Android Games Thread

Aside from some of the limited time events and a couple of occasional boosters, AdCap really isn’t a clicker so much as it as a general “make numbers go up” game. It was something to have running in the background while I watched TV/movies, surfed reddit/qt3, or worked on homework/writing/RPG projects.

New Humble Mobile Bundle seems pretty solid:

Iceblink is out of beta.

http://www.iceblinkengine.com/

I wish the graphics were a bit nicer, but genre-wise this is right on the money. (Actually, the game is free.)

Are there any other TRPG-ish games (my favorite genre) on Android you guys would recommend?

New Star Manager is the sequel to New Star Soccer, and at least as addictive. Cross-posting some impressions that I originally wrote up at OO:

Pros

  • Core New Star Soccer gameplay is largely unchanged. Most of the match happens in a text scroll, switching to player-controlled action at key moments (generally scoring opportunities). You directly control the ball handler, and can pause at any time to plot the movement of other players or line up a shot.

  • The strategic layer is detailed but relatively easy to grok. It’s full of challenging and interesting decisions for the manager. Do you buy a raw youngster full of potential, or spend the same amount on an experienced veteran who will contribute immediately, but run out of gas in a season or two? Do you give more playing time to the back-up in order to preserve team chemistry, or stick with the more-talented starter? I find the Football Manager series on PC too opaque and complex to get into, but New Star Manager suits me just fine.

  • Beautiful engine. The matches look fantastic, with a 2.5D presentation that lets you rotate, tilt and zoom the camera.

  • Loads quickly and runs like butter, at least on my Galaxy S7.

Neutral

  • Free-to-play with ads. It’s $6.50 to turn off the ads, which auto-play in between most matches. Given the overall quality and depth of New Star Manager, I think that’s a very fair price. My only complaint is that paying doesn’t quite turn off all the ads – nothing auto-plays, but I am still regularly asked if I want to watch an ad in order to earn a free replay (basically a do-over for a shot or pass that doesn’t go your way).

Cons

  • In-app purchases. I understand that this is how mobile studios survive financially. But man, it’s annoying. When you lose a match or have a poor season, you can’t help but wonder if the developers made things extra-difficult in order to encourage you to make in-app purchases. That said, I’m about 4 seasons in and surviving OK without paying real money for anything (except turning off ads).

  • Press interviews. This is the only aspect of the management layer that I dislike. The “interviews” are just trivia questions, like “How many forwards are on your team?” or “What is the name of your team scout?” If you get it right, you get a small advantage. Get it wrong, and everyone – press, players, staff, the team’s board – likes you a little bit less. It’s a completely artificial mechanic that doesn’t evoke the theme at all.

Here’s my team in action:

I played the heck out of NSS so I’m glad to see them moving onto the manager front. Will have to check it out, though the ad thing will drive me nuts, especially after paying for the ‘ad free’ experience.

I spent hours playing NSS too. I’m liking this game. So far I haven’t felt the need for any IAP (other than removing ads). It’s hard, but not impossible.

My main gripe is the player contract system. You can only buy players during the transfer windows, but their contracts can run out at any time. So my backup goalkeeper refused to extend his contract, and I’m down to one goalkeeper until the end of the season. Considering how often keepers get red cards, that is going to be a problem.

Jeez, what kind of goalkeepers are you hiring? I’ve only had one red card to a keeper on my team. (I’ve lost keepers a few other times to injuries, presumably from tripping over their shoelaces.)

I conquered the two-tier South African professional leagues without too much trouble. The English leagues are proving quite a bit harder. We’ve clawed our way up to League 2, but suffered some embarrassing losses along the way.

I’ve had three red cards on keepers this season. I don’t have the upgrade that lets you see traits, so they may have some weird trait that makes them more prone to red cards.

Free for the next 24 hours (or so)

I checked with the developer directly on this - he’s controlling the promotion manually on Android and is on Berlin (CEST) time, so he’s likely to end the sale first thing tomorrow morning (Nov 1st, CEST), so the american audience will have a little bit more time to jump on this.

Rome: Total War is coming to Android, at long last: https://www.pockettactics.com/articles/rome-total-war-android/

Cries tears of joy

Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition has been released for android. It’s Early Access but I was surprised how well it worked on my tablet (which isn’t that new). There are some descriptions left from the pc version (f keys, right-click) but mostly it seems to be a good port. Content seems to be identical with the Diamond Edition, consisting of the base game, Shadows of Undrentide, Hordes of the Underdark, Kingmaker, ShadowGuard and Witch’s Wake.

Me futzing around early this morning on Vendetta with the cat on the car in the garage to prove something or other:

FYI, on sale for $3.59

That’s an easy decision with the $3 credit I had laying around. Thanks!

Is WotL the only FFT game on Android? I don’t want to replay WotL again so soon.

WotL is the only one of the three FFT games to see a port to any other platform.

I think I installed a Fire Emblem game at one point. It was too complicated, with IIRC different campaigns, menus, modes, DLCs, IAPs, whatever. And everything way too colorful and busy. I gave up and uninstalled it.

Woo, glad I finally checked this thread. Think I managed to use my google credit just under the wire.