Good Android games

[tippy2k2]

So I've been playing Clash Royale (Go ahead, get your boos and hisses out of the way) and I've realized something...

I fucking hate it. I'm sick of how manipulative this game is.

However, I do want to get a new game on my Android device but I don't want to stumble around in the garbage trying to find a free to play game that isn't manipulative bullshit. I'd also be more than willing to buy an actual game that is a good mobile game.

So what am I looking for in a game? Well....something like Clash Royale would not be minded (without the manipulative bullshit ). If you don't play it, it's basically like a RTS version of Magic The Gathering where you place cards down and the AI takes over to attack your opponent. A PvP kind of strategy game that doesn't take more than five minutes or so to do a match.

If PvP games like this don't really exist without the manipulative bullshit, I would also be interested in something RPGey that you can pop in for 15 minutes at a time and then pop right back out again. I noticed that games like Dragon Quest are on there, which is a series I've always been curious about as a Final Fantasy fan but I don't know how well a game like that would actually work on a phone. Maybe something like Pokemon is on there?

So Escapist peeps, what do you recommend? It doesn't HAVE to be in the genres I mentioned as I'll check out just about anything to find something to play on my phone but that's what I'm more interested in finding.

EDIT: A few more things to throw in. I would like the game sessions to be able to be quick (as in, five to ten minutes of play time max). I also hate controllers (simulated or physical controllers to add to your phone) as I find simulated controllers don't work and I'm not interested in carrying a controller with me everywhere I go as my hopes are to find a game that allows me to kill a few minutes every once in a while during break or something at work. I would really like a "Clash Royale/Magic" type card game as well where you build decks or bases or whatever and face off against other people but that genre by its nature is probably going to be really hard to find w/o a P2W BS system...

 

[DoPo]

I'd suggest Breach & Clear - I found it quite good. It's available on PC as well but it's not different to the mobile version - you can only use a mouse instead of finger swiping. It's similar to another game you probably haven't heard about called XCOM Only instead of aliens, you fight terrorists, instead of XCOM, you control a special forces squad. It also doesn't have as much in it as XCOM - it's more simplified but whatever - you can finish a round in ~15 minutes. I've played it on 10 minute car rides and I was just barely out of time at the end, so 15 should be enough.

There is no strategic base building - you only play encounters but there is some non-encounter management. Your people have classes (you choose them when you build the squad) and each class basically gets few abilities that tailor it more for a particular role - Direct Action, for example gives penalties if attacked, gets bonuses if he continues to kill people and similar, making him better suited for the front lines. Your squad gets XP - enough of that gives them a level and skill points, which you can distribute on their attributes (Health, Speed, Accuracy, etc). You can also buy equipment with the money you get from missions - headgear, weapon mods (both provide small-ish bonuses), armour (more HP in exchange for lower speed or vice versa), and few others. There is also weapons, which have more of a variety than the rest of the gear - you could equip shotguns, or automatic rifles or even a sniper or few variations of each. The guns have different stats for accuracy, ROF, damage and noise. There are also few other consummable items you can go for - UAV which reveals all enemies on the level before you launch the assault, lockpicks that make the entry completely silent, breaching shotgun which does the opposite but can also injure and kill enemies close to the breach point(s) and few others.

There aren't that many maps to play - 35 to be precise, but enemy placement is randomised. You can also play them on different difficulties, and in addition, there are three modes of play to choose from:
- terrorist hunt - pretty self descriptive - kill all enemies
- bomb defusal - similar but you also have to defuse a bomb
- extraction - instead of breaching and clearing, your squad starts off placed inside the map and surrounded by enemies. Your goal is to high tail it. You could also kill everybody but it's not mandatory.

I really liked the game. Got it in a Humble Bundle and it's probably one of my favourite games on Android. I later also got it on PC. As I said, it's pretty much the same game, though. Which isn't bad, mind you - I've played it and enjoyed it on PC as well. But also as I pointed out, the in-game UI is a bit odd when taken out of mobile, though - nothing too bad but it's just the fact that on a small screen, you have less space, so some of the buttons unfold when tapped to show more options. Well, that exact same thing happens on PC. But whatever - if you want an Android game, I can recommend Breach & Clear

Actually, since I said it's similar to XCOM - you can also get XCOM: Enemy Within on Android. Not on all devices but at least on some. It's pretty cool being able to play it in my bed, but also I must confess, the small screen does get in the way occasionally. It's still playable and I like it, but it is also a lesser experience in some ways.

Skulls of the Shogun is a single player turn-based strategy game. It's another one I rather like. It's story-driven and the basic premise is that you're a general who went to the afterlife and you are launch a campaign to conquer it. Yes, afterlife itself. So, yes, it's humorous. You go around on maps and beat up enemies then progress to the next one. That's more or less the core of the gameplay. You also collect their skills (or the skills of fallen allies) for bonuses.

Plague Inc - this one is hard to really describe. Also hard to recommend because of how the premise sounds. It's an RTS (more literal, than the genre) where "play" as a infectious disease whose goal is to kill everybody in the world. It sounds odd I know. Luckily, the game is free (though it has restrictions unless you pay), so you can just give it a spin. It is actually based on older Flash games called Pandemic 1 and 2 - you can check them out online, if you want - here is Pandemic 2 [http://pandemic3.com/]. The differences between the two is not that much - the second just has more mechanics. And, yes, I am aware the link says 3 - the game itself says 2, though. I guess the devs just scrapped part 3 and made it a "proper" game instead. It still is very, very similar to the Flash games origin - and Madagaskar is still a little *****. There are a lot of improvements and overhauls, though, more types of diseases to play and even some alternative play modes (play as the Black Plague, play in a world where teleportation exists, etc).

If you like the base game, I very much suggest buying it with the DLCs - you will get some pretty interesting alternative plagues:
- Neurax Worm - while all other diseases basically share the same traits you can buy, aside from one, the Neurax Worm has a whole new set. You could develop it to wipe out all life on earth, but you could also make it slowly take control of the infected's minds. Once there, you could make the infected highly aggressive, so they kill all healthy people (and themselves) or you could actually make the suffering believe they've been touched by god and enslave all of humanity.
- Necroa - similar to the worm, it has a whole new set of traits. It also offers a whole new way to play. It's actually a standard zombie plague - you eventually get a trait that makes the dead reanimate as hungry and aggressive corpese. You can then start controlling them in a limited fashion by using abilities - you can command your zombie hordes to invade other countries or you can revive additional corpses, too. It's actually pretty great.
- Simian virus - that was actually a tie in to Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie. And it's one of the best movie based games I've played. Even if it's just a DLC. Or maybe because it's just a DLC. It builds on top of the other available systems in Plague Inc - so you could spread it to humans but also to apes. You can then uplift the monkeys and start a strategic play vaguely similar to the zombie virus above but with more depth. Still, not totally and completely different but quite different from the other modes, as you can try a more peaceful path, instead.

The game is also out on PC and it's also pretty much the same as the mobile version. Unlike Breach & Clear it's been touched up a bit and it needed less adjustments in general. The only annoying part is that there are balloons that show up and you have to tap. It's a bit of a cow clicker routine that was included in the game for some reason and, even worse, retained in the PC version. However, you can pick a trait that pops balloons for you, so it's a bit more bearable. At any rate, it's pretty amazing on either platform. I would very healthily suggest you try it before you buy it, though - while I like it, I'm aware that it may seem dull and unappealing to others. Game session themselves are pretty short - you should be able to finish wiping the world in ~10-15 minutes or so.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I'll second Plague Inc. The balancing can be an issue as certain areas (i.e. Greenland) can pose tremendous problems if you don't reach them early on. Regardless of that, it is still a fun, challenging strategy game that works well for both extended play sessions and quick time wasters.

 

[tippy2k2]

I'd suggest Breach & Clear

Breach & Clear looks pretty interesting. I do love me some XCOM and while I wouldn't mind getting actual XCOM for the mobile, $10 is pretty steep for a game that I already own...

Skull of Shogun sounds promising but there are a LOT of reviews stating that it constantly crashes. Just curious if you've noticed anything major bug-wise...

I'll second Plague Inc.

Being the free one and you both recommended it, I might give Plague the first shot. What's the worst that can happen? I suppose my phone could explode causing me to lose both of my eyeballs and live a life blind and deaf (from the loud bang of course) but what are the odds that that happens to me again?!?

 

[DoPo]

Skull of Shogun sounds promising but there are a LOT of reviews stating that it constantly crashes. Just curious if you've noticed anything major bug-wise...

No, not really. Ran pretty well for me. Do note that was about two years ago, though - it could, and probably would, have received patches since then. This can very well have altered how it works.

 

[DeimosMasque]

Rebuild 2 and 3 have given me much enjoymemt in the year and a half I have had a.smartphone that could actually play more than Angry Birds

 

[Guffe]

Maybe something like Pokemon is on there?

There actually is, PokemonGo!
There is on youtube a PokemonGo 40minute Treehouse video from E3 this year if you want more info about the game.
I sure am buying a new phone soon

 

[SweetShark]

Lost in Harmony is highly suggested by me if you like rhythm/avoid games. Plus its animation is very beautiful. The best I saw for an Android game.

Ellie, Murder Room, LIT from wayfoward are also good games.

All of them are free.

 

[SweetShark]

Maybe something like Pokemon is on there?

There actually is, PokemonGo!
There is on youtube a PokemonGo 40minute Treehouse video from E3 this year if you want more info about the game.
I sure am buying a new phone soon

For a pokemon clone I suggest EvoCreo.
However a warning: I never played a Pokemon game before, so I don't about its quality in comparison.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The only free to play games I would recommend are Injustice and Galaxy of Heroes. Their appeal is in collecting new characters, so the games are great fun for huge fans of the franchises. And while they will eventually smack you about with ridiculous prices for some things just to push you toward microtransactions, you can get pretty far on your own before that happens.

Paid games? I dunno. I guess if you had a controller that could pair with your phone, a game like Modern Combat could be fun once in a while.

 

[tippy2k2]

Paid games? I dunno. I guess if you had a controller that could pair with your phone, a game like Modern Combat could be fun once in a while.

I probably should add it to the OP but I have no desire to add controllers or anything of that nature (hell, I don't even want a game with a simulated controller on the screen because I find that those games just plain do not work all that well).

 

[MeatMachine]

Good question OP, one I've asked many times before and still am looking to build on. Here's what I've got that I enjoy.

Hero Academy: Sort of like chess, but you have 5 actions per turn. PvP, with extra puzzle DLC. Is F2P for the base team only (Humans), but you can also get the Dark Elves, Dwarves, Shaolin, Tribe, and Team Fortress 2 teams for an extra 99 cents each or so. Also, you can play up to 40 games at a time, submit your turn, and wait for people to submit theirs. In other words, you can play it almost in real time, or almost like checkers through mail.

Spoiler: Example video, with all waiting between turn submissions edited out

Five Nights at Freddy's: You probably already know what it is, and whether or not you already like it. All 4 are available.

Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville: A post-zombie apocalypse RTS that you can pause and micromanage as much as you want. A great timewaster for plane rides and whatnot, as even trying to speed through the game as quickly as possible will take a long time to complete.

Spoiler: Trailer

Cthulhu Saves the World + Penny Arcade's On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness 3: Both made by the same really funny indie developers. Can sometimes be finicky and not run very well, but they are excellent, traditionally-inspired RPG adventures suited for a phone.

Spoiler: Trailer/Review

Fallout Shelter: I've barely touched it, but it seems like a solid, fun base-building sim that, in spite of having loads of micro-transactions, is actually wholly enjoyable and full of content without having to spend a dime.

Downwell: Fall down a well, killing enemies with gunboots and your own momentum. Incredibly fast-paced arcade-y fun and hard to beat, yet surprisingly well-ported for phones.

Spoiler: Jim Sterling isn't very good at it, but he loved it. This is played on a computer, but it works just as well on phones.

Exploding Kittens: An app based on the recent card game by the guy who does The Oatmeal web comics. Not much to say, other than if you like games like Uno, and like Matthew Inman's sense of humor, you'll probably love it.

Spoiler: Trailer

Rayman Origins + Rayman Fiesta Run: A fun platformer with great music, where you control everything about your character EXCEPT their perpetually forward-sprinting motion. It sounds watered-down, but it's not - and don't think that just because you don't control ALL of your character's actions means that the game is easy. Oh, and no, there are none of those "Rabbids" crap plaguing this game as they have with the rest of the franchise.

Spoiler: Gameplay of a few perfect runs.

Final Fantasy games are a mixed bag; they can be pretty serviceable unique titles and decent enough ports, or complete shittrash ports or a circus of micro-transaction abuse. Here are my personal recommendations:

-Final Fantasy
-Final Fantasy II
-Final Fantasy 5
-Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (might lag a bit)
-Final Fantasy: Dimensions

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Do note that was about two years ago, though - it could, and probably would, have received patches since then. This can very well have altered how it works.

It did. One device I ran it on just fine is no longer supported (Motorola Xoom). Newer devices should be ok.

OT; There is a PC version of Plague available through Steam. Haven't played it, but it looks fundamentally the same. Also, Fallout Shelter is pretty fun. Haven't played it since Fallout 4 was released.

 

[DoPo]

There is a PC version of Plague available through Steam. Haven't played it, but it looks fundamentally the same.

It is. I think it also has multiplayer mode, though, but I never really touched that.

Also, Fallout Shelter is pretty fun. Haven't played it since Fallout 4 was released.

Played it for a while but got dull after a while. Not much to do. It is OK if you want to spend few minutes every once in a while to micromanage your people and then let them off, though. However, I finally got fed up when I hit a bug that prevented me from loading games. After googling it, the problem had been reported few weeks prior and it wasn't fixed until more than a month later. It wasn't the only one, either, after googling around there were several problems that were reported and never really fixed for quite a while. I know Bethesda aren't the best at making functional games, but at least when they release them on PC, you can do stuff yourself. Fallout Shelter was on Android and there was no easy way to circumvent the problems. Heck, you don't even know what exactly is causing it because there are no logs. The only semi-reliable suggestion I had found was "open the game in a save editor and see if it spits out any errors. If it doesn't, dump the load data as text and just read it to see if it makes sense". I tried the save editor. No luck. I wasn't going to dump and try to manually parse a data structure I had no knowledge about for a game I didn't even care about that much.

 

[votemarvel]

Not Android only titles of course but you can buy all the seasons so far of Telltale's The Walking Dead series. The touch screen controls are good but my bluetooth controller stopped working halfway through episode 3 of season one. When I asked Telltale about this they told me that controllers aren't supported (despite the game asking me if I wanted to change all the button prompts to it) and the game being available for the Nvidia Shield.

Sorry speared off point there. Both the two seasons are excellent, not played the Michonne mini as I'm not a fan of the character.

If you still have your old collection then you could consider going the emulation route and running some classics on your phone. I'm currently playing through the PS1 version of Final Fantasy VIII on my phone with the ePSXe emulator, it's got decent onscreen controls but for anything faster paced you would need to use a controller.

 

[tippy2k2]

Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville: A post-zombie apocalypse RTS that you can pause and micromanage as much as you want. A great timewaster for plane rides and whatnot, as even trying to speed through the game as quickly as possible will take a long time to complete.

Spoiler: Trailer

While your other suggestions will get a look, I'm curious about this one. Can you play for 5-10 minutes with meaningful progress or is it a game where you kind of have to put some time into?

 

[MeatMachine]

Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville: A post-zombie apocalypse RTS that you can pause and micromanage as much as you want. A great timewaster for plane rides and whatnot, as even trying to speed through the game as quickly as possible will take a long time to complete.

Spoiler: Trailer

While your other suggestions will get a look, I'm curious about this one. Can you play for 5-10 minutes with meaningful progress or is it a game where you kind of have to put some time into?

You can sit on the toilet, start playing the game, make a few commands, take a crap, pause the in-game progression timer, close the app, flush the toilet, and come back to it days later with those two or three moves you've made preserved.

It's an RTS that you can freely pause and resume at your leisure, making micromanagement no longer a matter of "clicks-per-minute" efficiency (though you can still play the game that way if you are so inclined). Additionally, your progress, both in the campaign and in the particular scenario you are in, is automatically saved when you close the app.

In other words, it's an RTS that requires absolutely 0 commitment to play to the fullest.

 

[SummerHaze]

I usually load on http://freepps.top/ . My fave now are Pokemon Go and Clash of Clans. Just choose what kind of games you like :actions, arcade etc and go for it. PS it's free and safe

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Final Fantasy games are a mixed bag; they can be pretty serviceable unique titles and decent enough ports, or complete shittrash ports or a circus of micro-transaction abuse. Here are my personal recommendations:

-Final Fantasy
-Final Fantasy II
-Final Fantasy 5
-Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (might lag a bit)
-Final Fantasy: Dimensions

What did they do to Final Fantasy VI? Do I even want to know? What of Final Fantasy IV? Those two were my favorites after all...I hear IX is on mobile now and I really enjoyed that one and since IX is on I would assume VII and VIII are also and if that's the case, I can see how Squeenix would monetize VIII (here's a ton of magic, give us money).

 

[Lufia Erim]

Im actually playing girls x battle on my android. Its a fun little time waster. Think pokemon but with battle girls. Therr is microtransactiond ( duh) but it is not at all pay to win, they give you a lot of free currency.

https://m.reddit.com/r/GirlsXBattle/