Smartwatch games probably won’t be the reason you buy your first wearable. But there’s something about that neat, little screen sitting idly on our arm that makes us want to play all those addictive one tap/one swipe time wasters. You know, the ones we used to play on our neat, little phone screens.
Read this: The best smartwatch to buy in 2016
We’ve rounded up our pick of smartwatch games, mostly clones of familiar titles, for Apple Watch, Android Wear, Samsung wearables and Pebble smartwatches. The best bit? A lot of them are free, or really cheap.
Warning: Your smartwatch battery will drop like it’s hot, so limit yourself to a quick two/five minute session.
Bubble Bash 3
The Gear S2 (and likely the new Gear S3 smartwatches) makes full use of the rotating bezel for its games. Bubble Bash 3 is one that we’ve enjoyed lately, and just like other bubble bursting games, you must shoot, stack and burst like-colored orbs to get points.
Free, Samsung Gear app store
Castle Wear
If you want the ultimate, portable RPG, then give Castle Wear a whirl. Though it’s still only an Alpha build (as in buggy), the concept is great and so far, it’s pretty fun. There’s tons of items, characters to create and the potential for a lot more. Right now, it’s only for Android Wear but it sounds like Apple Watches are in the game’s future.
$1.99, Google Play
Fitcat
A favorite on Pebble devices, Fitcat is both an activity tracker and a virtual cat that you take care of. Being active will also have your little cat mirror the moves which generates income that you can use in-game.
Free, Pebble app store
Invaders
If you’ve heard of and enjoyed the classic game Space Invaders then you’ll love the version on the wrist (or at least find it mildly entertaining). Simply called Invaders, you’re basically trying to destroy the aliens before they can land. Compatible with iOS, Android Wear and Tizen, where you can use the rotating bezel for gameplay on the Gear S2, the game is a must.
$0.99 on iTunes | Free, Google Play | Free, Gear app store
Pixel Miner
Pebble Time owners should check out the colour version of Pixel Miner, the most popular Pebble game, by developer Will Luton. Your digger digs pixels (and sometimes treasure) for you which earns you currency which you can then use to pay for upgrades so he digs faster. Simple but so, so fun.
Free, Pebble app store
Sonic Dash 2 – Sonic Boom
A quick mention for the smartphone endless runner Sonic Dash 2 – yes, that Sonic. There’s no Apple Watch gameplay but you can track your running and walking via the Watch’s sensors and a simple Sonic pedometer app to earn in-game prizes. A neat little trick.
Free, iTunes
Tilt
Not exactly one to play on the go, Tilt for Android Wear by 13 App Design gets bonus points for being an imaginative mash up of AR and smartwatches. So you open up the app on your phone, point the camera at your watch and then tilt your watch to control the game onscreen on your phone. It’s a simple enough game of rolling a sphere to pick up boxes without falling through the gaps in the circular platform.
Free, Google Play
Spy_Watch
Taking gaming with your watch very literally, Spy_Watch sees you ‘play’ a handler for a rookie spy out in the field. Select missions and he will ask for instructions throughout the day – messages with multiple choice options will appear on the Apple Watch’s screen along with a Taptic buzz. It’s Choose Your Own Adventure meets Telltale Games meets notifications.
Read more: How Bossa Studios made its first Apple Watch game
If you don’t reply, your spy will continue to do his top secret work without you. This is a slick title from Bossa Studios – the guys behind Surgeon Simulator – that has already had an update to iron out some early kinks.
$1.99, iTunes
Runeblade
A fantasy RPG for the Apple Watch, Runeblade has some pretty simple gameplay to kick off with – tapping your sword to swipe at giant frenzied crabs, boars and bewitched rats. But there’s upgrading of runes and spells to be looked after, a map and magical artefacts to explore and in-app purchases too.
Everywear Games, the devs behind this game, say there’s more features, monsters and gameplay on the way and Runeblade has already had an update dubbed “The Lore Keepers” with unlockable background info and custom artwork in the iPhone app.
Free, iTunes
Letterpad
Letterpad, the word game from Tiny Tower devs Nimblebit, was teased before launch and now it’s available for the Apple Watch. Find hidden words relating to a topic in the nine letters shown on screen in this neat puzzle game. You get 200 to start with and you can create and share your own too.
Nimblebit is also planning another word game Capital which will be playable on the Apple Watch so if you enjoy Letterpad, look out for this. They’re nothing new but they are the type of game that lends itself to smartwatch gaming.
Free, iTunes
Lifeline 1 & 2
The Lifeline series by 3 Minute Games takes the same background gaming approach to Spy_Watch. The first instalment sees the app sending you a series of messages from an astronaut character – Taylor, aboard the starship Varia, who has crash landed on an alien planet.
The story, written by Fables: The Wolf Among Us writer Dave Justus, plays out in real time and Lifeline 2 has a story that’s twice as long as the original, about a woman named Arika’s quest to avenge her parents. There’s also Lifeline: Silent Night to try. It seems like the Apple Watch has made text based adventures hip again.
$2.99, iTunes
Tamigotchi Classic
Yep. Devs really are looking to the past to find games that work on a smartwatch and Bandai Namco has launched Apple Watch support for the Japanese virtual pet game you thought you’d put behind you.
Check on your Tamigotchi’s status and health meter, get alerts and take care of it directly from the Watch with a menu of its needs including meals, snacks, toilet and light. Is this the future? Maybe.
$2.99, iTunes
2048 Wear
Keeping it nice and simple is this 2048 clone for Android Wear from the popular smartphone puzzler. Swipe the tiles in the grid to move the same numbers next to each other to double their value. The only annoyance here is that longpressing on your smartwatch screen exits the game and we found ourselves doing this quite a bit by accident. Double tap to see your current score.
Free, Google Play
TetroCrate
This 3D Tetris-a-like is a more leisurely take on the famous game. The colourful bricks pop up on screen rather than falling and you can take your time in spinning them around and fitting them together by swiping and tapping to set them into place. It might sound too easy but anything faster probably wouldn’t work on a smartwatch. The usual rules apply – fill a horizontal line with bricks to disappear that line and win points.
Free, Google Play
Castle Stormer
This is a smartwatch game that knows it’s a smartwatch game. Tap to leap from wall to wall to avoid obstacles and enemies (cats etc) or time your jump to bump them off instead in this vertical scroller. Nice graphics, simple controls, this is what we’d called a smartwatch hit from indie devs Teensy Studios who have made a fair few titles for Android Wear. That said, they are charging for it.
62p, Google Play
Wear Orbits
Another great one tap game from Teensy Studios for Android Wear, Orbits can get kind of mesmerising and its simple looks are deceptive, it actually gets quite tricky. The aim is to stop Earth from crashing by tapping inside your orbit to move to an inner ring or outside to jump to an outer one. Lovely on the Moto 360.
Free, Google Play
Reversi for Wear
This is a tidy one or two (!) player Android Wear version of the board game Reversi/Othello. Double tap to zoom into the board to choose which space to place your black or white disc on to swap any enclosed rival discs to your colour. Whoever has the most discs on the board at the end wins. Better to play with a smaller board than the max 8×8 grid to stop things getting too fiddly on your smarwatch.
Free, Google Play
Birdie Wear
So. It’s Flappy Bird. Kind of. It’s the same idea, keep tapping to stay in the air. More fiendish than you’d think when your finger is covering up the entire smartwatch screen. We had to include it. Did we? Yes. See also Flopsy Droid and Marshmallow Rush.
Free, Google Play
Asteroids and Pebloid
The first in a couple of Pebble clones of mobile games, Pebloid (on the right) is Arkanoid for your smartwatch and Asteroids (on the left) is well, Asteroids for your smartwatch. Both games look super simple and retro which suits the Pebble’s own styling not to mention the lack of a touchscreen – they use the Pebble’s physical buttons. Arcade games, you’ve found your geeky home for 2015.
Free, Pebble app store
Orbtime
Ever play Drop7? Orbtime is another clone, this time of the falling block meets Sudoku game. The orbs drop down and if the number of orbs in that row or column matches the number inside, the whole row/column clears. In a nice bonus, Orbtime includes orbs that show the actual time. Groovy.
Free, Pebble app store
SOURCE:http://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/best-smartwatch-games
