The number of Android based devices has grown exponentially in the past few months, and the operating system is now more popular than Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS and Blackberry combined. It’s basically on the same level as the iPhone OS, judging by the number of users.
Android supporters hope that it can overrun iPhone and take the first place, but a lot of people don’t think that’s going to happen, especially with the release of iOS 4, which comes preinstalled on the iPad and the new and really improved iPhone 4, which is one of the best smart phones out there, albeit a bit expensive.
Still, the Android OS isn’t going anywhere, and will be a great competitor on the market. The number of apps on the Android marketplace has grown more than 10 times in the last year (there have been over 9000 new apps released in March alone!). That is to say you can be sure you won’t miss if you buy an Android device like Windows Mobile 6.5 users did when they bought perfectly good phones like the HTC Touch Pro 2 and the OS was basically announced dead and unsupported by its developer, Microsoft.
The range of applications that Android is good for has become a lot wider, and now encompasses virtually anything you can think of, from office uses to web browsing, entertainment and games. The latter was a problem in the earlier releases, because the graphics drivers weren’t ready and the graphics chips in smart phones were too slow to handle nice, beautiful games. Things have changed in the last 2 years and now we can enjoy great, long and beautiful games (even the desktop Quake 3!) on any Android device.
Below you’ll find a collection of the best and most addictive strategy and RTS games for Android.
Robo Defense
This is THE most popular tower defense game ever for the Android operating system. It deserves the status, too: it’s got everything you need and more, from huge open maps and nice graphics to various upgrades and achievements. There is a free version available, so you can easily try it before buying, but the $3 asking price is totally worth paying for what you get.
Robo Defense-Android Games
Battle for Mars
Another great game from the “Most Popular” category, Battle for Mars is a turn based strategy game that has a lot of great maps, units, buildings and single player campaigns. The game puts 3 races at war with each other, and you choose which one to control. The gameplay is pretty impressive, as are the graphics and controls. The maps are huge for a mobile game and can rival those in older PC RTS games. The latest version adds support for multiplayer, which makes it much, much better!
Battle for Mars-Android Games
Defend Homeland
This is a great Real Time Strategy (RTS) game that puts you in control of your country’s military with the goal of defending it (hence the name) and defeating your enemies. You have a lot of infantry units, tanks, turrets, oil refineries, and land mines under your control, all of which will help you in completing the various missions in the battle against the reds. There is also a skirmish mode, which is great when you’ve finished the main single player campaign, but still want to play it occasionally.
Defend Homeland-Android Games
Pocket Empires Online
This is the most popular free Massively Multiplayer Online Game for the Android OS, and it totally deserves the popularity. You play against hundreds of thousands of other people all around the world in a virtual world that puts over 10 unique buildings, 30 different creatures, over 40 technologies and 50 items, all of which will help you grow your empire and fight others for defense or offense (conquer or destroy them). The controls are pretty standard and are great for a touch screen device, while the graphics are some of the nicest in any mobile strategy game. You should definitely check it out if you liked Warcraft or any other MMORPG for desktop computers.
Pocket Empires Online-Android Games
Parallel Kingdom AOE
This was one of the first (and it’s still one of the best) location based games for Android devices. It basically overlaps a virtual gameplay world with the real world using a smart phone’s integrated GPS receiver. The game (and the character you control) moves with you wherever you are, as is the case with other players. This makes for a very interesting gameplay, allowing you to fight, chat, visit and otherwise interact with other players in the game’s virtual world as well as in the real world. Really worth checking out, especially when its totally free.
Parallel Kingdom AOE-Android Games
There are many other good games on the Android marketplace, but the above are the most popular and have the greatest game play. A lot of new games will be released this year, and with the constant improvements in microelectronics, it won’t be long before we see PS2 quality games on Android (and iPhone) devices.
Popularity: 6% [?]
