GAMING LIFE
Play these games on your commute
It’s a miserable morning. The train/bus/tram (delete as appropriate) is rammed. You have a meeting first thing and it’s all getting just a bit much.
These are the times that games were invented for. Relax, switch off your brain for a moment and let these beauties do the driving. Just remember to look up once in a while or you might miss your stop!
Fallout Shelter
Facilities management during the apocalypse? Yeah, we’re in. In Fallout Shelter you are the overseer of a nuclear bunker: welcome survivors from the wasteland and keep them fed, happy and keep the lights on by building rooms like power stations. Simple right? Well, you might have some fires, radscorpions or bandits to take care of – but you’ll be fine.
Grow your little community, send your best fighters out into the wasteland on missions to find key swag and before you know it, you’ve sunk hours into this gem. And remember, the nuclear apocalypse doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
Reigns: Her Majesty
How do you follow Reigns? Do it again but better, because this time you’re the Queen. The game is like a razor-sharp choose your own adventure for the Tinder generation: listen to the counsel of your courtiers, then swipe left or right to choose your strategy. Oh and death is certain.
As with other royal women throughout history, things don’t always lead to sunshine and puppies. You could die in childbirth, be burned at the stake as a witch, or locked up in a tower – all the greatest hits. But each death moves the clever story bubbling under the surface forward. Good, Queen fun!
Amber’s Airlines
Not got time to watch soaps, but aching to drop in and out of some poignant-but-bouncy human drama starring a plucky underdog? Have we got the time-management game set in an airport for you.
Bright-eyed Amber Hope lives with her fish, Sushi and wants to be an air stewardess. Help Amber help her customers at the airline, while studying for her exams and navigating this crazy thing called life at Snuggford Airlines.
Candy Crush Friends Saga
The bright colours, wacky sound effects and larger-than-life characters of Candy Crush Friends Saga will brighten any day, and there are few things more satisfying than clearing that last gem, dunking the final cookie or rescuing the adorable penguins before you run out of moves.
It’s a simple premise, but the game’s zany re-skin of the characters and increasingly challenging levels will keep you coming back for more sweet, sweet candy.
Lara Croft Go
You don’t get more iconic than Lara Croft, and top-down puzzler Lara Croft Go has everything you could possibly want from our eponymous hero. Tombs, puzzles and peril.
Hold and drag your finger across the screen to move Lara through the space. Tap to interact with levers and collect treasures, but be mindful of your surroundings: that crack in the floor might be your downfall.
Oxenfree
Like your very own pocket teen sci-fi drama, Oxenfree sees you play blue-haired teenager Alex on a trip to the not-at-all creepy Edwards Island. Alex, her friend Ren and new step-brother Jonas go poking around and (of course) make some pretty spooky discoveries.
Tap to move Alex around the scene and enjoy as the strangeness unfolds. Remember to stop every now and then to take a look at the photographs the characters have taken of your journey so far.