Five to Try: ADuncher is back in a big way, Never one is an awe-inspiring quest

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 24 Jun 2016

oking for a few new reasons to spend the weekend glued to your phone or tablet? ’ve got you covered with our latest Five to Try column, it’s led this week by a real blast from the past: ADuncher. The classic app is back after a few years away with a 2.0 beta version a heap of home screen OS customization options. 

so new this week are Android game live streaming platform Mobcrush another feature-packed 2.0 update with V ayer, which is much-enhanced for its second big release. Anyone in the mood for games this week, meanwhile, should check out the mystical meaningful Never one: Ki ition, or find some silly fun with the wacky Rodeo Stampede: Sky Zoo Safari

ADuncher

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Get granular! ADuncher 2.0 (beta) lets you create custom widgets from scratch tweak how many functions work in very precise, detailed ways.

Remember ADuncher? Back in the earlier days of Android, it was one of the absolute best home screen replacements—so much so that our sister site dropped a 5-star review on it back in 2011. But as vanilla Android device manufacturers’ skinned variants got stronger, ADfell into the background.

Now, three years after its last update, ADuncher is back with a 2.0 version that brings a huge raft of enhancements. It’s still in beta, so you’ll need to opt in here to gain access to the 2.0 release from the ay Store. That’s easy enough, however, once downloaded you’ll be able to dig into ADs various feature additions perks over what your phone already has.

ADuncher 2.0’s biggest draw is customization: you can significantly configure themes, folder styles, home screens, the app drawer, more with ease, even build your own custom widgets within. Extension packs add further options, plus there’s a $4 in-app purchase within for a premium version that unlocks even more tweaks abilities. If you want to do more with your launcher really make it yours, AD2.0 is an appealing rebirth that looks like it can hang with the likes of Nova uncher.

Never one: Ki ition

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Climb upon the backs of spirits to conquer this brutal, wintery world.

Never one: Ki ition ($5) isn’t quite like any other video game out today. It’s a side-scrolling platform adventure inspired by the traditions tales of askan indigenous people, that unique source material comes through in more than just the setting characters. Guiding both a young girl her fox companion, you’ll encounter mystical creatures that help you through your challenging quest through an endless blizzard.

Not only is Never one an emotional quest, but it’s also one that pays homage to the native tribe that shared the tales: between levels, you can explore behind-the-scenes content about the people their legends. It’s a compelling blend that adds a lot of richness to the campaign mode, which is intriguing enough on its own. Switching between the girl fox can be a bit clumsy, but the blend of light action puzzle-solving is solid the unique premise bonus content add a lot of appeal.

Mobcrush

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Mobcrush lets you live stream your Android games with ease—or watch chat with other viewers streamers.

Twitch is the undisputed game streaming juggernaut for consoles, but what if you want to stream Android games directly from your device? You can use YouTube Gaming, but if you’re looking for a service designed entirely around mobile games, check out Mobcrush. unched this week, the app is all about building community around live-streaming top Android games.

If you want to watch other people play, there’s plenty on tap. From the main news feed, you can find streams of games like Minecraft: cket ition, Vainglory, Clash Royale, along with others, you can follow top streamers to keep tabs on their antics. If you want to join in on the fun, just tap a button start streaming any game from your device, even adding your voice image via the camera mic if you please. Show off your skills!

V for Android

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V 2.0 adds several big video-viewing features, including a hovering pop-out frame network browsing.

tch a lot of locally-saved video files on your phone? Then you probably already know about V ayer, the multi-format wonder that’ll run just about anything you throw at it. And if you don’t, then you really ought to—especially following this week’s huge 2.0 version update, which enhances the app’s already estimable feature set. 

th the update, V can now browse networks, making it easy to pull up files saved on your , plus it adds features like video playlists subtitle downloads. so, there’s a new pop-out player, letting you leave a floating picture-in-picture frame while you’re browsing the web or answering email. That’s perfect for tablets, but it works on phones too. V 2.0 also integrates the newly-redesigned Android TV version, which had been a separate app until now, plus it plays nicer with the Android N beta too.

Rodeo Stampede: Sky Zoo Safari

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Rodeo Stampede is raucous, silly, freemium fun.

From y Road publisher Yodo1 Games comes a delightfully offbeat new game with a y-ish look, but its own fun style of endless romping. In Rodeo Stampede, you control a rodeo star on the back of one of several different animals—but you’ll need to launch from one beast to the next before they get too antsy start bucking. That means aiming your leap ensuring you have another animal to l on to keep your ride alive.

It’s loose hilarious, not to mention pretty tricky, which all works really well for an endless high-score chase of this sort. And then there’s something else: the Sky Zoo Safari part of the game involves capturing these animals to open a floating zoo on a flying ship, which you can customize exp for visitors. No doubt, Rodeo Stampede is an odd one, but that’s purely a compliment for this enticing free-to-play entry.