Best Android apps and games of the week: Diner Dash and more!

We're rounding up the best new Android games and apps for you again this week. This go-around is a healthy dose of casual games, though the more hardcore players will find a great strategy title in the mix here. Among the newest apps this week, we also have a few for the creative types from AutoDesk and Adobe, plus some new communication apps that are worth a gander.

Get cozy with your Android device, and let's crack open the Google Play Store.

Galaxy on Fire: Alliances

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Galaxy on Fire: Alliances brings casual gaming to the galactic scale. Players colonize planets as members of one of three races, and join other player groups to claim vast swathes of the cosmos. Resources must be plumbed from planets and transported to where fleets and troops can be trained, while research facilities produce new technologies that can turn the tide of battle in your favor. What's most impressive here are the graphics; casual games aren't exactly known for being amazing on this front, but you'll find rich 3D graphics used throughout this one.

Galaxy on Fire: Alliances is an extremely polished take on large-scale, sci-fi empire-building.

Sentinel 4: Dark Star

Sentinel 4 is the continuation of a well-loved tower defense series. Strategically place towers to defend against waves of aliens, keep them upgraded to take on increasingly more difficult baddies, and keep vital objectives repaired. An interesting twist on the usual tower defense scheme here is that the aliens can damage your towers, so stay vigilant. Once you're comfortable, you can start contributing to global objectives for everyone else playing. 26 maps plus an endless mode will keep you well-entertained.

Strategy fans, load this one up.

Cars: Fast as Lightning

Cars: Fast as Lightning is a casual city-building game with light one-touch racing elements. It features the whole cast of the familiar Pixar movie, and even has a dash of original voice acting. Players build up their own little town of Radiator Springs and customize tracks with outrageous stunts. Race against fierce competitors in one-on-one battles relying on tight turns and big jumps. Expect the usual freemium elements here, such as resource gathering at regular intervals, premium currency, energy meters, and upgrade timers.

Cars: Fast as Lightning is kid-friendly, and offers some unique mechanics in the grand scheme of casual games.

the trip

The trip is a refreshing and simple indie endless runner. Things start off fairly straightforward: you control a little Volkswagen Bus that does corkscrew leaps over other vehicles. Then you get wings, and have to fly over floating eyeballs, and that sort of sets the tone for the rest of your ride. Very simply, get as far as you can before hitting an obstacle. The animation is smooth, and the soundtrack is strong enough to keep you playing over and over again.

There are no ads or in-app purchases in the trip, and it's totally free.

Diner Dash

The classic mobile time management game has been revamped with fresh graphics. The new Diner Dash has players hopping between receiving new guests, taking orders, delivering meals, gathering checks, and clearing tables from a wide range of over-the-top (and often picky) customers. There are over 90 levels and three diners to work in, and 20 customer types to serve. The usual freemium tropes are here, such as energy meters, social tie-ins, and premium currency.

If that's alright by you, Diner Dash is a tried-and-true recipe that is long overdue for a fresh serving.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe provided some much-needed attention to Android this week by way of a preview version of a Creative Cloud app. With it, you can see your cloud-stored Photoshop and Illustrator images, as well as upload pictures to Creative Cloud taken from your Android device. New features are still on the way, and this is a great start.

Artists and designers ranging from dabbling to professional will find the new Creative Cloud client for Android handy.

Snowball

Snowball is a promising new instant messaging client that aims to tie together Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, SMS, Hangouts, Twitter, Line, WeChat, and Slack messaging. The app hangs around as a Chat Head style bubble on the edge of your screen, and tapping it brings up your most recent chats, and offers tabs along the bottom to filter by network.

Snowball is still in beta, but for folks that have a lot of friends using a bunch of different text messaging networks regularly, this could be really handy.

Autodesk SketchBook

Autodesk revamped their freehand drawing app for Android, and the new version is fantastic. Fine tune a wide range of brushes, some of which are bundled, some available through an in-app purchase. A layer editor and a mirroring tool unlock once you set up an account, plus you can plug into DeviantArt to share your stuff instantly. Tablet and smartphone screen sizes are supported.

SketchBook is worth a download if you do any doodling.

Glympse Express

Glympse helps you share your live GPS coordinates with a single contact for a set amount of time, and their latest app lets you do so through messenger-friendly web links. The links expire when you set your timer to, so your location history doesn't linger anywhere. Considering the biggest limitation of Glympse so far has been the requirement for both parties to have the app, this is a great addition.

Grab Glympse Express if you need to coordinate better with friends.

Acorns

Acorns is an interesting new take on investing. Starting at a buck a month, you can invest as much or as little as you want in stocks. The app makes portfolio suggestions, and you can drop in small chunks of money whenever is convenient. There aren't any commissions on trades or rebalancing, and dividends can be automatically reinvested. You can round up purchases on your credit card and put the added amount towards your investments.

Anyone looking to squirrel away a little something for the future may want to look into Acorns.

Your favorite new Android games and apps?

Those are our favorite 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.