Given the terrible state of video games on Android phones, I’d say the issue plaguing the platform isn’t free-to-play titles sucking the life out of all that is fun than it is the lack of proper controls offered by the platform itself.
Even though there has been no end to the lack of ingenuity displayed in by ambitious app-makers, they are all limited to swipe controls seen in endless runners, or in the tapping seen in line-up-three-colors-in-a-row puzzlers. The lack of proper controls is stagnating the development of gaming on Android phones.
It may be less than ideal to use a PS3 controller to game on your Android phone as I do, but nothing else will be satisfactory to properly play any sort of video game.
The real shame is that modern enthusiasts won’t get to know video gaming from playing current Android offerings. A entirely new world awaits them–if only they had an eight-way D-pad and an A and a B button.
Micro Machines V3 is largely forgettable game lost among the number of kart racers of its time, but it would be an awesome app for your phone. It has low system requirements (2.5D graphics), a cute personality that never gets in the way of its good gameplay, and a lot of replay value for your commute.
Maybe it’s not an ideal way to give a complement, but Micro Machines V3 is a great way to waste time. It would be a great game for your phone.
There are some drawbacks to this game. The top-down perspective only provides a short glimpse of the road ahead, something that comes in even shorter supply when you are doing well and are given the lead. But as it is, this is a kart racer, one whose controls are so tight that you’ll have no one to blame but your lack of reflexes. You never forget that you’re driving a tiny car on a tiny track, and have all the more fun because of it.
This may sound weird, but it was my first impression: I was so impressed with the personality of the title screen that I was disappointed that this wasn’t the actual gameplay. It would be a more difficult game (watch those 90 degree corners!), but it was a letdown not to be immersed in a isometric world with that much moxy to it.
I think all the things said about Micro Machines V3 serving as a great phone app could be said of Super Sprint, but I’d think it even less likely that commuters would travel around with a Madcat steering wheel peripheral attached to their phone.
How far did I get in 20 minutes: finished driving school, but haven’t finished the second head-to-head race
Would I play this again once this year is up: Yes
Days so far in the Year of the Play-a-DayStation: 7
Play-a-Daystation 