Top 21 Android Games of 2010

Atomic
If we rated it: 8/10
Free

Remember the concept of "edutainment"? Lear something while you play your game and you won't feel so guilty for wasting your time. Well, if you want to learn about molecular structures and chemical makeups of molecules, Atomic is for you. It's a very simplistic search-and-combine concept: you find the individual atoms in maze-like levels and then hook them together into a standard molecular structure. It may sound boring or brainy, but it's surprisingly addictive. One strike against it is the lack of robust sound of music which can make the game seem very clinical, but Atomic is a solid puzzle title.

Sniper vs. Sniper
If we rated it: 10/10

A simple game concept, clever controls, and awesome online multiplayer make Sniper vs. Sniper easily one of the best games you can get for your Android. It doesn't hurt that the game has sharp, colorful visuals, either. Gameplay sessions consist of spotting enemy snipers hidden at random on a map (using your binoculars) by tilting your phone in the direction you want to scan. Once you've found them, you can use finer controls to focus your rifle and pop them one. Bonus points for headshots! But even better, you can go online anytime and play against actual folks, or team up with friends to play against teams of other folks. Huge amounts of enjoyment here.

The Plateau
If we rated it: 9/10

Unlike a lot of games on Android, which are little more than genre transitions, The Plateau feels like an honest-to-goodness, platform-specific title. The concept is fairly simple, you take tangled structures on a 3D plane, and drag them at their vertices until you've rendered them completely untangled and flat. It sounds simple as hell, but believe me, by the time you reach the end of this game's gazillion levels, you will be cursing the designers. The neon-tech look of the graphics and understated soundtrack help keep your interest piqued, and the bite-sized gameplay is perfect for waiting rooms or short trips.

Speed Forge 3D
If we rated it: 9/10
$2.99

If you're a fan of the Wipeout series on console, or just of futuristic racing games in general, you can't go wrong with this little gem from Polish developer DarkiMar. While it can chug if you don't have a powerful phone, the 3D graphics are awesome, and the racing is competitive and thrilling. Grabbing powerups and blowing the crap out of your opponents is part of the fun, but so is customizing your ride and exploring the expansive tracks. If you're into a console-style racing experience on your phone, you won't find better than Speed Forge 3D, just give yourself a little time to get used to the controls.

Toon Wars
If we rated it: 8/10
$3.99

Sure, you might think getting a real first-person shooter experience on an Android phone is impossible – and you'd be right – but Toon Wars is as close as you're going to get. The Team Fortress 2-esque style and excellent level design elevate this game above the limitations placed on it by the need for clumsy touch screen controls. Also fantastic is the ability to quickly and easily jump online to battle against random fools, or join your team to take on some other group of dudes. Multitouch support (as long as you have Android 2.0 or later) helps the controls get better after a learning curve, but really this one is just about blowing other people's heads off.

Bonsai Blast
If we rated it: 10/10
Free

If you've ever played the Zuma games by PopCap, you've got the basic gist of Bonsai Blast: a long chain of marbles marches ever forward toward a black hole – and you've got to stop them from getting there. How? By launching marbles of your own into the chain to make runs of three or more marbles of the same color. Such runs immediately disappear, shortening the chain – eventually you'll eliminate the chain entirely, sometimes with the help of a few powerups. Controls are point-and-shoot, graphics are bright and feature a nifty Japanese theme, and the game has a ton of levels. Did we mention it's free? What's not to like?

Armored Strike
If we rated it: 9/10
$3.99

A particularly colorful gloss on the tank-artillery genre, Armored Strike combines the best elements of games like Worms with an easy-to-use control scheme and a myriad of levels, weapons, and gameplay options to create a seriously addictive time waster. The main strike against this game is its relatively high price tag – you can always try the free download first, but if you want to get to anything resembling a full gameplay experience, you're going to need to shell out the four bucks. Still, if you do, you'll quickly find yourself plotting angles, calculating wind speed, and debating whether to upgrade that rocket launcher – all in pursuit of making your enemies go boom.