 "Five augmented reality games for your Android smartphone")
Bored of playing the usual games on your Android smartphone? This week, we’ll bring you a few ‘different’ games that might tread a distinct path in terms of playability and fun. Augmented Reality has been in existence since a couple of years now, but it hasn’t really hit the mainstream path, at least as far as games are concerned. A couple of AR apps have been extremely popular, but in the games genre, the content is pretty limited. So, we searched through the Google Play Store and found a handful of AR-based games that might be worth for casual gamers. Mind you, these games are best played in a controlled environment. Here’s our list:
One of the most addictive AR games for Android, Droid Shooting makes your boring background come to life with droids attacking you from every nook and corner. It utilises your camera, and makes it a viewfinder for your battlefield. Also, there’s a radar, so you know where those evil Droids are coming from. With a variety of guns to choose from, this one is pretty good fun, and if you incorporate pass-and-play, then you’ll make it even more fun! There’s a time limit as well before another wave of droids come to attack you, so you need to be quick on your reflexes to get them out of the way.
The best part is that the game works even on low-end devices with little to no lag. However, we would have loved it if the droids had integrated a little more with the environment. Imagine, one hiding behind a chair, and you sneak up on it and blast its head off. Some brilliant droid shooting droid action. Nevertheless, a well-made game, which goes easy on system resources as well.
This one is one of the most popular games for Android and it has already been nominated for a couple of awards, including best MMO, best Augmented Reality Game, most creative use of iPhone hardware and best use of location services. Yes, it’s cross platform as well with over one million players in over 100 countries.
AR strategy game!
A few of the features include:
- Entirely free-to-play, can purchase in-game currency or trade with other players
- Fully customizable avatars
- Weekly community events and updates
- Over 20 leaderboards with weekly rewards
- Trade Hubs allow open player-to-player trading
- Buy, sell, or trade everything from raw materials to swag
- Themed chat rooms
The game’s idea is to slay epic monsters in dark dungeons or battle the dragons lurking right in your own backyard. You can travel to far-off lands and conquer anything that stands in your way, while claiming territory, as you go. The plan of action is based on what you want to do with your territory. Usher in a new age of peace and prosperity, or forge a war machine capable of raiding the world’s greatest cities.
This one is included primarily because it’s remniscent of a very nostalgic game we used to play on our phones, when Symbian was a big deal. Unlike Parallel Kingdom, this is a more simplistic and casual game. The strategy involves you to carefully beat the Skeeters, till you reach the required number for the round. Then you take a more aggressive approach as misses no longer result in point loss. Focusing on slower Skeeters first sometimes resuls in a combo shot on a passing by fast Skeeter.
Take that, mosquito!
Each round becomes increasingly difficult with faster Skeeters, shorter time limits, and higher required scores. Bonus Mode is entered when enough points to pass a round has been obtained. Bonus Mode lasts for the remainder of the round, allowing for additional points without risking point deductions. Each round ends when the time is up or when all Skeeters for the round have been beaten. The game can be played in two modes - 2D and 3D. The 3D Mode allows you to utilize phone sensors to track Skeeters in a full 360 degree range of motion.The 2D Mode restricts Skeeters’ movements in proximity to the screen. Phone movement has no effect on the game. We suggest you definitely give 3D a try.
An innovative take on augmented reality finds Zombie Room on our charts. In this game, your character is trapped in a laboratory space rigged with different types of deadly traps. Zombies are then inserted into the room and you must lure them over the traps. Trigger the traps to finish the job and complete the test. But remember, you’re being observed!
A different game
To be able to play this game, you’ll have to download an image and view it from your phone’s camera. As long as the image is in the frame, you can view the game from the top or the sides, giving you different camera angles. The target image can be downloaded from the Android market list, itself. The game gets increasingly difficult with each passing stage. In case you’re having problems running it smoothly, we suggest you adjust the graphics. It’s a good game, with a different take and hence features on our list.
Last, but not the least, Paintball lets you get into the action with your friends. It lets you experience the heart-pumping action of a game of paintball on your Android phone in some awesome Augmented Reality. Choose from a variety of paintball guns, from your standard marker to industrial-grade paintball grenade launchers to cause maximum damage to your friends. Beware of damage from your friends - your screen flashes when you’re hit. The only minor niggle we had with this game was that the screen would flash for a second, like a flash grenade, when we’d actually just shot somebody, and that has a minor hit on concentration.
Multiplayer action!
Of course you can play by yourself, as well, but multiplayer action is just awesome. Basically, you choose the colour of your enemy (preferably based on their shirt colour) and choose teams. So A shoots red and B shoots blue and the numbers get added up to see who won and who lost, at the end of the level. A free-for-all Wi-Fi bloodbath. The score matters, so watch your back!
So, that wraps up our list of Augmented Reality games. Is there any particular one you liked the most? Let us know in the comments section below!
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