Install Google Play on an Amazon Fire HD

I recently purchased an Amazon Fire Tablet, I found the results to be mixed. On the plus side, the tablet was cheap and very well made, fast and responsive, but on the downside, it's not a true tablet in the way I'm used to: without access to the Google App store it was more of an Amazon interface device with a limited supply of useful apps. The only reasonable course of action was to get those sweet, sweet Google apps, but that was more effort than I expected, or needed it to be.

There are a couple different methods for getting Play on a Fire, but one of them requires rooting, which I didn't find necessary (I don't like Rooting, it can be dangerous). You will need to enable 3rd party apps, Android devices turn this off by default as a security setting, a bit of a questionable step, given the history of Android apps, but not the dumbest thing either. I'd also recommend doing a download/install sequence, download an APK, then install it, as opposed to downloading them all then going through the installs (I don't know for a fact they need to go in using the sequence I've put down, but I do know for a fact that it worked smoothly).

TL;DR Version (if you already know what you're doing):
First, turn on third party app downloads. Second, go to an apk download site, I use APK mirror for this, their site looks spammy and slightly sketchy, but the downloads appear to be clean and up to date; download and install 4 apk's, Google Account Manager, Google Services Framework, Google Play Services, and Google Play.

Detailed Version (If you need steps laid out)
1. Turn on 3rd party apps. On your Fire open Settings > Security and toggle the switch labeled "Apps from Unknown Sources". By default this is grayed out and turned off, touch the switch to activate and back out to the home screen, a reboot is not required to make this take effect, but it doesn't hurt to give it one if it makes you happy. This setting will remain until you manually turn it off, I always leave it enabled on my devices.

2. Find the Apps (APIMirror). One of the big problems I had was finding the correct APK's to download, most of the articles I read had linked the appropriate files, which were now being reported as obsolete, I ended up searching them manually on the site. Once I had found the correct services it became necessary to find a working file, due to the obscurities of file versioning and encryption, I ended up with a number of files that were labeled as simply "Parsing Error" when I tried to run them. I ended up taking the oldest versions of the files I could find for the Account Manager and Services Framework, however the newest version of the Play Services and Play Store did work. All I can say here is, start downloading the APK's that look correct and try to install them, if the work out they'll update themselves to the correct version and you're good to go.

The following are links to the version list of each service you'll need, in the order of install:

Google Account Manager

Google Services Framework

Google Play Services

Google Play Store

3. When you have the files downloaded, go into your downloads (either open the Downloads section of Silk, the default browser, or open Docs and go into 'Files') and launch each one in sequence, starting with the Account Manager, and ending with the Play Store. If you get one that gives you a parsing error, get a different APK and try again; if you cannot find one that works you may as well quit, you will need all 4 of these running in order to get the Play store working.

With Play installed and your credentials entered you'll now be able to install Chrome, Gmail, Youtube, and pretty much every other app you actually want to use. There should be no danger of anything going wrong in this process, but I'm not responsible for your chimp fingers hitting the wrong sequence of keys and bricking your tablet!

Deadly 30

Deadly 30 is a bit of a conundrum for me, I like the game a lot, but I don't know if my likes outweigh the problems I have with it. On the positive side, it's fun, it's got a neat concept, and it's definitely cheap; on the down side, it's a major resource hog, it's not very long or diverse, and I don't care for the control scheme.

The game is a WWII side scrolling zombie survival shooter, you start out as an American infantryman (machine gun) but as you progress you pick up other survivors, a Russian sniper (rifle), and a German officer (shotgun). You plod through a few different zones collecting scraps to create new weapons, ammunition, and general upgrades, returning to your base each night to fend off an attack. Rinse, repeat.

Decent looking for the price.

Although the game is fun, there isn't much variety to it, only a couple of different screens, and it can get frustrating as there doesn't seem to be a very good balance to it, I would almost call the difficulty curve broken. Biggest complaint I have though is that the game is a resource hog; the graphics and action are well done in this game, but considering this is a sidescroller, I am consistently amazed by how it bogs my laptop down. The game does warn you of this, but that does little to prepare you for the experience.

I'm going to give this a 7/10, I've gotten more enjoyment out of it than frustration and it is cheap, but this game is definitely not without its flaws. Deadly 30 gets a hesitant recommendation from me.

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition

Not much to be said for Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, one of the finest games of the 90's (can't say how much time I burnt playing Duke Nukem 3D), with possibly the worst sequel in the history of gaming.

If you have a nostalgia fit and need to play an old school game this one will fit the bill nicely, same old game with updated graphics and physics to match. Word of warning though, if you have no nostalgia for this title, I doubt this game will make you a believer.

8/10, I replayed the entire game several times after picking this up, but not because of anything it's adding to the genre, play this one for the memories and relive the dawn of FPS gaming. If you're approaching this as a brand new IP I'd rate it as 4/10 at most.

Gratuitous Tank Battles

Having already played Gratuitous Space Battles I was pretty sure what I'd be getting from Gratuitous Tank Battles and starting it up offered even less than I hoped for. If you like tower defence games with no character this game is made for you.

Place your turrets along a road and watch them chew up the bad guys who come marching along. There are a multitude of units that can be placed, ranging from infantry to heavy guns, and you can customize the units, but at the end of the day there is little flavour in this, it's strictly roughage to pass time with.

Pictured: A big pile of meh!

The great tower defence games I've played have offered something beyond the core gameplay, usually humour, that keeps me wanting to play. The game looks ok, but by design it doesn't have a lot of graphics going on, same as soundtrack. I'm not holding this against the game, but I am saying it didn't thrill me.

I'm going to go 6/10, the game does what it wants to, and if that's what you're looking for then this game delivers. If you're looking for more, like a story, you'd best just do the walk on by.

Back to the Future

The Back to the Future series are Telltale games, which,  honestly, should tell you everything you need to know: It's a story driven point and click adventure that you'll pay a little bit too much for, even if you find it on sale.

To be honest, I'm a fan of Telltale, they make good games and obviously put a lot of love into them, which Back to the Future is an excellent example of, even if the price is higher than I'd like. You play through different areas from the movie getting a chance to experience the it in a depth that was previously impossible.

What's not to love? Apparently, according to me anyway, the price is what's not to love, so let me explain: the price they charge is more in line with big title action games, not quite CoD money,  but more than you'd expect to pay for a casual game, which pretty much where point and clicks fall. My opinion is that Telltale pays too much for their licenses, but it could just be their decision to gouge a bit, I don't know.

If you're not a fan of the movie series this may not be for you; the game is full accessible even if you've never seen the movies, but I think it requires some of that context to fully immerse the player. I'll do 7/10 for this one, I've enjoyed it, but it's not cheap, and there is a slight accessibility/engagement issue, but if you like point and click adventures, this is an excellent example of the medium.

Samarost 2

Here's the thing with Samarost 2: I don't know WTF is going on! Is it a decent looking game? Sure. Is it a properly responding game? I think so, but I'm not really sure what to expect it to do. Is it a bad game? Hell if I know.

All your big eared little dude needs in one place.

You play a little dude searching for his dog who was kidnapped by aliens, who can't identify with that story? The game is vaguely intriguing, but with so little context on what to do in it I have a hard time forcing myself to play it. The game is essentially a point and click adventure: click an item to interact with it in an effort to influence another, which allow you to continue to the next screen, simple enough, right? Yes, it is, however without context it doesn't feel like enough, just a series of meaningless interactions.

I'm doing 4/10 on this one: It's cheap but, while I admit I didn't give it a lot of time, it did nothing to grab me in the time I gave it.

Sleeping Dogs

I picked up Sleeping Dogs on a Steam sale with little or no idea of what I was going to be getting, fortunately this one worked out. This game appealed to me largely because its an updated version of Mafia 2 in a different setting and, as we all remember, I loved me some Mafia 2.

This 3rd person action game has you playing a cop infiltrating the Hong Kong underworld. There isn't a lot of shooting to be done, this game emphasizes the fight mechanic and driving, but it works out really well.

You actually spend a lot of time here.

I'm not too wild about some of the side game action, I could really care what my character looks like, and I found the buffs provided by them to not make enough difference to really matter, but they are an unobtrusive aspect of the game play and shouldn't be a distraction. The game is quite linear in how the story is told, but that appeals to me, I like to be kept on track.

I'm giving this one a 9/10, not perfect, but very very good. If you're looking for a new game to try out you could do much worse than this one, especially if you manage to find it on sale.

Rush

Rush is a neat little game tat doesn't try to deliver to much, and accomplishes exactly that. If you like puzzlers with decent graphics then you might want to check this game out, however it's not doing much that hasn't been done before.

The object of the game is to move a block or blocks from one point on a grid to another, using a combination of  environmental obstacles and direction changing tiles. The maps are small and you can move the screen around to get a better look at them for the 3D models. Once you have the path created start the flow of blocks and watch them disappear.

Such happy colours!

There really isn't much more to say than that. It's pretty, the physics work well, and the puzzles have some challenge to them. 6/10, there's nothing wrong with what it's doing but it's not breaking any new ground or doing anything better than has been done before.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Well, that was quite a journey, but finally a 'Deluxe' game that isn't made by PopCap. Crayon Physics Deluxe is a neat little puzzler with top notch physics and a rather addictive hook to the gameplay.

The game is simple: using a crayon, draw objects to make a ball come into contact with a star at some point on the screen. The game does a decent job of easing you into the swing of things, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

No, not every level is simple simple or instructive.

The game actually comes off a little frustrating, as the art is so simplistic and the screens are very childlike, but the physics involved in some of the later levels make it fairly challenging.

I'm going to go 7/10 for this guy, it's well made and manages to be engaging, but I could never get over the fact I felt like I was playing a childs game.

Gratuitous Space Battles

Gratuitous Space Battles is a good looking game that doesn't quite deliver what it promises. The closest I could come to defining the genre it fits in is a tower defence, which is the root of it's problem,it doesn't quite deliver on anything it tries.

The concept and layout is pretty cool, you deploy a fleet in space, made up up whatever forces you can afford (based on an arbitrary game choice) then watch as your fleet either destroys the opposition or gets eaten alive. The game includes a number of different ship models and a really cool feature that allows you to design your own, based on current features, and earnable upgrades.

Again, a nice looking game.

The problem with the game boils down to the old adage "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy." Once you've deployed your fleet you sit helplessy watching them do their thing, you can't influence the fight. I also need to add, the "Chatter" they have playing across the top is strange and downright offputting; this may be a bit nitpicky, but it was really, really weird.

I'm going to go 4/10, despite a great look and interface, I just can't find enough in this game to truly enjoy.

Hammerwatch

I expected to hate Hammerwatch when I first started it up, low-res graphics, top down perspective, and the done to death dungeon crawler concept, but I didn't, I even found myself enjoying it. I would caution though, there doesn't appear to  be a save system, so forget between session progress and I hope you enjoy playing the starting levels over and over again.

Everything I just said in one, easy to use, graphic.

There isn't a lot to this game, you wander through the levels killing enemies and picking up treasure, which can be used to buy upgrades from vendors hanging around here and there. It's actually meant to be a co-op game, allowing what appears to be 4 people to play at the same time (who are these weirdo's looking for other people online to hang out with?) Very little to be said past that.

There is little to actually recommend this game, but there is much less going against it so, all in all, if you manage to get this on sale, it's worth a few bucks. 7/10 just because I got a a few hours out of it and I doubt I paid much for it.

Organ Trail

It's been a while since I've seen a game that I loved, let alone liked, but Organ Trail sure fixed that up. As a rule I detest old school graphics and sound, but in this case it not only works, it just feels right, even if I do hate the shooting mechanics.

If you've ever played Oregon Trail, you've played Organ Trail, only difference is zombies instead of pioneers; if you've never played Oregon Trail I don't know how to talk to you so you should maybe go away now. You set up your party, supply your station wagon, and start travelling across the country, trading, scavenging, and fighting your way through the hordes in your way. The updates to the game include a lot of humour, but the game does a great job of not only tying it into the genre, but also making it feel authentic to the original title.

If I need to explain this screencap to you you should go away forever.

I do admit to hating a few things: the shooting mechanic is horrible, but it's in-line with the original; the music is irritating if you pay attention to it, but its not important for gameplay so it can be turned off; finally, if you hate text based gameplay this won't work for you. I find those to be smaller issues when take into scope of the overall experience but they could add up to a game killer for someone else.

I'm going to give this guy a full 10/10, which actually surprises me. It's a heavily dated game with antique mechanics that utilizes an overplayed genre, but it works perfectly, and it doesn't hurt that it's cheap.

Bit.Trip Runner

Ah yes, Bit.Trip Runner, where do I start? There is so much to hate here, graphics, music, platforming, it's like someone said "What is the perfect game to make this random internet dude want to shoot himself in the face with a bazooka?" and got the answer.Think deus ex machina in reverse

This screenshot is almost pure hatred!

The game plays as a quick time platforming event, you are run along the screen needing to avoid obstacles and grab items as you go, while listening to Atari era music, which is fully justified by the graphics. I will say the game has good physics and, if you get your timing right, the game will deliver an experience for you.

1/10, I hated this game, I'm angry I installed it, and I'm disappointed in myself for even sampling it.

Cave Story+

Let's just cut to the chase here: Cave Story+ is an 8 bit platformer! What is with the flood of retro style games these days? I will admit, gaming has lost something in the last few years, but it's not like we used to play 8 and 16 bit graphic games because it was cool, we did it because it was the only option we had.

Cave story pits you against a series of caves, you need to jump and run and avoid obstacles to get through each system of caves. There appears to be a story involved here as well, but I only played 10 minutes of the game, long enough to verify there was too much platforming.

They did get the look and feel of an NES game right.

It's possible I may have found out why the title has a '+' in it, but I don't care enough to find out.This is not my idea of a game, the graphics are blocky, the soundtrack is painful, and the humour is half-assed at best. 2/10 because if you're going to put your ass into something. you should put your whole ass in! 

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution

Steel Storm: Burning Retribution is a 1941 style top down arcade shooter which, while not a bad game, does very little to add to the medium.

There it is

 Its only real contribution seems to be that it puts you inside a maze like setting of levels that require you to dodge around obstacles; I'm not saying that's a good thing, personally I think it's as helpful as a cat with 2 asses, but there it is.

I'm on the fence with this one but the obstacle course/maze thing pissed me off a bit so 4/10: nothing really wrong that I can see but nothing to set it apart from any other games of this style.

Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge is essentially a parkour simulator that wants you to know how much time and effort was put into its graphics. The game also appears to make an effort to do some puzzling, and throws in some FPS elements, but it also requires more patience than you'd expect.

The plot revolves around some manner of police state where these parkour couriers are the only means of disseminating information, apparently (there seems to be a bit of effort put into the story, just not enough to make me care( you play a courier jumping, leaping, and generally climbing across the cityscape.

Pictured: Actual gameplay screencap.

This is a good looking game with excellent physics if you care to learn the control scheme; I did not. There is nothing really wrong with it, the 'puzzling' part of figuring out the route to get you across the level appeals to me, and there is some shooting and fighting to be done, but I didn't really feel any love for my experience in the game.

6/10 for Mirror's Edge, the game seems to be doing what it sets out to accomplish, I'm just not a fan of the heights it's doing it at.

Peggle

If you don't know Peggle than I can only assume you are a "Serious" gamer or just too important for the human race in general. My library included both Peggle Deluxe and Peggle Nights and, although I enjoy these games, one is pretty much the same as another.

A video version of Plinko, the goal is simple, fire a ball through the pegs and hit all the orange ones before you run out of balls. There are power up pegs and a few other minor details, but that's enough to let you know what's going on.

If not Peggle, then, what?

I don't know why this game is so enthralling, but I've never once started it without playing at least an hour of it, it just seems to hit the addiction triggers. I'll go 7/10 because, although I don't know why I like it so much, I know I do.

Super Meat Boy

There is so much to hate in Super Meat Boy so I won't waste time or words: It's a platformer where you need to propel your Meat Boy from one end of the screen to the other to save his girlfriend. I played with a keyboard, which they advise against, but I believe I could have played it with Jesus H Christ himself and found no more enjoyment.

Yeah, that's like level 3 or something, I just don't care.

I don't want to hear the 1990's NES soundtrack, I don't want to see the 1980's style graphics, and, most of all, I don't want to platform. 2/10 for this one, not recommended even on sale.

Frozen Synapse

I don't know about Frozen Synapse, just isn't appealing to me. It's pretty much a puzzler, with some shooting involved, and a fair bit of strategy. While that should appeal to me, it doesn't.

Thats as much as I got done.

I'm not sure if it's the pacing, or the low res graphics, but I couldn't even get through the tutorial on this one. I believe the game is delivering what it's intending, just not in a way I like

3/10, it's got really positive reviews on Steam, but I won't be starting it up again.

Risen

I haven't played as much of Risen as I expected, it started out not too bad, but lost my interest. Although the game is 5 years old I would have put the graphics at about 10 years old, this is not high res within the least, however my real complaint is how chatty this game can get, I am not a fan of video game conversations, I find them lengthy and off-putting and this game is polluted with them.

Despite how little I've actually played I know an amazing amount about the story. The game play is a fairly standard RPG experience, quests are given in a manner that would be considered organic to the narration, and it is good to play an Action RPG, I've seen a number of turn based RPG's lately and I'm pretty well burnt out on those.

While not a bad looking game, there isn't a lot selling it either.

Fights are a bit tricky to get used to, but that's more a symptom of the age of the game, timing the controls is the real issue. I also found I couldn't get it to run on Windows 8.1 natively, I needed to enable compatibility for Windows 7 in order to get the game to even start up, but that's a quick fix.

I'm going to give Risen a 6/10, imminently playable, but nothing to set it apart and make it truly recommendable. It also lost points for the chatty interface, there are much better ways to communicate info than force me into chat dialogue tree's.