Android Magazine 58 - 2015 UK

84

Games

what we’ve

been playing

FIFA 1

Good chemistry between players is a key

factor for a successful squad

From the splendid

soundtrack to some

impressively detailed thre

dimensional match visuals, FIFA is a

polished as a silver trophy – on the

exterior at least. While the graphics

aren’t quite up to home console

standard, the player likenesses are

good enough to be recognisable and

they’re smoothly animated. Of

course with FIFA you get the genuine

team, player names, badges and

stadiums so it feels authentic.

The match action is good too;

FIFA 15’s ill-advised emphasis on

gesture-based gameplay is gone,

now to be replaced by a standard

on-screen thumbstick and

context-sensitive buttons.

Noticeably improved player

includes smaller turning circles and

the skill to dribble at speed. While

there’s the odd lack of precision or

fi nesse and the slide tackling is a bit

hit and miss, on the whole players

do what you tell them. If you need a

to putting players in their favoured

position and formation, it improves

when you have players from the

same (real-life) club, league or

nation. Since chemistry is so

important and overrides other

statistics, it skews the player

scouting somewhat and makes

building a successful squad that bit

harder. This is particularly the case if

you don’t like to buy IAPs, since

in-game currency is hard earned and

the prices for premium player packs

are astronomical. The Live Transfer

requires you to log in with Facebook

and the option to exchange ten

spare players for random

replacements is a big gamble. On the

plus side, the introduction of online

seasons – in addition to single-player

seasons and tournaments – is

welcome, enabling you to play

against real people online.

» Price Free + IAPs

» Designed for Phone and tablet

» Requires Android 4.4 and up

Power Ping Pong

£0.08/$0.10

If you mix table tennis with

kung-fu-style special moves and oddball

opponents, the result is the great Power

Ping Pong. Now we are used to the

nuances of swipe controls, we’re hooked.

Pokémon Shuffle

Mobile Free + IAPs

While we have some

reservations about the lower coin

rewards, this Pokémon-themed

match-three gameplay is well designed.

We really want to catch them all!

»twitter

@lgrobot

Recommend a game...

management-focused role then you

can just release the controls and let

your players roam. The AI players

are much improved with their ability

to move forwards into open space,

make intelligent runs, mark players

and track back.

So the match action is fi ne, what

about the rest of the game? Well, it

all takes place in Ultimate Team

mode where you build up your club’s

squad by collecting player cards –

earned or bought via IAPs. One

interesting aspect is the focus on

Can you build the ultimate team?

Action-RPG clunk and grind

Eternity

Warriors 4

Goal! The visuals of the match action look superb

»PriceFree + IAPs

» Designed for Phone and tablet

» Requires Android 3.0 and up

Along with enhanced

graphics, the fourth

instalment in this long-

running series gives you instant

access to three character classes:

Warrior, Assassin and Mage, but

there are still no customisation

options. The familiar combat sees

you using the left virtual stick to

move your hero while activating

attacks with the buttons on the right.

Special abilities have a cool-down

timer, so you’ll need to use them

wisely and take evasive action when

waitingforarecharge.Ontheother

hand,theenemyAIaren’tvery

impressive and they sometimes just

stand still. Naturally there’s a lot of

treasure collecting, levelling up and

weapon upgrading aided by IAPs. As

is the current trend, an MMO lets you

Battle with an optional sidekick and rack up combos to defeat the dull AI

team up with another player’s hero

to help you out in quests.