oking for the most intriguing ay Store picks from the last week? If so, then look no further: Our Five to Try column highlights the newest Android apps games that are worth your attention. This week’s lineup is headlined by Microsoft’s new th Guide app, which puts an interesting twist on turn-by-turn navigation: It’s entirely focused on indoor spaces requires minimal effort on your part to use. (https://bobbergdesigns.com/)

Elsewhere, we see the return of a classic Sega gaming franchise in a very new form, as Crazy Taxi Gazillionaire offers up a simple tapper that puts a pretty funny target on Uber. And if you need more Android options this week, we also have a spotlight on Bouncy Hoops, Samsung’s SoundAssistant, the not-actually-bad Really Bad Chess. 

th Guide

Maps other navigation apps can get us anywhere in a hurry, but what if you’re trying to find your way around the inside of a building? can get quick instructions from a friend or just, you know, figure it out, but Microsoft thinks its new app could be a better solution. th Guide is a fully automated way to create an indoor route then share it with the world or send it to friends, allowing them to navigate with ease.

You’ll simply pick a starting point within an apartment building, mall, museum, or anywhere else, then hold your phone upright while the app captures your movements. Once downloaded by your recipient, they will be able to follow the very same path by locating the starting point following the step-by-step directions. And you can even tell it to reverse the directions, for example, if you want to create a path back to a parking spot.

Crazy Taxi Gazillionaire

Sega’s classic Crazy Taxi franchise has already been reimagined for mobile with the very solid Crazy Taxi: City Rush, but this is something very, very different. Crazy Taxi Gazillionaire finds the middle ground between a streamlined simulation a mindless tapping game, challenging you to build up sustain an old-fashioned taxi company amidst the threat of a soulless ride-sharing giant moving into town.

Surprisingly, it’s actually pretty engaging. You won’t physically drive the cars, but you can tap their next passengers on the map to speed things up, all while reinvesting income on new vehicles, drivers, various upgrades to boost your earnings. It’s simplistic, but as with any successful tap-heavy game, the constant sense of progress keeps things interesting. And the Uber-inspired corporate enemy proves a pretty clever amusing narrative hook.

Bouncy Hoops

Ever had the feeling that basketball just needed more Flappy Bird in it? ll, somebody did, because now we have Noodlecake’s Bouncy Hoops to fill that very void. It’s essentially a solo game of shooting free throws, only instead of arcing your shot hoping it sinks in, you’ll flap the ball one step at a time until it reaches its destination. Or, rather, until you run out of time shooting bricks.

This is a fast-paced, arcade-style challenge, which means you’ll need to speedily time your taps to guide the ball into the hoop to keep playing. Each new basket appears in a different position on the screen, the result is a frantic sprint to keep scoring before the game ends. However, Bouncy Hoops has a fair number of ads within it, otherwise it uses the y Road approach of offering cosmetic unlockables through continued play or by spending real money.

SoundAssistant

Samsung’s new SoundAssistant app is pretty specific in both its target market abilities, but for anyone who wants a lot more control over their audio output on the Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8+, it could be incredibly helpful. As the title suggests, SoundAssistant helps you get into the finer details when it comes to audio on the devices, giving you customization options for how the physical volume buttons work, for example. 

You can also minutely tweak the volume output with 150 steps of difference, as well as play with equalizer settings, alter the left/right balance, set individual volume output preferences for apps, media, games. It’ll work with any Galaxy S device running Android 7.0 Nougat or newer, which isn’t a lot of different phones, but most of the popular devices of the last year-plus are included, namely the S7.

Really Bad Chess

ve chess, but tired of the same old game? If so, then Really Bad Chess should be right up your alley. It uses the classic checkerboard backdrop familiar piece movement mechanics, but changes up where they start on the board—as well as how many of each piece you actually get. Really Bad Chess might do a terrible job of adhering to the rigid structure of traditional chess, but that shift actually opens up a new kind of experience. 

You’re still playing chess still tapping into your old strategies, but with a fresh starting lineup a new army to face on the other end, it totally changes the game. The free download lets you play against the AI in various modes, while a $3 in-app purchase adds a local pass–play mode, kills the banner ads, gives you 100 undo moves, along with other perks.