lcome to Five to Try, our weekly look at the new apps games worth grabbing on your Android devices. Games take the larger focus this week, as c-Man makes a return visit to the ay Store with the great Championship ition DX. so new is Adventure e zzle Quest, which puts a cartoonish spin on the puzzle/role-playing formula, along with the fiddly jetpack fun of loteer.
Away from gaming, t is the biggest launch this week—it’s an upstart Amazon rival that hopes to take down the online leader with bulk deals a solid app. And use delivers curated music magazines that can turn you onto great new tunes. Clear some space grab these apps for the weekend ahead.
c-Man Championship ition DX
True, you can see a towering, gleaming version of c-Man terrorize cities on the big screen in xels this weekend—but given the reviews the increasingly rough reputation of Sler’s comedic work, I’d advise saving your money. Instead, put your $5 to great use in c-Man Championship ition DX, an awesome update of the arcade classic for Android.
ke the original Championship ition, DX remixes the old favorite with larger stages, a huge variety of them, too—132, to be precise. And they can be tackled in timed score-centric modes, with an emphasis on combos using bombs to maximize your run. And the flashy aesthetic finds the sweet spot between retro fun modern flash. It surely offers loads more fun than xels, at half the price (or less).
t
Haven’t heard of t? It’s the new kid on the block that’s trying to take a bite out of Amazon’s ecommerce dominance— it’s from former Amazon employees, so they know what they’re getting into. Essentially, it tries to bridge the gap between Amazon’s online deals convenience the member-centric perks of a Costco or Sam’s Club. There’s a $50 annual fee, but a three-month trial is available now.
at’s the biggest hook? t has matched Amazon’s prices on all the items I looked up, but then some items drop the overall price of your cart when added— sometimes pretty significantly. And the more of those items you buy at once, the bigger the savings. The Android app just launched alongside the website, it’s a smooth-looking affair—better than the Amazon app, certainly. Can t sustainably undercut its powerful opponent? I’m eager to see them try.
Adventure e zzle Quest
Mash up one of the most addictive puzzle games on the planet with perhaps the most joyfully creative show on TV, what do you get? ll, Adventure e zzle Quest, but hopefully also a pretty awesome Android game. st launched this week, the licensed pairing follows the great Marvel zzle Quest, which we heartily recommend.
ke that earlier entry, Adventure e zzle Quest puts the cartoon favorite’s exuberant characters style atop the match-three puzzle battler, with role-playing elements adding depth to the journey plus amusing dialogue exchanges between missions. Based on the small chunk I played on my Nexus 5 ( the user reviews), the initial release is a little sluggish buggy, but it’s plenty playable enjoyable.
use – Curated Music Stories
Discoverability is always an issue these days, as music services provide seemingly endless libraries of tunes—so here’s something interesting to consider. use isn’t a full-fledged music publication of its own, but rather a collection of curated digital magazines comprised of quality music-related journalism from around the web.
Each free issue—whether the core monthly release or special themed editions—is loaded with dozens of h-picked articles from top online music sites, spotlighting thoughtful writing that digs into artists new old. And better yet, there’s a built-in music player that features tracks from the artists covered in each issue, letting you read about artists immediately hear their work. Curation makes it more than a glorified music-themed RSS reader, it might help you cut through the clutter find some great stuff.
loteer
In most cases, games that are difficult to control are deemed bad or broken. But every so often, there’s a game that is intentionally tuned to frustrate stymie your best efforts— somehow, it ends up feeling charming endearing. Retry Q/em> fit the bill; so too does the new loteer. From the maker of the great vvot, the game finds you trying to control a jetpack-equipped heroine.
Guiding her through the air then ling safely seems downright impossible at first. After a while, it seems slightly less impossible. It’s super tricky, but that’s the point, the missions try to ease you into some level of minor competence. But really, mastery hardly feels like the goal: it’s the enjoyment of the fiddly jetpack hilarious collisions, along with soaking in the attractive Chicago-inspired artwork. It’s a neat game to tool around in—if you can take the punishment.