5 games to play on your new Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL
Graphically stunning games for the new Android champs
Google has just announced two new flagship smartphones in the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.
Why should you care? Well, while the Pixel range still isn't anywhere near as big as the Samsung Galaxy S in terms of popularity, it remains the closest thing to an Android equivalent of the iPhone.
Just as Apple controls both the software and hardware of its smartphones, so Google does the same with the Pixel range. As a result, Pixel phones tend to offer the purest Android experience around.
When you factor in the fact that the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are equipped with the latest Snapdragon 845 CPU, colourful OLED displays, and stereo speakers, you can virtually guarantee that they'll be brilliant gaming phones.
With that in mind, we thought we'd recommend a few games to help show that new Pixel 3 hardware off.
1
Asphalt 9
Gameloft's arcade racing series has always been big on spectacle, but the latest entry takes things to the next level. Asphalt 9 is an insanely good looking game.
When you play it on a device that lets you crank the settings up to max, it's quite breath taking. With a Snapdragon 845 chip and 4GB of RAM, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL will allow you to do just that with none of the stutters we've seen on lesser Android phones.
2
The Room: Old Sins
The Room: Old Sins is at the opposite end of the gaming scale to Asphalt 9. It's a static game that's about painstaking detail and careful contemplation rather than breakneck speed.
It's no less a showcase for the Pixel 3 hardware, though. Fireproof's delicate puzzler is a true graphical showcase, full of intricate clockwork puzzles and spooky effects. It'll really pop on those beautiful displays.
3
Fortnite Battle Royale
Fortnite doesn't run on just any old Android phone. It remains in beta on a relatively limited number of devices, and it's an infamously demanding game.
Despite that, all evidence seems to suggest that Fortnite will run like a dream on either Pixel 3 family. What's more, those huge (5.5-inch and 6.3-inch) colour-rich OLED displays will show Epic's vibrant world at its best.
4
Gear.Club
Here's another slice of graphically-impressive 3D racing. Gear.Club isn't as outlandishly in-your-face as Asphalt 9, but it has its own subtle charms.
With its photorealistic cars and elegant point-to-point tracks, it's every inch the console race - right there on your phone. If you're the sort to ogle beautiful real-life cars, Gear.Club should be the first game you download onto your Pixel 3.
5
Shadowgun Legends
Madfinger has always produced games that make fast phones sing and slow phones groan slightly - though it's visceral shooters are always very well optimised. Shadowgun Legends is the latest and most ambitious of the lot.
This is a vast first person shooter that rolls epic single player quests and multiplayer clashes into one sprawling sci-fi world. The bigger the screen and the more powerful the processor, the better this thing plays, so the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL should be perfect for the job.
