Ten... top iOS games
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Love 'em or hate 'em, iDevices - iPad, iPod and iPhone - are now serious players in handheld gaming. We love the new PlayStation Vita, but we can see why some folk would want to game on a gadget they're already carrying with them.
And the bigger screen play offered by Apple's tablet can be a real joy for casual and serious gamers alike - especially with top-class titles like Judge Dredd vs Zombies and Infinity Blade II taking advantage of it.
Here are ten of my favourite iOS games, some new, others old, but all offering hours of fun.
Another World
This iOS version of Another World arrives 20 years after the game made its debut on the Amiga. It might look a bit simplistic compared to modern games but that’s part of its charm. Accidentally teleported to a distant planet after a lab experiment goes wrong, you have to run and jump your way through the side-scrolling alien landscape and solve a bunch of really tricky puzzles as you attempt to find your way back home. The instant-death syndrome may be frustrating for younger gamers raised on F5 quick-saving, but Another World's infuriating puzzles and otherworldly atmosphere still weave their spell.
Reg Rating 75%
Arkanoid
I have fond memories of working on a Sinclair Spectrum games mag back in the 1980s, and of the many hours spent on office Arkanoid tournaments. So I simply couldn’t resist this iOS version when it came out a couple of years ago. It’s a straightforward and faithful conversion of the original game, in which you use the bat-and-ball controls to break through a series of brick-wall barriers. There’s not an original bone in its body, but you get to wallow in 100 levels of retro nostalgia and electro-bleep noises, as well as a two-player mode that allows you to take turns and compete with a friend.
Reg Rating 80%
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COMMENTS
Re: Re: Amazing how much better
Indeed, half of these "amazing" iOS games are just re-hashes of old 16-bit or 8-bit titles. Meh.
Contre Jour, but no World of Goo?
In fact, Contre Jour appears to have quite a few 'influences'...
Re: Amazing how much better
Really?
Are you suggesting that this line up of games proves that iOS games are better than those for the Android platform?
I dont really understand how or why you can say that, based on the games listed in this report.
Re: Re: Amazing how much better (AC, 20:47)
So that's two trolls not to feed.
Re: Amazing how much better
I smell a bit of a troll.
Even if you based your troll-opinion on these two articles - the quality of the graphics on the android roundup were just as good as the iOS games, if not better (ShadowGun, Sprinkles) - the games scores were mainly in the 90% range for the android games, iOS were more around 88%. The iOS roundup had more rehashed retro games too - less originality.
But besides all this - the two articles were personal roundups of games on different platforms by diffierent authors. Not a summary of the very best available on either platform.
The only real places I think Android suffers in terms of game quality are:
1 - half-arsed ports of existing iOS games that take over a year to come out after the iOS versions... but now Android has more marketshare in mobile space I expect that trend to be reversed.
2 - Lack of HD games aimed at tablet screens. I don't see this changing until the tablets get cheap enough to grab more users and equal the iPad in popularity.
