Five to Try: Final Fantasy Tactics hits Android, Imgur makes wasting time even easier

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 5 Jun 2015

Thanks to I/O 2015, last week was a big one for new updated apps. This week is quieter, by comparison, but leave it to some seriously noteworthy games to step up fill in the gaps. Final Fantasy Tactics: r of the ons finally makes its way to Android, delivering one of the all-time great tactical role-playing games. And that’s not all from Square Enix: the new Hitman: Sniper is a tense assassination affair spun off from the hit console series. 

so new this week is a fully native Imgur app, which makes browsing the image sharing community a breeze, along with pcorn Buzz, a group-centric calling app that supports a whopping 200 people on a single conversation. And if those bigger-name games didn’t hold appeal, perhaps the odd-but-engrossing You Must Build a Boat will catch your eye. Here are the top apps to grab this week.

Final Fantasy Tactics: r of the ons

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Touch buttons no immersive mode? Tactics has awkward bits, but they’re worth tolerating.

Finally. It’s been out in pan for two years, first hit iOS in the States four years back, but Final Fantasy Tactics: r of the ons is finally out on Android. The original Tactics released in 1998 for ayStation, then was remade for in 2007 finally ported over to touch devices. ng story short, this is one of the finest tactical role-playing games around, it’s now on your phone or tablet.

ed, with a large, console-quality experience comes a bulging price: at $14, it’s much pricier than your average Android affair. But if you’re looking to spend dozens of hours in a fantasy adventure, it’s well worth it. The grid-based battles are engaging, the story is intriguing, the cut-scenes music are both excellent. The reliance on touch buttons is awkward, as is the lack of immersive mode—but if you liked The Banner Saga, you ought to love this revitalized classic.

Imgur

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ve memes, animated GIFs, oddly touching photos? Imgur is where it’s at.

If you make a habit of wasting time perusing Imgur on the web, why not do it on your phone? st this week, the image-sharing site finally launched a fully native app, offering a smooth easily navigable way to browse the various memes, eye-catching photos, other rom images shared to the site.

The interface is really hy for getting around; letting you scroll left right through cards before tapping or swiping up to get details. From there, you can see further images if it’s a series, as well as the description comments. The Most Viral listing shows you what’s hottest all-around at the moment, but you can get more granular with various categories. If you’re someone like me who’s seen imgur links for years but didn’t realize there was a whole community around them, the app is a fun way to discover what’s really there.

Hitman: Sniper

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Zoom in, locate the subject, hold your breath— tap to win.

st year’s Hitman Go transformed the open-ended console assassination game series into a series of brief board game-esque challenges— ended up on our list of the best Android games of 2014. By comparison, Hitman: Sniper ($5) is a little closer to the source material, setting you up on a perch with a sniper rifle various targets objectives.

It’s a simpler more streamlined game than the big-budget, open-world entries, but there’s still choice: you’ll have to be smart about when where you take out targets in each mission, plus you have some flexibility in how you go about completing each task. Sniper doesn’t have the immediate charm of Hitman Go, but it comes across as another very good mobile spin on the br—not to mention a slick-looking experience.

pcorn Buzz

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pcorn Buzz makes it amazingly easy to pull in a huge group of friends—or just a couple, even.

Need to hold a big group call? Most calling apps won’t bat an eye at bringing in a hful of friends or colleagues for a chat—but what if you want 200 people on the line for some extraordinary reason? The new pcorn Buzz app is built for such a significant task, even if the name makes it sound light fluffy. 

pcorn Buzz hails from popular social network ne, but luckily, you don’t need a ne account to use it—just this app. In fact, you can send a link via email, Bluetooth, Hangouts, Facebook, Twitter, or most any other means have your friends tap to join in on a free call. That makes it easy to amass large groups of web friends, the interface even shows you who’s talking at any given moment.

You Must Build a Boat

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Charmingly lo-fi surprisingly addictive, it’s a Must-play for puzzle junkies.

As you might infer from that curiously deming title, You Must Build a Boat ($3) has an odd sensibility about it. y you must build a boat is pretty straightforward: to continue adventuring onward in this fantasy-themed pixel world. But the how is what’s both offbeat intriguing: you’ll do so by matching puzzle icons to help your character rapidly battle through dungeons at the top of the screen.

You Must Build a Boat is the sequel to the much-loved 10000000, maintains the same general puzzle/role-playing design while building a larger, more robust game around it. Each brief dungeon run improves your situation, letting you upgrade your gear explore new areas to push the campaign forward—all while building up your boat its capabilities. It’s a great treat for 10000000 fans, but also a fine starting point for newcomers who want a fantasy edge to their puzzling.