The holidays are here, and with them, a whole bunch of crazy app promotions. This is your week to get SwiftKey at a great price, as well as Worms 2 Armageddon, Anomaly 2, and a whole bunch of other great games. Check them out below!
Because app sales are temporary affairs, by the time you read this, these may no longer be on sale. Worry not: Simply check back next week for some more Android deals!
Much has been said about SwiftKey and what a wonderful keyboard it is. While it does have free rivals such as Touchpal X, SwiftKey is an exceptional keyboard by any standard. If you’ve been curious about it, or even had the Trial version and never upgraded when it expired, now would be a great time to snatch it up for half price.
File explorers are always handy. More than a few commenters mentioned Solid Explorer in the comments for one of our file management pieces. While $2 is not a lot to ask for a good file manager, $1 is even less. Note that you can get a free trial version of Solid Explorer, too. Standout features include a dual-pane layout with drag-and-drop support, FTP access, and built-in integration of cloud file services (Dropbox, SkyDrive, and friends).
Runtastic makes a whole series of fitness apps targeted at different activities, and this one is all about your abs. It guides you through a program of sit-ups, gradually building up your ability to perform this basic exercise. Sit-ups can also automatically count your sit-ups using your phone’s accelerometer, and also times your rest periods between sets. It basically does everything for you… except for the sit-ups, that is.
Worms 2: Armageddon requires little in the way of introduction. This side-view strategy hit combines solid physics, adorable worms, and lots of weapons and explosions for an addictive experience. It may be best enjoyed on a tablet, but if you have a recent-model large-screen phone (5″ and above, I’d say), it might be playable on your phone as well.
If for some reason you’ve never played Worms before and you’re not sure whether or not you’ll like it, you can try one of these free Worms 2 alternatives we featured a few year back. They’re all PC-based but they give a good sense for what the game is like.
Last week’s App Sales column had Sonic 4 Episode 1, and this week we have the next installment on sale! If you’re a Sonic fan, it seems like the Episode 2 Android conversion actually went better than the Episode 1 one. At an 80% discount, this time-honored platformer is more tempting than usual.
A classic RTS on Android, Great Little War Game combines multi-level terrains, multiple units and weaponry, 3D views, and cute characters for a funny yet in-depth experience. Man, that was a mouthful. The point here is that this is a fun game if you enjoy real-time strategy titles and blowing things up.
Speaking of blowing things up, Anomaly 2 presents a much grittier take on the subject, with nothing very cartoonish about it at all. Note that this is a demanding game, so there’s even a companion benchmark app you can get for free and run on your device, just to see if it has the power it takes to give you a solid Anomaly 2 experience.
Now, in terms of gameplay, this is a “tower offense” game, with both a single-player campaign and multiplayer support. One of the more serious games in this week’s roundup, and it’s more affordable than it’s been in a while.
After Anomaly 2, this pool game looks positively sedate. Still, not everyone’s into blowing stuff up – and pool is one of the oldest and most traditional physics games out there. With a 4-star average on the Play Store, Virtual Pool Mobile offers six variants of the game and lets you face off against a human opponent or an AI. There’s a career mode, too.
Ticket to Ride is a board game that made its way into the digital realm, while keeping much of its depth and complexity. This isn’t a casual game – even the “quick” tutorial embedded above is over five minutes in length. Originally card-based, the Android version keeps the old-school aesthetic and just makes it easier to play. It supports online multiplayer games, and you can even face off against people running the game on a PC or Mac via Steam, or on an iPad. There’s also pass-and-play, for playing with other people in the same room (a novel concept!).
Tune in next week for some more great Android deals! And of course, feel free to share your finds and favorites in the comments below.
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