Hearthstone

These past few years have been great for the continued development of mobile gaming. As smartphone platforms move past their infancy, the games developed for them move beyond simplistic ad venues and toward deeper mechanics and newer styles of play. For your convenience, we have gathered a list of six of the best to play on your Android smartphone. You’re welcome.

HearthstoneHearthstone

While it may not be the newest of games, Blizzard’s Hearthstone remains a strong presence on the mobile gaming scene. Hearthstone derives its gameplay from both the software giant’s industry-leading MMO World of Warcraft and the physical card game that was designed around the characters and events of that game. Hearthstone pits players against one another in matches to the death using constructed decks of cards based on classes from WoW. Winners receive new cards and currency with which to improve their deck. With a large international player base and a constantly growing set of cards, Hearthstone is a game with a future.

Animation Throwdown

If your tastes range more toward satire and humor than fantasy, the newer Animation Throwdown might be what you’re looking for. As in Hearthstone, gameplay revolves around building card decks and fighting with other players. Unlike Hearthstone, the cards are themed around characters, places, and items from several popular animated comedies: American Dad, Family Guy, Futurama, King of the Hill, and Bob’s Burgers. Players choose avatars from the different shows, and their cards then key off of items from those franchises. This is a newer title, so the gameplay is still evolving, but it already includes campaign and competitive play.

Her Story

For players looking for a vastly different experience from the run-of-the-mill Android game, Her Story will do nicely. It is an adaptation of a PC game from 2015, though the changes to the interface actually suit the mobile gaming experience nicely. In Her Story, you play the part of an unseen protagonist who is tasked with sorting through video files of a police interview with a woman named Hannah. You progress through the game by using search terms to find new clips, and your ultimate goal is to understand what has happened to this woman. The game will look its best if you have one of the latest smartphones like the LG G6, with its 5.3-inch Quad HD screen with Daylight mode and high-contrast display.

Forget-Me-Not

With a classic look evoking the pixelated glory of arcade machines like the Pac Man series, Forget-Me-Not is a new twist on some old mechanics. The basic gameplay is the same as Namco’s pellet-eating simulator — you control an avatar running through a maze, picking up flowers and avoiding enemies. The twist comes from the game’s other influences, the procedurally generated class of games known as Roguelikes. Forget-Me-Not is different every time you play it, and the denizens of the maze, who try to destroy each other as much as they do you, will even alter the structure of the walls with their attacks.

Rush Rally 2

Racing games today mostly come in two flavors, the action-oriented arcade model and the home simulators with careful attention to the specifics of cars and the physics of racing. Rush Rally 2 tries to split the difference, with perhaps a slight bias toward the less realistic, arcade-like side of things. After all, no actual racing league would expect its competitors to dodge projectiles in special races. If you are looking for a solid, fun portable racer, you can hardly do better than this.

Titan HD

Another major area of mobile gaming development is the field of board and card game adaptations. Mobile games based on the current boom in tabletop games have a built-in market, and they work well as internet-based competitions. Titan is a venerable fantasy war game in which a variety of mythological units contend for control of a board. The new Android version helps keep this beloved classic of a game alive in a venue ideal for its play.

Mobile gameplay, driven by the ubiquitousness of the platform, continues to be the greatest growth area in video gaming. Since everyone has a smartphone or a tablet these days, everyone is a potential player. If you are a gamer, find something to your taste in the Play store today!