Radiant HD for Android: Blast Those Alien Invaders

With beautiful stylized graphics and dead-simple controls, Radiant HD is a gorgeous game that is easy to pick up but challenging enough to keep you around for a while. We've reviewed the standard-definition version of this app in the past, but the HD version has been optimized to run on tablets and phones with higher-end processors. Radiant ran fine on my (relatively ancient) Droid Incredible with only a few minor slowdowns--nothing that really took away from the experience as a whole.

Gameplay is straightforward: You pilot a ship facing wave after wave of alien attackers. After killing countless aliens, you will come face to face with the level boss. Bosses are typically much larger than the generic aliens you face and have special attacks that can wipe you out more quickly. You have only three lives, though you can buy more at the end of levels. Enemies will also drop extra lives as well as weapons and power-ups. You can upgrade any of your weapons at the end of a level, as well as buy new weapons to help you in your mission.

Steering your ship is a painless matter: To go left, you just tap the left side of the screen; to go right, tap right. Your ship auto-fires, so all you really have to do is make sure is you dodge any oncoming enemy fire. Since you can move only left or right, you must be careful of where enemies pop up, lest they take away one of your lives. Bosses, especially, have a tendency to rush down toward the player while firing wildly in all directions.

Radiant HD is one of the best-looking and most polished games on the Android platform. If you have a higher-end phone or tablet, be sure to pick up the HD version. If you have an older phone, the standard version works just as well. For just $2 and change, this game is well worth the price.