Top 5 unsung gaming heroes on Android

The Android Market is currently in a state of flux, with impressive handset sales, OS improvements, and generally better hardware forcing the big publishers and developers to take notice.

Of course, that means that the little guys – the one-man start-ups, amateur hobbyists and first-time developers – who made the Market their own in the early days face being swept away by a wave of polished professionalism.

We thought we’d highlight some of the (largely) ignored gems that are available on the Market. These games haven’t sold spectacularly, they’re a little rough around the edges, and they’re not going to redefine the way you think about gaming.

But each has a vital kernel of gaming goodness at its heart. If you’re looking for something a little different to the mainstream fare, check these out.

Putting a fresh spin on mobile card games, Blackjack Attack has you playing up to five games of 21 simultaneously. That might sound daunting - even more so when you learn that you’re playing against a strict time limit.

In your favour, though, you’re able to see the upcoming cards, so it becomes a question of deciding which of the hands you should allocate them to as quickly as possible. You need to reach a certain point score to make progress, so the emphasis is on building high-scoring hands.

By combining the familiar rules of blackjack with a little solitaire magic, Blackjack Attack makes for a refreshing and compelling puzzle game.

André Rabold’s Puzzle Blox is a fairly typical match-three puzzler, but it’s executed with a high level of skill and polish.

It’s one of those puzzlers where you have to physically touch the clusters of coloured blocks to make them disappear, but there are three surprisingly diverse modes to keep things interesting. Puzzle Blox also lets you affect the field of blocks by tilting your handset, which is a nice touch.

All in all, Puzzle Blox is created with a level of care and attention that’s quite uncommon from less established teams. While there are some excellent puzzlers on the Android Market now, this is a worthy alternative.

Hyperactive Ninja harks back to platformers of old, featuring pixel-perfect jumps, 8-bit graphics and fiendishly difficult level design.

However, in play it feels as much like the modern ‘perpetual runner’ sub-genre as anything. This is because your little coffee-guzzling ninja automatically runs until he hits a wall (at which point he turns around), leaving you to make him jump by prodding the screen.

This combination of old and new, nostalgic and current, makes Hyperactive Ninja curiously refreshing. Given the lack of major competition in the genre, it’s one of the best platformers on Android.

Neolithic Software’s innovative blaster is the very definition of an indie gem. It looks a bit rough but it's both fun to play and packed full of bright ideas.

Ostensibly a twin-stick shooter, it differs from most by making you work to play it this way. Full 360 degree firing is something you have to earn through blasting rocks and enemies and collecting gems.

The enemy AI, too, makes you work far harder than most similar games, actively chasing after the same gems that you are. It’s just another element in a package brimming over with interesting twists.

On the surface, Pocket Racing is a simple top-down racer that cribs from the likes of Micro Machines. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll soon uncover the most ambitious game on this list.

By featuring a remarkably involved online element that allows you to download the performances of other gamers as your opposition, Pocket Racing achieves something most big-budget Android games haven't been able to.

There’s a real sense of online community to Pocket Racing, despite the lack of any fancy-pants social gaming network compatibility. It helps that it’s backed up by a solidly entertaining driving model and a good selection of tracks.