Apps/Games - 305/395 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

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

Real-Time Transit Schedule Updates Now On Google Maps For Android, Desktop, And Mobile

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News, Tips & Tutorials

Google announced a new update to Maps that would bring a much sought-after feature for those who use public transit in major cities: real-time updates that provide the whereabouts of busses. No longer will you have to hang out wondering when the bus is actually going to show up, because with the help of Maps, you'll have all of that info in the palm of your hand.

El Goog has teamed up with transit agencies to make this update happen, but there is one downside (for some people, anyway): it's only in four US cities as of right now. The lucky four are Boston, MA; Portland, OR; and San Diego and San Francisco, CA.

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:

We'll keep this post updated as we learn more.

Jun

[Update: Now With Check Deposits] Schwab App Released For Android, Easily Manage Your Money And Assets On The Go

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

For those that use the Charles Schwab Corporation for your banking and brokering needs, you've probably gotten frustrated with the lack of a mobile app at some point in the past. Those frustrations can be a thing of the past now, though, as Schwab has released an official app in the Android Market.

With this app you can manage all of your investments and transfer money between accounts, get real time market quotes, and easily trade stocks, mutual funds, and ETF's.

This is just the initial version of the app, though, and it appears that a lot more is on the way in the future, including mobile deposit, streaming quotes, and branch locator.

Jun

[Review] X-Men: The Arcade Game - Classic Arcade Nostalgia, Bad Translations Included

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

X-Men: The Arcade Game is a throwback to the days before X-Men: The Animated Series. That show, known for it's amazing title track and some pretty laughable moments, gave us the "traditional" X-Men lineup most of us know today. However, before that aired, there was a one-off pilot called X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. In it, Wolverine had an Australian accent.

It was pretty horrible.

Pryde of the X-Men served as X-Men: The Arcade Game's inspiration; inside, you play as the X-Men that were present in the cartoon, and face the villains they faced, as well. The original game stood out in arcades for a few reasons: it was a two-monitor, six-player cabinet, much larger than most other games, and actually quite fun to play.

Jun

[Video] Gameloft Unveils Its First Unreal Engine Game: March Of Heroes

Posted by David Ruddock in Games, News, Videos

I'll admit, I don't keep up too much on Gameloft's Android offerings, but the developer has received a reputation for releasing some of the higher quality Android games available (just not on the Market).

Their latest offering, whose release date is unknown, is March Of Heroes. What makes March Of Heroes different is that the game has been built on the Unreal Engine, which is a much more configurable and modern engine, and is probably the most advanced game engine on any mobile platform.

We don't have any information on a release date or pricing, but Gameloft generally churns out titles pretty quick, so you probably won't be waiting too long.

Jun

[Hands On] Happy Vikings Is A Mix Of Pleasant Puzzle Mechanics, But Does It Shine By Its Own Merits?

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Sometimes, you have to go with what works. It's no secret that some mechanics are tried-and-true, and will allow you to please gamers while adding in your own twists. Sometimes, though, it's evident when a game borrows a bit too much and doesn't give enough back.

Happy Vikings mixes gameplay from a number of different classic puzzle titles, including a lifting-and-matching mechanic from an NES game called Wario's Woods. Instead of just flipping tiles with a cursor, you actually have a sprite in the puzzle area which you can use to manipulate tiles. This is the titular "happy Viking." Our Viking (let's call him "Olaf") can lift and push treasure, booze, and food to form shapes beginning with three tiles.

Jun

[Deal Alert] Documents To Go 50% Off (Only $7.49) From Amazon Appstore

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Deals, News

If you've been around the smartphone world at all over the past several years, then there is little doubt that you've tried, or at least heard-of, Documents to Go. This is has been the standard as far as mobile Office compatible suites are concerned, and for a limited time you can score the full version of this excellent software for 50% off the normal price, which brings the total down to $7.49, for your Android phone.

Documents to Go is quite full featured - you can view and edit Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents, sync all local documents with your device, pull and edit files from Google Docs, and much more.

Jun

Fring For Android Updated, Finally Supports Nexus S (2.3.4), Thunderbolt, DROID Charge, Galaxy S II, G2X

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Charge (i510), Flyer, G2x (p999), Galaxy S II, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Tips & Tutorials

So, you bought that fancy new Nexus S/DROID Charge/Galaxy S II/G2X/Flyer with a front-facing camera, and you were excited to make video calls. Then you noticed there isn't any native video chat client for Android (yet - Talk will have this integrated soon). Then you heard about fring, which is pretty cool. Then you tried to install it, only to discover it didn't work. Then you probably had a sad.

Well, frown no more - fring has been updated to support all sorts of front-facing camera-having devices (like the ones in the title, plus the HTC Flyer). The update has also included general bugfixes and improvements to audio quality, so head on over to the Market and check it out!

Jun

[Hands On] Mr. Mixit Turns Memory Matching On Its Head With A Surprisingly Good Soundtrack

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Mr. Mixit puts a spin on the classic "memory match" formula by adding a turntable motif and some decent tunes. As Mr. Mixit, you drag shapes down from the monitors behind you to the turntable game area. After choosing two you think will match, you spin the turntables and try to get the image to overlap.

Doing this quickly gives you multipliers to score, which forms the core gameplay of Mr. Mixit; scores are saved in a "top 10" format as opposed to using online leaderboards, like OpenFeint. As levels progress, more symbol possibilities are added, and the multiplier meter decreases at a faster rate.