really cool to watch a bunch of fighter craft flying around, blowing the heck out of each other. Every once in a while, you can get the same sense of scale and calamity in a game - usually of the real-time strategy variety.

Eufloria is a game that manages to capture this sense of chaos, allowing you to zoom out to see the entire asteroid belt you're capable of conquering, or to zoom in completely to see each individual ship firing lasers at targets.

Dec

[New Game] Herocraft's Ant Raid Lands On Android To Fight For Queen And Colony

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

Ant Raid has been a long time coming for Android gamers. After the game received no small amount of notoriety on iOS, Herocraft has finally seen fit to release it to our fair platform, just in time for you to ignore your family over the holidays. Even better, they're discounting it for the launch, so you can pick it up for just a dollar at the moment.

The gameplay is somewhere between Starcraft and Pikmin. You control a continually respawning army of ants as they defend their colony from mutated snails, ravenous worms, and bees, which are pretty disagreeable at the best of times.

Dec

[New Game] OverLight Alpha Lets You Have Fun With Lasers, Without The Warning Labels

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

Ask any mad scientist worth his fortress of evil: lasers are awesome, shark-mounted or otherwise. This has been the basis for many a shoot-em-up game (see our Hyperwave review for a good example) but they've been lamentably absent from the puzzle genre, until now. OverLight uses a series of lasers and prisms to mix up the conventions of falling block and match-3 puzzles, with no small amount of visual flair. It's available now on Google Play for one dollar.