Back in the 90s when mobile phones finally began gaining traction on matrix display phones, the most amount of gaming one could expect from a mobile phone was through the pixelated Snake II that came with the legendary Nokia 3310. Times have certainly changed and mobile devices have infinitely improved over the years, and so has their ability to offer a wholesome gaming experience.
The billion-dollar mobile gaming industry today has not only created an environment for independent mobile developers to showcase games, but even attracted big names in the mainstream gaming world as well. Thanks to the supportive hardware of modern smartphones, here are the top most popular PC games that you can play on your Android device today.
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1. PUBG Mobile
Released only a few months ago and quickly climbing the ranks among mainstream gaming fans, Player’s Unknown Battlegrounds has become a sensation of sorts online. The game has grown so popular that the mobile port of it became breaking news across the globe, and the quality of the gameplay holds up, which makes it even more impressive.
You are stranded by a parachute on an island with 100 players on an 8x8km island where it is survival of the fittest. Land down and be quick to grab supplies, weapons, and ammunition before the others get to it and begin the battle for your life. As the play zone shrinks, you’re forced to make your way to the dead center of the open-world map and even team up with your mates to survive the showdown.
When it comes to sports games on the gaming machines, nobody does it better than Electronic Arts, especially what the studio does with the NBA series. The latest mobile port of the high-flying basketball game brings the same nerve-racking action from the big screen to a smaller one, with no compromise in quality whatsoever.
Start at the bottom by creating your very own squad, bring in new players to trade-offs and dominate your opponents, while acting as a coach to help your team bolster their defenses, improve their run-and-gun style, and elevate their game standard. All of this comes with support for daily challenges that coincide with the live NBA events, making the game so much more immersive.
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3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The GTA series from Rockstar Games has been an epitome of open-world titles across the PC and console universe for decades, but Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas elevated this status even more. The game where you take on the role of Carl Johnson (CJ) is now playable on Android devices, with intuitive controls and open-world graphics like never before.
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The entire city of Los Santos, San Andreas is ripe for the taking as it being trampled by rivalling gang members and corruption, which is just the opportunity for CJ to make it big. Remastered with mobile-friendly controls, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas comes with silky smooth graphics and a massive game environment with more than 70 hours of mission gameplay.
There have been titles in the gaming industry that have created a genre of their own, and no game series has the honor greater than the DOOM franchise. Thanks to the fact that gaming tech brands like NVIDIA are actively invested in cultivating the mobile gaming industry, we can enjoy the thrill of DOOM 3: BFG Edition on our mobile devices right now.
Developed by the original team behind the DOOM brand, this game includes DOOM and DOOM II, along with the latest “The Lost Mission” chapter. The immersive storyline walks you through 8 stupidly intense player levels, where you play this FPS game with an armor-mounted squad, blasting your way through creatures that were spawned right out of your nightmares.
5. Minecraft
Back in the day when you spent hours watching people build fortresses in a pixelated world, did you ever imagine that the entire infinite world of Minecraft would make its way to the mobile platform? Discover an open-world where anything you can think of is possible – from punching down trees to build yourself a hut, to stacking up the stones to create your grand castle.
Survive in a world with hidden dangers as night falls, find the resources to craft weapons, and stand together with your friends when dangerous mobs attack. Minecraft is not only available for Android devices, but it comes with complete cross-platform compatibility, which means you can play with your friends across Windows 10 PCs, Xbox One consoles and even with your iOS buds.
6. Portal
A game that is exclusively available only for the NVIDIA Shield TV and SHIELD tablet, the first game of the award-winning Portal franchise from Valve shows the direction that the mobile gaming industry is heading towards. This combination of a high-speed FPS and a puzzle game is set in the mysterious compound of Aperture Laboratories.
Beloved for the immersive characters and beautifully painted storyline, your job is to pave your way through the arena solving puzzles and opening portals. However, the impending threat from GLaDOS remains, so don’t get too comfortable with your adorable companion cube just yet.
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7. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!
If you’ve ever been into mainstream gaming ever, it is impossible to not come across the Borderland series that has taken players by storm over the years. The award-winning gameplay now comes to mobile devices, as the RPG (role-playing game) and FPS (first person shooter) hybrid game comes together in the form of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!
You join the battle alongside the good guy turned bad Handsome Jack, who seeks tyranny with power and fortune to rule over the people. Equip yourself with the most audacious weapons, travel all the way to Pandora’s Moon, as you find new enemies along the way and even play as the lovable robot Claptrap with its combat-ready arsenal of weapons.
A stunning and interactive game doesn’t always need GPU-pushing graphics to excel, and Hotline Miami is the living and thriving proof of it. Set in the late 1980s life of Miami, the pixelated world is filled with cruel people and you as the main character and an anti-hero persona are no different.
Life doesn’t get easy as you’re surrounded by enemies at every corner, but it is only up to you to pave your way through them, crushing one skull at a time. The immersive soundtrack makes the entire game come alive, while you carve your way through the bloodshed and murder, simply to survive longer.
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Back in 2012, the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown shook the gaming industry with its deeply-twisted storyline that took a new twist on the Alien-invasion genre as a whole. Following up on the same spirit but with a more mobile-friendly user-interface in mind, XCOM: Enemy Within is a turn-based strategy game
Travel the world with your band of surviving soldiers to locations where the Alien enemy threat runs rampant, and research their technology to use it against them. Fire up new projects with your engineering team to take on the new Alien types as you discover them, all of which comes together as you defend the XCOM headquarters as the last stand of humanity.
With decades of high-octane racing to show for, the Need for Speed franchise by EA Games has created an entire genre of racing games, and it is no longer out of reach of mobile gamers. Need for Speed No Limits put the entire world of supercars on your device with Porsche 911, BMW M4, Subaru BRZ and many other up for grabs.
Break the barrier of speed as you drift through the streets with more than a thousand challenges in front of you and the cops hot on your trail. With a world of upgrades from the Black Market and customizations for your ride available at the Mod Shop, the adrenaline-packed levels of Need for Speed No Limits are not for the faint-hearted.
How impressive is it that you can now play games on your Android device are were once only exclusive to high-powered PC and console systems? Be sure to drop in a game title that you feel should be on this list too in case we’ve missed it.
