This past year, mobile phones running Android OS have exploded in popularity. The openness of the operating system is appealing for users and developers alike, however, there are not that many games available for Android compared to the iPhone, and recent research shows that only 17% of Android users browse for games, while nearly 65% of iPhone users search out games in the iTunes App Store.
Part of this is owing to the fact that the porting from iOS to Android can be tricky for many games, and developers who have had success in the iOS market are hesitant to gamble on developing exclusively for Android. Nonetheless, Android's game prospects improved greatly over the course of 2010, and with a rumored porting of Words With Friends to Android OS, Android phones could really take off in 2011. Here are some of the best titles from 2010, in no particular order.
Zenonia
For those who don't mind an RPG format on a portable device, Zenonia, an old-school adventure akin to Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, was ported over to Android OS just this summer. Though many folks prefer to save their RPGs for larger screens, there are also those who perhaps travel a lot, but don't want to be restricted to casual games like Bejeweled and Doodle Jump.
Zenonia features real-time combat, and decisions made throughout the game affect the storyline and the reception players are given by NPCs.With Zenonia's 40+ hours of gameplay, and generous helpings of side quests, this will keep players busy for even the worst roadtrips (provided it isn't your turn to drive).
Everlands
This eye-catching, beautifully designed puzzle-strategy hybrid involves a group of deceptively cute animals going a bit crazy and declaring war on each other. The game itself actually feels a bit like the old card game, "War", but rather than having the highest ranking card win each hand, the specific abilities of the animals are pitted against each other, and each type of animal is unique. Some are immune to certain attacks, for example, while some more easily overpower larger animals, but have trouble catching smaller ones. While the translation is a bit awkward in some parts, the game has an addictive quality that will make it a staple for any Android user looking for an engaging game.
Sketch Online
Remember all those uncomfortable family holidays when everyone was forced to play Pictionary and some weird cousin always drew a bunch of vaguely inappropriate but ambiguous forms while the rest of the family tried not to guess anything remotely resembling them? Well now you can relive that glory with total strangers with Sketch Online. Combining chat rooms with an MS paint clone, this game aims to take the awkwardness of Pictionary to a whole new level. This one is fairly self-explanatory, but no less appealing for it.
Assassin's Creed
Some days you start out as a barman and end up confined in a top secret lab, owned by the Abstergo Corporation, which happens to be run by Templars, who apparently still exist in 2012. Desmond, the barman in question was once a member of a modern day faction of the Assassin's Brotherhood, a group that was historically at odds with the Templars. He also happens to be a descendant of one of the members of the original Brotherhood, Altair ibn La-Ahad, and using a device known as the Animus, Desmond must try to access his "genetic memories" in order to recover and artifact known as the "The Chalice", which is purported to have the power to end the Crusades early and peacefully. Naturally, the Templars are against this.
This is a port of the DS version, and while the game plays fairly well, there are a few things which were perhaps not optimized for an Android mobile, such as the minigames. On the whole, though, any fans of the series will likely enjoy this game, and at the very least, it will make the commute go by much faster.
PVZ
You have to have been living in a cave if you've not heard of Plants Vs. Zombies by now, and while PopCap has only just started working on an official port for Android, here is something to tide fans of the original over, a very close clone developed by IZN1007. Much like the original , PVZ sees the player attempt to defend his or her lawn from an onslaught of shamblers by planting various types of crops. Some of the plants are passive defenders that wear down zombies who step on them. Some are more proactive and shoot seeds at the zombies. The various modes correspond pretty closely to the original, as well, though true fans will want to replace this clone with the PopCap port, if for no other reason than the original game's soundtrack is legendary.
Reckless Racing
Polarbit’s most anticipated release of the year, Reckless Racing hit the Android Marketplace in 2010 with a bang. The $2.99 dirt-racing game filled the void of "the racing game" on Android marketplace which offerred fun arcade gameplay and equally impressive graphics.
Initially players are given the option of playing around with several control setups to fling their vehicles around the track. The handling of each vehicle is subtly unique, but it is the transition between tracks which makes the top-down racer an enjoyable experience.
Fruit Ninja
I've already written some about this game's cousin, Paper Ninja, and Fruit Ninja is very similar in the mode of gameplay with one minor exception. Instead of slicing up Post-It ninjas, you're slicing up fruits, which proceed to gratifyingly spray fruit juice all over the place. The game makes heavy use of the touchpad, requiring players to slash and swipe with their finger of choice. This game totally classes as a guilty pleasure, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. To keep things interesting, bombs are interspersed with the oranges and kiwis, and must be avoided when engaged in fruity combat. It may sound odd, but there is a lot to be said for the level of satisfaction a person can get from scoring a critical hit on a water melon.
Real Soccer 2010
Real Soccer 2010 was another surprise hit of the year, taking players back to the early years of soccer games on consoles with its colorful graphics. The game is not available on the Android Marketplace and can only be bought from the Gameloft Store
Choose from 245 teams in 8 leagues with nearly every player thanks to the FIFPro license. Face off in 14 stadiums detailed in 3D as you perform amazing moves with a simple and intuitive touch of the screen. The directional touch pad allows for great precision. With online updates, the game stays up-to-date with the latest trades throughout the season.
Robo Defense
Another tower defense game, Robo Defense features some fairly involved gameplay in each of its 120 levels, and though I often find tower defense games to be a bit tedious, this game is so well designed, I barely noticed that I'd killed an hour of my plane ride on it. The towers are upgradeable, which adds an extra dimension to placement and division of resources. The available achievements are all things which we've all attempted to do with tower defense games in the past, whether it provided some type of bonus or not, such as completing a level without use of a specific element or without using tower upgrades. On the whole, this game is both entertaining and long enough that it's worth the $3 if you're even remotely interested in tower defense games.
Angry Birds
It's a dark day on the farm. The pigs, in an act of flagrant disrespect, have stolen the birds' eggs, and are proceeding to hold them hostage in a complicated, but rudimentary fort, made of flimsy wood, stone, glass, and other random junkyard items. Normally, if one were to need to gain access to a house that a pig built, one would call in a Big Bad Wolf. Not these birds, though. These birds are angry. And they have a slingshot.
Each bird has a special ability when launched from the slingshot. Some accelerate forward very quickly, some split apart like shrapnel, but all of the birds have the same goal: Take out the fort, and the pigs in the process. When all the oinkers have been hit, the birds have won. For now.
