Welcome to the roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Play Store or were spotted by us in the previous 2 weeks or so.
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Looking for the previous roundup editions? Find them here.
Games
Horizon Chase – World Tour
Android Police coverage: Horizon Chase: World Tour Is A Retro Racing Game That Will Revive Your Nostalgia For Outrun And RoadBlasters (Without Eating All Your Quarters)
Horizon Chase is a retro racer in the purest sense of the term. The visual design and come-from-behind structure lean heavily on the standards of arcade racers from the 80s and 90s, but the graphics have been updated into quite fetching low-poly designs for the tracks and cars. You’ll start out in last place in each race, and getting to first requires excellent reflexes and passing skills. The one thing this game doesn’t have in common with the old racers is that you pay just $3 to unlock the entire thing.
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Horizon Chase brings back the graphic context of the 16-bit generation and creates a style that is inspired in the past without letting go of its contemporaneity. The apparent polygon and secondary color aesthetic accentuate the visual beauty of the game, resulting in a unique and harmonic atmosphere. You’ll feel the retro soul of the game on a completely modern body. Horizon Chase is a race around the world. With each new cup you’ll pilot your car through extraordinary places, watching the sun setting, facing rain, snow, volcanic ashes and even severe sandstorms.
Soda Dungeon
Android Police coverage: Soda Dungeon Comes To The Play Store Hoping To Lure Brave Heroes With A Bubbly Drink
Soda Dungeon is an old-school dungeon-crawler. With soda. The soft drinks form a curious core of the game: you’re a tavern owner who lures local adventurers to the nearby dungeon so you can (ahem) inherit their loot. You’ll have to keep them stocked with weapons, armor, and of course, soda, to keep raking in the gold and luring new meatheads to their doom.
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Manage your team of adventurers as you raid the local dungeon for treasure. Upgrade your tavern, purchase new sodas, and attract new party members. Gold, legendary items, and more await you.
Lost Echo
Android Police coverage: Adventure Game ‘Lost Echo’ Gives You A Girlfriend To Find And A Gorgeous Sci-Fi World To Explore For $2.99 With No In-App Purchases
This iOS pilgrim and former Kickstarter project is a futuristic point-and-click adventure that looks absolutely stunning. The story follows a simple missing person case through an array of interesting environments and puzzles. The graphics alone probably don’t justify a purchase if you’re not a fan of the point-and-click style, but those who like the genre will be enthralled… and won’t be hit up for extra purchases.
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In the near future Greg’s girlfriend Chloe mysteriously disappears in front of him. He starts a desperate search for her. What happened? Why does no-one else remember her? In this indie, story driven adventure game you explore fully 3d environments using an intuitive point and click interface. Solve puzzles, explore, play minigames, interact with numerous characters and find out what really happened.
Artificial Defense
Android Police coverage: Artificial Defense Is Part Real-Time Strategy And Part Tower Defense Inside A Computer
Imagine Tron as a combination of tower defense and real-time strategy. Now imagine it with 100% less Jeff Bridges. That’s the idea behind Artificial Defense, which brings the somewhat tired tower defense genre to a new battlefield. As you upgrade your systems you’ll progress through the computer age, graduating from antiquated mainframes to modern supercomputers. A tablet is recommended.
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Artificial Defense is a real-time-strategy, orbital-shooter game in an artificial, virtual reality setting. You are the machine, a mighty computer-system, defending its servers against swarms of intruding creeps. Fire off miniguns, launch hellfire missiles, drop incinerating hades-bombs and asteroids, deploy mighty railgun and acid towers and spawn your own Intrusion Counter Measures (ICMs) to re-conquer corrupted databases and firewalls.
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Android Police coverage: Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee Brings Its Uniquely Weird 3D Platforming To Android For $5
Munch’s Oddysee was the first Oddworld game to make the transition from 2D to 3D… hey, it was a big deal at the time. Though the game is almost 15 years old now, the Oddworld characters and environments have lost none of their charm. You’ll play as protagonist Abe and fishy newcomer Munch through a collection of stages that focus on puzzle-solving and some mild combat. Thank goodness the game supports external controllers – it was originally designed for the Xbox.
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Players guide Mudokon champion Abe, and his aquatic Gabbit partner Munch, in Oddworld’s third adventure, using special psychic powers, cool power-ups, and other special abilities to deliver payback as they reclaim the last gabbit eggs on Oddworld, which have been packaged in a can of gabbiar. Experience the classic game Munch’s Oddysee in high definition. Improved graphics and sound make for an even more thrilling ride. Play as the Munch the Gabbit as he hops and swims his way to bringing his species back from extinction.
RAVENMARK: Scourge
Android Police coverage: Turn-Based Strategic Fantasy Game Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion Invades The Play Store
Ravenmark is a turn-based tactical strategy game – imagine Final Fantasy Tactics or X-Com if you controlled entire battle groups instead of individual units. The game revolves around a medieval setting with some fantasy elements sprinkled in, and the hand-drawn 2D graphics are bursting with charm. The UI, specially made for touchscreens, is worthy of special attention. The game is $10 with no in-app purchases.
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Experience the award-winning wargame, Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion, where epic fantasy and turn-based strategy unite. Upheaval and chaos approaches the ancient Empire of the Raven. In the world of Eclisse, the ruling Empire of Estellion is besieged by a scourge of embittered zealots from the swamp nation of Kaysan, erased from history by the Empire’s hubris.
Crimsonland
Android Police coverage: Crimsonland Is Basically Starcraft As A Top-Down Shooter, Complete With Four Player Local Co-Op
Crimsonland is an unapologetically antiquated top-down shooter. The game supports just about everything you could want from an action-packed shoot-em-up: unlimited aliens to kill over sixty missions, 30 weapons, more blood than a vampire kegger, and support for external controllers. It’s relatively expensive at $10, but there are no ads or in-app purchases.
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Thousands of aliens, mutant lizards, giant spiders and more are on the attack – can you survive the onslaught? Crimsonland is an intense and gratifying top-down dual stick shooter from the golden age of arcade action games. Your screen will be filled with literally hundreds of monsters, and must blast them to bits or die trying. Complete sixty quests to unlock a massive array of awesome weapons and abilities, then unleash your arsenal in Survival modes with online leaderboards.
Call of Champions
Android Police coverage: Fast-Paced MOBA Call of Champions Now Doing Battle On Android
Call of Champions is a multiplayer online battle arena, following in the well-trodden footsteps of games like League of Legends. It borrows the top-down 3D battlefields, widely varied and “goofy” player characters, and basic tug-of-war online RTS gameplay, but shrinks the round times down to five minutes to make them more palatable on mobile. The AI also instantly takes over for any players who drop out. Of course it has $100 in-app purchases, because that’s how mobile MOBAs work.
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Call of Champions is the most intense real-time multiplayer battle arena (MOBA) on the phone and tablet. Choose a Champion, recruit a team, smash the enemy, and compete against millions worldwide. The heart-pounding five-minute matches in Call of Champions distill the best of old-school MOBA mechanics like lanes, minions, and item shops into fast-paced tactical brawls, game-changing power-ups, and a tug-of-war with an Orb of Death.
Lifeline 2
The original Lifeline was an interestingly unique take on Choose Your Own Adventure-style storytelling, advancing the narrative through teal-time “talking” with the characters. Lifeline 2 expands on that idea with a new story that follows a young woman on a quest to rescue her brother. The new tale is about twice as long, and the notifications can be read and responded to via Android Wear.
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The second story in the Lifeline series connects you with Arika, a young woman on a deadly quest to avenge her parents and rescue her long-lost brother. Your choices will keep her alive and help her succeed as she faces mortal danger on her way to a final, fateful showdown against the forces that threaten all of humanity.
Tales of a Viking: Episode One
Tales of a Viking is a hexagonal turn-based tactics game, sort of like Great Little War Game with a lot fewer pixels. The setting is a fantasized version of ancient northern Europe – think Marvel’s Thor without the aliens – and the combat focuses on space and direction rather than pure power. A single $1 in-app purchase unlocks the full first episode.
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Tales of a Viking: Episode One is a small-scale turn-based strategy game with rpg elements.
- Tactical battles where every move decision counts.
- Strategy choices when leveling up your heroes.
- Random loot from chests and randomly generated levels provides rich replayability.
- Up to three constant party members under your control.
- Some vicious bosses to fight with. Teamwork is advised.
Digfender
If you can’t go through, go under. That’s the philosophy behind Digfender, or at least it’s the approach that the enemies take. You’ll have to dig out the basement of your fortress in Dig Dug fashion, searching for gems and other goodies. Then the game shifts into tower defense mode as you use your riches to build defensive turrets while the bad guys attack from below. It’s an interesting setup, and though IAPs for currency are present, there are no timers.
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Beneath your castle an enemy lies waiting. Grab your shovel and prepare your defenses. Dig deep into the ground and find valuable treasures and ancient relics to help you on your mission. Then use your loot to build powerful towers, set clever traps and unleash spectacular magic on your enemies.
- Over 60 challenging levels
- 5 upgrade trees to customize your defenses
- Survival mode – challenge your friends to beat your high score
- Leaderboards and achievements
- No paywalls or wait timers
- Digging. Everyone loves digging
Blendoku 2
Blendoku, a novel mix of grid-based puzzles and color theory, is back with a sequel. Like Sudoku, the point is to create a very specific combination of tiles both horizontally and vertically, but this time it’s all about blending shades from dark to light or vice versa. The stages are crossword puzzle-style columns and rows instead of a simple grid. The game is free including 500 levels and multiple play modes, but also has a few in-app purchases.
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Blendoku 2 is a game about colors. Are you a color master? Color virtuoso? Are colors the reason you get up in the morning? If so then you’ll love Blendoku, the palettes and layouts are all hand designed and crafted to test your color skills. Or maybe you’re a color novice? Does the idea of picking colors make you break out in a cold sweat? Well Blendoku is here to help you conquer that fear. Before you know it you’ll be a Color Savant.
Le Havre: The Inland Port
Le Havre is a digital adaptation of a board game that’s all about economics instead of warfare. You play as a trader in a French seaport, competing against another trader, where the only goal is to get as much money as possible. The Android version includes AI opponents and online turn-based multiplayer that allows you to play as quickly or as slowly as you like, a la Words With Friends. It’s five bucks with no in-app purchases.
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Le Havre – The Inland Port: Finally on mobile devices. In the award-winning board game, Le Havre: The Inland Port, you and your opponent compete in order to amass the most wealth by building up the iconic French port of Le Havre. The game can be played locally against the computer, in hot-seat mode or online — competing against friends or global players in order to advance in the rankings. Drop in and out of play anytime and play an unlimited amount of games with your friends simultaneously, when you want, where you want.
Samurai: War Game
This lane-based, real-time strategy game adopts the the tap-and-drag stronghold style that makes more sense than controlling individual units on a touchscreen. The simplified graphics in Samurai: War Game lend themselves well to the simplified gameplay, and the game includes online multiplayer battles. In-app purchases are included, but with a top limit of $10, they’re not all that unreasonable.
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Live the Way of true commander in this free dynamic real-time strategy Samurai: War Game. A long time ago, far far away, samurai land was peaceful and quiet but things have changed. It’s time to fight and choose the best samurai. Attack enemy castles and be ready to stop enemies from getting close to yours. Power up your troops and wisely combine your warriors with powerful cannons. Take on a challenging multiplayer war campaign and develop your conquest strategies in real time. Make your army the strongest.
Heal Them All
Most games have you kill enemies in some form or another. Heal Them All had you helping people instead… by killing a bunch of germs. You’re in control of an artificial immune system fighting back an army of germs in Plants vs. Zombies fashion. The game’s mechanics are pretty simple with only a few power-ups and boss fights mixing it up, but the proceeds from the relatively cheap in-app purchases benefit the Cape of Hope Foundation, a charity that helps kids fight cancer.
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Defend the organism. Vicious germs strike again. Face them and repel the invasion in Heal Them All – an addictive Tower Defense game from the creators of warmly received Sugar High. Commanded by Lieutenant Sicko and General LaPlague, armies of microbes are threatening to attack children and infect their organisms. Face the invaders and wipe them out with medical micro-towers. Smash the waves of bacteria, complete special missions, destroy germ Commanders and use mighty power ups to prevent the fever from rising.
Pro Strategy Football 2015
Most of these sports manager games tend to be either for soccer or some other non-US sport – who knows why Americans prefer pretending to be athletes rather than administrators? In any case, Pro Strategy Football gives you the rare opportunity to manage pigskin team, complete with player drafting, offensive and defensive formation selection, and clock management. The graphics aren’t much, but the in-game field looks a bit like Tecmo Bowl. Unlike offerings from SEGA and Square Enix, this game is $5 with no in-app purchases.
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You’ve been waiting for a *strategy* football game, a game where you win by knowing football, not by having the twitchiest fingers, a game where you’re not limited to canned plays in someone else’s playbook, but where you can tweak any part of your offense or defense every single down. If you love American Football strategy, welcome to Pro Strategy Football 2015. If flexibility, strategy, realism, and stats are what you’re looking for, you’ve found it all here.
Car Toons
Car Toons is a physics-based puzzle game – it’s a bit of a mix between Trials and something like Amazing Alex. The objective is to knock the “bad” cars off the stage to their untimely deaths (which raises some interesting moral questions, if these are Pixar-style sentient machines) or simply to cross several obstacles and get across the stage. IAP for “tow trucks” allow you to easily clear tough levels.
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Clear the Road with a Wicked 80’s Rescue Squad. After more than a decade of service, the CAR TOONS have been written off as scrap metal. However, today an emergency call from the government brings them back into action. Gangster Cars are all around and terrorizing the streets. This situation requires some serious measures, which only the CAR TOONS and their “unconventional” methods can deliver.
Word²
Word² is an interesting mix of crosswords and word searches, tasking the player with finding and unscrambling one or more words in a grid. But the trick is that each word appears twice, both horizontally and vertically, making each puzzle a process of elimination as well as a linguistic conundrum. $2 gets you in with access to 80 puzzles (so far), but hints can be purchased to get past the tougher boards.
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Word² is a challenging game where you must unscramble each word not just once, but twice. Inspired by word squares which date well into ancient times, each square contains words in pairs that can be read both horizontally and vertically. Words are scrambled and your objective is to use hints, clues and logic to decipher each square.
▪ Each row/column pair have the same word
▪ Colorful, minimalist aesthetic
▪ Brightness and pastel color options
▪ Beautiful, meditative custom soundtrack
▪ 80 puzzles ranging from 3×3 up to 6×6 ones
▪ Near-impossible 7×7 squares coming soon.
