The best Android games this week - XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Bamba, 9 Elefants
Kill aliens on a unicycle while solving puzzles
Every Friday, Pocket Gamer offers hands-on impressions of the week's three best new Android games.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
By 2K Games – buy on Android (£7.19 / $9.99)
We've already waxed lyrical about the Gold Award-winning iOS version of this console port, but it's always nice to have another go.
This is a hefty chunk of brilliantly chiselled strategy that fits perfectly into your pocket, and while it might not quite replicate the visual splendour of the home versions, it's pretty damn close to it.
You lead your squad of humans into battle against the alien menace, using tactics, equipment, and nous to try and make sure they get back alive.
And now you can play it on your Android, so long as your Google-powered device has enough power to actually make the little men move about.
Bamba
By Simon Durcroquet - buy on Android (59p / 99c)
A weird unicycling game that's part platformer, part exercise in balancing, and part education in the deeper meaning of the word frustration.
All you have to do is tap the screen to roll forwards and backwards, remaining upright while a clock in the corner ticks down. When it hits zero you've completed the level.
But the floor under you shifts, hammers swing at you from multiple directions, and you roll too fast to the edge of the arena and plummet to your death.
Bamba is arcade gaming at its sharpest, and at its silliest.
9 Elefants
By Anuman - buy on Android (£2.19 / $2.99)
What do a talking cat, a camera that takes photos through time, and a man in a weird mask have in common? That's one of the main questions in this puzzling adventure.
It's a lot like the Professor Layton series, with a variety of strange characters setting you bite-sized puzzles within the context of a larger mystery.
Everything is presented with twee whimsy, and the puzzles themselves range from the reasonably simple to the fiendishly difficult.
There's enough puzzling here to keep you entertained for a good few hours, and the bizarre characters are sure to leave a smile on your face.
