Experiences in Day 9

Great Gaming Experience

In the recent years, 3D processing capability on the mobile devices seems to have evolved in a very rapid trend – who would have thought that a mobile device is capable to run a full-featured 3D game with touch screen interface, 10 years ago? Thanks to the advancement in nano-scale fabrication and tons of research done on the System-on-a-Chip (SoC), we are in an era that can enjoy most, if not all, of the stuffs on the computer, in a mobile device that has a size of our palm.

Besides being the first phone to present the new Gingerbread, Google Nexus S also, in my opinion, act as a benchmark for other manufacturers on how should a Gingerbread device should be. Unlike in iOS which now has a huge database of great games since the first generation of iPhone, Android is still pretty new in the mobile gaming scenes, but it is obvious that more and more manufacturers are trying to push Android devices as portable gaming devices by incorporating high end specs (like Google Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S, Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, just to name a few) – a good thing for consumer especially gamers since more alternatives are available.

Equipped with PowerVR SGX540 GPU in the Samsung Hummingbird SoC, I can safely say that Nexus S can fire up all of the games available in the Android Market, including Dungeon Defenders, the first game on the Android that pushes the limit on the hardware (correct me if I am wrong), is pretty playable on the Nexus S. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S, Nexus S should have a pretty similar performance since they share the same SoC. I have picked the Top 5 games on the Nexus S (after tons of playing and testing), so let’s check it out!

Top 5 Games in Nexus S

Note: Some of the contents listed below might not available in certain countries/carriers. 

Angry Birds series (Original, Seasons, Rio) (Price: Free) – Without a doubt, one of the advantages for owning an Android device is that the famous sling-shot and physic based game is totally free to play, unlike on the iOS or Windows/Mac version. Although they are filled with ads, but nothing can defeat the price of nil, given that the game is pretty addictive and has nice graphics. With the end of the exclusive release with Amazon Appstore, Angry Birds Rio is now made available in the Android Market for free too, and all three Angry Birds games are definitely going to occupy some (or most) of your free times (unless you don’t like free stuff or you don’t like birds).

Reckless Racing (RM15/$4.99) – If you like racing game and some drifting action, Reckless Racing will not disappoint you. Created by Polarbit, this game let the user control a car in an easy-to-drift setup, and compete in some nicely designed dirt circuit. The physics in the game is really adorable – the car is able to react with the environment very well and you get huge satisfaction with each corner that you successfully drifted with your car. A must for Nexus S if you like car racing game.

Zenonia / Zenonia 2 (RM15/$4.99) – If you are RPG fans, this is not something you want to miss in your Nexus S. Featuring a Zelda-like game play, Zenonia / Zenonia 2 able to offer hours of fun from your Nexus S with it’s 2D but beautiful graphics, and attractive storyline. Zenonia 2 even offers different character classes to start the game which simply means that you can play through the entire game for a few times, worth every penny you spend!

Dungeon Defenders: First Wave (Free) – Top 5 games for Nexus S won’t be complete without this Android game with best graphics. Powered by the famous Unreal Graphic Engine and just turned into a free game (what a surprise!), Dungeon Defenders is a game with mixed genre – an action plus tower defense game. Defending waves of enemies from destroying your precious, you are controlling one of the character classes to plan your defenses. New game type and best graphics available in the Android Market without a single penny now, I can’t find a reason not to feed Nexus S with Dungeon Defenders. Although it performed the best on Nvidia Tegra 2 devices, it still pretty playable on the PowerVR SGX540 graphics chip installed in Nexus S. Another must have game!

Fruit Ninja (RM3.70/$1.19) – One of the very famous and fun game in iOS devices is also available in the Android Market. Using your finger as a knife, you will need to slash all the fruits appearing on the screen and avoiding the deadly bombs – sounds easy but sometimes can be pretty challenging. It has different modes available to suit your mood, whether a Normal mode where you have to take care of the bombs, or Zen mode which allows you to just slash the fruits without any worries. Although there are some free imitation in the Android Market, but so far, nothing can replace the original Fruit Ninja. With just around $1.19, this game is a steal. It really provides some great fun, especially share-and-play with friends!

Well, certainly there are a lot more games that could be featured in the list above, but just to be fair and square, I picked the game from different game genre, and also the one that played the best on Nexus S. Feel free to comment if you have any good games to share!

Next post will be related to the battery of Nexus S. I believed there are quite some Nexus S users found that their device is fully charged without reaching 100% battery life, and it can cause some serious confusion. In the next post, I will clear that confusion from the information research I did, and share some battery power saving tips. Stay tuned!