If you’re of the Android persuasion then I have some good news for you today: Two of the year’s biggest releases are now available on the Google Play Store. Once upon a time it was rough being an Android gamer, as typically you wouldn’t get the big iOS releases until well after the fact, if at all. Some of that is still true, but things have gotten drastically better over the years, and I’ve noticed that a lot of times games will actually launch on Android first due to the Google Play Store’s ability to quickly iterate and release updates to a game, or its much friendlier beta testing system. That said, some releases still lag behind, such as this week’s releases of Mika Mobile’s fantastic sequel Battleheart 2 and Snowman’s beautiful Alto’s Odyssey.
Battleheart 2 launched on iOS just a couple of weeks ago, and is a direct followup to Mika Mobile’s groundbreaking 2011 real-time strategy/combat RPG. It’s SUCH a direct sequel that upon firing up Battleheart 2 you might get a massive sense of deja vu, as even the tutorial is nearly identical to that of its predecessor. Stick around for a while though and you’ll start to peel back the many layers of depth in the game, and start to notice the small but significant changes throughout making this latest version the ultimate version of the Battleheart formula. And Mika has plans for the future too, with more classes already planned to be added and many balance updates released just in the couple of weeks the game has been out on iOS. You can get Battleheart 2 on the Google Play Store here for $3.99, and you can read our full review as well as our Game of the Week writeup to see what we loved about it.
Alto’s Odyssey has been a longer wait for Android fans, as it first launched on iOS back in February of this year. With that said, boy is this a game worth waiting for. Funnily enough, this is another case of a sequel feeling oddly familiar to its predecessor in the early goings, but again once you play a little more and start to uncover all the little nuances of Alto’s Odyssey it starts to really come into its own. New mechanics and new environments make this not just one of the most fun games to master and string combos together in, but it’s also a joy to just sit back and take in all the gorgeous scenery. Unlike Battleheart 2 which is the same price on iOS and Android, Alto’s Odyssey has gone the free with ads route on Android with an IAP to disable them. You can grab Alto’s Odyssey on the Google Play Store here, and be sure to read our full review as well as (again) our Game of the Week writeup for more of our thoughts on this instant classic.
