Games for Android

Radiant

• £1.50 / Free version: Radiant Lite

It's not quite Space Invaders: Infinity Gene, but Radiant does very well for itself. The aliens that tried to end the human race back in the eighties are back, and you must guide your little ship through asteroid fields and level after level of neatly-lined-up, cascading enemies to defeat them.

It's entirely touch-controlled. The ship fires on its own, and you touch the left and right of the screen to dodge bullets and manoeuvre into position. Selecting weapons is a simple matter of touching the ship and dragging to the desired icon in a little radial menu. There are loads of different ones, from homing missiles to sludge cannons, each with its own visual effects. Every couple of levels, you can buy new weapons or upgrade your existing ones with the credits you've earned by exploding space-fiends and rocks into dust.

Radiant is one of only a few Android games with decent music and sound effects, which are retro-inspired but don't grate on the ears. It looks gorgeous, too, and witty narration between levels gives it the structure to make ploughing through wave after wave of Space Invaders-esque enemies feel worthwhile.

8/10

Replica Island

• Free

When a game's being offered for free, it's hard to be too critical of it, even if it's a bit rough - but Replica Island is surprisingly polished. It's an adorable platformer starring the Google Android, and one of the most popular games on the Market at the moment.

You play through a smashed little robot's memories, which don't necessarily unlock in chronological order; you piece the basic but entertaining storyline together as you go. Use the trackball (or d-pad if you have a Motorola Droid) to nudge the android left and right and two on-screen buttons to jump, hover and attack. Controls are intentionally skittish. You only need small flicks of the trackball to guide the android, especially when airborne.

There are pearls scattered around to collect, which give the little android an impenetrable shield for a few seconds once you have enough of them. Levels are usually pretty switch-based 2D mazes. Replica Island's cleverest idea is the Possession Orb; holding down the attack button unleashes a ball of energy, controlled by tilting the phone, which can possess enemy robots. You can then control them with the trackball, guiding them to switches, smashing rocks or just blowing them up.

There's no music at all, which is a shame, but Replica Island has a cute sense of humour and it's very well-presented. It runs well even on OS 1.5. It gets repetitive - its 40 levels don't introduce many new ideas beyond the first five or six - but it's challenging, and the storyline holds the attention.

8/10