Five to Try is our weekly look at the top new updated Android apps games around, even our non-game apps have gaming ties this week. Microsoft’s Cortana, the virtual assistant, gets her name voice from the Halo series, while YouTube Gaming is a dedicated hub for video game live streams clips. The newly-free nk Bubble is the exception to that theme, although you can certainly browse game-related websites with the hy app.
This week’s top games are strong contenders themselves, with ra Croft GO putting a methodical, puzzle-solving spin on the Tomb Raider franchise, while Framed is a noir caper that revolves around shifting comic panels around the screen. l five of these apps are worth a look this weekend, so grab your phone or tablet give them a shot.
Cortana (Beta)
Cortana can be chatty, like Apple’s Siri, plus you can ask it to set reminders for your day or find things on the web.
Microsoft’s continued multiplatform march nets a big new port this week, as its virtual assistant Cortana makes her way over from ndows. It’s still in beta, but anyone can sign up then grab the app. However, the pre-release status shows: it ran sluggishly on the Galaxy Note 5 that I’m using.
Still, Cortana may be worth a serious look for anyone who uses the assistant on a ndows 10 , since it uses your Microsoft account to sync data between platforms. You can carry over reminders, plus Cortana will learn your name interests in an effort to better serve you your spoken requests. And even though it’s in beta, you can replace Now with Cortana for when you hold down the home button, although we’re not convinced yet that Microsoft has topped Now in overall Android usefulness.
ra Croft GO
ra Croft GO has a distinctive, angular look for its isometric gameplay, which has you moving one space at a time.
Tomb Raider continues to thrive on consoles , but on phones tablets, Square Enix has started exploring other adventures starring its iconic heroine. ra Croft: Relic Run put a fine spin on Temple Run early this summer, but despite its slower pace, this week’s ra Croft GO ($5) actually does a better job of capturing the spirit of the main series in a very different kind of game.
ke the great Hitman GO before it, ra Croft GO turns the series’ action-adventure core into a board game-flavored puzzler, wherein you’ll move along set paths filled with enemies, switches, surprises. Sorting out a path to the exit is the goal, which becomes trickier more complex as the game continues. It’s gorgeous, too, with beautiful animation work a visual style not unlike that of Monument Valley. As with Hitman GO, it’s surprising that the premise works so well, but I’m glad it does.
YouTube Gaming
There’s plenty of free, live content, the chat feed is just as obnoxious as you’d expect.
Believe it or not, people love watching video games streamed live over the Internet. Twitch popularized the idea to huge extent, now YouTube is trying to use its br resources to butt into the space with YouTube Gaming on the web mobile devices. And the company seems to be onto something here.
The Android app is fast easy to use, quickly pointing you towards the most popular streams (of games like Heroes of the Storm the Call of Duty: Black Ops III beta test), while the persistent game pages make it easy to find the streams you’re looking for. The live footage has been consistently crisp fluid in my use so far, there’s already plenty happening on YouTube Gaming—both in the live feeds the ever-building mass of saved videos.
Framed
A simple swap of comic panels can mean the difference between life death in Framed.
Here’s an exceedingly cool indie game that turns the format of comic books into a gameplay mechanic. Framed is a noir adventure that spotlights a shadowy figure being chased by police— your task is to keep him safe ever moving by rearranging the panels that appear on the screen.
It’s a perfect fit for touch devices, as you can simply drag drop the panels into place then watch the animated events unfold. Framed relies on trial error to guide you to the correct lineup of panels; you’ll surely see the hero ( later, heroine) perish more than a few times before the quest is complete, but you’ll also pick up context clues along the way. It’s brief not hugely challenging, but Framed is definitely one of the most inventive games available on phones tablets today.
nk Bubble
Tap a link in any app the page will load in a little bubble. Tap it to view the page, then drag it to the trash or a sharing icon when you’re finished.
nk Bubble may well change the way you browse links on your phone— we’re so enamored by the app that we named it one of the best released in 2014. y is it included in this week’s Five to Try, then? Because as of this week’s latest update, all of the premium features are free for everyone, making it all the more essential.
Any time you click a link in any app, nk Bubble will begin loading the page in the background, with a small circle hovering within view. en the page loads, simply tap the circle to begin browsing. Never again need you stare at an empty white page for several seconds; in fact, nk Bubble tallies up all the time you save simply to show you how useful it is. Many features were previously locked behind an in-app purchase, but under a new owner, the entire app is now totally free. Grab it.
