Top 10 best Android games: May 2011

While the world and its wife (not to mention the PG staff) was apparently busy bringing justice to the mean streets of LA Noire on those home console thingamajigs in May, there was a near criminal lack of innovation to be found on the Android Market.

For the majority of the month, there were plenty of solidly enjoyable yet deeply derivative titles to pick from – take a bow, Gameloft (which contributes four strong titles in this list) – and a strong selection of iOS ports, but little to truly rock the gaming boat.

Thank heavens for Hexage, then, as the primo Android developer rolled in at the last minute with freemium strategy opus Robotek. It may suffer from a lack of variation over the long haul, but for the first few hours at least it's a welcome, neon-coloured shot in the arm for Android creativity.

As the summer months take their toll on overly-reflective screens everywhere, more titles like Robotek are desperately needed in June to distract people from the lure of weak Pimms, uncooked barbecue food, and Frisbee hurling.

It was hardly surprising the team behind Evac and Totemo would produce something innovative and daring for their next release, but Robotek still manages to catch you off guard with its smart mix of strategy, RPG combat and giant, laser blasting machines.

Essentially, you're fighting a one Android (plus three supporting minions) war against AI-controlled machines that have conquered the globe.

With 200 Power Nodes spread across the world map to take back, it’s a daunting task made more palatable by the innovative, fruit machine-style turn-based combat engine.

You eventually have to pay-to-play, but extra Charge (the game’s currency) is relatively cheap for such addictive eye candy.

It’s a shame, then, that after a handful of hours you’ve really seen all Robotek has to offer – meaning, for these metal machines at least, there’s little more than meets the eye.

One of the classic city-builder games finally got a lick of HD Android paint this month via Gameloft, earning itself an impressive Pocket Gamer Silver Award.

With its glacial pace and focus on resource-gathering, Settlers HD takes a while to get going but it’s worth the effort – not least because you’ll need a while to get used to the complex micromanagement systems and fiddly touchscreen controls.

Still, watching your cute little settlers potter around the map completing their daily chores by hand is one of gaming’s rare, pastoral pleasures.

Feeling suitably chilled out after a couple of hours in the company of those lovable Settlers?

Good, because there’s an intergalactic war to manage – so put down the cup of tea and wade into Starfront: Collision HD.

Gameloft’s truly epic spin on the PC RTS franchise Starcraft might lack innovation, but it more than makes up for it in quality production values and robust gameplay.

Alongside an epic, three-pronged story campaign, the real star here is the intuitive touchscreen controls, which impressively recreate the keyboard and mouse setup strategy fans swear by.

With it's well-tuned, slide-out physical controls, Sony's Xperia Play handheld should have had a solid grip on the gaming marketplace in May.

Yet, with only one major release targeted exclusively at the device, it's been a slow month for early adopters.

It didn't help that Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave, while an enjoyable blend of button-bashing RPG and tower defence strategy, is still somewhat unrefined in the controls department.

In combat, the Xperia Play's D-pad proves a solid performer but remains underused when navigating the game's myriad overlapping menus that do their best to befuddle you.

Fortunately, the Unreal-powered visuals and frantic hack-and-slash action should keep you happy.

Capable of inducing vertigo via your mobile phone screen, Shadow Guardian is a master class in how to replicate a console platforming experience on Android.

Owing as much of a debt to late-era Tomb Raider as the PS3 Uncharted series, Gameloft's visually stunning title boasts endlessly beautiful environments to clamber around using the smart, context-sensitive controls.

It's a shame, then, that the weak puzzles and clunky, cover-based combat take some of the shine of those dazzling first impressions.

But if you're prepared to grind through the odd shoot out, Shadow Guardian is a real showcase for your handset's graphical prowess – one that cries out for a more imaginative, polished sequel.

One of the few movie licensed products out there that doesn't deserve to be immediately disregarded, Gameloft's tie-in to the latest Fast & the Furious flick is a strong spin its well-established Asphalt racing formula.

There's a distinct Burnout-flavour to the race modes (ranging from basic pole position battles with five AI opponents to Drift challenges and an Elimination mode, where you ram opponents off the road), but the action is so slick and nitrous-fuelled that such copyright infringing concerns are soon swept away.

What's more distracting is the odd lack of Vin Diesel in the game's cut-scenes, including some surreal moments where his character talks from inside a blacked out car.

Fans of the movies will be disappointed Riddick stayed in the shadows this time, but the rest of us will be too busy grinding paintwork with other players online to worry.

There are simply not enough games in the world where you fire pandas out of cannons to destroy gloating atoms. In space.

Filling that glaring void in the market is developer unit9's smart little physics puzzler Nano Panda, which – while eerily similar stylistically to iOS mega hit Cut the Rope – offers a decent challenge and cutesy appeal.

The key to completing the deceptively tricky levels is mastery of the gravity tether.

It automatically binds your furry missiles together whenever more than one share the screen, and can be used to spring pandas all over the place - essential for collecting the stars needed to unlock further challenges.

Even after a couple of hours, the gravity mechanic – while zany fun – is a little too unpredictable and there will be plenty of pandas smeared over each level's deadly spiked borders before you hit on some solutions.

An Android spin on the Japanese Sokoban puzzle series, Block Rogue offers that ever popular blend of simple to learn game mechanics, a steady difficulty curve, and a dash of knowing humour.

You control archaeologist Ilbin, who is working his way through a labyrinthine temple by moving blocks and boulders around until they sit on specific floor plates and unlock one of two exits.

The twist is that you'll encounter different puzzles depending on which exit you take.

With a massive 325 rooms to visit, each enhancing the game's detailed fantasy world through history book pages and Ilbin's missing memories (kept in magical mirrors) found along the way, it will take a fair few playthroughs to get the full story – bolstering the re-playability of Block Rogue enormously.

As well as nabbing our prestigious 'Pun of the Month' award for “Inverte-great”, Alan Martin's review of Death Worm lavished praise on the game's simple tale of a giant worm feasting on civilians, cars, helicopters, and legions of juicy soliders.

Like the cult film Tremors retold from the monster's perspective, it's a cartoony eat-'em-up in the style of Hungry Shark with a dash of cruel humour and decent buffet of play options to munch through (a story-based campaign, survival mode, and mini-games).

The virtual joystick controls are impressively accurate and, while it's unlikely to hold your interest for weeks on end, Death Worm offers plenty of chomping thrills and looks fantastic on bigger screens.

It might look and sound, and be named, like a rhythm-action game but MrMixit has more in common with the child-friendly card game Snap than DJ Hero.

Rather than slowly turn over cards until you get a matching pair, this game requires you – an aspiring DJ's assistant – to drag matching cross-cut patterns onto a turntable and move the deck to merge them together.

Starting off as a simple game of trial and error, the difficulty soon switches up with more and more images needing to be matched at the same time.

Plus, if you make a mistake there's no chance of a remix – just a quick spin back to the restart screen.

As we noted in our review, MrMixit is a “one trick pony” gameplay-wise, but its simple mechanics and funky presentation make this one worth digging through the Market's record bins to snap up a copy.