Back at the start of April, Square Enix released Tomb Raider for Android. This was the original Tomb Raider, pretty much in its original state but ported over to Android. Sort of like a throwback game for the fans. The best part about the release of Tomb Raider was that it only cost $0.99 to download. This was the ‘launch price’ with no ads or in-app purchases. Just the original game in its entirety. Not forgetting, that this was compatible with Android TV devices too, which made it even better.
Well, this week saw Square Enix do the same thing again, although, this time it is the sequel game, Tomb Raider II. Once again, this has now been released on Android and pretty much in its original state. Once again, the game is available to buy (with no in-app anything) for a mere $0.99. And once again, it seems to be fully compatible with Android TV. After playing around with the game for a while, once again, it does seem to be working well and certainly a bargain at less than a dollar.
Which brings us to the bigger point here. There are number of news games coming out for Android TV on a fairly routine basis and they always do look to make use of the best graphics and offer the most enriched experience and gameplay, but always at a cost. Typically speaking, a very ‘premium’ price. Games like the Talos Principle are all well and good and certainly are some of the best games that you can buy, but at $30 to play the full game, that’s a commitment price. On the other hand, the sort of games you can normally pick up for $0.99 cents are usually quite basic and limiting for a smartphone or tablet, let alone an Android TV device.
What Square Enix is doing however, is very interesting from the Android TV perspective. There are a wealth of old console games which could now run very well on Android TV. These are classic games and in truth, were the Talos Principle games of their time. Not to mention, at $0.99 for the full game, in pretty much their original state, is an absolute bargain. These games won’t set the Android gaming world alight, but increasing the number of these older and more familiar games, at affordable prices, will offer the platform a much better and more affordable back catalog of games. Unlike your smartphone or tablet which relies on touchscreen controls being added, with Android TV, we are already there. We just need more of the games to become available. Square Enix does seem to be leading the way by releasing these Tomb Raider titles and if more of the game manufacturers made a concerted effort, Android TV would be a much greater and richer platform. Just imagine if Nintendo did port over Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask to Android and it ran smooth on an Android TV device…and was only $0.99. That’s what Android TV is capable of offering. If it is supported.
