11 Best Android Apps & Games to Download on Your New Android Phone for Christmas [Week 51 Recap]

by Antonio Wells Dec 25, 2011 9:17 AM – Leave your thoughts

Now that the amateurs have gotten their recommends out the way, it’s time for the experts and four year reigning global leaders in this industry to recommend 11 of the best Android apps & games our app connoisseurs thoroughly reviewed just this week. While you’re unwrapping that new Android phone for Christmas here are some apps you should be downloading. Plus we make it easy to download or buy these top apps with convenient one-click tools below:

Best Android apps reviewed December 18, 2011 – December 24, 2011. Check out last week’s best Android apps reviewed…

Get 30% off total in our NEW Android app store with promo code: holiday30off

Night of the Living Dead Defense $0.99 Night of the Living Dead Defense is a graphically rich tower defense game based on the classic horror movie. Defend various locations against the onslaught of zombie-type ex-people with a progressively powerful arsenal of weapons. The visuals are great and the sound is possibly the best of its kind in the Android Market. If you’re looking for a new tower defense addiction, this is it.

Game Dev Story Free, $2.50 Game Dev Story is the massively popular, multi-platform, game company simulation game! Create games, advertise, attend game shows, win awards, make yours the best selling game of the year! Incredibly immersive, addictive and fun- if you haven’t played it, prepare to be consumed! But wait, those graphics looks a little bit 1992! That sound is terrible! Can it really be that good?

Frisbee Forever Free Frisbee Forever is the official app for Frisbee lovers everywhere. The game features exciting gameplay, gorgeous 3D environments, sharp HD graphics, a huge amount of levels and items to collect. The game is also wonderfully immersive and beautiful to play.

Astral Plague $1.99 Astral Plague is a pulsating and frenetic space shooter game. The game, probably familiar in gameplay to fans of retro-classics such as ‘Asteroid’, is a top-down 2D shooting bonanza as you have to fend off wave after wave of aggressive enemies. This is no gentle ride through the solar system either; it’s full-on, unremitting, intense and insanely action packed. There’s also an element of tower defense squeezed in which adds new kinds of gameplay to the mix. Cool, fun and in many ways brilliant, Astral Plague is as remorseless as it is fun.

Maxthon Browser Free Maxthon Browser is a speedy, customizable and fully-featured browser for Android and beyond. The app hosts a number of interesting and fun features that you would perhaps expect to see on a full PC browser such as; themes, sync to cloud, RSS reader widget, add-ons and tabs. Importantly, it just happens to be pretty fast too!

Spectrum ICS Pro LWP Free, ~$1.19 Spectrum ICS Pro LWP is the ultimate live wallpaper for people trying to give their devices a fresh Ice Cream Sandwich theme. The app gives you plenty of cool customizations so not only can you make your wallpaper look unique, you really do have complete control over the look and feel of every aspect. In a nutshell, I was looking for a really smart LWP that had that colorful, stripy ICS effect and this was just by far the best option.

Color and Draw for Kids Phone Edition ~$0.99 Color & Draw for kids phone ed is a fantastically easy to use coloring and drawing app which is ideal for kids of all ages. Either choose from a wide selection of pictures to color in or start with a blank canvas to create your own pictures. There’s a good palette to choose from and a range of colors. Ideal app for bringing out your child’s artistic side, the app was recently available for 10c as part of the Android 10BN download sale. Now back to it’s usual price of ~$0.99, it’s still a great option for amusing little ones.

Karoshi Free via GetJar, $1.00 in Android Market Karoshi is an old-school puzzle game with a very sinister twist. The aim of the game here is get Mr Karosh killed. Having had enough of his job and his life Mr Karoshi now faces a series of levels in which he gets to kill himself. You have to help him as he navigates all manner of obstacles and logic puzzles. The sound and graphics are incredibly retro, but the level design pulsates with ingenuity.

My Beach HD Free, $0.99 My Beach HD is a gorgeously warming Live Wallpaper for your Android device. With loads of customizations you can design your own summery home screen background. Perhaps in response to the freezing weather conditions that are well-and-truly upon us (certainly in the Northern hemisphere!) this is just the remedy you need!

Pretty Pet Tycoon Free Here comes the sequel to the smash-hit adventure strategy game Pretty Pet Salon! Pretty Pet Tycoon sees the return of Piglina, who has moved to a farm in the countryside to face the daunting task of building a mighty business empire. There she meets a mysterious stranger who seems to have his own plans of world domination using her fruit farm!

Tiny Village Free, In-app Purchases Tiny Village is a cute little tycoon/building game that puts you in control of creating your own pre-historic village! The gameplay is varied and, while the game includes the ability to increase your funds via real-world money, it doesn’t hinder the game to the point that similar titles do. The graphics and sound are rather adorable and the game seems to have a sort of Flintstones theme that is relatively new in this genre. Definitely worth a look if you like tycoon-style games, but don’t expect historical accuracy!!