An app might only cost a buck or two, but if you end up buying things that don't strike your fancy, that could add up to a lot of wasted money. It's best to go into the Play Store with some idea of what's a safe bet. That's what the Google Play App Roundup is here to do--it's the best new stuff every week. Just click on the app name to head to the Play Store and test it out yourself

This week there's a new volume control app, a game about being a Goat, and a lovely atmospheric puzzler.

Android has had volume management apps since the very beginning as there is no support for a single hardware mute switch, a la the iPhone. Most of these apps rely on an app or widget that you have to find and use. Noyze Volume Panel is cool in that it plugs right into the hardware volume toggles to give you UI tweaks, quick access to multiple volume controls, and a few more neat features. Additionally, you don't need root access, just Android 4.3 or higher.

Setting up Noyze is a little more involved than most apps. Because it's plugging into a hardware feature, it needs to enabled as an accessibility service. The app will give you a link the the settings menu to enable it, but you'll also need notification access (another trip to the settings) for the full effect--more on that later. The default behavior of Noyze is that instead of the floating volume panel popup that most Android devices have, you'll get a clean volume overlay on the status bar when you change the volume.

The settings in Noyze are fairly extensive with a number of vastly different themes. You'll need to upgrade to the full version for $1.49 to get access to all of them, but the free ones are good too. Most of the themes are aping some other device or ROM like Paranoid Android (pictured here), iOS, or MIUI. A few are just different takes on standard Android controls. Several volume panel themes also come with built-in playback controls, which is actually really useful. This feature is also why you'll have to add Noyze to the notification service.

I also quite like that the foreground and accent colors can be changed to better match your system theme. The addition of a custom time out is also much appreciated. Delving into the other settings areas is a good idea because this app is modifying a system function, which can cause some issues. For example, Noyze will pop up every time you take a screenshot with the volume down + power shortcut. Luckily, there's a setting to ignore long-presses of the volume buttons. You can also link together all your individual volumes and assign app shortcuts to a long-press of the up or down toggle. I'm not saying the developer thought of everything, but he thought of a lot.

There is no discernable lag on any of the devices I've tested Noyze on, but it was a little reluctant to start on one or two until I had fully restarted. There is a helper notification that can be enabled in the settings to make sure the app isn't closed in the background, but a device with 2GB of RAM or more shouldn't have an issue. Even if you don't need the additional features of the pro version, Noyze is a capable app with no ads.

You can go ahead and say you've never wondered what it's like to be a boat, but we all know that's a dirty lie. Now you can finally let that dream come true with Goat Simulator for Android. This game was originally launched last spring on PC, but we knew no one platform could ever contain a goat. Suffice it to say, Goat Simulator is something of an elaborate joke, but it's a pretty funny joke.

There are no levels or firm goals in Goat Simulator. It's a sandbox environment that allows you to play with the bizarre physics engine to cause as much mayhem as possible in a small town. There are achievements, of course, but they aren't always the most obvious tasks. Become the queen of goats? What the hell does that mean? Well, find the throne room and proclaim yourself queen. Was that so hard?

Maybe you're starting to get the idea here, but you just have to experience the madness that is Goat Simulator to truly understand. I'm not aware of another game that let's you mount a pitching machine on your back and interrupt someone's morning jog by pummeling them with baseballs and simultaneously dropping dead goats from the sky. You can also use the goat's stretchy tongue to carry things around. Like I said--madness.

The controls are rather straightforward in Goat Simulator. There's a virtual thumbstick on the left to move and swiping anywhere else turns the camera. In the lower right are the action buttons including jump, ragdoll, lick, and headbutt. There's also a special power button depending on the items you've picked up and the goat skin you are using (unlock these by completing challenges).

The game was developed in the Unreal engine and it looks nice enough. The textures are a little muddy, but it's the physics engine that's the real draw. It is absolutely, 100-percent ridiculously broken. That's a very good thing in this case. The developers are happy to admit there are a ton of bugs in the physics engine, must of which arose organically in the development process. They only fix crashes--everything else is hilarious and remains in the game. This is the only game I've ever encountered where the bugs are a valuable part of the experience. Why did that explosion result in a car getting stuck in a tree? Who cares? Let's try to make it happen again.

There isn't a ton of content in Goat Simulator, but there's more than you might expect. This little town is jam packed with stuff to blow up, lick, and get run over by. Just $4.99 and you too can strap a jetpack to a goat and launch him at a train, then eat some mushrooms until the goat's head grows to the size of a small car. Again, this is a weird game.

If you keep tabs on the state of the Apple App Store, you might vaguely recall that daWindci came out a few years ago. However, a deluxe version came out a few months back, and now that one is available on Android. Even if the gameplay is a few years old, daWindci is still a fabulous touchscreen experience.

The basic premise here is simply guiding a hot air balloon around a level to pick up stars and reach the end. It sounds easy, and at first it is. daWindci eases you into the game with instructions etched into the ground, which you can see as you play this game in a top-down view from high above the balloon. To move, all you have to do is swipe across the screen to create a gust of wind. Your balloon will waft along until it coasts to a stop or you slow it down with a swipe in the opposite direction. The single input is great for a mobile game.

Being a hot air balloon, it's not the sturdiest method of travel. There are windmills, thorny branches, and plenty of walls you can run into and cause damage. The balloon will bounce off of most obstacles as long as you're not moving too quickly, but you take damage each time. After three nasty collisions, the balloon pops and you have to start over. Sad, but the way the skin of your balloon gets beat up as you take damage is pretty neat.

daWindci has a strong puzzler aspect--some stars are out in the open, but others have to be uncovered by blowing the roofs off buildings or carefully toggling switches with wind or water. The water mechanic in daWindci is particularly cool. If you draw a circular wind current over a pond, it becomes a whirlwind that sucks the water up to form a cloud, Then you blow it along until you have it over the object you need to douse, and tap it a few times. Watch out for those sunflowers, though. You don't want to water those because they're gigantic and will block your way.

You can move on to the next stage just by reaching the end of the level, but you can only unlock the bonus levels and additional balloon skins by collecting as many as possible. Just going for the end of the level also doesn't seem very fun to me--there are all sorts of cool mechanisms and tricks to explore on the way to finding all the stars.

daWindci has an interesting look that I'd label "geometric cel shaded." The colors are bright with lots of solid fills and a sort of askew, angular vibe. It's a very happy looking game, if that makes sense. The physics at work are also neat. The balloon stretches and deforms when it hits things and trees bend as you push past them. I'm also quite impressed with the particle physics on display when the wind sweeps up bits of the level, sending them swirling around.

This game is only $1.99 and there are a good number of levels. It's a great buy if you want a relaxing adventure/puzzle title to keep you occupied.