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Every week, the comments unfailingly ask for more Android game coverage. We're listening. This week, we've managed to up the quota to two titles - but the reality is most developers are still debuting their games on iOS platforms first.
It may not have escaped your notice that both PES 2011 and Pac-Man Championship Edition appeared on iOS initially before eventually migrating to rival platforms. It's a familiar tale.
Whether it's a simple case of the Apple's App Store proving to be a bigger draw for developers is hard to gauge. The truth is, though, that most of the 'new' games to hit the (markedly improved) Android Marketplace have already been reviewed - so we tend to focus on brand new titles instead.
Where possible we'll try to flag up exciting Android exclusives, but it's often hard to find them. The Android Marketplace does a poor job of promoting them and developers don't often make the effort to contact us either.
On the other hand, the iOS scene is awash with well-promoted teams who make the effort to get in touch, not to mention a useful promotional voucher code system which makes it easy for PRs and developers to put the games in our hands.
So, don't think we've got some vendetta against Android. We want to know about the interesting new gems and all tip-offs are gratefully received.
Get Outta My Galaxy
- iPhone - £0.59
Daily Mail readers rejoice! Now you can "explore your xenophobic tendencies in the safety of your own phone", with this handy new app from the suspiciously foreign-sounding Ookoohko Oy.
Designed to relieve the everyday stresses of immigrant invasion, Get Outta My Galaxy focuses on the tearful plight of Waka, who one day finds his land rudely overrun by unwelcome visitors.
Slappy talking.
Being an upstanding kind of fellow he does what any right-thinking individual would do, and slaps them upside the head for their foolish transgressions - until he once again has the planet to himself.
But his desire for solitude doesn't merely apply to his current location. He feels the entire galaxy must be cleansed of all alien life before he can afford to crack a smile.
The fun of tilting and tapping furiously probably ought to wane after a couple of stages, but after being slapped around for a while these pesky aliens start to get their game. As they spurt projectiles, grow spiky foliage and turn themselves into suicide bombers, suddenly it becomes a whole different story. Presumably one misreported to suit Waka's agenda.
It's at this point the game goes from being a slightly questionable novelty purchase to one that's taking up more than just your spare time. That'll be 59p, please.
8/10
Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
- Windows Phone 7 - £3.99
- Also available on Android - £1.86, iPhone and iPad £2.99 (unified binary).
Judging by the various travesties already perpetrated against mankind, it's hard not to suspect that football and mobile gaming weren't meant to be.
But Konami's respectable attempt at least goes some way to proving that it is possible to create an engaging game of football on touch screen devices - even if this offering ultimately fails to get anywhere near replicating PES in any meaningful sense.
Get stuck in my son.
The challenge, as ever, is trying to instil any kind of free-flowing play on a platform where control precision is hard to replicate. By default, Konami sensibly strips the controls back to an old school two-button configuration - but even that proves to be an unsatisfying solution.
Far more playable is the accelerometer-based system, where tilt the devices itself dictates the direction of your movements while context-sensitive taps provide the full array of passes, shots and crosses.
With less inherent room for error, you're able to start spraying the ball around with a higher degree of confidence. However, the game is perpetually let down by slack AI and one of the most superhuman keepers ever seen in football gaming history.
If you can put up with its long list of foibles, there's enjoyment to be had from PES 2011 on mobiles. But any resemblance to real brands, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
6/10
Dark Nebula - Episode 2
- iPhone - £1.19
Tilt and roll games are ten-a-penny on iPhone, but not many of them make you forget to have your lunch. Even fewer make you forget your own name, or what day it is.
Ballblazer.
As the "second highest rated application of 2010" and one of Apple's own 50 best apps of all-time, it's easy to see this effort from developer 1337 Game Design has garnered such lofty acclaim.
Hours are casually tossed aside in the process of ensuring that a ball safely reaches its destination, via moving walkways, spiked traps, bounce pads, industrial crushers and laser fire.
Sometimes you'll find yourself turning the tables on your aggressors. Charged up with your own spinning weapons of hate, you get to smash everything in your path, and take down their generators.
Inevitably, completion is only part of the story, and maximum glory is only possible if you manage the dual feat of avoiding damage, while also picking up the various shinies glinting in your peripheral vision. They're not essential, obviously, but you wouldn't want to be a lesser being and only scoop a bronze, would you?
The only downside is that it's all over in a measly 19 levels. At that price it's hard to complain, but just as Dark Nebula gets into its stride, it's over. Until the next episode...
8/10
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Pac-Man is - and always will be - an unforgiving sod. He doesn't suffer fools gladly, and will happily wipe the smile of the faces of anyone foolish enough to engage in dot-gobbling nostalgia.
And yet, bland nostalgia is the only function that a mobile version of the 2007 XBLA classic can possibly serve.
Sure, it's an accomplished conversion to look at, but its technical proficiency is undone the second you try and play a half-way decent game on a touchscreen.
Hard to swallow.
Namco tries its best to work around the issue by offering a whole suite of control options, from virtual dpad, to analogue stick, to various swipe and pointer solutions, but none even get close to offering the instant four-way precision that you need.
With that out of the window, all you're left with is a pointless tech demo of one of the most joyous retro reimaginings of the past decade. You might be able to fumble your way through some of the less demanding portions of the game, but as soon as the pace hots up and you need to be able to make fine adjustments at speed, it's over.
All the extra levels and challenges in the world can't make up for the fact that touchscreen Pac-Man CE is more of an exercise in anger management than anything else.
4/10
Liqua Pop
- iPhone - £0.59
With its delightful liquid physics, Liqua Pop could be the most salubrious casual distraction since Osmos.
One pop...
As the squishy droplets appear, it's up to you to quickly drag and drop like-coloured droplets onto others; team up four or more of the same colour and you can shake the device to pop them, and help Toadie the frog climb the stem of the leaf.
On the iPhone it's classic thumb-only gameplay, and a brilliant demonstration of a simple idea married to a simple twist on colour-matching gameplay.
Eventually the levels apply the thumbscrews a little, with a progressively greater variety of coloured droplets, as well as various bugs to free inside certain droplets. But if you allow the screen to fill up, it's game over - albeit with the chance to replay the last level, rather than a weary trudge to the start.
The only problem is the general lack of variety. After a few sessions of pleasant popping nonsense you'll probably wish there was a little more to it. But for those of a more casual leaning, this is a perfectly charming use of 59 pence.
7/10
