Apps of the Week: Need for Speed Most Wanted, Storage Analyser, Nexus Revamped LWP and more!

On this, the eve of the new Nexus, we have another set of great app picks for you. Spend a few bucks on some great games, pick up a couple of free productivity apps and take a look back at something retro with an old-school live wallpaper done right. So take a look, this is an all-star lineup you have to see.

Oh, and can you spot how many Nexuses there are in this post?

Alex Dobie - Need for Speed Most Wanted

EA's Need for Speed: Most Wanted launched on Google Play in the past week or so, bringing a console-quality racer to Android devices. For the uninitiated, Need for Speed: Most Wanted is a street racing title by EA, in the vein of earlier NFS games and Criterion's Burnout series. There's a campaign-style single player mode, where you can race up to 35 different real-world cars across a variety of different locales. Steering is controlled by tilting your device, and actually works pretty well. As for the game itself, it's a spin on the classic racing genre, with a Burnout-style nitrous meter that fills proportional to your disregard for road safety. And as well as other racers, you'll need to watch out for traffic, police and the occasional road blocks that show up.

NFS's polished gameplay is matched by its gorgeous graphics. If you've got a high-end Tegra 3 or Exynos Quad device, you're in for a visual treat, with highly detailed vehicles and environments, as well as spectacular particle and reflection effects. It's a shining example of the kind of game experience that can be had on an Android device

Need for Speed: Most Wanted is available on Google Play for 4.79 in the UK, or $6.99 in the U.S.

Download: Need For Speed Most Wanted ($6.99)

Sean Brunett - Storage Analyser

Sometimes an app comes along that performs one function really well and thats the case with Storage Analyser. I install lots of apps on my devices and I put a lot of content on them. Due to this, I often find myself browsing my file managers to find out what is taking up the most space. This app automates that process and displays what is hogging your space. You can then delve deeper into the folders to find out the largest files within those and consequently what to delete. You can sort by size, name, date or number of files within a folder. This is a really handy and simple app. Highly recommended for anyone who likes to keep track of what specifically is taking up space on your devices. Oh, and in case youre wondering, it is spelled correctly. Silly Brits!

Download: Storage Analyser (Free)

Scott Young - Nexus Revamped Live Wallpaper

The Nexus One was my first Android device. That being said, its Nexus live wallpaper holds a place near and dear to my heart. So when I stumbled upon the Nexus Revamped live wallpaper, it definitely piqued my interest. As you would imagine, it includes the "normal" Nexus wallpaper along with its Google colors. Besides the included preset colors, you can customize the colors of the particles or lines (whatever you'd like to call them) and you can choose from 12 different background images as well. However if you'd like your own custom image, that requires an upgrade to Nexus Revamped Pro for $1.53. More customization options include how the particles appear, their physics, reactions, and of course performance options so as you don't bog down your device (or its battery.) That being said, if you like the style of the original Nexus live wallpaper, but not the color scheme, then Nexus Revamped might be for you.

Download: Nexus Revamped Live Wallpaper (Free)

Jerry Hildenbrand - Oscura

Oscura is a dark platform-style game, done in a style much like LIMBO for consoles or the PC. There once was a lighthouse, and it kept the "dark creatures" of the world at bay. But the lighthouse has exploded, and now the light is scattered across the world as crystal shards. Your job is to collect these shards, and bring some semblance of order back. The game itself is in silhouette, and downright beautiful.

As you progress, things become harder and harder. At first, you'll have to simply jump over enemies and obstacles, but soon enough you start getting pursued and things get a bit more hairy. The controls are simple -- hold to run, tap to jump, slide to enact the slow-time ability. The game progresses Angry Birds style, where you clear one area before going to the next. It's extremely fun, and available on devices running Gingerbread or higher.

Download: Oscura ($0.99)

Simon Sage - Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

There were a lot of great games included in this batch of Humble Bundle for Android, but I think the most highly-anticipated one is Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. Though it has a lot of the conventions of point-and-click adventure games, it's the blocky, abstract art style and bizarre modern twist on generic fantasy plotlines that make Superbros a really unique experience. It also helps that the incredibly awesome soundtrack is included in Humble Bundle order, not to mention that anything you pay goes to an exceptionally good cause. It's still in beta, so there are a few display inconsistencies, but overall the core of the game is full intact.

Download: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Pay what you want)

Chris Parsons - Tumblr

If you're looking for a pretty cool spot to do some blogging, Tumblr is a great option. Over the past little while, they've been slowly revamping their Android app to make it better and the latest update added a whole slew of new features and improvements. If you checked it out before but deemed it pretty dreadful to use on a daily basis, give it another look -- you may be pleasantly surprised. If you're new to the app, now is a great time to jump in because the bumpy road of their app building process appears to be over and things are running smoother than ever before.

Download: Tumblr (Free)

Andrew Martonik - World of Goo

Heres another staple if youre looking for a great brain teaser or puzzle game. World of Goo has won numerous game awards from different publications, and after playing a few levels you can see why. The graphics and animations are very smooth and the music tracks fit the game well. The gameplay goes from simple to nearly impossible in a flash -- this one youll have to put some serious time into if you plan on beating it with high scores. Worth the $4.99 youll pay for the full version if youre looking for a fun, challenging game.

Download: World of Goo (Free); Paid ($4.99)

Richard Devine - Ghostbusters: Paranormal Blast

Who ya gonna call? That's right, the Ghostbusters. Augmented reality has been one of those technologies that's never really grabbed me. That is, until i found this game in Google Play. Ghostbusters: Paranormal Blast puts you in the shoes of a new recruit at the famous ghost hunters. But, instead of some make believe place, the ghosts you need to go get are overlayed onto a map of your local area. Then, when you go fight, those ghoulies will appear in front of you using your devices camera. Then, you zap, kapow and gersplat them, contain within a ghost trap and head on home.

There's different levels of difficulty, and points and stuff to gain. But, the main reason you'll want this game? The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Download: Ghostbusters: Paranormal Blast ($1.99)

Via: Apps of the Week: Need for Speed Most Wanted, Storage Analyser, Nexus Revamped LWP and more!