Let’s be frank: if you own a Lumia phone from Nokia – because if you own a Windows Phone device, you probably own a Nokia Lumia – you’ve got to do a bit of digging to find great games. We feel your pain, of course, and that’s why we’ve searched and found the five best free games, ones that you need on your Lumia right now.
Wordament
First up is Wordament , which is probably the best game to grace the Windows Phone platform to date. Wordament was released on Nokia’s Lumia and other Windows Phone devices and only afterward made its way to iOS and Android, so it’s a hometown favorite, too. The game turns your Nokia phone’s screen into something akin to a Boggle setup, with players racing to construct words out of the letters that appear on screen. You only get two minutes, though, before the music plays and the bell dings and then the game shows you all of the words you could have gotten, if only you were a little bit faster. One of the best parts of Wordament is that you’re playing against everyone else in the world every round. The game shows you where you rank as far as scoring, and it gives you achievements for pulling off certain tricks in a round. It’s an incredibly addictive little game, and once you play it, you’ll have a new appreciation for that big gorgeous screen on your Lumia.
Wordament Snap Attack
“You’ve got Wordament twice?” you ask. “Isn’t that cheating?”
To that, we’d reply, “Hey, shut up, you know nothing of the pressures of writing under deadline.”
Also, Wordament Snap Attack is a new game, so there. It’s the latest offering from the team behind Wordament , and it takes the familiar word-building tournament and turns it on its head. Or on its side. One of the two.
Lumia owners that need a break from Wordament but really want the same thing over again will love Snap Attack . You build words, but this version is a lot more Scrabble like than its predecessor. As with Wordament , your Lumia screen gets filled up with letters, but the way you go about arranging them to score points changes. It’s really the sort of thing you have to experience to appreciate, but once you do, you won’t be able to get enough.
Kinectimals
Originally shown off for the Xbox platform, Microsoft has brought Kinectimals to Nokia Lumia devices and other Windows Phone handsets.
(But, let’s be honest, with Nokia’s Lumia line holding more than 85 percent share, Nokia Lumia phones are just about all the Windows Phone devices people have right about now. Anyways…)
The game turns your Lumia screen into a portal through which you interact with any of a number of Kinectimals, animated pets that always want to play. It’s a bit like Nintendogs , except that your pet can be a baby tiger, or even a red panda. Kinectimals gives Lumia users a range of different environments to explore, as well, from the dog island of Villeria to mysterious tropical islands. There are also agility course challenges that will allow you to train your virtual pet in Beach Volleyball, Flying Disc challenges, and other physical activities.
Ninja School
Sometimes, though, you don’t want to play with a virtual tiger cub on your Nokia screen or get your butt kicked in a word game by some dude in Australia. For those times, you’ll want to check out Ninja School . Ninja School blends old-school looks and controls with a new-school RPG element. It’s something akin to Maple Story , with tons of players appearing live on your Lumia screen. You’re not always interacting with live players, but it’s still often enough that the game seems well-populated. It’s like a miniature MMO in the palm of your hand, and that’s always fun.
Total Conquest
If you switched to your Lumia device from an iPhone or Android handset, you almost certainly miss the wildly popular Clash of Clans app. Well, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that Clans isn’t likely to appear on Nokia Lumia screens any time soon. The good news,though, is that there’s Total Conquest .
Total Conquest is basically a re-skinned Clash of Clans made by Gameloft for Lumia and other Windows Phones. It puts players in control of a Roman city-state at a time when Caesar is dead. Now, it’s every Clan for itself… err… rather, now it’s time for Lumia owner to reach for Total Conquest ! The game features the same social elements you came to love in Clash of Clans, but now you can enjoy them on your Lumia screen. It’s really one of the best, most well-polished titles you can get on a Nokia device, and well worth your time wasting.
Is The Lumia Line Looking Up?
And there you have it: five of the best free games you can get for your Nokia Lumia handset. The Lumia line has seen steady growth in adoption, so you can hold out hope that more big name titles will find their way to the Windows Phone platform sooner rather than later. Microsoft also bought Nokia’s smartphone operations outright, so the software giant may push money toward developers to get more great games onto Nokia Lumia hardware. In the mean time, though, you can still whip out that Lumia and enjoy some solid work from good developers right now.
Lead image via Windows Phone Central .