Sit back and relax, this is not going to be a serious Freedom Friday. If anything, I’m hoping by the time you’ve finished reading this post, you’ll head over to whichever store you like to get your games and try out some of the ones I’m going to list here.
By the title, you should have guessed I play many games on my devices. I say devices because I have several. I have a newer generation iPod touch and a Nexus 7 from a couple of years ago this Christmas. Both are great, but both have their respective stores where I download apps. For the iPod, I get my games from Apple’s App Store. For the Nexus 7, I take advantage of Google Play Store. Both are great and virtually all the games I download are available in both stores.
One thing I won’t comment about is the differences between the stores, devices and games between iOS and Android. Everyone has a preference as do I, but the purpose of this post is to give you an idea what I play.
On that note, I play a lot of games. I’m always with a device in my hand doing something with it and some of the games I play are some of the most popular games on the planet. Does that make me popular? I don’t think so. Yet, I can’t help myself when I indulge in a good game that keeps me entertained for hours.
Makes you wonder when I have the time to write. That’s another story. Nevertheless, here are some of my favorite games for devices currently on the market.
FarmVille 2: Country Escape—This is such a great game. It truly is. I play it every weekend and whenever I get a chance to add to the farm’s development. Here’s how it works. You’re in charge of a farm, you add livestock to it, machines to make things from the produce of the livestock, and you rise through the levels by fulfilling orders. There are orders on a board from the barn, quick sells from the silo, a plane that comes in across the road with orders from faraway lands, and orders from other cool places in your farm. Then there are the recipes like making cakes, granola bars, juices, soups, and all sorts of other delightful edibles. The general idea is to grow the farm and build a healthy economy where you gain experience to rise up the levels to buy even cooler items to play with. I’ve been playing this game for ages and it’s great. I play it offline, but you can also connect with your friends on Facebook to ask for a helping hand. The gameplay is balanced, graphics are beautiful and the economics behind the game top-notch. It’s a great game for light playing while waiting around for folks.
Candy Crush Saga—Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know this game? Almost everyone I know plays this game. It’s addictive, fun and challenging. I wouldn’t recommend it for folks who want to finish the game overnight, it’s impossible to do. The way the game works is matching candies on a board three, four and five in a roll. If you match four, a special candy appears to rid whole rows of candy at a time. If you match five, another special candy appears that will give you the ability to rid the board of any candy with which you swap. I’ve said this, and I’ll say it again—it’s addictive. The artwork looks great, gameplay is exciting and levels get progressively harder. Music is interesting as well.
Angry Birds—I can’t believe this game has been around for so long, but it has, years apparently. The goal of the game is loading a slingshot of one bird and flicking it toward a collapsible object made of various materials. Like Candy Crush, the levels get progressively harder, and in some instances, you want to toss your device against the wall. Yes, that’s my gratuitous violence sentence to keep you entertained that much longer. What I like about this game the most is the physics engine behind the awesome cartoon animations. So many times, I think I have beaten the level only to find there is one thing I didn’t kill or break because what I hit does not fall down. And as frustrating as that sounds, I keep coming back for more. That’s the mark of a truly great game.
Your turn, these games keep me entertained during my downtimes. I’m sure you have your own collection, too.
RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale October 21.
What games do you like playing? What is your preferred device?
Looking to God 
I go back to Angry Birds once in a while but it gets frustrating sometimes. I usually am on rotation between Criminal Case, Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga 🙂
Games are addictive. They put your brain in a state of abated consciousness, very similar to drugs. They block pain, including pain that gives you incentive to do things you really need to do, like write and study. I used to play a certain game and occasionally would find I was dreaming as I played, totally zoned out.
The worst thing about games is, after you play, you have nothing to show for your time. Any skill you’ve acquired is not a life-skill; it’s strictly a game skill. The time is utterly wasted. If I write, instead, at least I have something to show for my effort, even if it’s only bad poetry.
Those are all good games. I play puzzle games, like Candy Crush, when I am puzzling through something in a story and need to just think. The act of solving the puzzle seems to help my creative work flow and get to a solution.
The down side is trying to have the willpower to go back to working on the story when the idea hits, but before you’ve completed the next level.
I’m a gamer, so I play A LOT of different games when the mood strikes me. Right now, I really like Farm Heroes Saga and Candy Crush Saga. Plants vs. Zombies is fun too and during the fall, I get a craving for Resident Evil 4. But I think my all-time favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
I also love The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. The newer Zelda games are awesome on the wii!
I agree! Twilight Princess is one of my favorites and Skyward Sword was a lot of fun to play.
Unfortunately video games can only hold my attention for about 10 minutes. Must have something to do with my losy hand-eye coordination. Though I must admit, the that I really liked (and sucked at) was Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. Wonder what else I can do with that joystick?
For some reason I could never get into MS’s Flight Sim. Not sure why, but I’m thinking it has to do with the realism of it. Just me, I suppose!
Angry Birds is witty and hilarious and OMG addictive. I have to avoid it when I’m planning to write or else I look up and three hours are GONE.
I’m like that with the Star Wars Angry Birds. I can only play the game on the weekend because if I don’t limit it throughout the week, I’ll be on it all the time. Great games!
When I started writing full time all my games went away. I loved Angry Birds and really can’t tell you why. Good post
When I was a kid I could never master Space Invaders and that tennis / ping pong game soon became predictable. In the computer age I had an old version of some Formula 1 race game that doesn’t run on Windows 8.
Now we’re in the age of the app and I’ve never touched any of these new games. I’ve heard of them (I even mentioned the inaugural World Angry Birds Championships held in a Rotterdam hotel in my first novel), but never played them.
If I had the money I’d fill a room with old arcade games: the penny waterfall, that ‘hockey’ game played on a cushion of air; anything from the old seaside arcades of the 70s.
I loved cushion air hockey. I remember my friends and I going to the pool hall to play it for the afternoon after school. Thanks for unlocking that memory for me!
I use to like games but find I am bored by them. Chess gets boring after the eleventh move. Puzzles get never done. I think I am going to the seventh level of egotistic nonsense. I have hubrus and need to come back to earth. My mind wanders like a nomad and the conclusions are never in black and white. Am I alone in the quest or just isolated from the wind of change?