The holiday season is right on our doorstep! November and December are the two most festive months in North America, but they fun comes with a big downside for many: long plane, car, or bus trips. Luckily these days everyone has a mobile phone to keep themselves entertained.
Some games are better than others, and the Android market is overflowing with both great and not so great games. No two games are equal, and some are definitely more worth your time than others.
Ahead are five Android games you need to give a shot while you're trying not to drift to sleep during a long car ride. Tower defense, puzzle, RPG.. these games were made to be played. And hard.
Alphabear
Do you like puzzles? Cute stuff? Scrabble?
If you answered "No" to any of those, I don't care. You should still try it.
Lovingly crafted by developer Spry Fox, Alphabear tests your puzzling and spelling abilities, all while bombarding you with some seriously adorable bears.
Alphabear is a fairly difficult game unless you've got some serious spelling skills and can plan your letter usage effectively. Not to mention carefully choosing the ideal bears to topple the more difficult stages.
This one's a definite keeper for fans of puzzle and word games and it can take a lot longer than a five hour trip to progress. Don't worry if your data is limited: you can start levels while online, then go offline while doing them.
If this one sounds like a winner to you, hop on over to Google Play and give it a shot.
Zenonia 4 or Zenonia 5
Yeah, yeah. Zenonia S (the sixth game) is out -- but it's hard to say it's better than 4 or 5. It's just not the same kind of game.
The Zenonia series has been one of the most popular free to play action RPGs on mobile devices for some time now, and this holiday season is just the time to give it a play (or two) for yourself.
Zenonia 4 and Zenonia 5 give any player a ton to do. There are multiple classes, loads of customization, that oh-so-nice feeling of doing loads of damage to multiple enemies at a time, and fleshed out PvP. The only problem I can see here is enjoying the games too much. But that's hardly a problem, right?
Agar.io
Does this game need an introduction at this point? Maybe.
Agar.io burst onto the browser gaming scene earlier this year, quickly became an international hit, and made its way to Android devices a few months ago. It is, in essence, the perfect popcorn game. As long as you're not very good at it. If you are good at it, you're going to be in it for the long haul.
This is a PvP game where you begin as a tiny cell and (hopefully) grow to a larger cell by eating other, smaller cells. It's as simple as it sounds -- but that simplicity is what makes it so addictive. It's all too easy to get wrapped up in your journey to become huge, and you need practice to regularly get that way.
As always, you can grab Agar.io on Google Play.
Bloons TD Battles
If Bloons TD 5 was free on mobile, I'd recommend that. But TD Battles is the next best thing.
The Bloons TD (tower defense) series has been around for almost as long as I've known about tower defense games, and honestly they've just gotten better with each iteration. The fifth entry to the main series is by far the best of the bunch.
Bloons TD Battles isn't much different from the main games, but it pits players against one another to see who can last the longest. Brute force and strategy are key components here, and it's absolutely an addictive journey into madness. Grab it on Google Play or even play the browser version once you're home. It's 500% worth it.
Puzzle & Dragons
Don't let the trailer fool you: Puzzle & Dragons is pure gaming candy and to play it is to get addicted to it.
As long as you like puzzles.
I have been playing Puzzle & Dragons for over a year. I don't know how I've played for a year, but I have and I'm still going strong.
P&D was the big basis for the typical mobile RPG formula of fights + fusion + stamina. That really sounds unappealing, but it totally is not. There's a ton of strategy in your immediate team planning, stamina usage, long term team goals, and the actual puzzle gameplay itself.
This is certainly a game to be played over a period of months or even years, but the perfect time to start is on a trip with nothing better to do. You push through the tutorial and beginner dungeons and you're on your way -- with stamina to spare.
Give it a shot. GungHo can't advertise to save their lives, but they can create a puzzle game to save a lifetime's worth of boredom.
Published: Nov 22, 2015 07:13 pm