15 best free Android games of 2018!

The Asphalt franchise has some of mobile's most popular racing games. Asphalt 8: Airborne and Asphalt Xtreme were the big ones in the series. However, Asphalt 9: Legends came out in July 2018. This is the most recent game in the series now. It includes 50 cars, a bunch of challenges, and a bunch of content to play with. That includes online multiplayer, single player stuff, and more. The graphics are good and there are social elements as well. It's a freemium game. Thus, the online competitive aspect may be skewed a bit. However, the single player stuff is truly fun.

Critical Ops is among the newer generation of first person shooters and it’s one of the best. In this title, you’ll battle terrorists in a variety of urban-oriented levels or you can play as the terrorists if you want to. It has a strong online multiplayer community where you can play with your friends as well. It’s still a work in progress, but it seems to hit all the right marks and it’s updated frequently. If you’d like a first person shooter that’s completely free, NOVA 3: Freedom Edition is quite good as well. They're both free Android games worth checking out.

Clash Royale is the latest game out of Supercell. They also made Clash of Clans, a former entrant on this list. In Clash Royale, you’ll collect cards, build decks, and then square off in one-on-one duels with online opponents. You'll earn trophies when you win. Similarly, you'll lose trophies when you lose. You’ll also get to form clans to share cards, challenge clanmates to combat, and you’ll have a variety of chances to unlock new cards. It’s a solid card game and a great alternative if you just can’t get into Hearthstone. If Clash Royale just isn't your thing, Supercell also makes the highly popular Boom Beach and Clash of Clans games. Either of those are good enough to make this list too.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius is perhaps the best Final Fantasy-themed freemium game out there. It features tons of elements from the original games, including actual town and dungeon explorations, hidden treasures, secret dungeons, and tons of lore. The game play is simple to learn but you’ll need to think critically in order to beat bosses and hard opponents. You’re frequently rewarded for logging in daily and additional missions, quests, and activities helps keep the game fresh. This is about as good as it gets for freemium titles. If this one isn’t doing it for you, but you love Final Fantasy, you can also try out Mobius Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy Record Keeper.. They round out a very positive group of freemium games from the Final Fantasy franchise.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a card dueling game where you unlock cards, build decks, and then duel other players using the deck you built. You can build multiple decks and Blizzard has been pretty good with putting out regular updates to add more cards and content. You can also log into your account on mobile or on PC which is a really nice touch. If you don’t want to face real players in real-time PvP combat, you can always beat down on some bots for practice. It’s free to play which makes it easy and accessible for everyone to try out. It's definitely one of the best free Android games out there.

HQ Trivia is a hit new trivia game. It's a live game show where all players compete at the same time. There's a host that asks questions and people answer in real time. There are 12 questions per round with a ten second timer for each question. The people left standing after 12 questions split the winnings. Did we mention that it's real money? It's definitely something unique in the mobile gaming space. Games take place at 9PM EST every day with 3PM EST games on weekdays. That means there are 12 games per week. That makes it hard to burn out on the game too quickly. It's free to download with no in-app purchases.

MADFINGER Games is one of the best mobile game developers for first person shooters. Their list of titles includes heavy hitters like the Shadowgun series (including their latest release, Shadowgun Legends), the Dead Trigger series (two games), and UNKILLED. Dead Trigger and UNKILLED are a family of zombie shooters with tons of missions, some online PvP content, and tons of stuff to do. Shadowgun is a sci-fi shooter series with a campaign, online PvP, and more. Most of the main games are freemium. They are all extremely good games despite that, though.

NOVA was one of the first successful first person shooters on Android. NOVA Legacy is the latest installment and it's already one of the best free Android games. It comes pack with better than average graphics and controls. There is also a story line, online multiplayer mode, and a rudimentary crafting system. The game has a sc-fi story line. Thus it brings something a little different than most mobile shooters. It's not the best shooter available, but the price tag should be just right for a few dozen hours of fun before the freemium stuff gets annoying. We also recommend ignoring any claims that this game is small. It absolutely is not.

Pokemon Go was the biggest mobile game of 2016. Actually, it was the biggest ever. Even though its popularity has tapered off a bit, the game is still a very solid free option. Players can explore the real world around them all while catching Pokemon, taking down gyms, and finding Pokestops. New additions include legendary Pokemon, raid battles, and more. You can even trade Pokemon in the game now. The game continues to evolve beyond what many remember it to be. It’s one of the great free Android games.

Smash Hit and PinOut are two of the most solid infinite runners out there and they’re from the same developer. Smash Hit gives you a first person perspective as you throw metal balls at glass panels to avoid certain death. It’s calm, fun, and it looks fantastic. PinOut is an infinite pinball game where you must launch the ball through various levels and obstacles forever. Both free Android games look great, play well, and have unique mechanics for this genre. Both titles have an optional pro version that unlocks checkpoints so you can continue from a saved game. Otherwise, there are no ads, no in-app purchases, and nothing getting between you and the game.

PUBG Mobile hasn't been out globally for long. However, it's already one of the most popular mobile shooters available. It features a 100-player battle royale on a small island. Players collect gear, weapons, and vehicles on the island and battle it out. The winner is the last person standing. It also includes mechanics like a shrinking play area to keep games from going too long. There are a few glitches and bugs. However, none of them are overly bad. Recent updates added some new game modes as well as a freemium price tag. Its FPS mechanics are also above average for its genre.

Sky Force Reloaded is the latest in the Sky Force franchise (which are all pretty good free Android games). Like its predecessors, Sky Force Reloaded is a top-down, scrolling shooter where you fly a plane and your goal is to defeat bad guys, avoid bullets, and perform all kinds of various quests. It’s an ode to the old school top-down shooters. Despite its highly improved graphics, the game stays true to those old shooters. The difference being that this one has better graphics. It’s a good overall experience just like the previous iterations were.

Plague, Inc is a strategy game where you must mutate diseases and use them to destroy the world. The goal is to infect as many people as possible. There are multiple diseases in the game, each with their own outbreak strategy and the game is realistic enough that the developers were once invited to speak at the CDC. The developers have added plenty of expansions over time. The game also comes with save and load game functionality for multiple files so you can play many times at once. It’s one challenging game, but one that’s also worth checking out.

Vainglory is perhaps the best MOBA currently available on Android. It boasts high frame rates, unlimited free play, and solid connections. You’ll be able to team up with people and go head to head against other teams much like you see in all MOBAs. There are also decent graphics, more than 25 heroes to unlock and play with, and you can play with (or against) bots if you so choose. There is also a beta version that can use the Vulkan API if you want to check that out. It's one of the better free Android games.

Yodo1 Games is a game developer that has a bunch of very enjoyable and very engaging freemium games. Most have probably heard of their hit titles such as Crossy Road, Rodeo Stampede, Pac-Man 265, and Looty Dungeon. There are also a few others including Rooms of Doom. Most of these games are infinite runners where you must continue moving forward or you lose. The graphics are charming and the game play mechanics are simple to learn and understand. They’re also extremely kid friendly which makes them great overall family games. Their main developer page is linked above. Some other similar games include Crossy Road, Pac-Man 256, and Shooty Skies by Hipster Whale.