By Frank Ling
As everyone knows, mobile phones aren’t just for making calls – they’ve evolved into devices that help us to do tasks such as schedule our week, remind us of events, surf the web, take photos, shop online, and of course, play games!
We've selected some of our top picks for mobile phone games and hope that you'll get as much fun out of these as we do. But we never play these games during work or school hours, right? (wink, wink)
Angry Birds
The game Angry Birds has the distinction of being the most popular game app in history with over 500,000 downloads. It only takes a minute to learn but the game has such an assortment of fun physics-based puzzles that you can literally spend days in trying to solve some of the more challenging levels.
Gameplay is simple: slingshot various birds to crash into green pigs and other baddies. There is a selection of different types of birds for each version of Angry Birds, each one possessing a unique power. Some act as bombs, others can split up into several smaller birds, and one even blows itself up like a balloon.
Currently there are four different Angry Birds games: Angry Birds (the original), Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, and Angry Birds Space. All games come with free updated content for additional levels and can be purchased from iTunes, Google Play, Amazon’s App Store and other online app outlets starting at $.0.99
Towers in Space
There is a category of video games named “tower defense” games. The object of all of them is the same; defend your base or territory from invading hoards of aliens, bad guys or generally rude enemies with missiles, rocks or other weapons.
If you’ve never played a tower defense game, you’re in for a treat because gameplay is generally easy to learn, and the live action nature of the game can get your adrenaline pumping as you ward of waves and waves of baddies.
For a nice introduction into the world of tower defense games, Towers in Space serves as a good starting point for new comer to this type of gameplay. Seasoned pros should also enjoy the action as well.
Towers in Space has 10 fields of battle, over 40 different enemies, more than 20 types of towers or weapons, upgrades, and short animated scenes between levels. Some people like the funny little videos, but these can be skipped over for those who want to just play the game.
Towers in Space is only available for the iPhone, iTouch, and iPad at the iTunes Store. No version for Android is available, but for an alternative selection, try “Tower Defense: Lost Earth” for Android and Apple devices.
Where’s My Water?
In this physics-puzzle type game your mission is to provide water for Swampy the Alligator so he can take a shower. Yes, we know, alligators already live in the water, but remember, this is a game, right?
The idea is to dig paths in the earth in order to provide a waterway for the liquid to reach its destination – Swampy’s shower, and if you’ve done this correctly, the water will give Swampy a nice needed cleaning.
At the moment there are over 200 levels that will entertain you for hours on end. The game has received enthusiastic awards from various game publications and is on the top ten list on the iTunes Store. The game is available for your Apple and Android devices.
The game is a bargain for only $0.99 on iTunes and Google Play. A free demo of the game is available.
Next Time...
If games aren't your cup of tea, in a few weeks we'll post up our highest recommendations for apps you don't usually hear about, but are highly useful. So until next time, keep on playing!
Frank Ling is the SF Gadgets Examiner. He is a writer, professional photographer, and video editor. One of his all-time favorite jobs was working at a large video game publisher.