Over the last few years I’ve had 2 Android phones and in that time many apps have come and gone. Only two have stayed (that have no use other than entertainment)

City Mayor
A game that is a stripped down version of SimCity, what could go wrong? Well it seems a lot but if you can see past its limited range of buildings (About 35, about 16 of them are houses) then it becomes a good game. Another problem is that to get money enough money to build things for 5 minutes you have to leave it alone for around 3 hours and even then you will struggle to have the money to build what you want.

On the plus side this system does allow you to stop playing and carry on being a human instead of staring into your phone constantly. But in the end if you want a game that the longer you ignore it the easier it becomes then City Mayor is the game for you.

Math Workout
On the opposite end of the spectrum comes Math Workout, a game that is also far too educational. It is the ultimate math’s trainer, with quizzes ranging from 10 to 50 questions on addition and subtraction, multiplication and division plus modes that bridge all 4.

  

This is one of those games you don’t think will be enjoyable but turn out to be addictive, the feeling when you beat your previous time is second to none. You become obsessed with getting the fastest time with no incorrect answers (since each wrong answer adds 5 seconds to your time) I have spent countless nights playing just ‘’one more round’’ before I go to sleep in the hopes of beating my own time.

With each of these games there is something that draws me towards them, be it the similarity to Sim City or the pursuit of knowledge. Each game brings its own cards to the table which is what I think current console games may be lacking. You have endless copies of 1 game, for example Battlefield 3, Medal of Honor (2010) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare are a single game split into 3 names, all that changes between them is the accent and music. This seems to be the new trend, find something that works and ride it till it stops producing then go onto the next. People could argue that developers like Rockstar who created Grand Theft Auto did the same with Red Dead Redemption but the key difference there is the time frame, there are a number of years between each release in the series where as the Call of Duty franchise has to release a game every year out of fear people may start playing other games and move to the ‘next big thing’. This fear of the next big thing coming and stealing your target audience [or ‘Next Big Thing Syndrome’ as I like to call it] seems to have scared the games industry into a hall of mirrors. It seems the only people taking huge gambles now are indie developers and Valve who constantly look outside the box and bring in new talent to execute their crazy schemes.

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Paul M
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