There are so many great free Android games on the Google Play Store that it can be hard to know where to start looking for something new to play. That’s why we’ve put together a complete guide to the best games in every genre.
If you like word games, endless runners, platforms or puzzles, there’s something here for you.
Click through the next pages to see each category or read our pick of the month below. And check back every month for our latest pick.
Genshin Impact was voted the best mobile game in the TechRadar Choice Awards 2021
Free Android Game of the Month
Super Mombo Mission
Super Mombo Mission is an action-packed platformer that finds the titular Mombo bouncing off walls like a ninja, jumping on enemies and sliding down ziplines using his massive tongue. (Well, every platformer hero needs a trick, right?)
Sometimes you will try to dispatch all enemies within an area before the timer runs out. This gives you a Mombo Combo. Collect enough and you will unlock new areas. It’s high-octane stuff, but there are also more relaxed moments, like when you explore the village of the people you’re trying to save or move more carefully around the map to find new areas to tackle.
On a phone, it’s great; but with a controller, you’d swear you were playing on a real console. For free, it’s a ridiculous bargain – to a level rarely seen on mobile devices.
The best free racing games for Android
Our favorite Android 3D, retro, 2D and free rail runners.
code racer
code racer takes racing game conventions and throws them out the window, so instead of bombing a circuit, your nervous reactions being the only thing keeping your car from flipping, you set your route through basic programming-style commands.
In the beginning, Code Racer relies on a lot of trial and error as you set acceleration, braking and turn times and power levels. It’s tough enough to turn a corner, let alone tackle levels with jumping, moving platforms, and other terrifying dangers.
Before long, though, you’ll begin to understand the various nuances of the game and will more quickly piece together the steps needed to get to the checkered flag intact – or evade the police in surprisingly tense drop levels.
Beach buggy racing 2
Beach buggy racing 2 is a high-octane kart racer. True to form, your little vehicle cruises along larger-than-life trails, taking everything from medieval castles with fire-breathing dragons, to an ancient world full of dinosaurs – and gigantic sea creatures you can jump on.
Naturally, your goal is to get to the checkered flag first, in just two laps. To do this, you must find shortcuts and use power-ups that can turn opponents into a block of ice, blast them through the skies, and much more.
Unfortunately, there are no leagues, and Beach Buggy Racing 2 only offers two race options at any given time. But the compulsion cycle is extremely strong, the upgrade/unlock path is reasonable, and the racing action is one of the best on Android.
disk drive 2
disk drive 2 is the turn-based driving game that was presumably created when someone reimagined shuffleboard as Mario Kart and pushed this weird mix online into web-based multiplayer contests.
The concept of a turn-based pilot is crazy and shouldn’t work, but it does. As you pass your little disk over tracks suspended in space, the tension builds as you get closer to your opponent. You’ll learn how to master shortcuts, navigate hazards, and also how to make better use of the bonus powers offered to your little disk.
It’s absurd to think that one of the best mobile racers on Android is tossing a coin on a race track, but there you have it. Lose this one at your own risk.
Asphalt 9: Legends
Asphalt 9: Legends, like its predecessors, is a decidedly happy, larger-than-life take on arcade racing. He has you racing at insane speeds, regularly soaring into the air, your car turning and turning in a way that would have your insurance company angrily ripping up your policy documents.
This racer also sets itself apart by simplifying the controls to the point where you don’t have to drive. The car moves along the tracks, with you sliding between tracks and timing actions like boosts and drifts. This might seem reductive, but it doesn’t lessen the feeling of racing, it gives you a sense of time focus, and there’s a manual option if you really want that.
Being an Asphalt game, there is some routine, but this is made up for by you being immersed in the weirdest and most dazzling arcade racing on Android.
carmageddon
carmageddon it’s a blast from the PC gaming past. He disguises himself as a pilot, but often looks like you’re hunting prey – albeit encased in a speeding metal suit.
The game’s free-form ‘arenas’ are networks of roads in a dystopian future. People and cows roam happily while crazed drivers tear each other to pieces. Victories come through complete turns, destroying all your opponents or taking down all living beings in the vicinity.
In the 1990s, this was shocking to the point that Carmageddon was banned in some countries. Today, lo-fi violence seems picturesque. But the game’s ironic humor survives, right alongside bouncy physics, crazy racing type, and crazed cops trying to crush you into oblivion if you cross their path.
Asphalt 8: Airborne
Asphalt 8: Airborne is a high-octane racer who took a cursory look towards realism. He then decided not to bother with such a petty issue and decided he would rather you race at insane speeds under the power of glorious nitro, which often sends your car into the air.
Not one for the simulation crowd then, but this racer is perfect for everyone else. The larger-than-life branching courses – hyper-real shots in real-world locations – are crazy and exciting. Instead of looping around a boring circuit surrounded by gravel traps, you blast at rocket launch sites and blast volcanoes.
There are downsides – cynical IAPs and timers abound, soldering a huge comedy tail to this sleek pilot’s styles. But for breakneck speed, barrel rolls in the air and lots of laughs, this racer is hard to beat.
data wing
data wing It has the look and feel of a minimal top-down pilot, but it’s much, much more than that. That’s not to say the racing part isn’t great – because it is. You guide your little triangular craft around neon courses, sliding along boost pads and scraping the edges of the track for a little extra speed.
But there’s something else going on here – an underlying narrative where you discover you’re, in fact, carrying bits of data, all under the gaze of an artificially intelligent mother. Initially, everything seems fine, but it soon becomes clear that the Mother has some loose electrons, especially as you start to get glimpses of a world beyond silicon.
With perfect touch controls, varied racing levels, a few hours of story and lots of replay value, Data Wing would be a bargain for a few bucks. For free, it’s absurdly generous.
one touch rally
This game does for racing what auto runners do for platformers. one touch rally is controlled with a single finger, pressing the screen to accelerate and releasing to brake, while your car automatically drives. The goal is not to hit the sides of the track, because that slows you down.
Win and you climb the rankings, playing against a stronger and faster opponent. In a neat twist, said opponents are recordings of other players’ real-world attempts, sorted by time.
In essence, this is a digital version of slot racing, without the slots. But the mix of speed and strategy, along with a decent range of tracks, makes you forget about simplistic controls. If anything, they become a boon, shifting focus to learning track layouts and sharp timing. Top things.
splash cars
in the world of splash cars, it seems like everyone else is a miserable curmudgeon besides you. Their world is drab and gray, but their magical vehicle brings color to anything it gets close to. The police aren’t happy about this and intend to put a stop to his hue-based antics by tossing his car into oblivion. There’s also the small problem of a gas tank that dries up alarmingly quickly.
Splash Cars, therefore, becomes a fun game of escaping the hustle, passing buildings by a hair’s breadth, picking up gasoline and coins carelessly left lying around, and trying to hit a painted target before time runs out. Succeed and you’ll go to bigger and better places with ever more powerful cars.
