Originality is seemingly in short supply in mainstream gaming, with shelves dominated by the usual mix of first-person shooters, adventure and sports games. Happily though, it’s a different matter in mobile gaming, where lower development costs mean offbeat ideas can be given the time and attention they deserve, and that titles that may appeal only to a niche audience have a greater chance of being profitable. Here then are the five most original games available on android phones.
5. Devil’s Attorney
While unfortunately not living up to the literal promise of the title (you’re not actually the devil’s attorney), this quirky legal sim places you in the shoes of Max McCann, a charming and unscrupulous defense attorney. The game is played as a turn-based strategy game reminiscent of an RPG, with Max able to use powerups to incapacitate opponents or increase his powers of persuasion. Winning cases gives you the funds to purchase new products for your apartment, which, in turn, then unlock new skills. While the legal sim may now be becoming a mildly familiar genre, the Devil’s Attorney earns its place in this list with its quirky characterization and frankly bizarre plots.
4. Robot Unicorn Attack
Robot Unicorn Attack resembles a hallucinogenic drug trip, with its strange combination of a side scrolling action game with rainbows, glitter and of course the galloping unicorn. Gameplay is simply a matter of timing your jumps and dashes to avoid falling into the abyss below or colliding with large silver stars. While this may not be the deepest game-play experience, it has originality in spades.
3. Splice
Splice’s general form is not unusual, being a puzzle game where you shift little blobs from one side of the screen to another. The ideas underpinning this blob switching are less conventional however, with the game asking players to immerse themselves in a microbial world and rearrange cells to form new structures. With its focus on ambient music and muted visuals, Splice is a strangely relaxing take on the puzzle game, and attempts genuine innovation within the genre’s boundaries.
2. Super Hexagon
From one mind-bending puzzler to another – but where Splice’s mood was calm and contemplative, Super Hexagon’sis brash and frenetic. Game-play wise, you’re an arrow in the middle of the screen that must then turn to find gaps in the hexagons that approach it and the longer you last the better you score. If that sounds mental, it’s because it is, but it does work as a game-play experience, albeit an infuriatingly difficult one where you feel like a Zen master if you survive for thirty seconds. Add in a visual style that means the entire game shifts from lurid orange to neon green via other similarly violent hues, and a pounding soundtrack, and it adds up to a truly unique game-play experience.
1.Minecraft Pocket Edition
By now, you’d have to have been living down a mine not to have heard of Minecraft, with the game having garnered success on every conceivable platform and even expanded into merchandise. On mobile, the formula is the same, with survival forcing you to scavenge materials so you can build structures that will enable your character to survive against the terrors of the night, and creative letting your inner Lego loving child go wild and create a full scale replica of the Taj Mahal (or whatever else tickles your fancy). Whatever platform it’s on, Minecraft is one of the most original game-play propositions in decades, having practically single-handedly invented its own genre.
5. Devil’s Attorney
While unfortunately not living up to the literal promise of the title (you’re not actually the devil’s attorney), this quirky legal sim places you in the shoes of Max McCann, a charming and unscrupulous defense attorney. The game is played as a turn-based strategy game reminiscent of an RPG, with Max able to use powerups to incapacitate opponents or increase his powers of persuasion. Winning cases gives you the funds to purchase new products for your apartment, which, in turn, then unlock new skills. While the legal sim may now be becoming a mildly familiar genre, the Devil’s Attorney earns its place in this list with its quirky characterization and frankly bizarre plots.
4. Robot Unicorn Attack
Robot Unicorn Attack resembles a hallucinogenic drug trip, with its strange combination of a side scrolling action game with rainbows, glitter and of course the galloping unicorn. Gameplay is simply a matter of timing your jumps and dashes to avoid falling into the abyss below or colliding with large silver stars. While this may not be the deepest game-play experience, it has originality in spades.
3. Splice
2. Super Hexagon
From one mind-bending puzzler to another – but where Splice’s mood was calm and contemplative, Super Hexagon’sis brash and frenetic. Game-play wise, you’re an arrow in the middle of the screen that must then turn to find gaps in the hexagons that approach it and the longer you last the better you score. If that sounds mental, it’s because it is, but it does work as a game-play experience, albeit an infuriatingly difficult one where you feel like a Zen master if you survive for thirty seconds. Add in a visual style that means the entire game shifts from lurid orange to neon green via other similarly violent hues, and a pounding soundtrack, and it adds up to a truly unique game-play experience.
1.Minecraft Pocket Edition
