Top Android Games by Category

While there may be no shortage of games available on the Android Marketplace, there is a need for organizing the “best of the best” titles in each category to make them easier to find.

Starting this week, we’re kicking off a series of app compilations that address this need. For our second installment, we present reviews of some the best finger-tracing/racing games for the DROID.

Apps Discussed

Flight Director Lite: Help virtual planes land on real airport runways, displayed via Google Maps.
Flight Frenzy Lite Unlocked: Takes a decidedly cartoonish approach to landing virtual aircraft in colorful sandboxes, aircraft carriers, and more.

Finger Race: Swipe your way to the finish line with your fingers. Competitive finger wrestlers, this is your ideal training tool!

Finger Stadium: If your legs are critical to winning events in traditional track and field events, you’ll need seriously nimble fingers to triumph in Finger Stadium.

Finger Runner: Combines the sheer fun of solving mazes with the toughness of Operation. Don’t touch those edges, and trade your finger through the maze as fast as you can!


Android Reviews

Flight Director Lite (FREE)
For months now, our iPhone/iPad friends have been using their digits to help guide virtual planes (Flight Control) and boats (Harbor Master) to their proper destinations. The game play is simple: Planes and boats appear on the edges of the screen. Arrayed in the center are one or more landing strips, helicopter pads, and docks. Just use your finger to trace a route from the vehicle to its destination.

Simple, right? Not when you throw in different vehicles traveling at varying speeds, increasing numbers of vehicles demanding your attention, along with other hazards and overlapping courses.

It’s a concept made possible by the touch-sensitive screens on our smart devices, and judging by app sales, also well-received by the public.

Flight Director Lite brings this familiar gameplay our trusty DROIDs, this time upping the ante by displaying real Google Map-sourced images of various airports. The planes and choppers may be virtual, but the airfields are not!

Keep your wits about you, and strongly consider buying the full version when time runs out. (You’ll have access to all the maps, but be time-capped.) Here’s hoping the game gets an update with additional airfields soon. SFO and RDU, anyone?

Flight Frenzy Lite Unlocked (FREE)
Tired of landing vehicles on satellite images of airfields? Flight Frenzy Lite Unlocked takes decidedly cartoonish approach to landing virtual aircraft in colorful sandboxes, aircraft carriers, and more.

You guessed it: vehicles appear on the edges of your screen, and you’ll need to direct each to their proper destination. This time around, you’ll need to master a dozen different types of vehicles to land and fly across four well-rendered stages.

Overall, this is one of the best-looking (and sounding) offerings in the game category. Grab the free version and starting pushing tin today!

Finger Race (FREE)
Swipe your way to the finish line with your fingers. Competitive finger wrestlers, this is your ideal training tool!

First, select the length of your race. Once the starting gun sounds, press and hold your fingers on the screen and drag them the length of the glass as fast as you can. The longer and faster you swipe, the more distance you’ll cover.

With a red textured track for the background, and white lines down the sides for your lane, you’ll be tapping and running your way through each event in no time. Better yet challenge your friends and family to see who can get the best time!

Finger Stadium (FREE)
If your legs are critical to winning events in traditional track and field events, you’ll need seriously nimble fingers to triumph in Finger Stadium.

Choose your race – including hurdles – then tap the virtual feet to run to the finish line. Your time is immediately displayed for all to see. To jump the hurdles, just lift your fingers off the screen as if you’re making the jump.

Again, it’s a basic concept, but the fun is in competing for the best local and online times. Try not to catch virtual athlete’s foot in the shower afterwards!

Finger Runner (FREE)
Combines the sheer fun of solving mazes with the toughness of Operation. You know, that crazy board game where you try to remove a poor fellow’s heart, funny bone, etc. without touching the metallic edge of each cardboard incision?

The same concepts hold true here. You’re confronted with a series of mazes. Use your finger to trace your way through each twist and turn, but be careful! Touch the edges of the maze and it’s game over.
A little practice goes a long way.

You’ll soon be completing mazes in record time with nary a mistake, if you have freakishly thin fingers. (Or a stylus, from your iPad perchance? And there goes my secret.)