TOP SIX SEVEN BEST GAMES FOR ANDROID AND TABLET

1. Plague Inc - The goal of Plague Inc is exactly what the title suggests: to infect and destroy mankind with a pathogen of your own design. Players can choose to spend points on a variety of mutations for their plague, including ones that make it airborne, become antibiotic resistant, able to withstand climate changes, and adding a variety of symptoms ranging from harmless (such as coughing, insomnia, or nausea) to deadly (such as necrosis, internal hemorrhage, and organ failure). However, there are some drawbacks: once your bug begins to mutate symptoms, scientists and doctors around the world will try their hardest to cure it, and it’s a race against the clock to destroy mankind before they destroy your plague. [Side note: this one is my personal favorite.]

2. Smash Hit -  The concept of Smash Hit is simple, yet fun, addictive, and absolutely beautiful. The goal of the game is to move through each level using a ball to smash obstacles and targets in your path to earn points. It sounds very simple - which it is - but it’s also surprisingly challenging, and is a perfect game to play when you want to wind down, relieve stress, or waste time. 

3. Osmos -  A combination of classic physics and survival games, Osmos puts a new twist on these genres by presenting levels in which you are a particle of matter instead of a person. The goal of the game is to survive by absorbing smaller organisms and growing - however, you must try to avoid being consumed by larger particles yourself until you’re large enough to consume them. [Side note: This game costs about $2.99 to buy. It’s worth it, though.]

4. Angry Birds - You’ve all heard of this one. Angry Birds is a physics-based video game franchise in which the goal is to use birds - and their various special abilities - to shoot down the fortress of the pigs, who have, according to the story line, stolen the birds’ eggs. Very simple, yet thoroughly enjoyable - and so popular that there are no less than ten different iterations of this game, including one Star Wars and one Transformers franchise. 

5. Badland - Badland was originally a game developed for mobile phones, but ended up becoming so popular that they remade it for PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and Steam. The player flies a little black creature named Clony through the game, avoiding obstacles, solving puzzles, and saving defenseless forest creatures. The game’s ambient styling is gorgeous - I highly recommend it for anybody who enjoys platforming games.  

6. Neko Atsume - Neko Atsume is a cat-collecting game in which the gameplay revolves around the player purchasing food, toys, and furniture to attract a variety of cats to the player’s garden. The player can watch cats in the garden, take photos of them which can be saved in an album, and receive gifts from them. There are currently 49 cats for the player to collect, of which 17 are considered rare.

7. Cytus - Cytus is a rhythm game originally developed for the iOS platform and, after experiencing an initial wave of popularity, was released for Android as well. The main gameplay of Cytus involves a black line that moves up and down the screen. The player scores points by tapping on circular objects on the screen as the line passes over them. At the end of the each level, the player receives a letter grade and a report showing how many Perfect, Good, Bad, or Missed notes they hit.