Best android games

 Best Android games to help you navigate the Play Store's myriad titles. Join us as we explore the various game genres and find all the best titles to install on your Android phone or tablet in 2015. 

• Best Android apps
• Best free Android games

New Android games this month

Every month we'll bring you scorching hot new games, plucked from the undiscovered depths of Play Store obscurity, to help you stay on the cutting edge of what's worth playing on your Android smartphone. Be the one to tell your friends what's worth playing right now by checking the article at the link below.

• New Android games

Best Android puzzle games

Cut the Rope 2: our current favorite:

Our current favorite puzzle game on Android is Cut the Rope 2, in which you feed candy to a little green critter known as Om Nom. How do you do this? By cutting rope, of course.

This free-to-play title features painterly graphics and fiendishly clever puzzles, whose solutions are often right before your eyes.

Don't be fooled by the cutesy visuals, Cut the Rope 2 gets seriously tough by the time you reach the later levels. But because success is only ever a few snips away, this one never gets old. 

If you're after some other great puzzle games for Android, there are plenty to choose from. Puzzle games are great for your morning commute or while you're waiting at the doctor's office. Sometimes they offer brainless fun, and other times they're more complicated than you would think, but they are as essential as your phone itself. Hit the link below for our favorites.

• Best Android puzzle games

Best Android tower defense games

Plants vs Zombies 2: our current favorite

Plants vs Zombies is one of the classic free-to-play tower defense games and its sequel might be the shining star of this genre. Plants vs Zombies 2 sees you employing the services of assorted shrubbery to defeat an encroaching zombie army.

PopCap delivers a colorful, addictive, well-balanced strategy game which is endlessly replayable and continuously inventive. Each stage has its own set of unique traits, which means that progressing through them always throws up interesting challenges.  

As far as free-to-play games go, Plants vs Zombies 2 is pretty generous in terms of the unlocked content that is freely available. And it's also a helluva good time. 

Defense Zone 2 HD: for those seeking a serious challenge

Defense Grid 2 HD is a more realistic tower-defense game, with a modern military theme. In comparison to its cutesy competition, it certainly has more grit, but it also has the excellent gameplay to match.

There is a lot of tactical depth to the game, which may make it difficult to get into if you've never played a tower defense game before. However, I suspect that genre veterans will relish the challenge it presents.

Defense Zone 2 HD costs US$2.99 for the full version, but there is a light version available if you want to check that first. It’s definitely one of the best tower defense games on Android.

Castle Defense: for beginners

Castle defense is another free-to-play title. Set in a fantasy realm, it’s one of the older tower defense titles and there’s nothing exactly revolutionary to be found here. But Castle Defense nails the basics of the tower defense genre and acts as an excellent starting point for those who are new to this type of game.

The enemies walk along a fixed path which you must line with towers to prevent them reaching the end. The graphics and audio are just okay, but with more than 100 levels, three difficulty settings and an exciting upgrade system, Castle Defense will still keep you coming back for more. 

Best Android RPG games

Dragon Heroes: Shooter RPG

Essentially a vertical-scrolling shooter with RPG elements, Dragon Heroes: Shooter RPG lends some welcome depth to an inherently simplistic genre. By progressing through the levels, you can unlock a variety of heroes and upgrade their skills in a bid to save Dragonia from a spate of Dragons, who are also the bosses on each level.

The shooting game play is simple, colorful and kinetic and there are seemingly endless buttons to press in the menus, lending it a nice arcade vibe. The only gripe is the absurd loading time the game requires, particularly when starting up. It's quickly forgotten once you're blasting merrily away at dragons, but it can be frustrating when you want to dive in for a quick game and you have to wait several minutes to get onto a level.

The game feature several different modes, PvP battles and Guilds, so there's plenty to get your teeth stuck into.

The Walking Dead: Road to Survival

The Walking Dead provides the basis for another Android game, as well as more evidence that franchises thrive as well as zombies on the post-apocalyptic earth. The Walking Dead: Road to Survival is probably the richest Walking Dead Android experience yet. It functions mostly as a base-building game, and Woodbury is the setting in which you construct the usual workshops, training grounds and farms to get humanity back up on its feet.

Outside the base, there are missions and raids. The former finds you exploring the surroundings through story-led turn-based combat, and the latter lets you face off against opponents online, fighting for reputation and supplies. The story mode lets you make decisions at key moments, and will prove particularly enjoyable for fans of the comic books.

Overall, the game is pretty involving to start out with, and its dynamics function well, but its Pay-to-Win nature becomes apparent after a few hours of gameplay. There have been complaints about the random chance of characters and equipment you acquire and the cost of doing so. We would advise you to enjoy the game as far as possible for free, and try to avoid dropping any (or at least too much) money into it. 

Spider-Man Unlimited

Combining Spider-Man with an endless runner seems like a match made in heaven. Spider-Man swings through the streets of New York, climbs skyscrapers and fights exciting battles against Doc Ock, The Green Goblin and a whole host of other baddies from the Spider-Man universe in another polished title from Gameloft.

The look and feel of the game borrow heavily from the comics, with excellent cell-shaded graphics that work perfectly with the 3D level design. You shouldn’t expect an epic plot, but even non-Spider-Man fans will enjoy this one.

Hitman: Sniper

Square Enix’s Hitman series has been a big franchise on PC and consoles for some time, but it has recently been given the smartphone and tablet treatment. The turn-based Hitman GO title was released last year, and now 'Squenix' has followed up with a first-person shooter, Hitman: Sniper.

Hitman: Sniper takes place largely in a fixed position behind a sniper rifle scope. You operate as Agent 47, an assassin for hire tasked with picking off a number of high-profile targets. Though it's easy enough to identify and take out the main mark, killing the surrounding guards in the best order brings some tactical depth to Hitman: Sniper.

There are around 150 missions to keep you occupied for the US$2.99 asking price, and few Android FPSs can instill the kind of tension that Sniper does. Once the NPCs get wise to you, things can get hectic.

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