The 3 best Android games this week - Terra Battle, Sentinel 4, and more
Defending the home land
Every Friday, Pocket Gamer offers hands-on impressions of the week's three best new Android games.
Terra Battle
By Mistwalker - download on Android (Free)
The latest game from Final Fantasy maker Hironobu Sakaguchi is quite the confusing beast.
"It's like a board game. But it's also a puzzler. And it's a tactical RPG," Harry explained in his hands-on preview. "And there are card-battling elements… but they're handled well."
Basically, you fight battles on a grid, and must move your warriors about to flank and surround monsters. You can also put them on the same rows or columns to activate boosts and must use the right weapon to gain an advantage over your foe.
And that's about it. Feisty, tense, tactical battles - but almost none of the pomp, sparkle, and spectacle that Sakaguchi's most famous franchise is known for. If you play RPGs for their story, you might leave a little disappointed.
But, those quick-fire battles work in Terra Battle's favour as a mobile game you can play in a few minutes at a time. We'll just have to see how the F2P bits change things as we play on…
Skylanders Trap Team
By Activision - download on Android (Free)
Up until now, the Skylanders games on mobile have been spin-offs and mini-games. An Activision executive might call them "brand extensions", before going home to sleep on a bed made of money.
But with Trap Team, we get the real deal. You get a full Skylanders game with gorgeous high-def visuals, lots of running and jumping about in cartoon worlds, and - most critically - those money-sucking toys.
That's right. Fork over 50-odd quid and you'll get a nifty Bluetooth-powered portal where you can drop down Skylanders figures for them to appear in the game itself. "This is the full Skylanders experience, says reviewer Peter, "and that's kind of amazing."
Personally, I'm waiting on those Amiibo…
Sentinel 4: Dark Star
By Origin8 - buy on Android (£1.99 / $2.99)
The last Sentinel game was released four years ago. And if Dark Star is any indication, the developers at Origin8 have been working so hard they haven't had time to look up and see how the App Store has changed since 2010.
You know, back when tower defence games were still cool. And when games didn't hold your hand at every turn, and pat you on the head with digital medals after every minor achievement.
(I swear, I've received Game Center trophies in other apps for starting the game).
So what does it have going for it? Depth. And variety. "There's just so much for you to do here," said reviewer man Mundy. "It can be dizzying."
You have to simultaneously defend the front line and check on your home base, which can be producing automated repair and attack drones. You have to jump between choke-points to defeat multiple waves of enemies at once.
But "if you're willing to negotiate Sentinel 4's steep learning curve, there's a rich and absorbing tower defence experience to be enjoyed."
