Best Android apps and games of the week: Republique and more!

We're rounding up the best new Android games and apps for you again this week. Over the last seven days we've seen some great stuff out of the Play Store, including a slew of interesting apps from Microsoft. There are a couple of games here with distinctly cube-y art styles, not to mention one very polished AAA title.

If you're good to go, let's dive into our top ten Android apps to hit the Google Play Store this week.

Retry

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Retry features the one-touch controls and sensitive impact areas of the insanely difficult physics game Flappy Bird, but lathers on retro graphics, an old-school aviation theme, and a much wider variety of levels. Very simply, try to land your plan at the end of the stage without crashing on any obstacles in between. Easier said than done. Gluttons of punishment will want to get started with Retry now.

NHL 2K

NHL 2K updates the classic hockey series on Android. In it you'll find a My Career mode, where you focus on one player and shape their performance over multiple seasons. You can also enjoy online multiplayer with turn-based shootouts, and if you only have a little bit of time to kill, take in a mini rink 3-on-3 match. This is a fully premium title with no in-app purchases whatsoever, which is always a welcome sight. If you're really into hockey, be sure to check out our top Android apps for the NHL season.

Pako

Pako is a simple racing game where you have to avoid cops for as long as possible without crashing. Crashing happens really easily, so you'll need to have sharp reflexes to avoid authorities, other vehicles, and buildings in a variety of settings. The controls are as dead simple as the graphics, but you'll still find plenty of challenge to chew on here. All in all, Pako's a great, straightforward romp with a solid soundtrack.

Escape from Montegrande

Escape from Montegrande is part Ski Free, part bumper cars. Players have to avoid alpine police while slaloming through trees and over rooftops to freedom. You'll get caught sooner or later, even after taking potshots with whatever weapons you manage to scrounge up. Though you gather up coins to upgrade your gear, the only in-app purchase is to get rid of ads. It also doesn't need any permissions whatsoever to play.

Republique

Republique is a beautiful stealth adventure game about avoiding the eye of Big Brother and unveiling a conspiracy of a totalitarian dystopia. The core gameplay of avoiding guards, gathering clues, and employing an array of hacking abilities is paired up wonderfully with a strong storyline, original voice acting, and graphics with cinema-quality motion capture.

Inbox

Inbox is Google's reimagining of handling e-mail, that bundles in reminders, and collapses similar messages together. Particularly important messages will bubble up to the top, and Google will go ahead and pull in useful information from outside sources for certain messages. You can also snooze e-mails and reminders, so you can tune out from threads you aren't directly involved in, or tasks you can get to right now. For now, you need an invite to use Inbox, but Google seems to be giving those out pretty liberally.

Jimdo

Jimdo is a simple drag-and-drop website builder for mobile. Keep tabs on traffic, add updates to your site, and create new pages with rich content right from your device. The templates you work with are sharp and optimized well for mobile, and best of all, easy to tweak while on the go. If you need a simple, straightforward, and easy to edit site, Jimdo will be really helpful.

Talon

A fully revamped version of the well-loved Twitter client Talon has been released exclusively for Lollipop devices. You'll enjoy new material design here, along with some great features for heavy-duty socialites, like marking users as favorites, support for two accounts, live streaming updates, and custom notification settings. If you spend a lot of time on Twitter and you're using Lollipop, pick this up.

Lumific

Lumific is a promising new photo management app that not only organizes your shots based on when and where you shot them, but straightens, cleans, and can back up your favorite pictures to the cloud too. Some features are still in beta, but the polished UI and hassle-free automation of the whole thing will definitely be a help for prolific shutterbugs.

Journeys & Notes

Journey & Notes is a new social application which connects people by the routes they travel. This is an interesting spin on location-based networks which usually focus on the destinations themselves. Leave tips, check in to your journeys, and connect with fellow travellers. Journey & Notes is just one of a bunch of experimental apps Microsoft released this week, including Bing Torque, CityZen, Next Lock Screen

Your favorite new Android apps and games?

Those are our top new releases in the Google Play Store. Leave a comment with your latest Android app and game downloads!

Simon Sage
Simon has been covering mobile since before the first iPhone came out. After producing news articles, podcasts, review videos, and everything in between, he's now helping industry partners get the word about their latest products. Get in touch with him at simon@futurenet.com.