Whether it’s a long road trip or a flight to a far-flung destination, mobile games are the best way to kill time. They can also make you more aware of your surroundings.
If you’re looking for something more immersive, Night School Studio’s Oxenfree is a moody adventure with high replayability. You can get it for cheap with a game subscription service.
1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
The Animal Crossing series has been around for nearly two decades, and New Horizons takes a beloved formula to the next level. The game boasts all kinds of bells and whistles that have never been seen before, including a crafting system and the ability to alter the landscape of your island by adding hills, cliffs, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and even miniature islands. It’s also a huge step up in the graphics department, and the gameplay is still as calm and relaxing as ever.
It’s easy to see why this is one of the most popular Australian betting sites not on BetStop, and perhaps on any console. The game is designed to appeal to many different kinds of gamers, and it does so in a way that doesn’t require the fancy graphics and overblown features of other blockbusters. It’s a life simulator that gives back as much as it gets, and it’s also highly addictive.
This game is a perfect choice for families, as it offers the chance to play with friends locally or online. Up to four people can play together in a local game, and up to eight players can join an online game with a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
The lone downside to this game is that it only provides each player with one island, so a family shouldn’t expect to be able to share a single console and play this together. Otherwise, this is a game that can easily suck away hours, days, and maybe even months of your life thanks to its engaging and addictive gameplay and a well-formed cast of characters. And with real-world headlines becoming more harrowing than ever, there’s no better time to get a little lost in a world of your own making.
2. Mario Kart Tour
Mario Kart Tour is a slick and well-presented mobile take on the series that brings with it all the trimmings. It looks like a modern Mario Kart game (albeit with sterile graphics), plays familiar tunes, and features power-ups and blue shells you’ll need to be wary of. There are even trick courses, a ranked scoring system, and a battle mode to keep things varied.
Unfortunately, despite these positive changes, Mario Kart Tour feels overly burdened with sinister psychological tricks. Its item shop is pretty bare-bones; while you can earn drivers, karts, and gliders by playing races, they don’t increase in speed as you collect them as you would expect from the franchise. And the only way to get more items is by subscribing to the game, something that should be anathema to a brand as beloved as Nintendo’s.
Moreover, Mario Kart Tour is also skewed more towards single-player than multiplayer. It’s fine if you’re playing by yourself, but for a multiplayer-heavy franchise, this is strange. Plus, the game requires a subscription to unlock the highest difficulty level; for a mobile-only game that’s free to play, this feels like bait-and-switch tactics.
Ultimately, it’s hard to give this a recommendation, particularly for players on tight budgets. It’s a fun, Mario-branded game that does have some smart elements designed to fit the mobile platform; however, it’s also weighed down by greed and shaky controls. That’s an unsettling combination for a game that’s supposed to be part of a bigger strategy by Nintendo to break into the mobile market. The good news is, there are plenty of other games for Android that offer a more wholesome experience.
3. Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga (Free) is a wildly popular puzzle game that has players swapping candy pieces horizontally or vertically until they make matches. The more matches you make, the more points and power-ups you get. The game also introduces other elements that set it apart from a basic match-three: specialized bombs that take out rows, columns, or an area around the bomb; locked-off areas that can only be unlocked with a special candy; invasive chocolates that take over a piece of candy next to them until you work to reduce their numbers on the screen; and timers that count down every move, eventually ending the game if you don’t manage to make a new one in time.
All these different elements combine to create a highly challenging and addictive game that is as varied and fun as it is difficult. The game is also notable for being one of the first major games to use the freemium business model; it can be played without spending any money, but players can buy in-game items or connect with Facebook friends to receive a certain amount of “tickets” that allow them to play more difficult boards.
Candy Crush Saga is appropriate for kids and adults of all ages, although younger gamers may find it difficult to pass some of the more challenging levels. It is also an excellent way to occupy your mind on a long airplane flight or in a boring restaurant.
4. Asphalt 9: Legends
The Asphalt series isn’t known for aiming for realism or depth, but it’s a lot of fun to burn rubber and barrel-roll your way across the map. That’s especially true when it comes to the Switch version, which takes full advantage of the console’s graphical prowess. The game genuinely looks fantastic, from the minute details like dust kicked up by your tires on an American Midwest railroad track to the highly detailed car models and reflections.
As with previous titles, the game offers a wide selection of licensed cars to collect and race. You can customize them to your heart’s content, choosing the exact color and materials for every surface. This lets you build your dream rides and then take them out to race against other players in the dozens of available events.
One thing that’s new to the mobile version is a system called Touch Drive, which allows you to skip the traditional tilt-and-tap controls in favor of swipe-to-steer and tap-to-drift systems. It’s a welcome improvement over the previous iteration of the game which had some major control issues and an inability to feel intuitive on touchscreens.
The real problem with Asphalt 9 is that it’s designed to lure you into spending a ton of money on premium currency. It’s not hard to do, even on an unlocked device. But if you’re willing to put up with the constant pestering and the sense that the only purpose of this game is to make you spend cash on credits, you’ll enjoy a ton of fun driving around in hypercars.
5. Rubberneckers
Traveling long distances used to suck a whole lot more before smartphones and mobile games. Back then, you had to occupy yourself with a book or a handheld game device — but now there are a whole host of things that can keep you entertained and engaged while on the road, in the air, or on the train. These top Android games are sure to keep you entertained, even if you’re stuck on the side of the highway or in the back seat of a car for a few hours.
One of the best Android games for a plane or road trip is Fun Run 3, which is a great way to test your reflexes against other online players from all over the world. The touch controls are super intuitive — just tap up and down to jump or duck. You can compete against up to three other real people in the online multiplayer mode, and the more you play, the more points you can earn. It’s a super-fun and engaging game that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Another good option is Words With Friends, which is a super-fun word game that can be played with just one person. Each turn, you’ll see two pictures that represent a word, and you have to guess what the word is. This game is easy to pick up and play, and it’s also a great choice if you don’t have the data to play online.
Rubberneckers is an absorbing thriller from Belinda Bauer, who is quickly becoming one of the most exciting British crime writers around. The story centers on Patrick, a medical student with Asperger’s syndrome who must investigate a suspected murder while staying out of danger. The plot strands in Rubberneckers are often clunky, but they do come together towards the end.
2023-07-31 15:14:05