Games - 111/132 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

[Review] Orbital Defender Might Just Be The Hardest Android Game You’ve Ever Played

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Think of the hardest, most frustrating Android game you've played thus far. Is it Angry Birds, with its unparalleled addictiveness? Or how about Plants vs. Zombies, which has a seemingly infinite number of levels and is within spitting distance of Angry Birds' can't-put-it-down factor?

Or - dare I say it - perhaps none of the games you've downloaded from the Android Market have been difficult enough for you. Perhaps you're on the lookout for something a tad more complex - a tad more like this:

Indeed, if a vexing mobile game is what you want, you couldn't do much better than Orbital Defender.

Jun

[Review] Grand Prix Story Adds Some Much-Needed New Features To The "____ Story" Playbook

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Japanese developer Kairosoft seems to be the king of the mobile simulation genre, having pumped out three English titles (Game Dev Story, Hot Springs Story and now Grand Prix Story) which manage to be addicting as hell while benefitting from the touch controls of a smartphone. In their games, you're put in the shoes of a business owner who is looking to both make money and rise to the top of his/her chosen profession.

The Game

Along the way, you can customize everything from the staff you hire to the products you put out; going into each individual thing you can customize would lengthen this article by a couple thousand words, at the minimum.

Jun

[Review] Rebirth Brings A Basic But Faithful (And Free) Lumines Port To Android

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Puzzle games are some of my favourite titles for the Android because of their tendency to play well in short bursts. Rebirth looks to take the gameplay behind Lumines and bring it over to the mobile market: the question is, will it do the original justice?

The Concept

For those looking for a basic clone of Lumines (more on that later), you've come to the right spot. Rebirth is pretty much the game to a "T", and brings the block-stacking madness to the Android platform with good faith.

For those unfamiliar, Lumines was a puzzle game that was first developed for the Playstation Portable System.

Jun

[Review] Burn The City Indulges Our Godzilla Complex, Brings The Wanton Destruction

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Sometimes, it's just not fun to be the good guy. Sometimes, you need to be a little bad. Sometimes, you just need to destroy everything that lays in your path with a fiery ball of fury.

The Concept

Burn The City puts you in the shoes of a giant lizard/Godzilla/monster-thing who has hatched all alone and in a strange world. Clearly, the logical conclusion he reaches is to destroy everything around him.

This is accomplished by flinging fireballs from your mighty gullet, demolishing the buildings that face you. The buildings will be stripped down to their beams, finally collapsing under their own weight - and hopefully into the structures surrounding them.

Jun

T-Mobile Creates Real-Life Angry Birds Controllable Via Android Device, Results Are Surprisingly Awesome

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Games, News, T-Mobile

Love it or hate it, Angry Birds is a massively popular game. Even if it may be a bit played out and past its prime, that doesn't make this any less entertaining: T-Mobile created a real-world, life-size Angry Birds Live game in Barcelona, controllable via an Android device. The results are cooler than you'd expect, and the short (1:40) video is worth a watch.

Certainly puts a smile on your face, doesn't it?

Update: Thanks to Brian for a link to the behind the scenes video:

[via reddit]

Jun

[Nerd Toolbox] DiceShaker D&D Makes Sure You'll Never Be Without A D20

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

I'm not afraid to say I play Dungeons & Dragons; I think it's a great way for people to have fun together and enjoy a truly dynamic narrative. However, since I write about tech and other nerdy stuff for a living, I like having the old-school pen and paper mesh with technology whenever possible.

However, like tech, Dungeons & Dragons isn't for those who don't have much in the way of disposable income; you've got numerous things to buy before you can get started, including handbooks and manuals that can run you up to $35+ each. Like the books, multi-sided dice are an integral part of the game, and a set of 10 standard dice will run you ~$7.99.

Jun

[Review] Stellar Escape Shows Us How To Frustrate Users With Artificial Difficulty

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

You know what's more frustrating than a beautiful-looking game whose controls don't work?

A beautiful-looking game that requires you to use those controls to react to events in a split-second.

Alright, perhaps that was being a little harsh. Stellar Escape is a new game that comes to us on the Android Market from a small dev team called Orange Agenda. In the game, you play as an interstellar courier who has delivered a package that could power a planet-destroying death ray. having a moment of conscience, he grabs the power source and sprints away from his client, becoming the most wanted man in the galaxy at the same time.

Jun

[Just Released] Kairosoft Gives The Green Flag To Grand Prix Story; Rev Up Those Engines!

Posted by Matt Demers in Games, News

In a perfect addition to this lazy Hump Day, Japanese developer Kairosoft just dropped their newest entry into the Android simulation game genre, titled Grand Prix Story.

This marks the third entry into the "______ Story" series by the company, following their highly-successful Game Dev Story and the follow-up, Hot Springs Story. In Grand Prix, you take on the role of race team manager, developing and customizing cars, entering teams into races, and cultivating a stable of elite motorsport drivers.

Kairosoft's always intrigued me with their titles because I love the "behind-the-scenes" aspects of running a certain business. While Grand Prix probably won't be the most realistic racing management sim on the market, it will probably be one of the most addictive, given the company's track record.

Jun

[Review] Age Of Zombies Achieves Impossible: Comes With Virtual Joysticks That Don't Inspire Suicide

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Call me a stickler, but I think games should play well before looking pretty. I think they should be functional, polished and most of all, not frustrating. This seems to elude most developers who insist on using on-screen joysticks for their products, as more often than not they're a buggy, non-responsive mess.

From having poorly-defined boundaries to not reacting to multi-touch well, the system seems to be a bit flawed.

However, Halfbrick studios (the developers of the wildly-successful Fruit Ninja) have finally managed to code some joysticks that work straight out of the box, no tweaking required. Their newest game, Age of Zombies, relies quite heavily on them, so I'm both glad and relieved that they've decided to make sure people can actually play their game before they've released it to the wild.

Jun

[Video] Angry Birds Rio Carnival Update Coming Soon - Very Soon

Posted by David Ruddock in Games, News, Videos

Surprise, surprise - Rovio's about to issue the next major content update to Angry Birds Rio early! The Carnival update will be available on the Market shortly (exactly how long, we don't know), and we already have the basic changelog:

15 levels in new world named Carnival Upheaval
Blue, the Macaw, can now be used alone.
The new hidden fruits are papaya (thanks to everyone who helped us figure this out)

There's several iOS sites that are already reporting on the update, and Rovio stated 2 days ago that Carnival would be coming to Android at the same time as iOS: