Midsummer: A time for serious relaxation and for pondering whether or not you’ve done enough to make your summer plans a reality; or for realizing you haven’t accomplished Jack all summer, saying screw it all to Hell, and promptly returning to seriously taking it easy. Either way, Hardcore Droid has got your back, at least in the taking it easy department. And in Android gaming land, this first week of August will be quite the week. Titles two and three below, for example, spring forth from the loins of major franchises and both look like pretty great games. What’s more, this week’s number one is a deep, smart, critically acclaimed indie game that is indie in the truest sense of the word. The games at the tail end of our list include a hugely popular MMORPG port and a Road Warrior-style action game featuring vehicular combat. We think it’s probably one of the best weekly best of lists we’ve released to date.
5. Final Race
Set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Final Race features four player-controlled cars, eighteen races in eighteen different settings and a semblance of a story that tasks you with, of all things, completing the final race. FNK Games utterly nails the title’s Road Warrior setting, beautifully depicted here in 3D. As with most of the games on our list, we have only spent a little time with this one. We have, however, included this week’s number five because A: We are suckers for vehicular combat; B: We are constantly looking for situations where we can write and say the word “vehicular combat” and C: this beautiful depiction of post-Armageddon only costs a buck.
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4. Forsaken World Mobile RPG
Developer Fedeen Games brought the mobile version of the Chinese MMORPG Forsaken World to Android, sometime in mid-July to be exact. This week, however, the game made its way to the top of the Play Store’s Best New Free Games list. And since this mobile version, like its PC counterpart, possesses a healthy measure of depth, a vast gameworld and some pretty impressive visuals, we could not but throw it up on this week’s list, especially since we overlooked it in our last one. Honestly, I just dipped my toes into this sumptuous game as it seems to be a well-made MMORPG and I have a wife and kids who I like to spend time with occasionally. But, if you are deep into the summer time blues or feel like ditching your loved ones for some MMORPG goodness, this is, to be certain, a likely place to start. Seriously though: Despite a few technical hiccups, most MMORPG fans will be in their glory playing Forsaken World Mobile.
3. War Hammer 40,000: Space Wolf
While it is a freemium game riddled with too many overpriced IAPs, it’s also a very good looking and rather well put-together tactical-strategy title. We should add that the jury is still out on whether investing in Space Wolf’s IAPS is worth it, but play the first hour or so and you’ll likely be hooked as it is an engaging and well-crafted game, a turn-based tactical/collectible card game hybrid to be exact, with battles more in line with Space Hulk than Xcom EU. It’s by no mean perfect and the begging for cash thing is as annoying as ever, but for Hardcore Droid to overlook said begging (read around the site and you’ll see what I mean) should suggest to our returning readers at least that there is something bona fide happening with Space Wolf. What’s more, even if you are adamantly against all things IAP (We concur. They suck hard.), tactical fans can certainly enjoy the first hour or so—what amounts to a very well put together demo, all for the price of breathing.
2. Five Nights at Freddy’s Four
Both the final chapter to the Five Night’s story and a prequel, Five Nights at Freddy’s Four is unique among the Five Nights games. Gone are the video cameras and cutscenes. Instead, in Five Nights at Freddy’s Four, you play as a small child, whose role is, in all the game’s copy, “undisclosed.” You play armed with nothing more than a flashlight that scares off the many baddies, who you will hear but not see from time to time creeping up on you in the dark. However, if you flash that light into a creature’s eyes, it will be by that time too late for you. All reports suggest that Five Nights at Freddy’s Four is an outstanding and very solid entry into the Five Nights saga. Who knows it might prove to be the best and jump scariest of all of the Five Night’s games.
1. This War of Mine
“In modern war you will die like a dog for no good reason.”
This War of Mine begins with the above quote from the great American writer, Ernest Hemmingway. It’s not only the perfect introduction to this harsh, indie roguelike, but it’s also fitting because Hemmingway is one of the great literary artists of the modern age and This War of Mine is one of those rare games that if it’s not fine art, it’s as close as any game gets.
This War not only embroils the player in a rich, dynamic narrative, it also offers up a wealth of nuanced and engaging gameplay. Cast as a non-combatant stuck in a war-torn city, said gameplay involves nightly scavenger missions predicated upon the player contending with a host of morally ambiguous dilemmas. The title makes for both compelling gameplay and thought-provoking entertainment.
In my humble, every gamer should check out this stark, iconoclastic depiction of war from the standpoint of a refugee, for those of us, however, who believe that gaming is, or potentially is, an art form, it cannot be missed.