This week saw the news that Square Enix had released Tomb Raider as an android download. The app is available from the Play Store and at a cost of $0.99. This might be a game which is almost twenty years old, but this is a classic offering and one which still has its value. Therefore, seeing its arrival and at a rather affordable app price is a great move by Square Enix and one which will be welcomed by android gamers.
That said, although you probably saw the news of Tomb Raider being released (ironically on April Fool’s day), this is an Android TV compatible app. To be clear, this is not one of those apps which is only compatible by sideloading or being forced to work on your device. Instead, it is one that works out-of-the-box, so to speak. This is one of the apps which can be immediately purchased from the Play Store and sent to your Android TV device from Google Play. That is as long as you are using the browser-based Play Store. In spite of its Android TV compatibility, this is also one of the apps which currently does not show up on Google Play on Android TV. Even after being directly searched for.
As as result, you do need to head over to Google Play on your laptop or desktop (or mobile browser) and send it to your device. This does seem to raise the question of how can early adopters of Android TV receive better information on what apps are available for their Android TV device? Apps like Tomb Raider are perfect examples of content which is best utilized by android on your big screen. Not to mention that there are other apps hitting Google Play every week, which are compatible with Android TV and early adopters of the platform are largely unaware. Even the news reports on the original release announcement, fail to note when an app is compatible with the platform. Something certainly does need to change to offer Android TV users a better level of knowledge on what is available for their platform.
In the meantime though, if you had saw the early reports that Tomb Raider was now available but didn’t see the value of playing it on your small android 5 or 6 inch screen or relying on touchscreen controls (as the app listing screenshots seem to suggest), then rest assured it will work fine on your Android TV device. Not to mention that it is fully compatible with your GamePad too, offering you the fully Tomb Raider gaming experience and essentially turning your Android TV into an early PlayStation. Actually, it would be great to see more games like this landing on the Play Store and for less than a dollar. If you want to grab the game, use the link below and once purchased, use the drop down menu to select and send to your Nexus Player or Android TV device
