One very important aspect of smartphone usage is gaming, and the Play Store has plenty of great titles that can steal hours away from each week, or make time pass faster while stuck in traffic, and so on. Some games are good, others are great, and games like Monument Valley or Bad Land have earned several awards and recognition for their beautiful visuals and/or gameplay. One famous title, called Alto’s Adventure, developed by independent studio Snowman, has just arrived at the Play Store after months being available only for iOS users. Alto’s is a simplistic yet very immersive game that has won several awards, including the Best of 2015 and 15 Most Beautiful Games by Apple’s App Store, and critical acclaim from technology and gaming websites.
You may be wondering what is so special about this game, so let’s jump to it. The gameplay is very simple: tap to jump, tap and hold to flip. The story behind it is that you live in a snowy village in the mountains and take care of llamas. They then escape and you have to rush downhill to capture them back, also collecting coins to score points. While skiing after your llamas, you have to jump obstacles and other elements of the terrain, and can perform backflips or grind rails to score extra points – however, if you crash land or run over an obstacle, that’s it, game over, you are done. These points can then be exchanged for items, such as a helmet to protect you from the first fall, or a chasm rescue that gives you an extra life if you crash on an obstacle, wingsuits to fly farther, and so on. Another great aspect of Alto’s Adventure is its immersive and beautiful soundtrack, which is best enjoyed if wearing headphones.
To keep users hooked up to it, there are 180 handcrafted goals so you can master the game, and you can also challenge your friends to see who gets the best scores. The game is available for free (with in-app purchases) in the Play Store, which is good news when you consider that it costs $2.99 for iOS users. You can check out how the game looks via the screenshots and trailer below.
