Top 10 best Android-exclusive games (2012)

The best games on Android are almost always available on iOS, too. It's a tough fact to swallow, but check the rival app shops and you'll find that the top games either pledge their allegiance to Apple, or appear on both.

There is, however, a small group of games that are exclusive to the Android. A very small group. The ten apps below are (currently) only available on Google Play, so stick these in your beautifully designed pipe and smoke them, Apple fanboys.

Little Empire
By Camel Games - buy on Android

In freemium games, friends are an advantage, for they aid in quests and expand your kingdom. But, in Little Empire, pals can also help themselves to your loot if you leave it unguarded.

To keep your gold safe from backstabbing buddies, you need to build up your town's defences by mining for resources and making fortifications. The combat is fun - you choose units, make formations, and cast spells to beat enemy battalions.

Experiment 13
By Sony - buy on Xperia Play

This Sony-published platformer is an Xperia Play exclusive. You play as bespectacled boffin Roy Tate, who accidentally teleports himself into an alternative dimension filled with puzzles, gems, and pits.

Luckily, Roy can switch gravity to spin the world by 90 degrees. This turns walls into floors and floors into ceilings, letting Roy bypass hazards and clear levels.

OnLive
By Onlive - buy on Android

While the iOS version of OnLive is stuck in Apple approval hell, Android fans can be quite smug in the knowledge that only their phones can play Deus Ex and Dirt 3.

Here's how it works: servers chug away playing high-end PC games and stream the video to your phone. In turn, you send your control inputs back to OnLive. As long as your internet connection is solid, you get to play brand-new PC games on a 4-inch screen.

Emulation

Unless you're willing to jailbreak your iPhone, playing ancient games on iOS is strictly forbidden. All hail the open Android platform, then, where emulating old consoles is your god-given right.

Almost every retro taste is accounted for, either on Google Play itself or from apps elsewhere on the web. We've catalogued some of the best emulators for Android handsets in this here feature.

Doptrix
By Doptrix Software - buy on Android

Doptrix is a lot like Tetris in that you assemble blocks on a cramped grid. Making perfect rows helps clear the board, while falling off the edge equals Game Over.

But, here's the twist: you get to spin and flip the board before you drop your block, so you can line up the perfect cranny to slot it in. It's a slower, more cerebral Tetris.

Dungeon Village
By Kairosoft - buy on Android

In the world of RPGs, would-be heroes spend plenty of gold in local villages. In Kairosoft's Dungeon Village, you'll sneak into that booming market, and make a town tailored for monster-hunting adventure types.

That means laying down weapon and armour shops, building barracks, and helping out the local heroes. As mayor, you'll bag a share of the loot whenever they down a slime or dragon.

Virtua Tennis Challenge
By Sega - buy on Android

Sega's king of the court has been scaled down to fit smartphone screens, but little has been lost in the transition. It's still got that tasty arcade immediacy and those tense end-of-tourney showdowns.

You'll hop around the globe as you take on the world's best players. Sadly, the fruit-dodging and robot-toppling mini-games didn't survive the jump to Android.

Gem Miner 2
By Psym Mobile - buy on Android

Gem Miner is all about boring deep into the earth, picking up shiny minerals, and hot-footing it back to the surface to sell your loot on. You'll use the cash to finance your next dig.

There are plenty of dangers down below, including rocks that need to be propped up, plus fire, water, and crippling coal gas that will kill you. It's a constant battle of risk vs reward.

Mr Legs
By I Like James Games - buy on Android

I Like James Games puts a fresh spin on the auto-runner genre with Mr Legs. By using your finger, you can stretch and squish the leggy hero's limbs so he's either a squat dwarf or a lanky giant.

This helps him munch on floating fruit and avoid nuisance bombs. It all exists in a surreal universe of vacant eyeholes and bizarre music. Almost certainly the product of a childhood nightmare or two.

Silpheed Alternative: Menace from Beyond the Stars
By GungHo Online Entertainment - buy on Android

This semi-successor to Mega CD shooter Silpheed isn't that smart, and it has few fresh ideas. But, it's a good-looking combat game, and the closest thing you'll get to Rez on your Android.

You zip through the cosmos, wiping out enemy ships. You'll use a blaster and a lock-on missile launcher to take down hundreds of baddies during the game's short campaign.