Hardcore Droid
  • Home
  • Spotlight
  • Reviews
    • Action
    • Strategy
    • RPGs
  • Most Hardcore
    • Devices
    • Gifts
    • Gadgets
  • About Us
  • better-gamer
    Tips to Become a Better Gamer
  • Merge Survival Wasteland cover
    Merge Survival: Wasteland Launching Next Month
  • Undawn Open World RPG Official Promotional Image
    Open-World Survival RPG Undawn Coming to Android and iOS June 2023
  • IGNISTONE Official Cover Artwork
    Roguelike Action Title IGNISTONE Coming October 2023
  • Spiritle Official Cover Artwork
    Spiritle Coming to Android and iOS This Summer
  • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance feature image
    Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance Review
  • casual-mobile-games
    What Have Been the Biggest Casual Mobile Games in 2023 So far?
  • Online-Minesweeper-00
    Minesweeper on the Go: Top Five Mobile Online Minesweeper Games
  • Benefits-of-Video-Games
    The Potential Benefits of Video Games: What Recent Research Says
  • Fake Future title
    Fake Future Review
  • Android-gaming
    Android Gaming: The Future of Entertainment?
  • Boxing Star Official Promo Image
    Boxing Star Announces New Tag Mode Event for Seasoned Players
  • Dude where is my beer logo
    Dude, Where Is My Beer? Review
  • online-solitaire-strategy
    Online Solitaire Strategy: How to Improve Your Game and Impress Your Friends
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War 6th anniversary banner
    Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War Celebrates 6th Anniversary with New Mini Game, Events and More
Hardcore Droid
Hardcore Droid
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Spotlight
    • Interviews
    • Consoles
  • Reviews
    • Action
    • Adventure
    • Strategy
    • RPG
    • MMOs
    • Racing
    • Indie
    • Hardware
  • Best Of
    • Top 10 Games
    • Best RPGs
    • Best Action
    • Best Puzzlers
    • Best Strategy
    • Best Indie Strat
    • Best Indie RPGs
    • Most Hardcore
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Game Jobs
    • Archives
    • Attributions
    • Opportunities
  • Archives

Best Android Games of 2012

  • January 18, 2013
  • Travis Fahs
Spread the love

 

This has been a big year for our beloved Androids. Although we’ve historically had little to dine on but year-old Apple leftovers, 2012 saw a new generation of near simultaneous launches, terrific support from big-name developers, and even a few games like Dead Trigger and Shadowgun: DeadZone launching and updating on Android first. Of course, we also got our share of long-overdue ports, like Dodonpachi Ressurection and much of Square Enix’s iOS catalog, getting us that much closer to caught up. While we haven’t seen much in the way of big-name exclusives, we were still scrambling to keep up with this year’s releases. None of these selections were easy choices, and our list is by no means definitive. Without further ado, we present the most hardcore of 2012.

 

Action Game of the Year

Super Monkey Ball 2: We’ve seen games like Dead Space and Mass Effect make some impressive adaptations to mobile, but it’s a rare sight indeed when a console series actually gets better in the transition to the phone. And yet that’s exactly the case with Super Monkey Ball. The accelerometer controls feel like the way this game was always meant to be played, and while they take a bit more finesse than the control pad, they’re intuitive, fun to use, and very accurate. Although this version features a pretty scant offering of the series’ trademark minigames and multiplayer activities, the campaign is in fine form. The difficulty has been dialed down a notch from the series early GameCube days, but collecting all the crowns and unlocking bonus stages proves to be plenty of challenge for the more experienced. There are few games more addictive, and we hope SEGA continues this series on the Android in the year to come.

 

First-person Shooter of the Year

Dead Trigger: Historically, first-person shooters on touch-screen devices have been pale imitators of their console counterparts, with weak pacing to allow for the weaker controls, and a long and linear campaign that just isn’t right for playing on the go. Dead Trigger has managed to transcend that, with a campaign full of bite-sized missions, and fast, frantic shooting action that doesn’t require careful futzing with your aim. It’s proof positive that the mobile platform can not only handle a good FPS, but maybe even has something unique to contribute to the genre.

 

Simulation of the Year

Dungeon Village: Simulation games are so abundant they’re practically clogging up the Play Store. Most of these are the usual free-to-play social games; Farmville and Mafia Wars clones that are obnoxious to make progress in and rife with in-app purchases. Kairosoft’s titles are a refreshing break from this norm. Since the launch of Game Dev Story in 2010, they’ve been churning out charming sims with retro-styled graphics at an alarming rate. This year’sDungeonVillage is maybe their best yet, casting players as the mayor of a village in an old-school RPG. You build shops and accommodations to attract heroes to your town in the hopes that they’ll remain there and grind away in the dungeons outside of town. It’s quirky, funny, and easy to pick up whenever, and thankfully bereft of any in-app purchases or the need to bother your friends on Facebook.

 

Strategy Game of the Year

 Total War Battles: Shogun: There were quite a few strategy games this year in a broad range of styles, from the tactical RPG-styled Hunters, to the tower offense hit Anomaly, but Total War Battles proved to have the right formula to make the heady genre work on the go. With a long, deep campaign of fairly short, simple, yet challenging stages, it’s the kind of game you can pick up and play for 15 minutes and not feel like you’ve been slighted.

 

RPG of the Year

 The Bard’s Tale: This was a competitive year for RPGs, with Final Fantasy remakes, the two Chaos Rings titles, two new Zenonia games, and countless others. In the end we had to go with InXile’s The Bard’s Tale. BT has story and character to spare and the lothario anti-hero as protagonist is a refreshing break from the standard tropes that plague fantasy-themed entertainment.  And while the story isn’t exactly War and Peace it is genuinely funny, an element that places it a cut above the rest when it comes to RPG narratives. 

Aside from certain visuals being compromised by the small screen, the translation to mobile is nearly seamless, and though it has little replay value, the game is suitably large and the usual-suspect gameplay elements are fluently rendered. Lastly, the overall design, a hybrid of open-world and action RPG with aspects of narrative driven adventure games sprinkled into the mix, makes for the best kind of role-playing game.

 

Racing Game of the Year

Need for Speed Most Wanted: Though there were a few contenders for Racing Game of the Year, Need for Speed Most Wanted was for our money a shoe-in. We gave EA’s racer a 4 when we reviewed it back in the fall, citing NFSMW’s tight, thoughtful control scheme, stunning visuals and visceral gameplay. Across the board EA’s racer went the extra mile. Whether we’re talking about sharp, detailed, cutting edge graphics, tight, smart controls or heart-thumping action, Need for Speed Most Wanted left its competitors in the dust.

 

 

 

 

Indie Game of the Year

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP: The writing is on the wall. The adventure genre, once left for dead by the mainstream, is on its way back. The Walking Dead picking up some high profile Game of the Year nods, Tim Schafer announced his return to the genre, and Kickstarter has resurrected the careers of nearly every Sierra On-Line veteran. And then there’s Superbrothers. Already a bona fide hit on iOS, and this year it finally landed on PC and our beloved Android.

Despite the chunky, pixilated graphics, this is anything but retro. Superbrothers is indie to the bone, with a moody style, quirky sense of humor, and a fantastically ambient soundtrack. It’s a thoroughly postmodern take on an utterly nostalgic genre, and it’s not quite like anything else out there.

 

 

Hardcore Droid’s Game of the Year

Dead Trigger: Any one of the games mentioned in this article could have been someone’s game of the year, but we chose Dead Trigger because more than any other release it pushed the boundaries of what the platform could do, in terms of graphics, design, and execution. It’s a game that at once defies the expectations we have for what can be done on a phone, and yet results in a product that simply wouldn’t be as appealing any other way.

Related Topics
  • Best Android Games
Travis Fahs

has been a game journalist since 2006, writing for IGN, Gamasutra, and Cheat Code Central. An avid gaming history buff, he enjoys writing about classic gaming most of all.

Previous Article
  • Tips & Trix

Hardcore Droid’s Tips, Tricks and Strategies Goes Live!

  • January 17, 2013
  • Al Jackson
View Post
Next Article
  • Hardcore

The Most Hardcore Android Action Games Ever Made

  • January 19, 2013
  • John Markley
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Archives
  • Best Of

The Most Hardcore Android RPGs of All Time

  • Al Jackson
  • June 7, 2014
View Post
  • Archives

Dark Frontier Review

  • Tyler Burt
  • December 19, 2013
View Post
  • Archives

Gangster Granny 2: Madness Review

  • Claire Donner
  • December 15, 2013
View Post
  • Archives
  • News
  • Spotlight

Hardcore Droid’s News and Bulletin Board

  • Dabney Bailey
  • December 14, 2013
View Post
  • Archives

Riddick: The Merc Files Review

  • Will McCool
  • December 8, 2013
View Post
  • Archives

Isle of Bxnes Review

  • Francis Rafael
  • December 6, 2013
View Post
  • Archives

Death Tower Review

  • Will McCool
  • December 5, 2013
View Post
  • Archives

Westbound Review

  • Dabney Bailey
  • November 30, 2013
The Latest
  • Tips to Become a Better Gamer
  • Merge Survival: Wasteland Launching Next Month
  • Open-World Survival RPG Undawn Coming to Android and iOS June 2023
  • Roguelike Action Title IGNISTONE Coming October 2023
  • Spiritle Coming to Android and iOS This Summer
  • Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance Review
  • What Have Been the Biggest Casual Mobile Games in 2023 So far?
  • Minesweeper on the Go: Top Five Mobile Online Minesweeper Games
  • The Potential Benefits of Video Games: What Recent Research Says
  • Fake Future Review
Meta
  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
Hardcore Droid
  • Reviews
  • Spotlight
  • Hardcore
Core Gaming on the Android OS

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

x
x