The
best free games on Android for phone and tablet
 |
| By MakeUsesOf |
And
that means more free Android games. There's a lot of junk out there but,
fortunately, there are gems among the junk.
We've
worked our way through a whole load of Android games to reveal the ones you
should download to your phone.
So
without delay, here is our pick of the 90 best free Android games available.
1. Angry Birds
The
amazingly popular iOS game earned over two million downloads during its first
weekend of availability on Android and despite myriad sequels and spinoffs, it
is still a great game to play.
The
Android version of Angry
Birds is free, unlike the Apple release, with maker
Rovio opting to stick a few adverts on it rather than charge an upfront fee.
The result is a massive and very challenging physics puzzler that's incredibly
polished and professional. For free. It defies all the laws of modern retail.
2. Bebbled
Bebbled is
your standard gem-shuffling thing, only presented in a professional style you
wouldn't be surprised to see running on something featuring a Nintendo badge
with an asking price similar to that of a Blu-ray disc.
You
only drop gems on other gems to nuke larger groups of the same colour, but with
ever-tightening demands for score combos and scenes that require you to rotate
your phone to flip the play field on its head, Bebbled soon morphs into an
incredibly complex challenge.
3. Red Stone
There's
an awful lot of square-shuffling games on Android and Red
Stone is one of the best. And one of the hardest.
You start off with a big fat 'King' square that's four times of the normal
'pawn' squares, then set about shuffling things so the fat King can get through
to an exit at the top of the screen.
It's
hard to accurately describe a puzzle game in the written word, but seriously,
it's a good game.
4. Newton
Released
in beta form, Newton is
a maths/physics challenge that has you lining up shots at a target - but having
to contend with the laws of nature, in the form of pushers, pullers, benders
(no laughing), mirrors and traps, all deflecting your shot from its target.
The
developer is still adding levels to it at the moment, so one day Newton might
be finished and might cost money. But for now it's free and a great indie
creation.
5. Angry Birds Star
Wars
The
Angry physics phenomenon took a turn for the weird late in 2012, with Rovio
acquiring the rights to blend Star Wars characters with its popular Angry Birds
play mechanics. Angry
Birds Star Wars is actually pretty nice, with
players using Star Wars weaponry to smash down scenery alongside the usual
destructive physics action. Not the car crash IP clash we were expecting.
6. Drop
Some
might call Drop a
game, others might classify it as a tech demo that illustrates the accuracy of
the Android platform's accelerometer, thanks to how playing it simply involves
tilting your phone while making a little bouncy ball falls between gaps in the
platforms. Either way it'll amuse you for a while and inform you of the
accuracy of your accelerometer - a win-win situation.
7. Frozen Bubble
Another
key theme of the independent Android gaming scene is (ports of) clones of
popular titles. Like Frozen
Bubble, which is based around the ancient and
many-times-copied concept of firing gems up a screen to make little groups of
similarly coloured clusters. That's what you do. You've probably done it a
million times before, so if it's your thing get this downloaded.
8. Replica Island
Replica
Island is an extremely polished platform game that
pulls off the shock result of being very playable on an Android trackball. The
heavy momentum of the character means you're only switching direction with the
ball or d-pad, letting you whizz about the levels with ease. Then there's
jumping, bottom-bouncing, collecting and all the other usual platform
formalities.
9. Gem Miner
In Gem
Miner you are a sort of mole character that likes to
dig things out of the ground. But that's not important. The game itself has you
micro-managing the raw materials you find, upgrading your digging powers and
buying bigger and better tools and maps. Looks great, plays well on Android's
limited button array. Go on, suck the very life out of the planet.
10. ConnecToo
Another
coloured-square-based puzzle game, only ConnecToo has
you joining them up. Link red to red, then blue to blue - then see if you've
left a pathway through to link yellow to yellow. You probably haven't, so
delete it all and try again.
A
brilliantly simple concept. ConnecTooused to be a paid-for game, but was
recently switched to an ad-supported model - meaning it now costs you £0.00.
11. Tetris
The
most successful game to come out of Russia since, er, Russian roulette, Tetris has
lost none of its gaming lustre in the 25 years since it was first released. And
now you can play the game on your phone, and thanks to EA's slightly irksome
free-to-play model it is free! Well, free as in you have to dodge some awfully
intrusive ads. Still, it's got the original Tetris music so we are happy and so
should you be.
12. Trap!
Not
the best-looking game you'll ever play, with its shabby brown backgrounds and
rudimentary text making it look like something you'd find running on a PC in
the year 1985. But Trap! is
good.
You
draw lines to box in moving spheres, gaining points for cordoning off chunks of
the screen. That sounds rubbish, so please invest two minutes of your time
having a go on it so you don't think we're talking nonsense.
13. Jewels
Coloured
gems again, and this time your job is to switch pairs to make larger groups
which then disappear. That might also sound quite familiar. The good thing
about Jewels is
its size and presentation, managing to look professional while packing in more
levels than should really be given away for free.
14. OpenSudoku
We
had to put one Sudoku game in here, so we'll go with OpenSudoku -
which lives up to its open tag thanks to letting users install packs of new
puzzles generated by Sudoku makers. It's entirely possible you could use this
to play new Sudoku puzzles for the rest of your life, if that's not too
terrifying a thought.
15. Abduction!
Abduction! is
a sweet little platform jumping game, presented in a similarly quirky and
hand-drawn style as the super-fashionable Doodle Jump. You can't argue
with cute cows and penguins with parachutes, or a game that's easy to play with
one hand thanks to its super accessible accelerometer controls.
16. The Great Land Grab
A
cross between a map tool and Foursquare, The
Great Land Grab sorts your local area into small
rectangular packets of land - which you take ownership of by travelling through
them in real-time and buying them up.
Then
someone else nicks them off you the next day, a bit like real-world Risk.
A great idea, as long as you don't mind nuking your battery by leaving your
phone sitting there on the train with its GPS radio on.
17. Brain Genius Deluxe
Our
basic legal training tells us it's better to use the word "homage"
than to label something a "rip-off", so we'll recommend this as a
simple "homage" to the famed Nintendo Brain Trainingfranchise.
Clearly Brain
Genius Deluxe is not going to be as slick, but
there's enough content in here to keep you "brain training" (yes, it
even uses that phrase) until your battery dies. The presentation's painfully
slow, but then again that might be the game teaching you patience.
18. Coloroid
Coloroid is
very, very simple and has the look of the aftermath of an explosion in a Tetris
factory, but it works. All you do is expand coloured areas, trying to fill them
in with colours in as few moves as possible - like using Photoshop's fill tool
at a competitive level.
19. Cestos
Cestos is
sort of a futuristic recreation of curling, where players chuck marbles at each
other to try and smash everyone else's balls/gems down the drain and out of the
zone. The best part is this all happens online against real humans, so as long
as there's a few other bored people out there at the same time you'll have a
real, devious, cheating, quitting person to play against. Great.
20. Air Control
One
of the other common themes on the Android gaming scene is clones of games based
around pretending to be an air traffic controller, where you guide planes to landing
strips with a swish of your finger. There are loads of them, all pretty much
the same thing - we've chosen Air
Control as it's an ad-supported release, so is
technically free.
21. GalaxIR
GalaxIR is
a futuristic strategy game with an abstract look, where players micro-manage an
attacking alien fleet. Pick a planet, pick an attack point, then hope your
troops have the balls to carry it off. There's not much structure to the game
as yet, but that's what you get when you're on the bleeding-edge of free,
independent Android gaming development.
22. Graviturn
Graviturn is
an accelerometer based maze game, where the aim is to roll a red ball out of a
maze by tilting your phone around. Seems embarrassingly easy at first, until
increasing numbers of green balls appear on screen. If any green balls roll off
the screen you die and have to try again. It's abstract. It's good.
23. Alchemy Classic
There
are a few variants on Alchemy out there, each offering a similarly weird
experience. InAlchemy
Classic you match up elements to create their
(vaguely) scientific offspring, so dumping water onto earth makes a swamp, and
so on. It's a brain teaser thing and best played by those who enjoy spending
many hours in the company of the process of elimination.
24. ActionPotato
In ActionPotato you
control three pots. Pressing on the pots makes them jump up into the air, where
they harvest potatoes. See how many you can get in a row. That's the gist of
it. And don't collect the rotten potatoes, else you die. That really is it. The
Google Play stats say this is on well over 1,000,000 downloads, so it's doing
something right.
25. Scrambled Net
Scrambled
Net is
based around the age-old concept of lining up pipes and tubes, but has been
jazzed up with images of computer terminals, high score tracking and animations.
Still looks like something you'd have played on a Nokia during the last decade,
but it's free - and looking rubbish hardly stopped Snake from taking
off, did it?
26. Dropwords
Dropwords is
laid out like your standard Android block-based puzzle game, the difference
here is we're not dealing with gems - you make blocks disappear by spelling out
words from the jumbled heap of letters. There's not an enormous amount of point
to it, but you can at least submit your scores and best words to the server,
where an AI version of Susie Dent will pass her approval.
27. Barrr
What
you do in Barrr is
man-manage a bar world, pointing men at the beers, games or tattoo parlour,
then taking their money off them once they're drunk and happy like a good
capitalist. And make sure they go to the toilet. Things, as things do in games,
soon start speeding up and it gets rather insane and difficult.
28. The Simpsons Tapped
Out
We'll
be the first to admit that the Simpsons of today is a husk of its former self,
with many a writer going on to bigger and better things. But, The
Simpsons Tapped Out is one addictive game that will
bring you both frustration and elation. Yes, it will bombard you with in-app
purchase requests but you can play for free, building your own perfect version
of Springfield.
29. Wordfeud
Wordfeud is
a superb little clone of Scrabble, with a big, clear screen and online
play options that actually work. The game's been offered for free with some
hefty advertising over it thanks to the developer being based in Norway - which
only received paid-for app sales support recently. A paid version may arrive
soon, but Wordfeud remains free right now.
30. Friction Mobile
Friction
Mobile is a very odd concept that makes no sense in
still images. You fire a ball into the screen, then try to hit that ball with
other balls until it explodes. The catch is you're not allowed to bounce balls
backwards into your own face. Because then you die. Sounds rubbish, but works
well. It's free, so give it a no-obligation, no-commitment whirl.
31. Geared
Geared is
a weird little thing finally converted over to Android from iPhone. It's an
embarrassingly simple concept - players slot different sized cogs into place on
the screen, with the aim being to power one gear from another. Then, as is
video game tradition, it gets harder and harder. Plus there are 150 levels of
it all.
32. Meganoid
A
stunning little retro game, Meganoid plays
and looks like something that ought to be running on a Nintendo emulator. But
it isn't. It's new and on Android. It's a speed-based challenge, using
on-screen or accelerometer controls to jump and bounce through ever-hardening
levels. Developer Orange Pixel is aggressively supporting it, too, with
constant map packs, characters and more regularly appearing for download.
33. Cordy
A
standard and traditional platform game. Cordy is
a speed-based affair, with players running, jumping and collecting their way through
its pretty green levels, using an electrical cable to jump, swing over
obstacles and grab energy. Uses on-screen buttons so can be a bit tough to
play, but comes with 12 free levels to get you going.
34. Angry Birds Rio
Yet
more Angry Birds for fans of the simplistic trial and error physics game. Angry
Birds Riois another chapter-based effort as well, with
developer Rovio leaving tempting empty slots on the menu screen for periodic
updates of new levels. More of the same, but with a prettier, 3D look to it
this time thanks to a vague association with animated movie Rio.
35. Grave Defense
Holidays
As
with Angry Birds, the maker of this superb tower defence game has spun out a
separate version it fills with seasonal levels. Recently updated with an Easter
map, this free version of the game also includes Valentine, Christmas and St
Patrick's Day themed maps. Currently calls itself Grave
Defense Easter. Easily one of the best examples of the
tactical genre.
36. Words with Friends
Free
The
popular iPhone Scrabble-alike is now on Android, with an ad-supported version
up on Google Play for free. Words
with Friends Free should actually be called Words
for People Without Any Friends, as once installed it lets users play with
complete strangers online - or pick specific people from your contacts list.
It's turn-based, so several ongoing games can be strung out for days.
37. PewPew
Very
similar in style and concept to Xbox and Xbox 360 retro classic Geometry Wars.
In fact, one might legally be able to get away with calling it a right old
rip-off. Android PewPew is
a rock-hard 2D shooting game packed with alternate game modes. It's a bit rough
around the edges and requires a powerful phone to run smoothly, but when it
does it's a fantastic thing.
38. Angry Birds Friends
It's
Angry Birds business as usual; only with Angry
Birds Friends you get a social-themed makeover
that adds challenges, Facebook integration galore and scoreboard tools to make
the simple physics game more of a multiplayer experience.
The
good thing is the way you can access the same account and see your progress on
mobile and through Facebook on desktop, the bad is the looming presence of
in-app purchases, with "bird coins" required to be earned or bought
to progress quicker.
39. Beats, Advanced
Rhythm Game
A
standard rhythm action, button pressing music game for Android. Beats manages
to outdo the official music games by including a Download Song tab, where it's
possible to install new song files created by users. It's very hard and very
fast. Just like they should be. Runs perfectly on an HTC Desire, too, so
there's no blaming glitches for not doing very well.
40. Pinball Deluxe
Pinball
Deluxe is an actually decent pinball sim for Android,
and it's free. At the moment it comes with four tables - Wild West, Carnival,
Space Frontier and Diving for Treasure. Ball movement is convincing, and
although a bit of the magic is lost thanks to having to use on-screen buttons,
it's a smooth enough experience. It's ad-supported. Don't press those. You
don't get a bonus.
41. Winter Walk
Winter
Walk is
madness. You play the part of a gentleman, out for an evening walk. From time
to time the wind picks up, so you have to hold on to his hat to stop it blowing
away.
While
this is happening, the chap's internal monologue appears on screen, giving you
an entertaining and distracting read in the process, too. Very simple, but a perfect
little high score challenge game for the touchscreen era.
42. Colosseum Heroes
Publisher
Gamevil takes a break from churning out the role-playing games to give dumb
action a go here. Colosseum
Heroes is a 2D slasher, where you simply try to survive for as long as
possible, building up your armour and weaponry to make yourself tougher and
meaner.
Technically
this is a "freemium" game paid for with in-app purchases, but if
you're prepared to spend a while building up your character's skills manually,
there's no need to pay out.
43. Stardash Free
Developer
Orange Pixel has a knack of creating excellent retro titles, with Stardash a
fine example.
Designed
to look like a Game Boy game from before many of you younger readers were born,
Stardash is clearly a bit of a Mario homage - but it's done exceptionally well
and is endlessly replayable. If you like it, and you probably will, there's an
alternate paid version that removes the adverts.
44. Scramble With
Friends Free
Zynga's
puzzler Scramble
With Friends Free is technically a free game, but in
order to get the most out of it and play as it's meant to be played you'll need
to use the in-app purchasing system to buy "tokens" to let you access
games quicker. Which leaves a slightly bad T-A-S-T-E in the M-O-U-T-H, but at
least it's free and perfectly playable at a slow pace if you're just curious.
45. Dead on Arrival
Dead
on Arrival is a very impressive looking 3D survival
horror game, which dumps you in a hospital infested with zombies. You then try
to not get eaten by buying new weapons, boarding up doors to keep the
brain-eaters at bay and using wall-mounted weaponry to quicken the zombie
mincing process. As with many of today's Android titles, there's the option to
pay for stuff within the game to unlock features and remove ads - but you don't
have to.
46. Stick Cricket
Stick
Cricket is a fantastically simple little game that
reduces cricket to its core values - you just smash every ball as hard as you
can. There's no worrying about field positioning, just a bat and a ball coming
at you very quickly. Initially it seems impossible to do anything other than
make a complete mess of things and having your little man smashed upside-down,
but it soon clicks.
47. Draw Something Free
Draw
Something Free was a phenomenon that's taking the
world by storm. Now four people play it. It's basically a mobile version of
Pictionary, where you're given a choice of three words of varying difficulty,
then tasked with drawing them so someone can tell what it is. Syncs with
Facebook, too, for easy cross-platform play. If you like the free trial,
there's a paid accompaniment with more content.
48. Fragger
The
popular web-based Flash game Fragger is
now on Android. It's pretty much a clone ofAngry Birds, mind, offering simple
physics-based challenges based around chucking grenades all over the place to
make stuff blow up. It comes with some rather intrusive ads, but that's the
price you (don't) pay for sticking with the free version.
49. The Sims FreePlay
Global
mega-corporation EA has gone literally mad, giving away its Android version
of The Sims for nothing in the form of The
Sims FreePlay. In return for sitting through some
full-screen adverts every now and again, players get a decent mobile version of
The Sims, complete with pets, plants, lifestyle points and all the usual
mundane activities that make the series popular. It's not perfect, but does fit
in most Sims core features.
50. Super Bit Dash
About
as far away from The Sims as you can get. Super
Bit Dash is a retro-style 2D platform game, with
controls as simple as its pixel art design. The game runs at a constant pace,
so all the player has to do is jump and super-special-jump at the right time in
order to avoid smashing into the scenery. Obviously it's a lot harder than that
makes it sound.
51. Chrono&Cash
Free
Chrono&Cash
Free is
very hard and sweet little one-screen platform game, where players jump about collecting
bags of cash while avoiding enemies. And that's all there is to it, aside from
some mini challenges to boost your score multiplier and online sharing of your
scores to goad friends into trying to beat you. Looks cool, is a tiny download
and a great laugh to play.
52. Autumn Walk
A
weird little gem, Autumn
Walk sees
players controlling a man and his dog as they stroll through a Victorian park
landscape. The challenge here is dog management, with the hound either running
ahead or hanging back - both precarious scenarios that could cause the lead to
snap. It's basically a high score challenge, to see how long you can stand the
weird experience. Worth it for the awesome comic dialogue that accompanies your
stroll.
53. Meganoid 2
Meganoid
2 is
an insanely difficult 2D scrolling platform game, once again presented in developer
Orange Pixel's awesome pixel art style. The levels are rather short, with the
challenge here being to simply play them again and again and again so you can
get through them without death. Might drive you mad. Might be your favourite
game of the year. Close call.
54. Pitfall
Developer
Activision has updated one of its oldest and most fondly remembered classics,
turning the ancient platform game into a posh, 3D infinite running thing. Pitfall uses
swipe and tilt controls like the famous Temple Run, including power-ups,
vehicles and changing camera angles to add a bit of variety to the look and
feel of it all.
55. Bad Piggies
A
shock move from developer Rovio, in that this one isn't a simple take on the
Angry Birds style. Bad
Piggies is a clever building game, which dumps you at
the beginning of a big map with a pile of component parts. You then build a
flying machine using the given elements, then try to fly it to the end of the
level. A really nice, original little idea from the physics game specialists.
56. Pocket Planes
Pocket
Planes puts you in charge of an airline. You potter
about the world looking for paying jobs, whether that's passenger or freight
routes, then send off your planes to do the little delivery tasks. As things
progress the complexity increases, until you're eventually flying customised
jumbos with hundreds of passengers around major international cities.
It
works in real time in the background, so you can minimise it and do other
things while all your birds are finding their way home, then pop back in when
the game notifies you that something's arrived and needs attention.
57. Neon Blitz
Neon
Blitz is a kind of a posh tracing game, where you
use your finger to draw over the shapes on the screen. You're rated on
accuracy, with scores compared against the world on its global leader board.
There are power-ups and stuff like that, but it's all about having a jazzy,
bright experience, that works perfectly on a touchscreen.
58. Agent Dash
Agent
Dash is
another take on the infinite runner genre that's come to dominate the
smartphone gaming landscape, only with a comedy spy angle. As well as swiping
to dodge objects, Agent Dash incorporates weaponry and spy gadgets, making it
more of an interactive and action-based experience than most of its "Step
Right" peers.
59. Whale Trail Frenzy
Whale
Trail Frenzy is an updated version of the iOS
original, with the developer heaping in more levels for the Android release of
its bonkers flying game. You just fly a little whale around the sky (for
reasons never explained), collecting things, avoiding bad clouds, building up a
multiplier and generally being wowed by its unique and gorgeous style. A really
sweet experience.
60. Radiant Defense
Radiant
Defense is a fantastic tower defence game, given a
dazzling modern look. You do all the usual tower defence stuff like building up
your weapon strengths and deciding how best to stop the endless marching enemy,
with some "super weapons" to unlock and hundreds upon hundreds of
waves to beat. And it all looks astonishingly pretty on a big screened device.
In
this age of austerity and scrimping, we've all long since sold our last set of
dominoes and melted down our Monopoly counters for scrap.
So
where's a frugal gamer to go for fun that won't break the bank? Why, straight
to the TechRadar top 10 free Android games of course...
61. Temple Run 2
The
original Temple
Run made
staring at a man's bottom on public transport a wholly acceptable pastime,
and this
sequel augments the endless-running fun with slicker
graphics, more power-ups, obstacles and achievements - plus a bigger monkey hot
on your heels.
62. CSR Racing
The
best cars require in-app purchases, but there's plenty of free fun to be had
with this
fast and furious racer. Console-quality graphics show off
the mean machines (from Audi, BMW, Bentley and others), and gameplay blends
strategy as well as speed.
63. Mini Golf MatchUp
Putting
(putt-ing, geddit?) the crazy into crazy golf, the five courses in Mini
Golf MatchUptake in dinosaurs, sharks and pirates
across 70 holes, with realistic physics to temper the unreal environments.
Facebook integration is par for the course, while in-game chat keeps things
swinging.
64. SongPop Free
A
bit like Never Mind The Buzzcocks' intro round, SongPop
Free is the handy alternative to carrying Phill Jupitus and someone
you've never heard of in your pocket. Guess song clips from loads of genres,
then challenge your friends to do better.
65. Dead Trigger
That
zombie shooter Dead
Trigger is set in the dystopian future of 2012 is
testament to its lasting appeal. Frantic first-person missions set in realistic
3D environments are sure to get your heart racing (unless you're a zombie),
even on smaller screens.
66. Cut the Rope Full
Free
Cute
critter Om-Nom in Cut
the Rope is the Daniel Day-Lewis of puzzle games, with
a BAFTA amid his haul of gaming awards. The simple premise (cut the ropes to
release Om-Nom's lunch) sustains 350 well-pitched levels, packed with character
and cartoonish charm.
67. Lexulous
Scrabble
by another name (its second, after "Scrabulous" proved a tad too
copyright-infringing), Lexulous has
all the social gaming options you'd expect, but beats its many rivals with its
antisocial options: three AI opponents ranging from the simple to the
sesquipedalian.
68. Pac-Man +
Tournaments
Fed
up of 3D, HD, 360-degree action? This authentic recreation of a arcade
classic Pac-Manis
the kind of good, clean pill-munching fun they enjoyed in the 1970s. A
tournament mode offers regularly updated mazes, but the retro original is hard
to beat.
69. Scrabble
Yes,
the proper Scrabble,
not some copyright-infringing clone that'll be pulled by the time you read
these words. EA bought the license, tidied it up and stuck it out on Android,
where it's a remarkably advert and in-app purchase free experience.
It's
been beefed up with a few new modes, but stuff like the ability to sync with
Facebook and play multiple matches is actually exactly what you need. A classic
that's not been ruined. Hooray.
70. Blip Blup
Blip
Blup is
the kind of original little idea we love stumbling across. It's a sort of
geometry-based puzzle game that has you pressing squares on the screen to fill
in areas of colour.
Your
light beams are limited in the directions they can travel, so, once you're
through the troublingly simple tutorial levels, it soon becomes insanely tough
and will soon have you scratching through your skull's skin and bone until you
actually itch your BRAIN in confusion.
71. Doodle Jump
Doodle
Jump is
ancient, but there's a reason it's down here at the newer end of the Triple-A
Android freebies list. It's recently been reworked, updated for today's higher
resolution displays and, better still, been stuck up on Google Play for free.
If you haven't played it, or played it four years ago on iOS, give it another
spin. It's a timeless bit of upwards bouncing action.
72. Super Stickman Golf
2
Super
Stickman Golf 2 is a big-hitter on Android, with
the superb 2D puzzle golf game doing insane business. It's free, albeit propped
up by in-app purchases, with heaps upon piles of golf courses to whack yourself
around, challenging your knowledge of physics and angles as much as your
sporting abilities.
Looks
great and even manages to head online to offer turn-based multiplayer against
friends or randoms.
73. Real Racing 3
Extremely
controversial thanks to its use of in-app purchases to buy your way to better
cars, quicker play time and much more, there's one reason you really ought to
give Real
Racing 3 a go - it's the best looking 3D racer on
Android by a mile.
If
you want something that gives both, all four, or even the full eight of your
phone's cores a full workout, this is the one. And you don't have to pay for
anything, as long as you don't mind staring at timers and waiting a lot.
74. Gunslugs
Another
awesome little 2D pixel art classic from developer OrangePixel, Gunslugs is
your standard sort of action platformer given a gorgeous old fashioned retro
look.
It's
been optimised for play on Sony's old-but-popular Xperia Play buttoned Android
model, plus the Moga controller and Green Throttle systems will also let you
experience it with proper, physical buttons. A random level generator makes it
different every time, too.
75. Nun Attack: Run
& Gun
Frima
Studios' popular battling nun series has been transformed into the modern trend
that is the "runner" game in Nun
Attack: Run & Gun where your favourite of the four
available nuns smash though levels, equip weaponry and, inevitably, earn the
gold coins that can be used to unlock extra features. Or you can pay real money
to buy coins. Real nuns wouldn't approve of that.
76. Guardian Cross
Famed
developer Square Enix has created this highly regarded fantasy card battle RPG,
with, so it claims, some input from developers involved in building the
legendary Final Fantasy series. But it's not like those games.
Guardian
Cross is all about collecting a powerful deck of
card characters, which are then used to battle both in-game fights and real
human friends online. There's a bit of mindless grinding and waiting if you
want to avoid in-app purchases, but none are compulsory purchases.
77. Flatout: Stuntman
Supposedly
a spin-off from the home console racing titles, Flatout:
Stuntman takes one of the more shocking elements from the driving
games - the crash dummy physics of drivers thrown from their cars - and turns
it into a whole game.
The
idea is you have a crash, trying to ensure as much damage is caused to your
little ragdoll character. Possibly the sort of tasteless thing that might
trigger a 'Ban All Games' campaign, but... fun. And free. So your wallet won't
get hurt.
78. Pocket League Story
2
Mobile
developer Kairosoft went down the "freemium" route with this sequel
to its superb man-managing football business sim, so Pocket
League Story 2 is playable for free if you don't
mind suffering a little more than those who pay for upgrades. It's still a
great little game, in which you take charge of managing the ground, scouting
for players, coaching matches, building facilities and much more.
79. GYRO
GYRO is
exactly the sort of thing we like - a clever new idea that makes the most out
of today's touchable devices. It's a bit abstract. You are the circle thing in
the middle, and you rotate yourself to absorb the incoming spheres, matching
the balls with the right coloured segment.
Shields
and score multipliers then fire in, and, inevitably, it all gets quicker and
harder. Perfect even on older phones and tablets of modest performance.
80. Galaxy on Fire 2 HD
Galaxy
on Fire 2 HD is one of the most visually
impressive 3D shooters to be found on Android, Galaxy on Fire 2 also chucks in
some trading and exploration play to add a little more depth to the combat,
making it into something similar to having your own little portable Eve Online.
You also get to play as a lead character called Keith, which is quite an
exciting rarity.
81. New Star Soccer
New
Star Soccer is a previously paid-for game that
has undergone a complete refresh, with the developer making it a freebie - but
adding in the scourge of modern software in the form of "stars" to
buy with real money instead. If you can tolerate the effort needed to bypass
the new emphasis on paying to progress quicker, it's still a staggeringly good
game, offering a mega-deep football management sim for mobile.
82. Badland
This
is a right old gem. Badland is
an abstract physics platformer kind of thing, where you play a flapping monster
that has to navigate some gorgeous maps while listening to bird song. Power-ups
and power-downs increase and decrease the size of your blob, also multiplying
it until you control several of the things. Weird and dark and interesting.
Definitely try it.
83. Juice Cubes
Another
free game that's actually about as "free" as the "free"
mobile phones we all own,Juice
Cubes is a seemingly innocent take on the Candy Crush Saga style of
gem-swapping. You can play through it without indulging it in any in-app
purchases, but be prepared to wait and be forced to spam your Facebook friends
with links in order to do so.
84. Dots
Dots is
really, really free, and pretty damn awesome, too. All you do is draw lines
between dots of the same colour, with the idea being to earn as high a score as
possible within 60 seconds. Then, because it's simple and pretty and makes nice
bleepy sounds, you do it again. And again. And continue forever or until your
battery dies, so probably just until your battery dies.
85. Angry Birds Star
Wars II
The
original was so beneficial to furthering consumer recognition of both major
brands that they made another one - aptly titled Angry
Birds Star Wars II. It's really free thanks to being
ad-supported, which, it turns out, is nicer than being asked to buy imaginary
space money every 30 seconds. Loads of levels and stupid Star Wars references
galore make this a no-brainer for fans of either enormous super-franchise.
86. Star Wars: Tiny
Death Star
Another
in this new-wave of controversial "free" games. Tiny
Death Star gets the look right, offering a superb
pixel-art take on the classic universe. Things get a bit flaky when you play it
for more than 20 minutes, tough, when the PECK-PECK-PECK demands to pay real
money for in-game "Bux" start to come in thick and fast. Great fun
until you uninstall it in a rage at today's shameless rush to monetise
children, though.
87. Sonic Dash
Sonic
Dash is
a really stylish and very pretty endless runner, that is indeed free to
download and play. The happy Sega experience is then ruined by overbearing and
endlessly menacing reminders that buying a lot of stupid in-game tokens will
make progress easier, though, which is a shame. How we wish games didn't all
demand direct debit access to our bank accounts these days in order to work
properly. Very nice game apart from that, mind.
88. CBeebies Playtime
CBeebies
Playtime is a nice, harmless, ad-free collection of
silly little games, ideal for children who have been successfully raised by the
pulsating yellows and greens of the CBBC pacifier and babysitter channel. We'll
save the discussion about whether parents and the BBC should be encouraging
children to spend their precious little like staring at screens and being as
sad and sedentary as dad for another time. This is good if you let your child
touch your precious stuff.
89. Champ Man
What
the developer of Champ
Man is
trying to say with the name is "This is quite a bit like Championship
Manager, that old football game you probably remember." And it is,
offering a decent, if slightly bug-ridden and bizarre portable management game.
It does feature in-app purchases, but these can be stepped over or dribbled
around (football references) without too much hassle.
90. Tic Tactics
Tic
Tactics is a simple and stylish puzzle game that takes
the noughts & crosses concept and jazzes it up with online and local
multiplayer, rankings, cross-platform play with Facebook friends and more. You
battle on multiple boards at once, choosing where to make your mark and what
grid your opponent must play next. Hassles you to pay to remove the ads, but
nothing more.
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