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11 Bit Studios saw great success with their reverse tower defense game, Anomaly Warzone Earth. Lately however, before releasing the sequel Anomaly Korea, they've been trying some new things. Namely, they released the oddball Funky Smugglers, and this little gem you see here. Sleepwalker's Journey takes the Lemmings or Luminosity style gameplay and puts it in a wonderful dreamlike setting, with sound and music to match. All together, this creates a wonderful puzzler with a lovely aesthetic that anyone can enjoy.
After being knocked from your sleeping place on the crescent moon, our protagonist begins sleepwalking back towards it. It's up to the player to keep this unknowing fool alive by manipulating the environment around him as he walks. This includes but isn't limited to: Moving platforms and ramps, turning fans on and off, firing him out of cannons, connecting platforms with special rope, and much more. As with Anomaly, there is a fast forward button here to alleviate frustration and let you play at your own pace.
As it stands now, there are three worlds with fifteen levels each, with more promised in future updates. In each level, you'll have to collect all the stars, the three somewhat hidden moons, and reach your bed within a certain time limit to get that gold medal. Like many games, it is time consuming when you want to get that gold medal, and I mean that in the best way possible. As I mentioned earlier, the colorful, cool visuals are just lovely, with a lot of purples, blues, reds, and yellows, creating an aesthetic that you really don't see in games. This relaxing aesthetic combined with well designed puzzles leads to a game that everyone should give the time of day. I definitely recommend Sleepwalker's Journey, available now for only one dollar.
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Based on the utterly brilliant Rayman: Origins (a console-based platformer to rival even Mario), this auto-scrolling runner manages to keep all the creativity and bizarre charm of its predecessor, but with bite-sized levels and half of the controls removed! S eriously though, Ubisoft stripped Origins down to its core for this simple game, but its just as fun and the visuals are just as jaw-droppingly crisp and vibrant as ever. Its a bit more challenging than other runners, but both adults and kids can spend hours playing this game.
Just in time for end of the year lists, the award-winning action-adventure game Sword & Sworcery has made the trek from the iTunes App Store to the Android side. Sword & Sworcery focuses more on aesthetics and experience than it does on things like dialog and story. As you play through it, youll find yourself in a strange and beautiful 8-bit world, where sound and music are just as important as visuals. Superbrothers game is about searching for an ancient magical tome and using its power against an evil growing in a distant mountain, and youre the only one who can stand against it but youll need to unlock the mysteries of the land by solving the games puzzles.
Loosely based on the life of Louis Armstron g, JAZZ: Trumps journey plays well as a greatest hits for platform games. This jazz musician comes equipped with a trumpet that stops time as he wanders around searching for others to join his musical efforts. You also collect musical notes and photographs in each level. With beautiful graphics that capture 1920s era New Orleans, a unique story, great controls, and of course a killer soundtrack, Trumps journey has enough features and depth to appeal to established gamers while also serving as a spirited and soulful introduction to newbie players.
After a few straight years of massive success, fame and fortune from the Angry Birds intellectual property, Rovio is finally bringing us something different. Amazing Alex is actually based on another game entirely though, called Caseys Contraptions. The studio bought the game up and gave it new visuals and mechanics. Its essentially a casual puzzle game involving Rube Goldberg style domino effect machines. Heck, this all just reminds of the game series Tim, which I played when I was six. Originality aside, this is a well-made title from an insanely popular studio, and you will all surely play it. Th eres also a free version and HD version available.
Gamevil's biggest cash cow and easily their best franchise has returned in the fifth incarnation of the KRPG, Zenonia. This time around the game is much improved, as the ongoin g and somewhat convoluted story ceases to be an issue. The game jumps years into the future and introduces an all new hero on a quest to stop the corrupt elite and underlying darkness that contorts their souls. All the genre staples return, from the dynamic gameplay and leveling to the online PVP, and they even bring four new classes to the fold, being the Berserker, Mechanic, Wizard, and Paladin.
Whats it about? A new filter and new languages have come to one of the most popular photography apps on Android.
Whats it about? Activisions gaming classic has been reimagined as a third-person endless runner, much like Temple Run and similar titles.
Whats it about? A mix of role-playing, fighting and turn-based strategy genres, Dueling Blades is a multiplayer fantasy game with an interesting way of depicting its battles.
While it isnt as popular as Netflix, and probably never will be, Vudu Movies and TV streaming has offered media mavens an alternative place to view, rent, or purchase digital version of all their favorite films. In fact, many studios are supporting Vudu, with blu-ray/DVD copies of movies coming with a Vudu digital copy promo code. Now you can stream those movies to your Android device, and it works well too. Its great to be able to watch a solid selection of mobile movies on the go, even if this is far from the first app to let you do so. All in all, its a pretty cool service.
This is a very specific app for a certain group of people, and Im sorry to include something so exclusionary on this list, but its been a slow week, and I have a personal bias on this topic. SpotHero is a brilliant app for people who live in the Chicago area, where this lovely website is based and where I grew up. Its meant to find cheap parking by comparing and contrasting various garages by location. This is an impressive feat, I assure you, especially since the app offers some exclusive discounts just for owning it. You can even reserve parking spots ahead of time. Its just awesome, and hopefully they branch out to include other major metropolitan areas in the near future.
Whats it about? An alternative to the standard Android keyboard, Kii offers word prediction, a couple of different keyboard arrangements, and gesture typing.
Whats it about? Award-winning action-adventure game Sword & Sworcery has made the trek from the iTunes App Store to the Android side, bringing its m usical journey of discovery to new players.
Whats it about? Free-to-play first-person shooter Uberstrike packs great graphics and a ton of multiplayer action.
The Lost City is the second point-and-click adventure game from Fire Maple Games. Their other is The Secret of Grisly Manor. Legend has it there was a civilization that somehow could control the seasons. The Lost City was part of that civilization. Grandma told you stories about the place. Now with her map and mysterious stone, you set out to find what happened. Before you know it, you are deep in the forest.
Cryptic Cavern is a relatively new game from 3D Methods. They have a second point-and-click adventure game called Cryptic Keep. You are shipwrecked on a deserted island... or you thought it was. You soon find out you are not alone and that a thriving civilization once lived there. Your job is to find out what happened to those that lived there. That means going into the caverns!
Escape room: Strange House is one of numerous point-and-click adventure games from IDAC Co. LTD. Some of their other titles are Dangerous Luxury Liner, Escape room: Prank House, and Escape Room: Snow White. Each of these standalone games is free. There is a creepy old house at the edge of town and you, being a curious person, decide to go in and see what it is all about. Well, when you do, the door locks behind you. The only way out now is to go through the house. To do that you must solve and figure out numerous puzzles and clues.
The Passenger is quite a bit different from the other games listed here. What is the story line? Well, that is a bit hard to say. The game opens with a man in a hat and trench coat saying goodbye to his family. Why is he leaving? Where is he going? What happened? You do not know. He gets on a train. He appears to be all alone in this very dark and spooky-looking city.
Instagrams arrival to Android was a positive development to say the least for the photo-sharing pioneer. Within one week, Instagram attracted more than 5 million downloads. A few days later, the company was acquired by Facebook for what was at the time a 10-figure valuation. Why include Instagram on this list? Because the photo-sharing app didnt star t breaking records until it opened up to the Android community, where it gained millions of new users and hundreds of millions of new filter-fab photos. Instagram is known for its filters, of course, which add a retro feel to any photo. Dont forget to geo-tag and hashtag your photos, to make them easier to share and discover with other Instagram users around the world.
Audio streaming services like Pandora, Slacker and Spotify are changing the ways in which we consume music. Rather than listening to albums or pre-programmed playlists, we now have access to entire stations on our computers and mobile devices built around our favorite artists and songs. This year, the Songza app added a human element to this kind of algorithmic-driven music curation with a major update that showcases playlists created for particular moods or times of day. Best of all, even after hundreds of hours of happy listening, I still havent heard an ad on the free service.
Highlight, which alerts you when a Facebook friend or individual with similar interests is in your vicinity, was the most successful app of its kind to emerge from South By Southwest in March. Since that time, Highlight has significantly improved with new features that let users send group messages to those nearby and comment on their friends profiles. The apps notification system is also vastly improved.
In Pirates 3D Cannon Master, you command a ship and your job is to destroy the enemy boats. The game is a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game so you will be playing with others around the world. Victory is achieved by working with the others players online as each battlefield has its own goal. The three battlefields are Team Death Match, King of the Islands, and Capture the Flag. Each player has their own role and skills in each battle so teamwork is critical. The controls ar e very simple, you can steer right or left (as your ship is constantly moving) and then fire from each side. There is radar to help find the enemy and your current health.
The Pirates of the Caribbean game is of course based on the very popular movies from Disney. The game starts off with you choosing a name and pirate flag, and then Captain Jack Sparrow taking you through a small tutorial. Your mission in the game is to go from island to island completing quests and destroying other ships. As you master or complete the quests at an island, another island will become available for you to plunder. When completing a quest or destroying enemy ships you earn gold which can be used to purchase items to strengthen your ship. To do a quest it costs energy and crew. When you have no energy or health you will need to wait for it to be replenished.
This RPG pirate game was recently updated to version 2.0+. I played the older version of the game and the new additions have made it much better. You start off by creating your pirate character. You can pick his nationality, background, three different attributes (physical, intellectual, social), the ship, your flag, and the games difficulty settings. There are numerous saved game slots so yo u can easily keep up with your progress. Once your character is created it is time to set sail.
In Pocket Pirates, you are the captain of a pirate ship and your mission is to sail around in search of treasure. As you travel, there are quests that you can fulfill to earn gold. There are also daily quests you can do to earn jewels and energy. Jewels are the in-game currency which you can purchase (with real money) if desired. The game has push notifications so you will know when it is time for the daily quests. Each quest or battle drains your energy and when you are out you will need to wait for it to be replenished or purchase more with jewels.
Sink Em All is a pretty straightforward pirate game. You command one ship and you sail around destroying the other pirate ships. There are currently four chapters: Pirate School, Runaway of the Caribbean, Cold Cold Mountain, and 127 Degrees. The game shows another chapter yet to be announced. Each chapter offers a number of levels you can play and you can earn up to three stars per level. As the levels get harder, there will be more and more enemies to destroy.
This is easily one of my top games of 2012, but it also happens to be a massively entertaining and accessible game which is also free, making this the perfect place to start your mobile gaming career. Its an auto-scrolling endless runner full of random fun. Proof? You play as a disgruntled evil lab employee who steals a machine gun propelled jetpack. Thats to say nothing of all the vehicles, costumes, and accessories youll see as you progress through the ranks. This game was developed by Halfbrick Studios, who also brought us the Fruit Ninja games. You can feel safe starting with pretty much any game from this studio.
Not so long ago, it felt like we were all drowning in an ocean of towers and creeps with all the tower defense games around. The genre isnt the unstoppable force it once was, but there are still plenty of gems to enjoy. This little ditty from Com2Us is bright, colorful, and is very well balanced with a whole lot of variety to the missions and modes. Com2Us is one of those developers that has a representative for pretty much every genre. Though not all their games are top notch, this one is definitely worth your time.
I know literally all of you have probably heard of or played Angry Birds by now, but I still think they deserve a mention on this list. Developer Rovio had a fantastic 2012, introducing gravity mechanics and a sci-fi aesthetic in Angry Birds Space, and then refining and mixing those elements with the glory of the original Star Wars trilogy. Star Wars-inspired locations, level designs, characters, and powers make a good game into a great one, and theres no prequel stuff to be found anywhere! No Jar Jar Binks, no midi-chlorians. Feel free to check out Rovios other titles, Amazing Alex and Bad Piggies for more puzzle fun.
Going back to the strategy side of gaming, Great Big War Game is the biggest and best turn based strategy title in the series from Rubicon Development. The previous games, Great Little War Game and GLWG: All Out War, are also excellent titles, but GBWB is the most polished and balanced. It involves the military antics of a character simply called The Generalissimo. The hexagon tiled battlefields of this world seem simple at first, but there is striking depth and complexity. With loads of unit types and maps with a functioning fog of war, this game is sure to keep your tactical side happy. Also, there is a free lite version to try.
Apple named this title from Ubisoft the 2012 game of the year, and I completely agree, but I was totally praising this game before it was cool! Based on the utterly brilliant Rayman: Origins (a platformer to rival even Mario), this auto-scrolling runner manages to keep all the creativity and bizarre charm of its predecessor, but with bite-sized levels and half of the controls removed! Seriously though, they stripped Origins down to its core for this simple game, but its just as fun and the visuals are just as jaw-droppingly crisp and vibrant as ever. Its a bit more challenging than other runners, but do not skip this one.
My dear readers, we have finally arrived. The more hardcore among you have likely been wondering where all the gunplay and violence realistically rendered in 3D have been hiding in regards to this list. Look no further. Just released a couple weeks ago, Modern Combat 4 continues the Call of Duty-style mobile gaming saga. Modern Combat 3 dropped the ball with its Android port, with tons of bugs and glitches, but Modern Combat 4 is more polished, even if the single player campaign is a bit more repetitive. All the other games on this list are sim ple, so it might take some more practice and experience to get used to the complex touch controls offered here, but if you want more action packed, console-esque games on your device, this is an explosive place to start.
One of the greatest things about your new Android is the fact that you can customize it to your hearts content. While the iPhone home screen is pretty standard (unless jail-broken), Android devices are powered by an open source operating system that leaves plenty of opportunity to play around. A great app to whet your appetite for custom home screens is GO Launcher EX, which replaces your Android home scr een with thousands of new options. You can choose from a number of themes, add custom gestures and several widgets for weather, your calendar, and more. The app has animation and effect capabilities you can add to your screen, useful management features for sorting, hiding, searching and cleaning apps, and icon resizing.
Why include Instagram on this list? Because I can. Instagram was the darling of the iPhone, where it became wildly popular. But the photo-sharing app didnt start breaking records until it opened up to the Android community, where it gained millions of new users and hundreds of millions of new filter-fab photos. Instagram is known for its filters, of course, which add a retro feel to any photo. Dont forget to geo-tag and hashtag your photos, to make them easier to share and discover with other Instagram users around the world.
Mobile devices have revolutionized the way we communicate, take in information and follow the daily news. Weve become social in new ways, and thats a good thing. Take in your social and official news sources in one beautifully designed app with Flipboard, turning your Facebook, Twitter, New York Times and other feeds into a digital magazine. With Flipboard you can read the news the way you want it, navigating by publication, topic or trend. Highly customizable and ever-evolving, Flipboards recent debut on Android makes it a worthy app for newbies to check out.
Get in touch with friends without wasting your minutes or texts this weekend with imo Messenger, which lets you makes calls or send messages using your Internet connection. Up next is Vudu Movie Streamer, which lets you stream TV shows and films to your Android devices, followed by Cognitile, a puzzle game that invokes a bit of an Indiana Jones vibe.
Whats it about? Streaming video service Vudu brings movies and TV shows to users, fresh over the Internet, so you can watch them on your Android devices.
Whats it about? Top-down block puzzler Cognitile that focuses on avoiding traps by memorizing their patterns.
Yes thats right. The home of hilarious cat pictures, I Can Has Cheezburger?, now has an official mobile app. Amidst all of the more serious, practical, and useful apps, this just had to b e the top app of the week. As a denizen of the Internet, I had no choice but to recognize the powerful force that has been unleashed against the human races productivity. Now you can easily browse through hilarious photos and entries from all of the sites under the Cheezburger Network. But try not to get too distracted by this app. Ceiling Cat is watching you, after all.
There are plenty of voice translating apps walking around the block, but not many of them will turn heads like Vocre Translate Voice & Text. Allowing you to translate both voice and text, the app is designed around the idea of a face to face table conversation. The interface is designed around that concept, with your Androids screen split in half, picking up both of your voices, confirming your words, and then spitting a translation out on the other side. All of these apps have accuracy issues so far, but with a few novel features and a nice list of languages, this app is nothing to sneeze at.
Whats it about? Flock allows users to band together to share their photos and create group photo albums, then share them.
Whats cool? Watching cable TV shows on your Android tablet or phone is pretty slick. The app lets you stream content from premium channels such as HBO, Starz, Encore and more, and a few of the channels will even allow you to download TV shows to watch offline. XFINITYs update adds fixes to the app to make it easier to use various devices to stream XFINITY content, and increases the stability the playback.
Whats it about? Puzzler OverLight - Alpha is a ll about lasers. Your job is to use glass blocks of various shapes to redirect two lasers into intersecting, thereby blowing stuff up and scoring points.
When we discuss ways in which mobile apps and games can interact with home gaming, we must realize that this is a relatively untapped idea. The Xbox SmartGlass app, which I discussed previously, is brand new, and was probably created in response to the Wii U. In general, though, our mobile and home worlds don't collide too often outside of our mobile security keys for massively multiplayer games.
There are more ways we can interact with home games while we aren't home. There are more ways for us to engage. Here are some ideas.
Saints Row: The Third, another home game, has a standalone application called the Initiation Station, which allows you to create a character from scratch for use in the game. These character designs are uploaded to the game's website, and you can download them when starting a new game or visiting a plastic surgeon within the game. If they can make a standalone program for this, why not a mobile app? Folks would mess around with something like that constantly. I know I would. Character creation in games is often a lengthy process, and it would be nice to be able to not have to sit in front of the computer or dominate the TV while doing this. An app would also allow you to take breaks during the process.
