Welcome to the 427th edition of Android Apps Weekly. Here are the big headlines from last week:
- Google is trying to make games easier to find on your Chromebook. Potential new search service helps people find games by aggregating multiple results at once. Since Chrome OS now supports steam and is great for multiple game streaming services, you can do a single search for all of them. Hit the link to learn more.
- Microsoft will perform tighter integration with Android. The company recently reorganized the Android development team in hopes of providing better overall integration. The reorganization involved separating a dedicated team that reported only to Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay. We’re not sure what the team will do first, but hopefully, it’s a good one.
- The new Google Play Protect feature removes permissions from your unused apps. This feature is already available on all phones running Android 11 and above. However, Google is porting the feature to devices running Android 10 and earlier via Google Play Protect. Some devices, like Samsung phones, already have this feature too, but it’s great to see it available to more people.
- Piracy is back on the rise and has been since 2018. We asked our audience if they had pirated anything before and a staggering 83% said they had. That is unusual, as piracy is quite easy to do and has been widespread for many years. Streaming services seem to have forgotten that their main competitors are piracy sites and not each other. Hit the link to see full details and poll number.
- Google is making it harder for people to find apps that don’t get consistent updates. Companies do this in the name of security because older apps may have exploits that haven’t been patched by developers. Starting November 2022, apps that target anything before the two most recent versions of Android will be hidden from more people.
League of Angels: Chaos
Price: Free to play
League of Angels: Chaos is a new mobile MMORPG. Players create a character and have a choice between three base classes. The classes are dragoon, mage, and archer. Each has its own playing style. Some of the game’s other features include alliances, cross-server competition, equipment manufacturing (called forging), trading functions between players, and much more. The game has an automatic mode, which some fans of the genre don’t like. Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard MMORPG. You do quests, get loot, and level up your character. Other than that, the progression is the oddest mix of being too fast at the start and too slow once you get far enough into the game.
It definitely has flaws and you can buy your way to the end of the various challenges in the game. Luckily, there’s very little emphasis on PvP and you can earn resources if you’re patient, so it’s only pay-to-win if you want to get things over with really quickly. It has potential if the developers tighten it up a bit, but until then, it’s pretty average.
Linios icon (seven colors)
Price: $0.99 each
Developer GomoTheGom II recently released seven icon packs to the Play Store under the name Linios. There are a total of seven packs and each one is basically a different color. Each pack costs $0.99 and includes 3,000 icons along with matching wallpapers. Developers are also accepting requests for new icons that will appear in every pack. Hit the button below to see the developer’s Google Play page where you can find all seven packages.
Top Mech bills itself as a strategy combat game featuring mechs. It plays like many mobile strategy games. You get resources, build bases, train troops and defend yourself from attacks. It represents a major gameplay loop and is nothing we haven’t seen before in the genre. Our only complaint is the in-app purchases. You can actually buy fans for your squad with real money and while we don’t use the dreaded pay-to-win phrase very often, it’s a pretty good example. If the developers find a better way to monetize this game, it’s a decent city builder strategy game. Otherwise, we think most players will leave quickly.
Social Jerk Game
Price: Free
Game Jolt Social is a social space aimed at gamers. It works like almost any other social media site. You can post videos of yourself playing games, fan art, and stuff like that. You follow people, other people follow you, and you make new friends that way. The app has over 60,000 communities to join, one-on-one chat functionality, and you can create your own community with your own moderation team. It already has a decent number of users and it’s honestly not a bad place to hang out with other players.
Classic Rovio: Angry Birds
Price: $0.99
Rovio Classics: Angry Birds is actually just the first Angry Birds game to be re-released for Android. It contains the original game along with the original gameplay with some added elements to freshen up the atmosphere. The original game originally used its own game engine and this variant was built on top of Unity. Thus, the developers can actually update it without any worries. After all, this is actually the original game. There are 390 levels, no in-app purchases, no ads (which we saw), and more. There’s also a new Mighty Eagle mechanic which is pretty neat. It’s the same family-friendly, simple, inexpensive arcade game we saw all those years ago. It honestly costs $0.99, even if you played it 10 years ago.
If we missed any news or a major Android app or game release, let us know in the comments.
Thank you for reading. Try this too:
