10 best sandbox games for Android

People love sandbox games because of their wide open atmosphere and casual game play. In this round up, we’ll take a look at the best Android sandbox games.

best sandbox games
Sandbox games are a different kind of fun. Instead of focusing on linear game play mechanics and level design, sandbox games allow you to explore open worlds. You can interact with the entire game space, play as you choose, and engage with story only if you want to. A lot of people prefer them over regular games because of their freedom. Here are the best sandbox games for Android!

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Crashlands

Price: $4.99
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Crashlands burst onto the scene in 2016 and immediately became one of the best sandbox games out there. In this title, you play as an intergalactic trucker. The game starts with you stuck on a random planet. Your job is to defeat bad guys, craft items, and build yourself a home away from home. There is also a quest line where you can save the world while retrieving all of the packages you lost. It’s a huge game that also doesn’t take itself too seriously. You’ll have to shell out $4.99 to play it but there are also no in-app purchases.
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The Escapists

Price: $3.99
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The Escapists is one of the newer sandbox games. You play as an inmate in prison. Your goal is to move about, collect and craft items, engage with inmates and guards, and eventually escape. You also have to follow the prison’s rules so your stash isn’t discovered. Aside from following the rules, you have free reign to do whatever you want. It also features retro graphics. That can be good or bad depending on what you think about retro graphics. It’s $3.99 with no in-app purchases.
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Goat Simulator series

Price: $4.99 each
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The Goat Simulator series is a collection of sandbox games that definitely don’t take themselves too seriously. The core premise is that you play as a goat in a world where the laws of physics simply don’t apply. Most of the game worlds are highly interactive and you’ll earn points by doing a variety of different stunts, maneuvers, and tasks. There are four games available, each with their own special flavor. The only potential bad thing about these games are that they generally don’t have a story or any real purpose. You just play.
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Godus

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Godus is an open-world simulator where you essentially play god. Your job is to keep watch over a civilization as they grow. The entire world is at your whim. That means you can help or hinder progress as you see fit. When it comes with interacting with society, you can be a just and loving creator, or you can hurl meteors at them. The choice is yours. It had a rough start at first However, it seems to be a relatively stable game these days. It’s a freemium game in case that matters to you.
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Grand Theft Auto series and Bully

Price: Varies
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Grand Theft Auto games are some of the most popular sandbox games of all time. They’re also pretty fantastic. On mobile, you have five overall options, including Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, San Andreas, and the more recently released GTA: Liberty City Stories and Chinatown Wars. Additionally, Bully was released in late 2016 and it plays a lot like a GTA title. All five games follow a similar formula where you play as a character and you can drive around entire cities to do as you please. There is a linear story that you can follow along with a ton of side quests. Or you can just mow people down for fun. The option is yours and the games are relatively inexpensive for how much content they provide.
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Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Price: $6.99 with in-app purchases
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Minecraft another of the most popular sandbox games of all time. For those who have been living under a rock, Minecraft is a game where you mine things, build things, kill things, and use your creativity to its maximum. Players from all over the world have enjoyed the game and its mobile version actually isn’t half bad. It doesn’t have all of the features of the main games, but it’s slowly making its way there and Microsoft has plans for its future. It’s getting better very frequently and it’s still fun to play.
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Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath

Price: $2.99
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Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath is an action platformer with an open world and tons of stuff to do. The developers boast a 20 hour experience that includes towns, various landscapes, and industrial facilities for you to explore. It also boasts a rather unique FPS style game play that turns into a third-person platformer when you’re not in combat. On top of all of that, the game comes with fully customizable controls, a quirky storyline, boss fights, and HID gamepad support. It’s also quite cheap right now. It’s not one of the purest sandbox games. However, it is pretty good.
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Payback 2

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Payback 2 is one of the more underrated sandbox games. The idea is fairly similar to something like Twizted Metal. You drive a car in an area where other people are also driving. Your goal is to destroy them. It also includes the ability to race helicopters, fight tanks, race cars, and much more. It includes over 50 campaign events, custom events, and more. You essentially drop in and start doing stuff. It’s actually a whole lot of fun. You can try it out for free, but it is a freemium game so do keep that in mind.
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Terraria

Price: $4.99
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Terraria is one of the older sandbox games and it’s definitely one of the best. A popular way to describe the game is as a 2D Minecraft. Much like Minecraft, you’ll spend your time building things, mining for resources, crafting items, and killing bad guys. Unlike Minecraft, Terraria has boss fights, over 450 unique enemies, over 30 pets, and more. It’s a title that takes the open world concept very seriously and there is always something to do. It’s relatively inexpensive and you can demo the game for free.
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Titan Quest

Price: $8.99
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Titan Quest is an action RPG that was released in 2016. It features a huge world that you can explore and it’s joined with action RPG elements that will have you killing bad guys, leveling up and customizing your character, and collecting tons of gear. There is a linear story that you can follow. It faithfully recreates some famous ancient civilizations, including Greece, Egypt, Babylon, and China. It was insanely good on PC back in 2006 and it’s shaping up to be one of the best sandbox games as well. It’s a little expensive at $8.99, but there are no in-app purchases.
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5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly

The 209th Android Apps Weekly is out! This week we talk about a few awesome new games, the Material Design Awards, and more Android apps and games news!

Android Apps Weekly featured image
Welcome to the 209th edition of Android Apps Weekly! Here are the headlines from the last week:

  • Google Chrome is changing how auto-play videos work. Starting January 2018, the app will no longer allow auto-play videos to play unless they’re muted. Additionally, it lets you mute entire websites. That should persist even if you close the app. They seem like minor changes. However, with auto-play ads being more popular than ever, this will be a welcome change.
  • YouTube TV announced eight new markets this week. They include Albuquerque, Austin, Birmingham, Greenville, Norfolk, Portland, Raleigh, and Sacramento. The new markets brings the total up to 49 total cities with YouTube TV support. Cleveland, Ohio and Grand Rapids, Michigan should be good to go in a couple of weeks.
  • Google handed out their Material Design Award winners this week. Some of the winners include Blinklist, Eventbrite Organizer, NPR One, and Momondo. The annual award is for the apps with the best Material Design interface. Functionality usually doesn’t matter as much for these awards. However, all of these are actually pretty decent.
  • Square Enix announced a new mobile game this week. It’s King’s Knight, the game the characters play in Final Fantasy XV. The game is a top-down shooter with a fantasy theme. It’s going to be a freemium game. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. We don’t know about the release date just yet.
  • Google is allegedly investing over $1 billion in Lyft. That’s interesting because they did the same for Uber back in 2013. The move would allow Lyft a variety of new business opportunities, including expansion into other countries outside of the U.S. It would certainly help keep Uber from running a worldwide monopoly on transportation. The deal isn’t official yet, but it could happen any time.

For even more Android apps and games news, updates and releases, check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here! You can also sign up with the form below. Lastly, click here to get the Android Authority app for faster news updates!

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Android Apps Weekly newsletter!
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Gemini

Price: $1.99
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Gemini is a new atmospheric adventure game. You play as a star. You find a second star and together you do a bunch of stuff. It features simple controls, fun visuals, and a decent soundtrack. It plays mostly like a runner. However, it doesn’t really feel like one. It’s not too difficult. Most people should be able to pick this one up and play it. It runs for a very reasonable $1.99 with no in-app purchases or advertising.
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Hurricane Impact

Price: $3.99
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Hurricane Impact is the official app of HurricantTrack.com. It offers up news, updates, and other data about potentially upcoming hurricanes. The news comes in the form of blog and Twitter posts. They also offer live cams of hurricanes in progress when available. There is video content and hurricane statistics to round out a decent set of features. The interface is fairly antiquated. Those who prefer good design may not like it. Otherwise, it’s a decent little app. It runs for $3.99 with no in-app purchases.
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Hurricane Impact

Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked

Price: $3.99
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Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked is the latest game in the popular survival franchise. This one takes place near a beach after a shipwreck. Your goal is to literally survive. That includes finding food, building shelter, and defending yourself against various bad things. You can also craft a boat and explore the sea around you. It’s every bit as fun as the first one. It is in beta, though. That means there are bugs. It currently runs for $3.99 with no in-app purchases.
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AMOLED mnml X

Price: Free
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AMOLED mnml X is a wallpaper app. The app has wallpapers that work best on AMOLED and OLED displays. They are mostly black with a splash of color or some other fun little designs. The collection isn’t overly impressive yet. However, there is enough there to find something decent for the time being. The wallpapers are high quality. They should work on any modern phone screen. The app is currently free and supported by advertisements.
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AMOLED mnml X

Iron Marines

Price: $4.99 with in-app purchases
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Iron Marines is the latest game from Ironhide Game Studio. They also did the popular Kingdom Rush franchise of tower defense games. This one is also a tower defense game. It features a 14-mission campaign, various heroes to unlock, upgrades, and a bunch of bad guys and towers to play with. There are also additional levels called Special Operations. They add a bit of a puzzle aspect to the game. It runs for $4.99 with in-app purchases. That might be the only part about the game we’re not thrilled about.
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10 best Android Wear games

You wouldn’t expect it, but there are already some pretty decent games for smartwatches. Check out the best Android Wear games!

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best Android Wear games
Yes, there are games for Android Wear. Admittedly, they’re a little difficult to play so most of the better titles include easy controls and simple ideas, but gaming on your Android Wear device can actually be fun. Some of the games are new and some are old. Most of these should work with most watches. Here are the best Android Wear games currently available.


2048 Android Wear

Price: Free
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2048 Android Wear is a wearable spin on a classic mobile game. The game requires you to combine tiles with the same number. That makes a new number. You repeat this process until you cannot go any further. It’s deceptively difficult once you get in and play for a bit. The controls translate well to a watch as well. There are a few variants of this on Google Play. Thus, if this one doesn’t work, we recommend trying a different one. They’re all basically the same Android Wear games. This one is free with no in-app purchases or ads.
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2048 Android Wear

Emerald Chess for Android Wear

Price: $1.33
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Yes, you can play Chess on Android Wear. Emerald Chess is a simple chess game with simple graphics and easy controls. The small screen can make controls a little difficult. It’s something you learn over time. There is a local multiplayer mode. Simply pass the watch back and forth to your opponent. It also features an AI with a few different difficulties. It’s $1.33 and has no in-app purchases. Its last update was in 2016. It may not work so well with newer watches. Make sure you try it within the refund time!
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Infinity Loop

Price: Free / Up to $2.49
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Infinity Loop is another simple puzzle game. The game gives you a bunch of lines. You have to flip them around until they form an infinite loop shape. This one is actually a standard mobile phone game. However, it does have Android Wear support. The mechanics are very simple. You just tap on stuff to flip it around. Thus, control on Android Wear is top notch. The game is free with some very inexpensive in-app purchases. It’s definitely among the better Android Wear games.
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Ingress

Price: Free
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Most people moved on to Pokemon Go. However, when it comes to Android Wear games, Ingress still reigns supreme. For those who have never played, Ingress is a live multiplayer game where you must travel (literally) to various destinations around your city to hack and maintain portals. There is an opposing team that will try to do the same to you. The game is free with in-app purchases. Really, though, the charm is having a game on your watch that you can play almost anywhere.
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Lifeline and Lifeline 2: Bloodline

Price: $1.99 each
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Lifeline and Lifeline 2: Bloodline are text RPGs by 3 Minute Games. They have no graphics so it’s all narrative. You play as a radio operator of some sort. The player receives communications from someone in a lot of trouble. Your goal is to make the right decisions. The right decisions keep the NPC alive while the wrong ones kill him. The games translate extremely well to Android Wear. We would even go so far as to say that these are among the top two or three best Android Wear games. Each one is $1.99 with no in-app purchases.
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Lifeline and Lifeline 2: Bloodline


Nougat Land

Price: Free
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Nougat Land is a very simple game. It’s actually just a port of the Easter egg game from Android 7.0 Nougat. That was just a riff on the popular Flappy Bird game from years ago. A little Android thing will float through the air. Your goal is to keep it in the air and also from hitting obstacles. It plays exceptionally well on Android Wear. After all, it only has one control and it’s tap to jump. The game is free with no in-app purchases. There are ads, but they’re not bad. This is also one of the few Android Wear games that supports Android Wear 2.0.
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Nougat Land

PaperCraft

Price: Free
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PaperCraft is a simple shooting game. It’s actually a simpler take of the popular Asteroids game. You play as a little piece of paper. Your goal is to destroy the onslaught of bad guys. The controls work surprisingly well on a watch. It also looks clean and colorful. The game also includes Google Play Games leaderboards. Its last update was in late 2016. Thus, we’re not sure how well it works on newer watches. It’s free to download, though.
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PaperCraft

Space War

Price: $0.99
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Space War is one of the interesting Android Wear games. It’s a top-down shooter. You fly a plane and shoot down as many bad guys as possible. The controls are simple enough. You tap the left or right sides of the screen to move. Tapping the center of the screen fires your weapons. It features 12 levels and support for both round and square screens. It does run for $0.99 in the Play Store. We recommend giving it a good test before the refund time expires!
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Space War

Tilt

Price: Free
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Tilt is one of the most unique Android Wear games out there. It is equal parts Android Wear game and augmented reality game. You use your phone’s camera to look at your watch. Your watch then turns into a game board. The goal of the game is to keep the ball on the AR platform. This one is going to blow a ton of battery on both the watch and your phone. However, it’s just so cool to see in action. The game is completely free with no in-app purchases.
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Wear Maze

Price: Free
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Wear Maze is a simple maze puzzle game. Your goal is to find the right path before time expires. The controls are easy enough to learn as well. The game also features 25 levels. There isn’t much more to say about it. It’s just a very simple game with very simple mechanics. It also just works. There is support for both square and circle displays. Otherwise, that’s about it for this one. It’s a free game with no ads or in-app purchases. It’s also great for kids.
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Wear Maze

15 best Android TV games

If you picked up the Nexus Player or Android TV device to play some games, you’ll want to check out these awesome Android TV games!

best android tv games
Android TV’s release was exciting. Here was a platform that was more stable than Google TV and the developer community responded in kind by developing some awesome stuff for it. A little time has passed and although the adoption rate isn’t quite there yet, the apps and games available for Android TV have only been improving. Here are the best Android TV games currently available! Please note, you’ll need a hardware controller for all of these!

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Final Fantasy III, IV, V, VI, and IX

Price: Varies
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Square Enix hit the mobile gaming landscape at a full sprint. They have a ton of games on Android. Some of them are even Android TV games. They include the ports of Final Fantasy III, IV, V, VI, and IX. Other parts of the series may be compatible as well. Each game features 20-30 hours of story line, multiple side quests, good soundtracks, and simple mechanics. The controller support is generally good with all of them as well. They are expensive. However, they are also among the best jRPGs on mobile. Doom and Destiny is another good jRPG on Android TV.
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Grand Theft Auto (five games)

Price: $4.99-$6.99 each
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Rockstar Games made many of their GTA games available on Android. They’re also among the best Android TV games available. Each one has large worlds, long story lines, and tons of side quests. You can run around and do pretty much whatever you want. The lineup currently includes five total GTA games. Three of them are console ports and the other two are mobile games. They also have a port of the game Bully. However, that one only works on some devices and we’re not sure if that includes Android TV at the moment. They’re also relatively inexpensive with no in-app purchases.
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Inferno 2

Price: $0.99
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Inferno 2 is an arcade shooter with tons of explosions, colors, and action. In this one, you play as a space ship and you must destroy all kinds of stuff. It’s vaguely reminiscent of the original Geometry Wars. The graphics are minimal so it should run smoothly pretty much all the time and the game itself includes over 80 levels, a New Game mode, Google Play Games services (achievements), various difficulties, tons of bad guys, and more. It doesn’t have a storyline, which is indicative of an arcade title, but there are still tons of things to do and you’ll be playing this one for a while.
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King of Fighters ’98

Price: $2.99
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King of Fighters ’98 is a retro fighting game. Most mobile fighting games are freemium titles without most basic fighting mechanics. This game doesn’t have those problems. It features 38 playable characters, local multiplayer mode, and more. Otherwise, it’s like its original arcade counterpart was. The game runs for $2.99 with no in-app purchases. The retro graphics show their age. However, this is still among the best Android TV games.
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NBA Jam

Price: $4.99
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NBA Jam is a classic arcade basketball game that was originally released in the 1990’s. This game allows you to play two-on-two basketball where you score baskets, shove your opponents around, and hopefully go on fire. You go on fire by making three unanswered baskets by the same player and you’ll get a sizable stat boost for doing it. The game has online and local multiplayer modes along with a single player campaign. It’s one of the best sports games on Android and it works great on Android TV.
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NBA Jam


Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee

Price: $2.99
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Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee is another older game that’s been remastered and re-released on Android. Since this was a console game in a past life, it being turned into a game for Android TV seemed natural. In this one, you play as Munch, a frog-like creature whose species has been fished to near extinction and now is going to take revenge with their side-kick, Abe. It’s a quirky story with plenty of grungy humor and you’ll have plenty of things to do. It’s a good adventure game and one of the top Android TV games.
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PewDiePie: Legend of Brofist

Price: $4.99
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PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist is actually a pretty decent little platformer. It features voice acting from the venerable YouTube star along with cameo appearances from other YouTube stars. The game also requires a bit of skill to play, but you’ll get better as you progress. It features epic boss fights, unlockable characters, some decent retro-style music, and various difficulty levels to keep things interesting. It’s a lot of fun, has no in-app purchases, and more. It’s definitely one of the better Android TV games.
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PewPew 2

Price: $2.57
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PewPew 2 is another minimal arcade shooter with tons of action, tons of colors, and plenty of stuff to blow up. It’s a top-down shooter at heart and you’ll have to deal with tons of neon colored enemies and obstacles that are always trying to kill you. Unlike most arcade style games, this one comes with a storyline which is always nice to have. You also have nine game modes, various ships to unlock, a full campaign mode, achievements, and, of course, Android TV support. It’s inexpensive and also has no in-app purchases which makes it a must-try game.
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Real Racing 3

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Real Racing 3 is one of only a few competently done racing games that are available on Android TV. This one is a freemium game which will no doubt chase some away, but thankfully it makes up for it by having beautiful graphics and tons of content. The game contains 140 cars, 17 tracks to race through, full-featured online multiplayer modes, and more. It’s been one of the best racing games for many years and it being one of the Android TV games that you can play is icing on the sundae. Just watch out for those in-app purchases.
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Super Phantom Cat

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Super Phantom Cat is a cute little platform game. It pay homage to the 8-bit and 16-bit platformers of yesteryear. The game features unlockable characters, plenty of levels, and other popular platform elements. It even has customizable controls, bonus levels, and more. It is technically a freemium game. However, nothing gets more expensive than $1.99. That’s extremely tame for a freemium title. It’s a great Android TV game and it’s even family friendly.
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Telltale Games collection

Price: Varies with in-app purchases
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Telltale Games have made some of the more enjoyable games of the last few years. They’re known for hits like Minecraft Story Mode, The Walking Dead, games, Wolf Among Us, and more. They have eleven Android TV games in total and each one utilizes episodic mechanics. That means you get the first chapter when you download the game and you have to purchase more. The games have good storylines, decent puzzles, and pretty good graphics as well. All eleven games should have Android TV support which would make them all excellent Android TV games. Several of them will give you the first episode for free so you can try them out before you buy the rest of the adventure.
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This War of Mine

Price: $14.99
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This War of Mine is one of the best Android games available today and was our choice for the best Android game of 2015. In this survival game, you play as innocent civilians caught in the grips of a city at war. Your job is to survive the encounter while losing as few people as possible. The game forces you to make some tough decisions and some pundits have even said the game “isn’t fun”, but totally worth playing anyway. It’s a little expensive, but it’s an unforgettable experience and is among the best Android TV games available, period.
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Unkilled

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Unkilled is among the best FPS games released in the last couple of years. It’s a zombie shooter which means most of your gameplay will be missions where you must go and destroy some bad guys. It features a ton of bad guys, zombie bosses, and hundreds of levels to play through. Updates in 2016 added in online multiplayer support so you can now get online and play with others if you choose to. The graphics are phenomenal and we all know that that first person shooters are better played with actual controllers. It’s a freemium game which isn’t optimal, but it’s still pretty fun.
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Xenowerk

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Xenowork is a surprisingly decent freemium shooter. Your goal is to run around levels while blasting bad guys and doing other stuff. It features upgradeable gear, colorful levels, special powers, and even Google Play Games achievements and leaderboards. There are also 70 levels, simple mechanics, and other stuff as well. Top-down shooters aren’t as popular as their first-person counterparts. However, we think this one is pretty decent anyway.
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Two Yodo1 Games titles

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Yodo1 Game is a popular developer on Google Play. They have done a number of games, including Crossy Road, Shooty Skies, Pac-Man 256, and several others. Two of their games are also Android TV games. Crossy Road is an infinite runner. You must cross roads, streams, etc without dying. Pac-Man 256 is an infinite runner take on the popular Pac-Man franchise. You must outrun the glitch in the system in order to keep eating pellets. Both of them can be played without a game pad using your Android TV’s remote. That’s pretty neat.
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15 best arcade games for Android

Arcade games are known for their addictive game play and their challenge. If that sounds like something you want, here are the best arcade games on Android!

Geometry Wars 3 best arcade games for android
For a long time, arcade games were among the most popular in the world. They usually have short play times, consistent challenge, and simple game play. Some popular examples from mobile’s early days include Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Doodle Jump. The result is a highly addictive, enjoyable experience that gives players the urge to keep going. Arcade games on mobile aren’t quite the same as their coin-operated predecessors, but they can still provide a good time. Here are the best arcade games for Android!

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Arkanoid vs Space Invaders

Price: $3.99
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Arkanoid vs Space Invaders is a mash-up of two popular arcade games. You get the ball bouncing fun of Arkanoid along with the assault tactics of Space Invaders. The game features 150 stages, 20 power ups, boss fights, and tons of action. There are also 40 unlockable characters. Each one has their own abilities. There is even a hard mode for those who like challenges. It runs you $3.99. However, there are no in-app purchases or advertisements.
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Asphalt 8: Airborne and Xtreme: Rally Racing

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Gameloft makes really decent racing arcade games. Their hallmark series is the Asphalt franchise. The mechanics are fairly similar between titles. You move your phone to turn the cars. There are tons of races, a campaign mode, and plenty of cars to unlock. Asphalt 8: Airborne is a classic racing game. Asphalt Xtreme is a little different. It takes place on off-road maps with off-road vehicles. Either one should provide hours of fun. They are freemium games, though, and that will get annoying eventually.
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CSR Racing 2

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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CSR Racing 2 is a drag-racing game with excellent graphics, simple game play, and tons of stuff to do. The premise is that you must drag race your way to the top of the ranks and dominate the competition. The game features cars from actual manufacturers along with a variety of customization options to help give the game some depth. You’ll also get an online multiplayer mode and a enough single player campaign missions to keep things interesting for a while. This is one of those really quick arcade games that you can pick up, play for a few minutes, and then put it down if needed.
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Fatal Fury Special

Price: $3.99
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Fatal Fury is one of the classic arcade games. By that, we mean that it was an actual, real life arcade game in the 1990’s. The mobile version does a good job bringing that experience to a touch screen. It has all of the original characters, levels, and move sets as before. They also added some extra stuff like local multiplayer and more. SNK Corporation (the developer) actually has a few arcade fighters. They’re all pretty decent. We have their developer page linked up on the button above.
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Five Nights at Freddy’s (5 games)

Price: Free demo / $2.99
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Five Nights at Freddy’s is a series of horror arcade games. Your goal is to not get murdered by possessed animatronics. Each game has its own variation of the mechanics. With some, you’ll be hanging out in a restaurant with security cameras and in others, you’ll be playing in a bedroom with a flashlight. The games are relatively short and the mechanics are simple, but there is a challenge there that should be entertaining for many. There are also a lot of Easter eggs that hint at a deeper story. It’s fun and relatively inexpensive.
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Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions

Price: $9.99
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Geometry Wars was one of the most iconic and popular arcade games on Xbox. This latest version is also available on Android. The idea is that you play on a geometrically themed game board while you blow up tons of bad guys in epic, colorful explosions. This iteration contains over 100 levels across 15 stages (called grids). There are also six companion drones to choose from, five super abilities to choose from, and game pad support. There is also support for Android TV. It’s a tad more expensive than most, but there are no in-app purchases.
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NBA Jam

Price: $4.99
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NBA Jam is another one of those mobile arcade games that was also an actual arcade game. The mobile version has been faithfully recreated and it plays just like the old versions used to. You’ll be playing two-on-two basketball either by yourself with three AI players, with a second person on local multiplayer, or up to four players online. The rules allow for things like shoving. That helps make things a little more interesting. Goaltending is still illegal, though. It’s relatively inexpensive and a good game to play with friends.
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NBA Jam

Noodlecake Studios

Price: Varies
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Noodlecake Studios is a developer on Google Play. They have several really good arcade games. Some of their better titles include Alto’s Adventure, Punch Quest, Super Stickman Golf, Bitcoin Billionaire, and others. They have plenty of non-arcade titles that are just fantastic as well. The games are usually easy to play, inexpensive, and fun. They also have a myriad of themes, including sports, fighting, and others. We have their collection linked up with the button above.
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Noodlecake Studios

PewDiePie: Legend of Brofist

Price: $4.99
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Like him or hate him, PewDiePie has a pretty decent mobile game to his name. Legend of the Brofist contains a mash-up of genres including platformer and shooter. It adds variety to the experience. It’s full of pop culture and YouTube references and you can even unlock and play as other popular YouTubers. The game itself features various levels, boss fights, secret treasures, and a hard mode. It’s a shockingly decent game, actually. It runs for $4.99 with no in-app purchases.
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PewPew 2

Price: $2.57
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PewPew 2 is a retro style shooter. It has minimal graphics, arcade mechanics, and one of the most difficult hard modes we’ve seen. It’s a top-down shooter and your job will be blowing up all of the bad guys on the screen. There are nine game modes, a single player campaign, boss fights, and more. Under the hood, you have leaderboards with full replays so you can see how the score was obtained, achievements, and the game boasts a solid FPS count. It’s inexpensive and it also works on Android TV.
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SEGA Forever games

Price: Free / $1.99
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SEGA Forever is a collection of old SEGA games. Some of them are also excellent, old arcade games. Some of the options include Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered Beast, Crazy Taxi, Ristar, Golden Axe, and more. Most games have their own set of mechanics. They are, in fact, ports of old console games. They are easily accessible, free to download (with ads), and relatively solid. Each game can be purchased for $1.99 to remove the ads. You can search for SEGA Forever on Google Play to see some of the titles.
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Sky Force Reloaded

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Sky Force Reloaded is an ode to old, top-down shooters. This one has better graphics and mechanics, though. The game includes a campaign mode with many missions. There are also mini-missions, upgrades, power-ups, and more. The mechanics are easy enough to learn. You just glide your finger around to move your plane and shoot bad guys. It’s a freemium title. However, the IAPs aren’t as bad as we’ve seen in other titles.
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Smash Hit and PinOut

Price: Free / $1.99-$2.99 each
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Smash Hit and PinOut are two of the best infinite runner games that we’ve ever seen. Smash Hit is played from the first person perspective. You must throw balls at panes of glass. The number of balls you can throw is also your life total. That adds to the difficulty. PinOut is an infinite runner pinball game. You must continuously launch the ball forward or lose the game. Both games are actually free to play. You can pay $1.99 (Smash Hit) or $2.99 (PinOut) to unlock features like stats, save points, and more. They’re really good arcade games.
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True Skate

Price: $1.99 with in-app purchases
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True Skate is one of the most popular skateboarding games on mobile. The idea is that you play as a disembodied skateboard and your fingers are used to skate around and perform tricks. It features a lot of intangible things that add charm to the game, including wear and tear on the skateboard, slow motion replays, and more. You’ll get some places to skate, but you’ll have to unlock the majority of parks and courses using in-app purchases along with tons of other stuff. The game is really fun, even if the the in-app purchase strategy is rather aggressive.
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Yodo1 Games

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Yodo1 Games has some of the best arcade games for everybody. Their titles are generally inoffensive, easy to play, and great for kids as well as adults. Some of their titles include Pac-Man 256, Crossy Road, Rodeo Stampede, Shooty Skies, Looty Dungeon, and more. Some of those games are under different publishers, but they’re all done by the same people. All the games have similar mechanics. Thus, you can’t go wrong with any of them. Just pick the one that suits the theme you enjoy most!
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5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly

The 207th Android Apps Weekly is out! This week we talk about The Walking Dead in AR, Cortana and Alexa’s new collaboration, and more Android apps news!

Android Apps Weekly featured image
Welcome to the 207th Android Apps Weekly! Here are the biggest headlines from the last week:

  • Google is trying for more standalone Android Wear apps. A big change this week makes standalone apps compatible with Android Wear 1.0. It was available only on Android Wear 2.0 previously. The change also affects iOS with Android Wear. Hopefully this motivates developers to make more Wear apps. The pickings are a little thin. The change will take affect in January of 2018.
  • The Walking Dead: Our World was announced earlier this week. The game is an AR experience. Players can slaughter zombies in the real world wherever they are. There are cameo appearances from the show. They show up to help you kill zombies. There’s no release date just yet. However, it should be sometime soon. Season eight is just around the corner.
  • The Google Play Indie Game Festival finalists were announced this week. Some of the finalists include Crashy Cars, 7 Pin Pool, Star Vikings Forever, Slayaway Camp, Storm Wars, and Topsoil. There are just shy of two dozen total finalists. The event itself takes place on September 23rd. Thus, we only have a couple of weeks until we find out the winners.
  • Amazon Alexa and Cortana have some big updates coming. Namely, they will soon talk to each other. The idea works like this. You can use Windows 10 to tell Cortana to talk to Alexa and vice versa. This collaboration won’t make either better than the competition individually. However, the two combined is definitely the best personal assistant experience out there. That’s assuming they do it right.
  • Google Assistant may be getting a huge feature in Android Oreo. There is code that suggests that third party apps can open Google Assistant. That means you can have the experience without leaving whatever app is open. There are a laundry list of requirements. The app has to work on Oreo, the phone has to be on Oreo, and then developers can add Google Assistant integration.

For even more Android apps and games news, releases, updates, and more, check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here! You can also check out the Android Authority app for even faster updates!

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Gyroscope

Price: Free / $9.99 per month
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Gyroscope is a new fitness tracker app. It claims to be an all-in-one type of service. It features support for a variety of other fitness tracking apps. That includes Fitbit, Google Fit, and several others. You can also add manual data. It then charts your fitness, weight, and other health metrics. The free version comes with the basic stuff. The subscription service adds things like sleep tracking, more in-depth analysis, and more. It’s not bad for what it is. It’s also in beta so the bugs are present.
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Gyroscope

Life on Mars Remake

Price: Free / $1.99
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Life on Mars Remake is a remake of an older game. It came out during the era where Metroid-style shooters were really popular. This one takes you on an adventure on Mars. It plays a lot like games in that era. You explore, find upgrades to your suit, and figure out what happened to the now empty colony on Mars. The controls are a little rough, but the game otherwise plays very well. The developers state a future update will have Bluetooth controllers. We can’t wait for that one.
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Life on Mars Remake

Mixer Create

Price: Free
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Mixer Create is a new mobile app from Microsoft. It lets you live stream whatever you’re doing. It’s for gaming, mostly. However, you can use it for almost anything. This app is meant strictly for creating live streams. Microsoft has a separate app for viewing. You can record either your front or back cameras or your phone screen. In addition, there’s a chat you can use to communicate. It’s new and thus there will be bugs. However, it’s a good step forward for Mixer.
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Mixer Create

The Walking Dead: March To War

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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The Walking Dead: March to War is the latest game in the popular franchise. It’s a multiplayer strategy game. The story follows the March To War story line in the comics. It works like most online RTS mobile games. You build a base, upgrade your stuff, recruit survivors, and combat other players online. It’s a freemium game. There are also some issues that the developers need to straighten out. Otherwise, it has potential to be a lot of fun.
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Amazon Prime Video

Price: Free / $99.99 per year
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Amazon Prime Video isn’t technically a new release. Amazon brought the app back to the Google Play Store after an extended absence. It gives you access to Amazon’s library of video content. That includes TV shows and movies. You can subscribe to additional channels to get more content. That includes a dedicated anime channel, HBO, Showtime, STARZ, and others. It doesn’t have Chromecast support. That’s a big no-no in the video streaming space these days. However, the app otherwise works pretty well.
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Amazon Prime Video

5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week – Android Apps Weekly!

The 206th Android Apps Weekly is out! This week it’s about depression, Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition, no root theming, and more Android apps news!

Android Apps Weekly featured image
Welcome to the 206th Android Apps Weekly! Here are the the headlines from the last week:

  • Android Oreo will get non-root theming. A third party app called Substratum will include the feature. There are some caveats. You have to use a computer to make it work. It also breaks a bit of basic functionality. It’s nothing serious, though. It’s a bit unconventional. However, it’s one step closer to native theming on Android. Plus, Substratum is a fairly excellent app on its own.
  • Telltale Games launched a huge summer sale this week. Included are four The Walking Dead games, both Minecraft: Story Mode titles, The Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, and others. The sale includes the base game as well as the season pass for those titles. That means you can get the whole game at a discount. It might be worth it for adventure game fans.
  • Google is trying to help depressed people. They’re working with the National Alliance of Mental Illness to get people help. Google Searching the right keywords now enables you to take a PHQ-9 test. The results of the test can help determine how depressed one is. It’s not a diagnosis and people should seek a physician if they have bad symptoms. However, it could push people in the right direction and that’s a good thing.
  • Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition this week. It’s essentially a remake of the original game. It has simpler graphics, touch controls, and more. It tells most of the same story as the console version. They appear as episodes similar to Telltale Games titles. There are ten episodes. The first one will be free to download on mobile. The other nine will likely be in-app purchases. Final Fantasy XV proper is coming to PC later this year as well.
  • Android Instant Apps rolled out to 500 million Android devices. Instant Apps are lightweight versions of the full apps. You can use them without downloading the full app. They’re mostly for quick tasks. That way you don’t use up all your storage on apps that you would only use once or twice. In any case, it’s out now. You can check around your Google Play settings to see if you have it.

For even more Android apps and games news, updates, releases, and more, check out this week’s newsletter by clicking here! You can sign up for the newsletter using the form below if you want. You can also click here to check out the Android Authority app for even faster updates!

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Bola

Price: Free / $3.49
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Bola is a new budget manager app. It’s also rather simple. You track your paychecks, expenses, and budget. The goal is to keep yourself appraised of your own spending habits. It also supports multiple currencies, multiple budgets, and cloud syncing. There aren’t a ton of bells and whistles. It does do the basics very right, though. Those who need hardcore expense reports will need to look elsewhere. You can get into the door for free. The full version costs $3.49.
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Cavefall

Price: Free / Up to $9.49
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Cavefall is a new infinite runner. You won’t run in a straight line, though. The player falls infinitely through a cave instead. You tap the screen to jump from side to side. The goal is to get items, avoid obstacles, and kill bad guys for as long as possible. It also includes hidden levels, power-ups, daily challenges, achievements, and leaderboards. It is a freemium game but it won’t ask you to make $99.99 purchases either. It’s not bad for what it is.
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Style Music

Price: Free
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Style Music is an interesting new music app. It does the basic music app stuff. That includes showing you music. It comes with a traditional media player view as well as a folder view. Some other features include Chromecast support, 24-bit FLAC support, and more. The most interesting feature is the ability to stream one of the 50,000 radio stations. This is definitely one of the better apps that can do both radio stations and your library. It’s a bit rough around the edges, though.
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Style Music

Combat 

Combat Squad

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Combat Squad is a new FPS game. It’s about as standard as an FPS title gets on mobile. It comes with a variety of multiplayer modes, including one vs one, five vs five, and seven total game types to play. The graphics use Unreal Engine 4. The game also boasts advanced tactical AI, but we’re sure that’s probably mostly marketing talk. FPS fans should be able to enjoy this one for at least a little while if not longer.
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WallR

Price: Free / $1.99
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WallR is a new HD wallpaper app. It boasts a massive collection of over 100,000 wallpapers. It can also auto-set wallpapers periodically, download wallpapers, and more. You can also have any wallpaper crystallized into a low-poly image for even more options. The free version does little more than let you wander around the app. You have to dish out for the full version in order to play with most of the app’s features.
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WallR

5 Android apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly

The 204th Android Apps Weekly is out! This week we talk about Disney leaving Netflix, a new Titanfall mobile game, and more Android apps news!

Android Apps Weekly
Welcome to the 204th Android Apps Weekly! Here are the headlines from the last week:

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  • Google is no longer the default search engine on Google Chrome in Russia. Users will be able to choose their search engine upon opening the app. This is in response to the lawsuit that cost Google a pretty penny a while back. Hardware partners can still ship with Google apps. However, that is a decision they will have to make. Again, this is only in Russia.
  • Facebook’s Lifestage app is dead. The company removed the app from the Play Store earlier this week. For those who don’t remember, it’s was a Snapchat-style app for high school kids. It never really took off. Additionally, it had been months since its last update. Facebook released a statement saying that it was an educational experience. However, at the end of the day, it was an abject failure.
  • Disney is breaking their deal with Netflix. The media giant decided to withdrawal their titles from the service. They’re going to open two new streaming services using BAMtech as their backend. That’s the same company that does streaming for MLB and others. Netflix is keeping the Marvel TV stuff. That’s good news. However, the rest of it is going to get expensive for Disney fans.
  • Adventure Time games are the flavor of the year it seems. There’s a new one on its way called Adventure Time Champions and Challengers. It’ll feature RPG mechanics, 120 levels, 12 chapters, and more. It’ll almost certainly be a freemium game. You should adjust your expectations accordingly. The game is available for pre-registration now on Google Play.
  • Google is allegedly working on a Snapchat-style news story. It’ll work with the current AMP program along with a new thing called The Stories. The two should provide a collection of slides that people scan scroll through. It won’t deliver the detailed news, but most people read headlines these days anyway. The slides will contain words, images, and video, according to sources. Google neither confirmed or denied the rumors.

For even more Android apps and games news, releases, and updates, click here to check out this week’s newsletter! You can sign up for the newsletter using the form below or check out the Android Authority app for faster updates!
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Voletarium: Sky Explorers

Price: Free / Up to $5.99
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Voletarium: Sky Explorers is a new adventure game. The story goes that two characters seek to find what happened to their ancestors. You’ll traverse a large world while flying. The game lets you design your own flying machines, collect parts for them, and explore around. There are some real life elements to the game. You can check them out if you ever make your way to Europa-Park in Germany.
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Adapticons

Price: Free / $0.99
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Adapticons brings the functionality of Android O’s adaptable icons to most other devices. It allows you to theme almost any icon on your device. You simply pick your icon, pick the shape you want, and the app will make it. You can use it with your stock icons or with icon packs. The only caveat is that you’ll need a launcher that supports custom icons. The free version gives you enough to try out the app. The paid version adds even more options.
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Adapticons

Carmageddon: Crashers

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Carmageddon: Crashers is a new drag racing game. It plays and feels a lot like other drag racing titles such as CSR Racing and others. You’ll time your starts for a boost, then time your shifts in order to gain more momentum. However, you’ll be crashing into your opponents instead of trying to beat their time. They disguise the mechanics well, but it plays like most other drag racing games. It’s also quite buggy. It’s not half bad when it works. We understand if you don’t think it’s original, though.
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Samsung Internet Browser

Price: Free
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Samsung doesn’t put an app in the Play Store often. At least, not ones that compatible with non-Samsung devices. Samsung Internet Browser appears to be an exception. It has a decent set of features. They include extensions, Material Design, a night mode, and more. Many of the extensions won’t work on many devices. However, at least one of the content blockers should. It’s in beta. That means there are bugs and instability. It’s also kind of slow. This one has good bones, though. It could be really good eventually.
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Samsung Internet Browser

Titanfall: Assault

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Titanfall: Assault is the latest game in the popular FPS franchise. This one isn’t an FPS title, though. It’s a real-time strategy game with card collecting mechanics. That means the freemium style is alive and well. The combat is a little more fun than usual in this genre. However, a lot of your success will depend on your card collection. It’s not bad for fans of the series and fans of RTS games. It also has a few bugs like most newer games do.
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10 best Strategy RPGs and Tactical RPGs on Android

Strategy RPGs and tactical RPGs are more obscure genres but they have a loyal fanbase. Let’s look at the best strategy RPGs and tactical RPGs on Android.

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Strategy RPGs and Tactical RPGs are an admittedly niche market. The game play tends to be slower because it focuses more on strategy than it does on sheer action. They operate with a turn-based style of combat and feature a chessboard style map where you move units into tactically advantageous positions to gain the upper hand. There aren’t many available on Android, but some of them are truly excellent. Here are the best strategy RPGs and tactical RPGs on Android!

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Banner Saga 1 and 2

Price: $9.99 each
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The Banner Saga 1 and 2 are two strategy RPGs. They each feature a variety of playable characters, interesting story lines, and solid combat mechanics. Each title has branching story lines and permanent character death. Thus, your decisions matter in both combat and in the story. The second game adds a little bit from the first game, including a new character race. The games are really good for what they are. They go for $9.99 each. However, neither of them have advertising or in-app purchases.
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Dotomchi Games Collection

Price: Free / $0.99 with in-app purchases
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Dotomchi Games has several strategy RPGs worth playing. They include Rebirth of Fortune, Sorceress of Fortune, Mystery of Fortune, Defense of Fortune 2, and Mystery of Fortune 2. They are the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth games in the series. We’re not sure where the first three games are. They all play more or less the same way except Defense of Fortune 2. That one plays a bit more like a tower defense game. They’re inexpensive tactical RPGs. They do have in-app purchases, though. Just a heads up.
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Final Fantasy Tactics: WOTL

Price: $11.99
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Final Fantasy Tactics is definitely among the best strategy RPGs. It first came out in 1997. It features a long, story-driven campaign complete with video cut scenes. Square Enix added characters along with additional cut scenes for more options and enjoyment. There are also additional jobs and missions to play. The only caveat is that players on budget devices seem to be having some crashing issues on certain missions, so make sure to read through the customer reviews before dropping $11.99 on the game.
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Fire Emblem Heroes

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Fire Emblem Heroes is one of the newer strategy RPGs. It’s a freemium version of Nintendo’s popular series. It features a bunch of characters and music from the series. There’s a new story line for you to play through. There are also a few play modes to keep things fresh. The main game maintains the classic tactical RPG mechanics of the original franchise. The game is also very clean and plays well. It does have a character collecting mechanic. That’s popular in current freemium RPGs. Otherwise, everything in the game is surprisingly good.
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Heroes of Steel

Price: $3.99 / Up to $1.99
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Heroes of Steel is a four episode tactical RPG. All four stories add up to about 120 hours of game play. That’s fairly impressive. The game also includes character customization, retro style graphics, tons of loot to find, and a lot more. The combat mechanics are classic tactical RPG, but still pretty simple. It definitely focuses a little more on the narrative. The base game is $3.99. The in-app purchases are for the other four episodes. It is definitely one of the better strategy RPGs.
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HyperDevbox tactical RPGs

Price: Free / Up to $13.99
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HyperDevbox is like the Kemco of strategy RPGs. They have a ton of games in their collection. Some of them include Spectral Souls, Generation of Chaos, Blazing Souls, and Record of Agarest. The games all boast over 100 hours of game play. The graphics are retro. However, they are from a couple of generations up from the 8-bit style of something like Heroes of Steel. Each game has a few extras to differentiate them from the other titles.
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Kingturn series

Price: Free / Up to $4.99
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Kingturn is a series of strategy RPGs that have made a good name for themselves. They feature retro graphics that aren’t the best, but the developers more than make up for it with lengthy, story-driven campaigns. The two main games in the series have more than 130 missions combined. They also include a ton of character classes, abilities, items, gear, and more. It’s not the most complex series of games out there. They do maintain a faster pace than typical tactical RPGs. There is also a newer game in the series. Tactics Maiden is a lot like its predecessors and costs about the same.
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Phantom of the Kill

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Phantom of the Kill is another freemium strategy RPG that isn’t half bad. The game features dozens of playable characters. You’ll have to collect them like most tactical RPGs. There is also a fairly basic, but entertaining storyline for players to play through. The game boasts Playstation era graphics along with anime-style cutscenes, both of which set it apart from other freemium titles. There is also an online PVP mode where you can battle people. It’s not an overly remarkable title, but all of its elements are solid.
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Shadowrun series

Price: $1.99 / $2.99
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The Shadowrun series is from a tabletop game from the 1980’s. There are two titles available for Android. They are Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun Returns. Both of them follow a cyberpunk fantasy format where you’ll have things like elves and magic, but it takes place is pseudo-futuristic, dystopian cities. The games both boast long single-player campaign modes, various character classes, tons of weapons and armor, and more. Neither game has in-app purchases, which is good news. The games seem to longer receive updates. You’re on your own if you find a bug.
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Terra Battle

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Terra Battle is a unique tactical RPG that does things a little bit differently. The core mechanics are the same as other strategy RPGs, but with scaled back graphics and faster battle mechanics. There are also things like bonus items on the map to give you an advantage over your opponent. Like most, you’ll still have various characters and classes that you can collect, upgrade, and customize. Terra Battle boasts hundreds of game maps and hundreds of characters to collect. The composure is Nobuo Uematsu, popular for his work on the Final Fantasy franchise. It’s a freemium game with typical freemium elements which seems to be one of the only bad things about the game.
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The next step in mobile graphics looks like a game changer (literally)

A new category of gaming is emerging on mobile – high fidelity games. These are graphically intensive games that push the GPU to the max.

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Gaming is huge, over $100 billion per year huge, according to a recent report published by Newzoo. And mobile gaming is a significant chunk of that. In 2017 it is estimated that mobile games will generate $46.1 billion. As you can imagine, every game developer wants a slice of that pie.

Games come in all shapes and sizes. For example, Google Play has 17 different subcategories for mobile gaming from Action to Trivia. From a hardware point of view, games fall into two distinct categories: those that take advantage of a device’s GPU and those that don’t ask much of the GPU. The latter includes the majority of simple 2D games, whereas the former is dominated by 3D games.

However there is a new category of gaming which is emerging on both Android and iOS. Games that push the GPU to the max. Graphically intensive games (also known as high fidelity games) are pushing mobile gaming towards experiences previously only seen on consoles.

High fidelity

High fidelity games aren’t just first person shooters, here you will also find racing games, Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs) and all types of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games.

To classify as high fidelity, a game needs to exhibit the following types of features:

  • Advanced 3D graphics with high vertex counts
  • Complex vertex and fragment shaders
  • Sophisticated gameplay possibly including AI controlled characters
  • Sustained high levels of GPU demand

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In the West, these high fidelity games account for between 5% and 10% of the top grossing games, while in China it is more than 40%.

In North America 45 of the top 200 Android games are high fidelity games including titles like Madden NFL, CSR Racing 2 and World of Tanks Blitz. In Europe, that number is higher where 60 of the top 200 games are high fidelity. Popular gaming apps for Europe include Real Racing 3 and Need for Speed No Limits.

However the real high fidelity game aficionados are the Chinese, where 134 of the top 200 games can be considered high fidelity. In 2016 more than 42% of the top grossing game revenues went to high fidelity games in China.

Which GPU?

To succeed as a high end, high fidelity game, any given title needs to be optimized to get the best results from the GPU without killing the battery.

One of the strengths of the Android ecosystem is the diversity of devices available. From flagship smartphones to inexpensive tablets and from TVs to Auto, Android is everywhere. Today you can even run Android apps on Chrome OS.

Inside these Android devices there are different SoCs (System-on-a-Chip) however they all have a few things in common. First of all, 99.5% of these SoC use CPUs built on the ARM architecture. Secondly they all include a GPU.

SoCs from Samsung, Huawei, MediaTek and Xiaomi are all prime examples of processors with ARM based CPUs and advanced GPUs.

50% of all smartphones use a Mali GPU from ARM. It is the GPU of choice for all the SoC makers listed above. Latest generation Mali GPUs are found in the flagship Samsung Exynos, and Huawei Kirin SoCs, while high efficiency Mali GPUs are built into the MediaTek Helios and Xiaomi Surge processors.

Optimizing for ARM Mali GPUs ensures that a high fidelity game developer covers a large portion of popular Android devices. But it isn’t only about the popularity of the Mali GPU.

ARM has a suite of Mali optimization tools that can be used to reduce the GPU bandwidth requirement (and so save battery power) as well as enhance gameplay. These tools use advanced 3D rendering techniques to maximize the efficiency of Mali GPUs.

One such advanced technique is called deferred shading and it is a common rendering method used in high fidelity games. Using deferred shading the geometry is decoupled from the lighting and when used with Pixel Local Storage it allows the reuse of tile buffers between rendering passes. The result is a decrease in bandwidth and higher efficiency.

Because the scene geometry is decoupled from the lighting then each light source is only computed for those pixels that are actually affected by that source. This means that many lights can be added to a scene without a significant performance hit. Exactly what is needed for high fidelity games!

Wrap-up

While simplistic games will always have a place on mobile, the new frontier in terms of technology and in terms of game revenues is graphically intensive games. These games push the boundaries of mobile gaming. You can find out more about the ‘Growth of High Fidelity Mobile Gaming’ in Newzoo’s report.

Over the next few years we are going to see more high fidelity games appear on the Play Store and increased competition between GPU makers to dominate this segment.

ARM Mali GPUs are well positioned in this new segment because of the advanced nature of the Mali GPU hardware, its support for the latest APIs (like OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan), its popularity among mobile device makers, and its optimization tools.