This is actually the 7th mainline bundle to feature Android games, though like the other “for/with Android” bundles, this features PC, Mac, and Linux versions of the games along with the Android versions. There’s a variety of previously-released games along with some titles making their Android debuts.

Aquaria: This open-world undersea adventure game is making its Android debut. Players control the mermaid Naija as she tries to recover her memory. This one is on Android after a long while: the original game released on PC in 2007, winning the Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival, and after an iPad release in 2011.

Fractal: Cipher Prime’s puzzle game makes its Android debut as well. This music-based game has players making chains and working with pieces while the music beats away at 130 BPM. Cipher Prime is responsible as well for Auditorium and Pulse, the latter of which is also part of this bundle as an Android exclusive.

Frozen Synapse: The previous two games are making their Android debuts, this is actually making its pre-release debut. The turn-based strategy game features a unique movement and action assignment system that makes it easy to assign one’s squad accurate actions. All this comes in a unique visual style. The game is in a ‘late beta’ state that may not work perfectly on all devices until it’s finished. Frozen Synapse is optimized for tablets.

Organ Trail: Director’s Cut: Die of dysentery or having your brains munched on by the living dead in this take on zombie-filled take on Oregon Trail by Chicago-based The Men Who Wear Many Hats.

Stealth Bastard Deluxe: This 2D stealth game, making its Android debut, has players trying to sneak through 80 levels of traps dessigned to catch players. Become the unseen!

Broken Sword: Director’s Cut: This classic point-and-click adventure game makes its way to Android, expanding on the acclaimed gameplay of the original.

The bundle includes DRM-free downloads of all the games for PC, Mac, Linux, and Android. As well, the soundtracks are included for all the games! The bundle is available through July 1st.

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In this adventure, we ditch jungle temples and crazed monkey-ish beasts for somewhat suburban streets and Mr Goodman in pursuit. And, we get a bike!

For background, Nick is framed for the dastardly destruction of a window, and takes off out the property gates on his two-wheeler to escape the vengeful Goodman after him. But these city streets are littered with obstacles, making escape especially hard. The graphics were more than decent, with good animations.

The cycling Nick goes forward on his own, and using tilt motions, it is possible to steer him to the left or right while going forward. This helps to avoid the debris that line — mostly blocked — the escape route. As in Temple Run, swiping up and down causes Nick to jump or slide respectively.

I liked the inventive obstacles put into play: there are things like fire hydrants with intermittent spray, road hurdles of different heights, and even cars in intersections. Additionally, there are collectible gold coins and ice cream cones. The gold coins are usable in the in-app store to purchase upgrades (fun stuff like speed boosts or coin magnets) that make the game more exciting to play. The game also incorporates a ton of challenges. These challenges are generally thresholds that, when attained, unlock a reward of some kind. The way this all ties in together is nifty, as it encourages symbiotic play… play to unlock stuff that makes playing easier. The challenges themselves were fairly varied, like getting a set number of ice cream cones or traveling a certain distance in one go. The boosts were leveled, meaning that they were staggered in their increases.

Overall, it was familiar enough without being a clone, and that’s just one of the reasons it can be so addictive.

Little Nick: The Great Escape Review is a post from: Android Rundown

The developer uses simple graphics to frame the game. With a mostly dark backgrounds, the play pieces are brightly colored, and the color of the pieces depends on their respective shapes. The animations are decent; rotations are handled in a utilitarian manner, and everything comes together with a minimalist feel.

The gameplay, as noted, will bring Tetris to mind, with the colored blocks I have already mentioned. Instead of said blocks cascading to the bottom and toiling against the player’s desire to treat the resulting wall down, in Neon Snap, raw puzzle solving is more basic. There is an empty playing grid in each level, and a set number of pieces of varying shapes at the bottom. The grid space has to be completely covered with the given pieces. To solve, the given pieces have to be dragged and places in a space above… and so on and so forth till the grid is completely fuel with no empty grid blocks.

Blocks can be rotated, replaced and shifted until it is completely solved. Rotations can be effected by touching the tetrinome, or simply using the dedicated rotating button at the bottom left.

Now, on paper, it’s not an overly difficult endeavor, but add the game progresses, it gets tougher, and tougher. The grids start becoming highly irregular, with a limited array of blocks.

There are different difficulty levels of gameplay to get lost in, and the unlocked version of the game boasts of of more than a hundred different mind benders.

It starts out as a fun game, and concludes as such, which makes it such a compelling entry.

Neon Snap Review is a post from: Android Rundown

Jongla’s newest feature is the ability to easily share YouTube videos from within the app. Tapping the + icon to share media now features a YouTube option. This pulls up a mobile web view for YouTube’s site, which then makes it easy to search for videos, or to check out the top videos featured on YouTube’s front page. Then, tap the send arrow, and a link to the video will be added to the message to be sent to your contact. Simple as that.

Jongla is available for free from Google Play.

Jongla Brings Cross-Platform Messaging and YouTube Sharing to Android is a post from: Android Rundown

It’s a game that almost has to be seen (and played) to be thoroughly explained and enjoyed. The game engine spits out a 2D grid of blocks, with more squares of color suspended in an area above; the number depends on the number of empty boxes below. Every grid has at least one color square already placed, and it/they serve(s) as starter squares.

Now, to complete a level, the colors have to be set in roughly a blended fashion. Think bright colors to brighter colors, or vice-versa. The key is to bend the colors as naturally as possible to solve the puzzle. A keen eye and the ability to mentally process hues helps. For Instance, if going, say, from light grey to black, putting a darker shade of grey before a light one won’t solve the puzzle.

Yeah, and action is timed.

As the gameplay levels get higher, the difficulty of the puzzles rise as well. Soon, the grids were not just flat strips; there were irregularly shaped grids, and some in the shape of diamonds, pyramids and so forth. The color mixing also gets more complex, with brighter colors making an appearance. For different types of players, there are four different levels of difficulty.

The controls were precise, with dragging and dropping being the main means of movement. For tough sequences, there is a redo button and an exhaustible reverse toggle.

The feature set is just about perfect for the casual gamer. There is a global time leaderboard that allows the player to compare times to; there is also a local one that allows the player to challenge his/her own best times. The games gives out recognition for perfection.

Looks-wise, it is a simple game, but the developer incorporates nice animations and uses the color to make a fun game with a minimalist environment. The gameplay sound is a cheery accompaniment that does a decent job. In-app purchasing does exist, but isn’t necessary to advance.

It’s a fun game, and comes close to being the perfect time-waster.

Blendoku Review is a post from: Android Rundown

The star of the five titles that’s available is Spike Dislike 2. While the game was previously available on Android through his site, it was in a limited form compared to the iOS version because he had no reliable way to sell it! Now that he does, Android players can get in on the dislike of spikes for themselves across multiple game modes.

As well, there are several free titles available: the vaguely familiar Blockman Gets Hungry; Arcade Slots which mixes randomized slot machine gameplay with arcade mechanics like characters running across the screen; the arcade jumping game Hoppy Bobby; and finally, the challenging card game CardAgain. Check out his developer page on Google Play to see his list of titles and to download them.

Jayenkai Brings His Games to Google Play is a post from: Android Rundown

Scoundrel foxes have never been more adorable. Our main character, personified as a crafty black fox, reopens the long time feud between canids and poultry farmers. Basically, the fox is hungry, but the chickens in this caper are not necessarily willing to sacrifice themselves for the fox’s culinary delight.

The basic gameplay involves guiding a levitating fox to swoop down to catch chickens. There is a virtual line in the air that denotes success when a snatched chicken is carried to that point. Using the controls, you dive with the fox, snatch a bird and carry it back up, and so on.

The game picks up in different ways. The level of difficulty increases, with barricaded hens soon making an appearance. In these levels, the player has to, at first, pick up and use heavy, dense items to break in and get the chickens. To up the pressure, there are countdown timers that have to be beaten, as coming in slow causes failure. The game branches into dynamite, walled flyways and more the further in one gets.

I like the controls; choice is a good think, and if there is one thing that Flying Fox gives, it is choice of control. It can be played via virtual joysticks,mainly with accelerometer (along with a dive button), or all-touch. I like when I can choose how to play games such as these, and I tend to use different controls configurations based on the screen real estate of the device I am playing on… for example, I just find touch controls a bit easier on smaller screens, and joystick guidance more accurate for my sturdy thumbs on tablets.

The game is made up of a simple, yet effective color scheme, seemingly designed to enhance the action while not being overly distracting. The animations were smooth, and the artwork was good without being overly serious.

Flying Fox is a fun time waster with plenty of levels to be enjoyed by players of just about any generation.

Flying Fox Review is a post from: Android Rundown

It’s easy to accuse Apple on a macro level of stealing ‘flat’ design from Android and Windows Phone 8, both of which used this kind of design first, and it’s right in a certain sense. Apple is playing follower here. But then again they weren’t the first with a touchscreen phone, either.

However, much like how Android and WP8 don’t really look alike, iOS still has its own individual look. It’s basically a more abstract version of iOS, with no more buttons. There’s lots of color gradients too. Looking at the OS, it still looks different. There are natural similarities, but many things that separate all three OSes still.

In fact, really, iOS 7 is so familiar because all that really appears to have changed is the look of it. It’s largely a fresh coat of paint, the structure is still largely the same. The most drastic change was gutting of Game Center into something way different. But the massive feature overhaul that iOS 7 could really use at this point just isn’t there.

Customization is still largely left to just wallpapers. All apps still clutter the homescreen, and default apps can’t be hidden away from view, like how Android allows for users to choose what they want on homescreens. Widgets are still not an option, though I personally am not the biggest proponent of them. Most of the changes are minor feature tweaks. It’s still largely the same OS that it was back in 2007. Sure, it’s a lot better now with the added features, and I still overall like my iPhone (reviewing a lot of iOS games will make you go down crazy paths like that) but it just still doesn’t feel like the ideal mobile OS experience.

Google has been far less conservative, having overhauled Android not just visually but also making major feature changes with Ice Cream Sandwich and later Jelly Bean. The spirit of the OS has remained the same, but stock Android proves that there doesn’t have to be a compromise between design and functionality. And I believe that more changes will be on the way with the next big Android update.

Microsoft can’t be accused of resting on their laurels with Windows Phone, either. These operating systems just feel more…modern. iOS looks more modern, but at the end of the day, it’s still a closed and cluttered OS. There are advantages to Apple’s approach, but their strength remains as much the developer community around iOS as much as the OS itself. A new coat of paint can’t really change that.

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This is interesting in two facets: one, this is maybe the highest-profile Android-facing side of a weekly sale from Humble yet. They’re definitely making a push into being a distribution platform with more sales, more bundles, and even individual games that sell using their platform. While Android is seemingly a smaller part of this at the moment, it’s still something that’s being included. The previous Serious Sam sale included the Android version of Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack, but this is comprehensively Android-supported. This is with the exception of the original Anomaly: Warzone Earth, where the mobile campaign is different enough that 11 bit has decided to include it in the bundle for the PC versions. Mobile content moving to PC…quite backwards!

The sale runs until 2pm EDT on June 20th.

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Gameplay starts straight away: a mini-tutorial greets you with basics of the action. Players learn movement, collection of items, hunting and the procurement of sustenance, and more. The options give a good idea of what to expect; players get to name a new “world” and “world seed” and select from three modes: Story, Creative and Hardcore. Then you can pick or create a character and push on.

I would have preferred an action tutorial to the built-in text one, but I still believe that for games of this type, any tutorial is better than none at all. The gameplay is leveled, with action points furthering progress. I like the ability to upgrade player attributes via points earned. The action does get pretty intense, with an interesting array of mythical and real dangers. Stuff like snakes and bosses like airborne bosses make the quests challenging but mostly enjoyable.

The environment is truly boxy, with an edgy feel. The developer uses colors to highlight the finer parts of the environment, and such use does a good job of differentiating elements. Bright greens, subtle skylines and living objects are represented well within the design principles of the game. While some might find the animations a built stilted, I think it all fits in together quite well.

The controls are fairly intuitive. The virtual buttons are tight but responsive, with virtual joysticks and buttons to control movement and creation. The first person perspective is interestingly vivid. As an added jolt of functionality, the game is compatible with MOGA controllers.

Block Story is a a fun adventure that does very well to create a virtual terrain that begs to be discovered. it is in parts charming, at others scary, and the dichotomy it part of its charm.

Block Story Review is a post from: Android Rundown

I’m referring of course to GameStick’s recent announcement that it will launch at $79 versus the $99 price point of the Ouya. While the latter has generated a lot of headlines over the past year thanks to its Kickstarter and to its many antics, including recent shenanigans with the ESA at E3, PlayJam’s GameStick also exists as a viable product in the Android console space.

The GameStick will be launching in July, and there’s some interesting tidbits from the video Jon Jordan of Pocket Gamer (full disclosure: Pocket Gamer is owned by our parent company Steel Media) has recorded from the E3 show floor.

- The controller is a standard HID controller, not running through a sepcial API like the Ouya controller. This means that HID gamepads like the Nyko PlayPad, MOGA Pro, and Green Throttle even will work.
- Amazon and GameStop will carry the GameStick in the US, the latter being especially important as this means that it will be available at retail.

Check out the video below and keep an eye here for more on GameStick and the burgeoning Android console space.

A Ham-Fisted Yet Accurate Analogy: GameStick : Ouya :: PS4 : Xbox One is a post from: Android Rundown