Metal Slug 3 is a 16-bit blast from the past that is available from both Google Play for $3.99 as well as on Humble Bundle 10 (the most recent as of this writing). In this side scrolling shooter, it’s the player’s job to keep the world from the oppression of an invading force fashioned after the Nazis, among others.
Author: Ryan Ballard
Shivah. Noun, Judaism. A period of seven days’ formal mourning for the dead, beginning immediately after the funeral. It also is the name of a point and click murder mystery available on Google Play for $1.99. Originally, the game designed for desktops in 2006, and it is currently available to those of us on Android.
Flashout 2 is a fast paced racing game, which is set in the future and you use anti-gravity ships to win money and fame. Throughout playing this game I couldn’t help but liken it to F-Zero or Extreme G. It won’t pass for either of those, but it’s definitely in the same category. With that frame of reference in place, there’s a lot to like about this game.
Archangel is a dungeon crawler from Unity Games and Black Tower Studios where you play as the eponymous archangel who’s been commissioned by Heaven to defeat the forces of evil on their turf. You’ll traverse a undefined nether realm that’s spread out over thirty levels, use gestures for combat, and upgrade your character with powers and loot that you find along the way or purchase. Outside of that premise, there isn’t much for a story along the way save for some of the levels having a brief introductory cut scene showing what it looks like, and a handful of subtitles. In short, you just go out and slay your enemies as the emphasis in Archangel is on the action. And just like this game features a conflict between good and bad, there’s also good and bad within the design of the game itself.
Anodyne is a single-player, top-down, Action-RPG for the Android platform. I’m quite fond of this style of game as it recalls memories of playing the older Legend of Zelda titles from my childhood, where you go off adventuring through strange lands and find helpful items and interesting characters to chat with along the way. While Anodyne has these features and they really make this game an enjoyable experience to play all the way through, it also has a look and feel that is very distinct from other Action-RPGs, and is quite unique to itself.