Features

Top 10 best Android games of November 2013

Epic sports sims, gorgeous platformers, arty puzzlers, and more

Top 10 best Android games of November 2013
|

Wow. What a month for Android gamers.

During November, we've witnessed a stupefyingly high standard of games debuting on the Google Play Store. But it's not just the strength of these titles that's floating our boats; it's also the timeliness.

Many of the top 'droid games released this month have come out at the same time as - or within a couple of weeks of - their iOS counterparts. That's progress right there.

But let's get back to the games themselves, because they really do deserve all the column inches we can give them. We've got the return of several top-tier game franchises AND a conversion of one of the best mobile games of the year, among other things.

Check them out. All of them. Just think of them as ten early Christmas presents to yourself.

Rayman Fiesta Run
By Ubisoft - buy on Android

In this sequel to the sublime Rayman Jungle Run, Ubisoft somehow pumps even more colour and even more cartoony joy into your Android screen.

Once again, it's a fixed-movement platformer where your sole responsibility lies with jumping (and hovering). Around this simple control system, Ubi has built loads of twisting, morphing, and just plain magnificent speedrun levels.

Ridiculous Fishing
By aeiowu / Vlambeer - buy on Android

The guys behind Super Crate Box changed tack completely for this modern-day casual classic. Ridiculous Fishing is a deceptively deep three-stage affair.

There's an initial line-dropping phase (where you have to tilt to dodge the fishes), followed by a line-reeling bit (where you have to tilt to aim FOR the fishes), and then a gloriously cathartic screen-tapping shoot-'em-up section as you blast your haul out of the air. Get your hooks into this right now.

Anomaly 2
By 11 bit studios - buy on Android

The first Anomaly game would have been one of the best tower defence games around... but for the fact it wasn't a tower defence game at all. 11 bit switched the formula around, you see, so that it was you playing the encroaching force up against a fixed set of defences.

This sequel is pretty much more of the same, albeit with a couple of neat tweaks to the format, such as the ability to transform your tanks into new laser-spewing machines.

Joe Dever's Lone Wolf
By Forge Reply - buy on Android

What do you get when you cross a stonking gamebook with a fine action-RPG? We didn't know, either. Until Joe Dever's Lone Wolf came along, that is.

Combining a gripping and interactive fantasy storyline with involved Infinity Blade-like real-time combat, Forge Reply has produced one of those games that seem to have everything.

Neon Shadow
By Tasty Poison Games - buy on Android

With so many smartphone FPS developers looking to current-gen consoles for inspiration, they seem to be forgetting about the uncomplicated blasters of yesteryear.

For Neon Shadow, Tasty Poison has smartly cast its inspiration net back further, summoning the spirit of Doom with its streamlined futuristic blasting. That's not to say that it's devoid of originality, though, with same-tablet multiplayer particularly noteworthy.

Football Manager Handheld 2014
By Sports Interactive - buy on Android

Yes, it's another incremental update of the world's finest mobile footy management sim. But it is still the world's finest footy management sim. And that means it's essential to a sizeable crowd of soccer nuts.

Football Manager 2014 does contain a couple of interesting UI tweaks to help streamline your tactical tinkering. While being able to create your own side from scratch is just pure wish fulfilment.

Ittle Dew
By Ludosity - buy on Android

With Ittle Dew, Ludosity is so massively indebted to Nintendo's Zelda series it isn't funny. But that's okay. Show us a modern adventure game dev that isn't.

Besides, Ludosity's effort is slick, pretty, and bursting with nice touches. If running around a colourful fantasy world solving puzzles and exploring dungeons is your thing, you can't do much better on Android.

Strata
By Graveck - buy on Android

The count of achingly stylish puzzlers on Android ticks ever upwards, with Strata only adding to the crowd. But it also stands apart, thanks to a novel core system.

Not for Graveck the usual match-three tropes, oh no. Instead, you unfurl coloured ribbons across a game grid, attempting to create a precisely layered lattice. It's fun, it's funky, it's fresh.

Deadly Bullet
By Monobrow Games - buy on Android

In the garish dystopian metropolis of Deadly Bullet, you don't fire bullets. Nope, you ARE a bullet. It's up to you to guide it around each level, avoiding obstacles and popping bad guys.

The aesthetic is pure Hotline Miami, which is to say it's equal parts gruesome and appealing... in a sickly neon-tinged kind of way. A tricky arcade delight.

Skylanders Lost Islands
By Vicarious Visions - buy on Android

It's taken a year to get here, but Skylanders Lost Islands has finally landed on Android in time to suck up that festive pocket money. It's a kiddie-focused freemium city builder with a hefty IAP element, but it's not as cynical as that makes it seem.

That's because it's actually a really good, thoughtfully conceived game in its own right. You can have hours of fun with Skylanders Lost Islands without spending (much) money, which makes it okay in our book.


Top 10 best Android games: October 2013
Top 10 best Android games: September 2013
Top 10 best Android games: August 2013
Top 10 best Android games: July 2013
Top 10 best Android games: June 2013
Top 10 best Android games: May 2013
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.