LUSARAP

50 best Android games 2014

While the free-to-play market has taken a bit of a beating of late due to gamers falling out of love with the use of in-app payments, the world of mobile gaming is still an exciting one.


Whether you want games that will last the length of a commute, or want to be lost in a port of GTA where you spend hours mowing down pedestrians and making money out of murder, there is a game on here for you.

The list is a mixture of free and paid for games, and also that one in between - some in-app payments arent really that bad. Honest! If by the end you think we have missed something special off of the list, let us know and we will see if it is worthy of inclusion further down the line.

1. Dots 

Proving the notion that simpler is better on mobile, Dots is stupidly, almost patronisingly simple, with players just drawing lines between coloured dots. Link them up and, as coloured things tend to do in games, they disappear, So more fall in. And it carries on like this, getting more and more compulsive as you chase bigger and better dot combos.

2. The Simpsons Tapped Out

EAs game based on the inhabitants of Springfield is surprising in a few ways. Its free, which is quite the thing, plus, although what many would deride as a freemium game, its more than possible to keep it going in the background, pottering away, slowly unlocking all of its content for free. Free-to-play done right, for once.

3. Angry Birds Space 

Developer Rovio has done quite a lot of aggressive whoring of the Angry Birds franchise, but this space-based fork of the simplistic physics game series is really worth a try. For one, it introduces some new play concepts, with the planet-based levels requiring different tactics, plus the puzzles generally need a bit more of a thoughtful approach than the chuck-it-and-see of the originals.

4. Badland

Has a bit of an indie vibe about it this one, with Badland offering a weird, dark and gloomy world, in which you fly about in control of a… blob thing. Your blob gets bigger and smaller, splits into loads of mini clones, and generally baffles you about what might lie around the next corner. We like a bit of a surprise, and this is full of them.

5. Stick Cricket 

Stick Cricket is a fantastically simple little game that reduces cricket to its core values - you just smash every ball as hard as you can. Theres no worrying about field positioning, just a bat and a ball coming at you very quickly. Initially it seems impossible to do anything other than make a complete mess of things and having your little man smashed upside-down, but it soon clicks.

6. Cestos

Cestos is sort of a futuristic recreation of curling, where players chuck marbles at each other to try and smash everyone elses balls/gems down the drain and out of the zone. The best part is this all happens online against real humans, so as long as theres a few other bored people out there at the same time youll have a real, devious, cheating, quitting person to play against. Great.

7. PewPew

The developer calls this a "multidirectional shoot them up" presumably because describing it as a "Geometry Wars clone" might have got him in a bit of legal trouble. Regardless of its origin, its a superb shooter with some bizarre game modes and controls that work exceptionally well on touch devices.

8. Super Bit dash

One of the best examples of the new wave of retro-inspired platformers, Super Bit Dash is a scrolling platformer where you dont control the scroll -- but you do have a say in the jumping. Its a case of learning the levels and playing them again and again and again, until you have the required muscle memory to smash through without thinking about it. 

9. Plague Inc 

A really enjoyable and tough strategy game, in which you play some sort of evil god intent on crushing all of mankind. You do this by developing viruses, which spread through the air, water or human contact, gradually wiping out countries, continents and, if the winds literally blowing in the right direction, everyone.

10. Whale Trail Frenzy

No one dies of disease in Whale Trail. Its a sweet flying sim, which sees you float about in the clouds having a lovely time, collecting things, boosting and generally being quite happy about it. The cheery vibe is broken a bit when adverts and in-app purchase requests pop up, but its happy enough before the money men turn up.

11. Pitfall!

We had low expectations of Activisions odd decision to rework its ancient platform game as an endless runner, but it turned out surprisingly nice. Key to its winning nature comes from the variety of the levels, which sees the adventuring hero endlessly minecarting, endlessly motorbiking and endlessly whipping, in a thoroughly enjoyable little game.

12. Bad Piggies

Angry Birds maker Rovio proves its not a one-trick bird-pony with this, a bizarre and quirky physics game. You have a toolbox at your disposal, used to build a flying and/or driving machine, which then has to trundle its way through a level. Its silly, but at least attempts to shove out some new ideas.

13. Pocket Planes 

An extremely clever and enjoyable miniature strategy game that has you taking control of a small airline and attempting to ramp up customer numbers. It starts out with a few simple freight runs before you expand the fleet, open up new routes and generally get a bit panicked about how many people are depending on you for their holidays.

14. Radiant Defense

The tower defense genre is heaving on Android, thanks to the poke and press play mechanics being ideally suited to touchscreen play. Radiant Defense is a great example of the simplified strategy concept, presenting its war action in a futuristic neon style that looks awesome on any phone with the grunt to do it justice.

15. Pocket League Story 2

Kariosofts made a big thing for itself by using its management style of game across various scenarios, with this sporting event being one of the best. You take control of a club, then stress about signings, money, tactics and more. Its slightly robbed of some fun via a desire to use in-app purchases to squeeze money out of players, ironically mirroring the state of the game it takes inspiration from.

16. New Star Soccer 

A great football management game that has a bit of a sense of humour about itself. Theres some turn-based play, but its more about bringing together the off-pitch lifestyles of players with the crucial money matters of the football universe. Like Pocket League Story there are some in-app cash demands, so prepare to be badgered for payments after youve progressed some way through.

17. Star Wars: Tiny Death Star

An absolutely gorgeous pixel-art recreation of the Star Wars universe, in which players embrace the dark side and go to work creating Death Stars to please the man in black. A massive challenge, made even more massive should you choose to play it without resorting to taking the shortcut of paying real money for in-game cash.

18. Sonic Dash 

There is some arguing as to whether this is "free" as its rammed with in-app purchases, but theres no dispute as to its quality. Sonics latest mobile game is, appropriately, an endless runner, with the hedgehog jumping left and right to avoid obstacles placed around its familiar green worlds.

19. Cut the Rope: Time Travel 

The weird little physics game is one of Androids most popular franchises, with this update introducing a few new tricks and weapons. Its the same sort of experience as its earlier chapters, though, with players swinging ropes to throw sweeties around its colourful screens. Masses of levels and a mid-to-high fun level.

20. Wingsuit - Proximity Project

A hard game for people who want to emulate BASE jumping nutcases, the aim here is to not die or injure yourself while flying around dangerous environments wearing just a wingsuit. Dont expect to have much fun, though, as the developer warns on the apps listing: "If youre looking for something easy, I suggest Angry Birds." 

21. Beach Buggy Blitz

Offers something approaching big console quality on Android, in a game rammed with pretty worlds, loads of vehicles, power-ups, upgrades and more, plus the graphics engine can adapt to more powerful hardware and throws in more effects if youre using something with a serious number of cores. There is some level of in-app purchasing on offer, but its mild and easily avoidable.

22. Deadly Bullet

Has a plot involving something to do with the future, but its best skipped. The games a top-down shooter, but instead of controlling the nutcase with the gun you get to "be" the bullet, which you control using left and right turns. This slow-mo bullet then winds its way around town, exploding power-ups and the bad future people.

23. Voxel Rush

A very pretty and minimalist racer, where the usual beach/mountain/lava environments have been binned in favour of bold slabs of colour. Its stylish, motion controlled, ready for multiplayer action and integrates Google Play Game support for solo achievements and leaderboards.

24. Nightbird Trigger X

What the developer calls a "point shooting game," Nightbird Trigger X is a one-button pony where your little man has to shoot a point in the screen to progress. But theres stuff in the way. Annoying moving stuff, that means you score less and take longer if you cant find the target with your first bullet. Simple, but free and a little bit original.

25. Toca Kitchen

£1.99 ($2.99, $AU3.68)
If you want your kids to play something free from the looming menace of in-app purchases, give the awesome Toca Boca apps a spin. Toca Kitchens a super little virtual playset, giving kids safe access to knives, blenders and microwaves, with which they prepare meals for a series of fussy in-game characters. Super-cute and a blast for even the youngest kids.

26. Spaceteam 

This is bonkers. Spaceteam uses the Android hardware to the max to build a properly innovative multiplayer-only game, where between two and four players come together to shout exciting space terminology at each other while battling the control panel of an exploding ship. Its very silly, like something that only came out on the Wii in Japan.

27. Toast Time

£0.69 ($2.99, $AU1.28)
If it needs pigeon-holing, Toast Time is best described as a combat platform game. Thing is, youre only a toaster, and your weapon is… toast. So its sort of a toast-based physics simulation as well, with the kickback from the toast knocking the toaster around the screen and requiring constant compensation. Because theres a clock that needs protecting and… its best you play it. Its good.

28. Ridiculous Fishing

£1.99 ($2.99, $AU3.68)
Quite possibly one of the best uses of the mobile phone accelerometer tech theres ever been, this, with motion control sending your fishing line down to the depths of the sea while you avoid fish. Then, on the way up, its how you catch them. Thats when it goes ridiculous, as the fisherman chucks them up in the air -- and you shoot them to bank the money. Silly, but a must play.

29. Super Hexagon 

£1.99 ($2.99, $AU3.68)
Another mobile classic. Super Hexagon has two controls -- rotate left and rotate right. Thats all you need to navigate the endless maze that spins out of the screen, in one of the mobile worlds hardest, coolest, best-sounding and most moreish games. We order you to buy it. You literally have to.

30. ChuChu Rocket!

£0.90 ($0.99, $AU2.00)
A lot of the old console games we remember and occasionally cry about dont translate well to mobile. On-screen buttons kill a lot of the fun of playing precise, skill-based titles, but Segas ChuChu is more about strategy and brainpower than sheer speed, making it one of the finest retro titles on Google Play.

31. Minecraft Pocket Edition 

£4.99 ($6.99, $AU9.25)
The build em up phenomenon works brilliantly well on Android, thanks to the creator of the desktop original taking the time to do it justice. Its a slimmed down interface you see here with on-screen buttons, but the basics are all in and the Survival and Creative modes are ready for play -- as is multiplayer mode over Wi-Fi.

32. Heroes of Loot 

£1.72 ($1.99, $AU3.30)
The entire back catalogue of solo indie creator OrangePixel is worth exploring, but his latest is the best yet. Its a stylish 2D dungeon explorer, with masses of quests, classes and secret areas to unlock. Plus it supports a wide range of Bluetooth controllers, for easier play if youve got a compatible lump of buttoned plastic.

33. Flight Control 

£0.60 ($0.99, $AU1.20)
An exciting new genre all of its own when it appeared, Flight Control created the world of the top-down air traffic control simulator. Literally three million times more exciting than it sounds, its played by swiping 2D aeroplanes into runway landing slots, avoiding collisions and scoring for successful landings. Perfectly suited to touchscreen play. 

34. Pac-Man Championship Edition

£2.60 ($3.99, $AU5.00)
Not just the same old Pac-Man thats been emulated, re-released and cloned for the last 30 years. Pac-Man CE is a fresh reworking of the maze game, with jazzy graphics, scrolling mazes and pumping sounds updating the concept for the kids of today. And the dads of today. Anyone after a really smart puzzle game, in fact. 

35. Game Dev Story 

£1.60 ($2.50, $AU3.00)
The "Story" that started Kairosofts domination of the simplistic business world sim, Game Dev Story sees you take charge of a software house and attempt to create a smash game. The sweet pixel-art characters then battle with the complexities of design and the stresses of arbitrary internet reviews from people who havent even played it (ahem), in the pursuit of a money-making smash.

36. Raiden Legacy 

£4.49 ($4.99, $AU10.00)
Quite possibly the greatest 2D shoot em up of all time, the Android conversion of Radien is every bit as impressive as the original. A choice of control schemes, display and difficulty settings make it a little more manageable on touchscreens, plus, seeing as this is the Legacy edition, you get Raiden, Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2 and Raiden Fighters Jet.

37. Division Cell 

£1.12 ($1.84, $AU2.15)
This is how we like them. Weird, interesting looking and rock hard, Division Cell is about organising shapes, creating harmony where there was once chaos. Then telling everyone about what you just did on Facebook and Twitter. Having well over 100 fun and innovative levels means you get your moneys worth here.

38. Football Manager Handheld 2014 

£6.99 ($9.99, $AU12.00)
Explodes through the usual Android game price ceiling by charging £6.99, but, in this case, its worth it. The full app offers a superb, stats-heavy mobile take on the classic management series, hardly skimping on any minute detail in the transition to mobile. Manage transfers, the media, match days and more in one of the sporting gamers must-get titles.

39. Canabalt HD 

£1.99 ($2.99, $AU3.68)
The newer, slightly posher version of the original game, the one that pretty much invented the "endless runner" genre that now clogs up the gaming sections of the app stores of the world. You are a man. You run along rooftops to a techno soundtrack. Thats about it, only its much more enjoyable than it sounds.

40. Another World

£1.80 ($1.99, $AU3.49)
The classic 2D puzzle platformer that wowed the simpler folk of the 1990s with the very occasional bit of 3D, has arrived in perfect form on Android. This 20th anniversary edition has the original graphics plus the option of an HD refresh, but whats really about is getting to play one of gamings most loved classics. On your phone. For a couple of quid. Madness.

41. GTA Vice City 

£2.99 ($4.99, $AU5.53)
Seem to remember people thought this was quite good. For the price of a pint (if youre somewhere northern) you can own one of the largest and most highly-rated video games of all time, to pop in and out of on your mobile phone. On-screen controls are never going to suit a game like this, but they are at least fully customisable -- so you can get it how you like it.

42. Terraria 

£3.14 ($4.99, $AU5.70)
Sort of a Minecraft… platform… puzzle em up, Terraria players dig and mine and fight their way through randomly generated worlds. Resources make weapons and houses, weapons and houses mean you stay alive, plus theres Wi-Fi multiplayer support that has it nearing parity with the version sold on desktops.

43. Sonic The Hedgehog 2

£1.99 ($2.99, $AU3.68)
Not the easiest thing to play using on-screen buttons, but the fact this exists at all is a marvel. Its also a glorious conversion, with Sega finally taking the time to do the best Sonic justice. Its been remastered into widescreen and supports a wide range of Bluetooth controllers so, even if you dont yet own one, youll be able to enjoy it fully when you eventually do.

44. Osmos HD 

£1.87 ($2.99, $AU3.45)
A lovely little ambient puzzle thing, in which you play a cell thing and make it your business to absorb others. The residue you fire out makes you smaller, though, so efficient use of your biological systems is a must. Its a chillout experience more than a game, with the surreal concept joined by some equally relaxing ambient music. A charmer.

45. Assassins Creed Pirates 

£1.99 (sale) ($2.99, $AU3.68)
Currently on sale for half the usual price at £1.99, this is no crappy cash-in on a bigger brand. Its a standalone game, offering a real-time strategic game built around attacking and defending ancient warships. Its inspired by the battle sequences from a previous AC game, but the actual missions here are all new. Well worth two or even the usual four pounds.

46. Broken Sword: Directors Cut

£2.99 ($3.99, $AU5.53)
This cult classic from an earlier wave of the big home consoles has been converted beautifully to Android, capturing the slightly odd and amusing adventure perfectly - and with an interface that really works on todays touchscreens. Its an "indie" game from before there were indie games, silly and with some excellent and challenging puzzles.

47. Worms 2: Armageddon

£0.99 (sale) ($0.99, $AU1.99)
Very old and very good, the Worms series led the way when it came to making strategy games fun. The comedy combat action is turn-based, with players alternating at having pop shots at each other with their weaponry. This slower pace means its ideal for online and local multiplayer, as the odd glitch doesnt ruin the experience.

48. World of Goo

£2.99 ($4.99, $AU5.53)
The indie gaming classic has been on Android for some time, winning over a new generation of mobile gamers with its goo-based physics puzzle action. Massive disembodied heads roll down hills and blobs race through pipes, plus the musics excellent and it even supports Googles new leaderboard features for beating friends scores.

49. Carmageddon

£0.69 ($0.99, $AU1.28)
The stupid game about running people over that got on the news when it launched back in the mid 1990s. The news wasnt particularly bothered about it arriving on Android last year, which is a shame as its actually quite a fun thing to mess around with. And the once shocking graphics are laughable by todays standards, giving the slaughter of pedestrians a more tragi-comic edge.

50. Final Fantasy VI

£10.99 ($15.99, $AU19.99)
At time of writing, Square Enixs Android remakes of the Final Fantasy series only go up to Final Fantasy VI, which is probably just as well as we think the world may well explode should FF VII ever appear on Android. But chapter VI of the RPG series is almost as good an experience, offering a vast quest and the usual hours of unrelenting storytelling.