Apple : Updated: The best free iPhone games on the planet

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Updated: The best free iPhone games on the planet Posted: The best games money can't buy The days when you had to buy a dedicated gaming rig and spend a load of cash for a quality gaming experience are long gone. Thanks to the iPhone (and iPod touch) and the App Store, you can get an excellent mobile gaming experience for just a few bucks (or quid, for that matter) or even less. In fact, a lot of the games out there are free. But can you get great games for nothing at all, or is the "free" section of the App Store just a shoddy excuse to bombard you with in-app purchases? The answer is, of course, both, and the trick is finding the gems amongst the dross. What follows is our picks of the bunch - our top free iPhone games, presented in no particular order, including both longtime classics and brilliant cutting-edge recent releases. We've even included a VR game for you... aren't you lucky? New this week: Disney Crossy Road A kingdom of Disney characters can be unlocked in this alternative look at the popular road-crossing game - intelligently titled Disney Crossy Road. It's a 'magical take' on a game that has been downloaded over 50 million times, and designed to attract a new raft of players. Cross as many roads as you can and collect coins to purchase even more stars spanning various Disney films, each with their own music and world for all you film fans out there. And as you can imagine (if you've played the 'normal' Crossy Road before), you'll see how far you can survive with your favorites from Toy Story, Lion King, Zootopia, and many more. We're just pleased that Jafar isn't in there. That dude is the WORST. Slide the Shakes Colorful, casual, and addictive, Slide the Shakes is a game that stays true to its name and challenges you to slide various milkshakes onto specially marked areas on a counter without tipping them over. Simply pull back and send your glass flying and hope it lands where you want it to. Sparkwave Sparkwave is a simple yet addictive game where you guide a spark of light through an endless path composed of traps, collectibles, and power-ups. You'll need to have fast fingers if you want to stay alive as obstacles will spawn seconds before you rush into them. You can also pick up crystals to unlock new sparks and power-ups which can completely change the way you play. Futurama: Game of Drones Often sarcastic and full of that Futurama humor, Game of Drones is a match-four puzzler that follows the cast on a delivery bot expedition throughout the galaxy. Each level you play requires you to match delivery drones under specific requirements. Sometimes you may need to protect them against Mom's goons or simply match enough to move on to the next level. Even Bender helps out once in a while. Retro Shot Neon colors and a nostalgic 80's synthwave soundtrack accompany you as you play Retro Shot, a game that's one part golf, one part pinball, and all parts awesome. Each level requires you to get your ball into the goal, but getting there is easier said than done. Collect coins to open gates, bump into switches, and solve puzzles as you shoot your way up the leaderboards. Blackbox Solving the puzzles and wordless riddles in Blackbox is going to require a bit of trial and error as each one you encounter is unlike anything you've seen before. Each puzzle is essentially just a few squares on your screen, and the solution comes with figuring out how to activate them. You may need to adjust the volume on your phone, flip it around, or even yell at it. Faily Brakes When your brakes suddenly fail, all you can do is steer and hope you don't ram into a tree. At least that's the case of the hapless driver in Faily Brakes, an arcade title that only lets you move left and right to somehow steer your car out of harm's way for as long as you can. Always wear a seatbelt, kids. Metal Slug Attack The classic run-and-gun franchise takes on the tower defense genre in Metal Slug Attack. Missions in this colorful title ultimately come down to destroying your enemy's stronghold using your own deck of troops. You can also play online with others, and go on missions to rescue prisoners, weapons, or items that can aid your campaign. Kendall & Kylie Be the king or queen of social media in Kendall & Kylie, a casual title that lets you complete quests, go on dates, make money, and become famous. Your online followers will be reading your every post, so nail each quest and your follower count will skyrocket. The Kardashian sisters will instantly become your BFFs and provide you with networking connections and gigs - obviously. Cooking Mama Let's Cook Puzzle Put away the knives and pots and use your finger to do all the cooking in Cooking Mama Let's Cook Puzzle, a game that is as visually charming as the handheld Mama titles. Each level requires you to match "Foo-Dons" of the same type to create dishes your customers want. Satisfy enough people by completing various quests and puzzles and watch your cooking empire grow. Tennis Champs Returns Tennis Champs Returns is a robust remake to the 1995 Amiga tennis game and brings with it plenty of great additions and mobile-friendly controls. You can move up the ranks in career mode and challenge the computer to increasingly difficult matches. Or, compete with opponents all over the world in quick bouts. Daily challenges and mini games help to keep the interest levels going. Stack Simple and yet very addictive, Stack is an arcade game that challenges you to stack shapes as high as you can until you can't fit anything else on top. Each time a shape approaches your pile, you need to tap the screen to glue it down. If your timing is off, your piece will be trimmed a bit, decreasing the amount of space you have to pile stuff on top. How high do you think you can stack? Thumb Drift Use your thumb (or finger) to drift around tight corners and pick up collectibles in Thumb Drift. This arcade racer looks easy, but avoiding obstacles and walls will be your biggest challenge as all you can do is drift. Be sure to also pick up any coins on your trail as they can be used to unlock some cooler and faster vehicles. Floating Islands Crasher Floating Islands Crasher is a charming puzzler that requires you to cut pieces off various islands to harvest power. Each level requires you to slice as much land as you can to fill up your meter and complete your objective. The challenge lies in not harming any of the animals on each island nor disturbing the aliens (we promise it'll make more sense if you play it). OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo Fight your way through an army of robots in OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo, a side-scrolling beat 'em up that lets you play as a spunky fighter named K.O. as the battles the evil Lord Boxman. Unlock special attacks, help rebuild Lakewood Plaza, and go on quests for experience and goodies. Colorful comic-book panels narrate the story and a whole cast of colorful characters help draw you into their world. Splash Cars Bring some color into a drab world in Splash Cars, a racing game that lets you drive around literally painting the town red, green, and other colors while avoiding the cops. Pick up gas to keep driving and collect coins to unlock power-ups that make completing each level's paint requirements a whole lot easier. All is Lost All is Lost is a puzzle runner that tasks you with rescuing crewmembers aboard a spacecraft on the brink of doom. Jump and roll under obstacles and swipe the screen to open doors and move levies and traps with each mission you embark on. Timing is of the essence, so your quick gestures and reaction time can make the difference between life and death. Riddle Stones Riddle Stones is a version of picross kids can enjoy and puzzle aficionados will appreciate for its increasingly difficult levels. These nonograms also add a few interesting features so if you accidentally tap an incorrect square you think is the correct answer, you'll trigger a trap and need to find a way to turn it off before it's too late. Exercise your logic and math skills with this stimulating selection of puzzles. Ricochet Theory 2 Play with the trajectory of a moving ball in Ricochet Theory 2 - only this time, you'll need to draw the lines the ball will bounce off. This new feature ups the ante and truly turns this puzzler into a cerebral experience. Levels will challenge you to solve them in as few bounces as possible and are sure to impress and stimulate your senses with their smart design. Blocky Football Make your way down the field, dodge incoming players, and score a touchdown in Blocky Football. Once you complete your run, you then need to complete a PAT and see if you can score a key that will unlock some hidden characters to play as. See how many points you can score before the defense overpowers you. All is Lost All is Lost is a puzzle runner that tasks you with rescuing crewmembers aboard a spacecraft on the brink of doom. Jump and roll under obstacles and swipe the screen to open doors and move levies and traps with each mission you embark on. Timing is of the essence, so your quick gestures and reaction time can make the difference between life and death. Ultimate Briefcase Run away from falling bombs in Ultimate Briefcase, a colorful arcade title that is sure to keep you on your toes. Run left or right to avoid the explosions, but be sure to collect coins and collectibles to piece together why the bombs are falling in the first place. Unlock characters and use special abilities to survive the doomsday machines. Sky Chasers A beautifully pixelated adventure, Sky Chasers requires you to use your fingers to guide your character along side-scrolling paths collecting coins and completing side-quests for his friends. Your cardboard ship has a limited fuel supply, so you'll occasionally have to stop by checkpoints to refuel and avoid any pesky enemies that add an element of danger to your otherwise peaceful trip. Solve simple puzzles and upgrade your ship as you enjoy its rich colorful worlds. Playnets Keep your planet alive by tapping out any enemies that approach its orbit in the addictive survival game Playnets. Each planet you save also comes with its own set of abilities you can use when in a pinch that can stun, freeze, or zap incoming baddies. You'll need to have quick fingers to guarantee your planets survive waves of attacks so be sure to upgrade them to make them stronger and take more hits. World Chef Build the restaurant of your dreams and make sure you expand and manage it just right to make it beat the competition in World Chef. This management sim requires you to use your resources well to so your chefs have access to the ingredients they need to cook the foods your customers want. Money and experience will allow you hire more chefs, build new rooms, and turn your restaurant into the go-to spot on the block. Guardian Stone: Second War Team up with spiritual guardians from the past and harness their abilities as you complete quests and try to save your kingdom in Guardian Stone: Second War. Turn-based battles require you to think on your feet and choose the correct attack that ensures you stay standing despite the opposition. Choose from over 69 guardians, evolve them, and create the character you want to play in this robust RPG. Geometry Lock Simple and yet increasingly difficult, Geometry Lock challenges you to correctly tap the screen at the right time to complete pieces of a geometric pattern. Each level gives you a different shape to reassemble and starts off a timer so the trick is to be quick but accurate when figuring out where a shape should go. Play alone or hook it up to Apple TV for four-player matches. 1. Rust Bucket Rust Bucket turns the concept of a turn-based game into a puzzle-like roguelike that is a blast to play. Each level requires you to navigate your way through a dungeon to reach its goal, but with every step you take, your enemies also move in different patterns. Strategy is key to surviving since you don't want to step in front of an enemy knowing it may kill you in your next turn. 2. Brickies Brickies takes that classic game of bricks to a whole other level and challenges you to clear its many levels before the timer reaches zero. Because you're racing against the clock, you'll need to rely on handy power-ups that can multiply your ball or turn it into an explosive cannonball to ensure you finish before it's too late. Why not also try your hand at its endless mode and see how you fare? 3. Puzzle & Dragons Puzzles & Dragons is a mix of many different genres rolled into one addictive experience. At its core is a monster-catching game that has you training new critters and leveling them up in battle. Combat, however, is a lot more like Bejeweled and requires you to quickly clear the screen so your monsters can attack and power up their moves. With dozens of updates and dungeons that reward you with items, experience, and rare monsters to train, this puzzler truly feels like it never ends. 4. Afterpulse Stunning visuals and solid online features await fans in futuristic third-person shooter Afterpulse. Practice your shooting skills in offline mode and reap some rewards and weapons before making your mark in multiplayer matches with players around the world. Whether you play free-for-all or eight-player team deathmatch, you'll want to come out winning to ensure you get enough prize money to customize your soldier to your liking. 5. Mind the Arrow Carefully observe the design of the smaller arrow on the screen and select the right dots on the bigger arrow to match it in Mind the Arrow. What starts off easy soon becomes a test of your directional skills as the smaller arrow starts to rotate around. Soon enough, both arrows will begin rotating so it's only a matter of time before you get disoriented and the 30-second timer reaches zero. Aim for a high score in this brain-turning, mind-bending arcade title. 6. Planet Quest Planet Quest is a rhythm-based arcade game that has you play as an alien who abducts animals to the beat of some catchy music. Time your taps well for perfect abductions, but avoid zapping any flowers since aliens apparently don't like them very much. Over an hour of electronic, techno, and diverse music await your ears as you aim for a better score each time you play. 7. The Path to Luma Learn about clean energy as you play through beautiful worlds in The Path to Luma, a puzzler that has you traveling from planet to planet to power them back up. Rotate entire planets and use the power of natural energy like sunlight and wind to power up switches and open the way forward to your next destination. With a little hard work, dying planets come alive as you play through 20 relaxing levels. 8. Beneath the Lighthouse Searching for his lost grandpa, a little boy gets lost underneath a lighthouse and now must escape from a labyrinth filled with traps and secrets. Each inventive dungeon must be rotated in order to guide the boy to the tunnel leading to the next one. You'll need to prepare yourself for spikes, levers, crumbling platforms, and other challenges that amp up the difficulty as you try to survive Beneath the Lighthouse. 9. Bears vs. Art What do bears and artwork have in common? Not much, but this pairing makes for a great puzzler starring a bear whose mission is to take down various art galleries that have invaded his woods. Bears vs. Art gives you dozens of levels where you'll need to destroy paintings, bowl over snooty patrons, or a mixture of both. A ticking clock, limited moves, and even artful traps will change things up and challenge you as you play rough. 10. Does Not Commute Does Not Commute is a curious puzzler that requires you to drive cars to their destination, but the catch is that previously-solved routes play live as you figure out the next one. A timer is constantly ticking down, so not only will you need to be mindful of the traffic, but you'll also need to be fast and pick up power-ups to extend your commute. Your driving and logic skills are sure to be tested. 11. Order & Chaos 2: Redemption Choose from one of five races and classes and take on an expansive world in Order & Chaos 2: Redemption, a robust MMORPG that is made for mobile play. Whether you team up with friends or go it alone, Redemption's plethora of rewarding quests will keep you coming back for more as you explore the beautiful and menacing kingdom of Haradon. Daily quests, challenges, and PvP duels are sure to keep you on your toes no matter how you play. 12. Alphabear Collect teddy bears and use them to aid you in making words in the adorable Alphabear. Daily boards and challenges require you to come up with words with the letters that appear on your screen. Each time you do, bears will populate the board and get bigger the more letters you use around them. Make the biggest bear you can and rack in the points and the bragging rights. 13. Rayman Adventures Join Rayman and friends as they journey through gorgeous worlds retrieving lost eggs and helping a sacred tree flourish in Rayman Adventures. Levels in this action-platformer can involve searching for hidden Teensies, beating up enemies on your path, or solving puzzles before making it to the goal. Take care of the creatures you hatch by feeding and playing with them, then take them on your adventures for a helpful boost. 14. Down the Mountain Down the Mountain is a bit like Crossy Road, but you're not crossing any streets or dodging traffic. Instead, you'll need to guide your intrepid mountaineer down blocks a la Q*bert and avoid dangerous flooring, bears, and other random obstacles that will end your descent. Open presents along the way and gather coins to unlock more colorful characters to climb down with. 15. Capitals Dominate your friends or random strangers in Capitals, a friendly word game that takes some strategy to master. Each time you challenge someone, you need to use the letters around your "capital" to expand your area of influence. If your enemy uses your letters, he'll capture them and slowly start to take over. A good grasp of vocabulary and some quick thinking skills are your best tools to conquering everyone's capital. 16. Pixel 8 Unlock galleries filled with pixelated paintings in the charming Pixel 8, a timed puzzler that has you recreating works of art pixel by pixel. Paint simple shapes and eventually move on to more difficult paintings that challenge your speed and precision. Beat them in record time to gain coins to open the way for even more galleries to paint through. 17. Crossy Road No one really knows why the chicken crossed the road, but Crossy Road doesn't feature just chickens, and the reason why you'll be crossing each dangerous street is to climb that leaderboard. Time your jumps carefully, and tap and swipe the screen to move as you collect coins to unlock new characters and hilarity. Just be sure to avoid traffic, cannon balls, gaps, and so many other random bits of danger that can end your travels in an instant. 18. Super Dangerous Dungeons Homage to 16-bit platformers of the past, Super Dangerous Dungeons is sure to bring you back in time with its pixelated visuals and SNES-inspired soundtrack. Forty-eight colorful levels that feature classic traps are sure to keep you challenged as you solve puzzles, turn on switches, and find that elusive key to open the door to the next one. Avoid those bottomless pits and dangerous water and you'll be fine. 19. Clicker Heroes Clicker Heroes does away with all the common fluff of RPGs and gives you a game where all you need to do is tap your screen to attack and win. Of course, you also need to hire heroes to help you out with all that tapping and increase your overall power with all the coins you get from your victims. Can't finish a boss just yet? Farm some coins and try again. It's the quintessential clicker game with some great features, and something tells us you'll be hooked on it in no time. 20. Guitar Hero Live Rock out to an impressive collection of popular music either by tapping your screen or strumming on a separate guitar controller like a star in Guitar Hero Live. Each time you play a song, a live audience will let you know how you're doing and cheer you on as you hit all the right notes or throw trash your way if you mess up too much. Enjoy hundreds of hits via the game's online streaming service and see yourself climb the leaderboards in style. 21. Coolson's Pocket Pack Make words as fast as you can in this fast-paced game that combines falling blocks with a bit of wordplay. The object of Coolson's Pocket Pack is to survive for as long as you can while you make words of a set length using the letters that start falling down. Think fast and move letters around to make your way through consecutive words for extra chain combos, but take too long and the screen will overflow - game over. 22. Robot Unicorn Attack 2 Robot Unicorn Attack 2 isn't just for bronies. It's an endless runner that is sure to mesmerize you with its catchy soundtrack, colorful visuals, and overall randomness. Help your unicorn run and survive for as long as it can as it jumps over lofty canyons and dashes into enemies like giant golems while narwhals splash in the distant. Each time you go for a run, you'll get three chances to score as much as you can, so it definitely helps to upgrade your unicorn to ensure you stand a chance. Pegasus wings are where it's at. 23. Timberman Not so much an endless runner as an endless chopper, Timberman has your square-jawed (and, in fact, just plain square) lumberjack hacking away at a giant tree. You tap to move left or right, dodging deadly branches, and must chop at speed, lest your power meter run dry. Those in it for the long haul will find 30 Timbermen to unlock, including a certain large, angry, green superhero. 24. Tiny Striker We've seen quite a few spot-kick flick-based efforts on the iPhone, but Tiny Striker also brings to mind old-school arcade footie like SWOS. It's all goalmouth action here, though, with you scoring from set-pieces, initially against an open goal, but eventually by deftly curling your ball past walls of defenders and a roaming 'keeper. 25. Run Sackboy! Run! The wee knitted chap from LittleBigPlanet lands on iOS, in yet another endless runner. We should yawn and hit delete, really, but Run SackBoy! Run! is absolutely gorgeous, with stunning scenery based on the LittleBigPlanet titles. The gameplay's intuitive and simple, but inventive level design will keep you coming back time and time again. 26. Fallout Shelter You know that popular Fallout 4 game we've all been getting excited about? Why not get in the post apocalyptic mood with this Bethesda made spin-off game? Fallout Shelter sees you take control of a Vault from the game series as you try to keep all its dwellers happy whilst protecting them from the horrors of the outside world. It's a funny little way to get excited about the upcoming game whilst also being great in its own right. 27. Stranded: Mars One You have to give Stranded: Mars One a little time to properly get its hooks into you. At first, it appears to be yet another auto-runner. The blocky retro graphics are cute, but, well, we've seen it all before. But then you notice the smart level design, and the way in which you have to keep your little astronaut's speed up, lest they run out of oxygen. Sliding, jet-packs and wall-jumping are lobbed into the mix as the game flings increasingly complex caverns in your direction. The result ends up akin to an 8-bit Rayman in space — and that's before you've even delved into async multiplayer races! 28. Fallen You can't help but get a sense of having seen it all before when first playing Fallen. Pretty soon, though, you'll be hypnotised by its subtly engaging mix of pachinko and colour-matching, along with a pleasing soundtrack that feels like someone's sneaked Kraftwerk into your iPhone. The game itself is simple: balls drop from the top of the screen and you must rotate your coloured wheel so they hit the right bit. Three errors and you're done. Spin all the way round between hits and you get coins that can be spent on boosting upgrades that occasionally fall from the top of the screen. 29. Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed The first iOS Sonic kart game worked nicely on the platform (a rare thing for the genre), and this sequel doesn't disappoint. You get plenty of dynamic, colourful tracks to speed around, grabbing power-ups and boosts along the way. Periodically, your kart will transform to become a boat or plane, adding further dimensions to the racing action. It's a bit grindy now and again, but you won't care when you're drifting like a loon across an aircraft carrier, before plunging into the sea. 30. InMind (VR) Looking to VR now, with Nival inc's offering: InMind, a free VR game for cardboard-based VR kits. Really it's a glorified demo, as you zoom and whizz through a semi-educational brain, zapping neurons to cure depression. The one-look button press idea is a good way to navigate the lack of tethered controls although sometimes instructions aren't always clear as to what to do next and the controls (at least on an iPhone 6) aren't as sensitive as they could be. If this is your first experience of VR, you could do worse than to load this Inner Space/Fantastic Voyage movie vibe upon your mobile although gamers will be left feeling a little frustrated after the wow effect of the soaring visuals wears off. 31. Winter Walk This sweet survival game is full of character, as you assist a Victorian gent, out for his evening constitutional. The problem is it's a bit windy, and the gent's hat is in danger of blowing away during a gust - press the screen and he holds it in place. Each step increases your score and also the chances of seeing thoughtful comments from the hatted chap. 32. BaconBaconBacon BaconBaconBacon feels a bit like Bejeweled slipped through a time-warp and collided with oddball British gaming humour from the early 1980s. Instead of gems, you swap pigs, and must smite vegans guarding them for extra points. Bonus pigs can be matched for extra sausages, or to fill a ketchup bomb. 33. Retry In this insanely tough arcade test, you coax a finicky biplane through side-on levels of floating islands. The slightest touch on anything but a collectable coin or runway spells doom, and ghosts of previous crashes helpfully litter the way as you retry. IAP is available to buy coins for restart points, which in this case are tacit admission of your lack of gaming prowess. 34. Boulder Dash 30th Anniversary The Boulder Dash series has a long pedigree, but this is the first time its co-creators have teamed up since the classic 1984 original. It's also the first time (in several attempts) the game has worked on iOS. The game itself is business as usual: dig through dirt; avoid boulders and enemies; grab gems. But it looks great, controls well, and even includes the original caves as an optional IAP. 35. Sky Force 2014 Sky Force 2014 celebrates the mobile series's 10th anniversary in style, with this stunning top-down arcade blaster. Your little red ship, as ever, is tasked with weaving its way through hostile enemy territory, annihilating everything in sight. The visuals are spectacular, the level design is smart, and the bosses are huge, spewing bullet-hell in your general direction. 36. Crazy Taxi City Rush We imagine this Crazy Taxi rethink will alienate some fans of the original series, but plenty of the classic time-attack racer's feel remains intact. You zoom through city streets, picking up and dropping off fares against the clock; only this time, everything's largely on rails. It's sort of Crazy Taxi meets Temple Run, with plenty of upgrades and mini-games to master. 37. Asphalt 8: Airborne At some point, a total buffoon decreed that racing games should be dull and grey, on grey tracks, with grey controls. Gameloft's Asphalt 8: Airborne dispenses with such foolish notions, along with quite a bit of reality. Here, then, you zoom along at ludicrous speeds, drifting for miles through exciting city courses, occasionally being hurled into the air to perform stunts that absolutely aren't acceptable according to the car manufacturer's warrantee. 38. Jetpack Joyride We're pretty certain if there's one thing you shouldn't be using for a joyride, it's a jetpack that's kept aloft by firing bullets at the floor. But that's the score in this endless survival game with decidedly tongue-in-cheek humour, not least the profit bird power-up, a rather unsubtle dig at certain App Store chart-toppers. 39. Super Monsters Ate My Condo Logic? Pah! Sanity? Pfft! We care not for such things, yells Super Monsters Ate My Condo. It then gets on with turning the match-three genre and Jenga-style tower-building into a relentless time-attack cartoon fest of apartment-munching, explosions, giant tantrums and opera. No, really. 40. Hero Academy Most developers create games from code, but we're pretty sure Hero Academy's composed of the most addictive substances known to man all smushed together and shoved on to the App Store. The game's sort-of chess with fantasy characters, but the flexibility within the rule-set provides limitless scope for asynchronous one-on-one encounters. For free, you have to put up with ads and only get the 'human' team, but that'll be more than enough to get you hooked. 41. Triple Town Three bushes make a tree! Three gravestones make a church! OK, so logic might not be Triple Town's strong suit, but the match-three gameplay is addictive. Match to build things and trap bears, rapidly run out of space, gaze in wonder at your town and start all over again. The free-to-play version has limited moves that are gradually replenished, but you can unlock unlimited moves via IAP. 42. Real Racing 3 While Asphalt 8 aims squarely at arcade racers, Real Racing 3 goes for the simulation jugular. Its stunning visuals drop you deep into high-quality racing action that sets new standards on mobile devices. Plenty of cars and tracks add longevity, although do be aware the game is a bit grindy and quick to hint you should buy some in-app cash with some of your real hard-earned. 43. MazeFinger Plus Again, the forced Plus+ account sign-up is hateful, but it's worth persevering to get to this addictive game, where you "unleash the awesome power of your finger," according to the App Store blurb. The aim is to drag your finger from the start to the finish of each simple maze. The problem is you're against the clock and obstacles litter your path. Great graphics and 200 levels of compelling gameplay ensure you'll be glued to your screen. 44. Candy Crush Soda Saga It gets a bit of stick from time to time, but microtransactions aside, the Candy Crush saga is quite a lot of fun. Sandy Crush Soda Saga throws in some new dynamics, making the game even more addictive - and frustrating. You can do quite a lot without parting any money at all, but the game will limit your replays, meaning you'll eventually hit a timer that demands you take a break for a little while - or pay up to keep playing. It's a horribly arbitrary feature, but all things considered, probably a good way of stopping us from becoming forever lost in the colourful abyss. 45. Trace Trace is a sweet, inventive platform game which has you navigating hand-drawn obstacles to reach the star-shaped exit. The twist is that you can draw and erase your own platforms, to assist your progress. With an emphasis on time-based scores rather than lives and the ability to skip levels, Trace is very much a 'casual' platform game, but it's none the worse because of it. 46. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Few free games are quite as polished as Hearthstone, but then this is a Blizzard game, so we hardly expected anything less. There are dozens of card games available for iPhone, but Hearthstone stands out with high production values and easy to learn, difficult to master mechanics, which can keep you playing, improving and collecting cards for months on end. Matches don't generally take too long either so it's great for playing in short bursts. 47. Spider: Hornet Smash Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor is an App Store classic, combining arcade adventuring and platforming action, with you playing the role of a roaming arachnid. Hornet Smash includes a level from that game, but its main draw is the frenetic arcade minigame. Still controlling our eight-legged hero, the aim is to fend off attacks by swarms of angry hornets, while weaving webs and munching tasty lacewings for health boosts. Three environments are included in this compelling and innovative title. 48. Bankshot One for pool sharks, Bankshot tasks you with sending your orb to a goal by bouncing it off of at least one wall. A few different modes are on offer in this attractive neon-style game, but the best is Blitz, a high-octane time-attack affair. 49. Spaceteam Think you know stress? You haven't experienced stress until you've played Spaceteam, a cooperative multiplayer game that requires you to all work together as a crew (and bark orders at your friends). Sounds easier than it is; failure to cooperate will probably end with your ship getting sucked into a black hole. 50. iCopter Classic There are plenty of one-thumb copter games on the App Store, but iCopter Classic goes right back to the genre's roots. You simply use your thumb to make your copter bob up and down, surviving for as long as possible without smashing into something; and there are plenty of unlockable themes if you prefer, say, a bee, submarine, spaceship or football to a helicopter! 51. Cell Splat So you think you're observant? Cell Splat will test that claim to the limit. The game distills 'match' games to their purest form. You get a target shape or colour, and, against the clock, must tap all matching items in the well. Quite why this frantic, great-looking, fun, addictive game is free, we don't know; we just suggest you download it immediately. 52. InvaderR Like Cell Splat, InvaderR streamlines and hones a popular game, but this time it's Space Invaders. Like Taito's original, aliens are out to get you, but in InvaderR you have it tough. While the invaders are content to stay out of reach, it's 'game over' the second you're hit by a projectile. This turns InvaderR into a compelling and exciting score-attack game. 53. Hoggy Hoggy resembles VVVVVV smashed into Nintendo's Kirby, combining platforming and puzzles. The game tasks you with grabbing fruit within jars that are peppered around a maze. Complete a jar and you get a key; with a certain number of keys, new maze areas open up. Although occasionally a mite frustrating, Hoggy's a great-looking, fun and innovative freebie. 54. Bam Bam Dash Imagine Monster Dash with the cast of The Flintstones and you've got Bam Bam Dash. Your auto-running caveman has to avoid plummeting to his death and being eaten by things with sharp teeth. Nice graphics and helpful dinosaurs you can ride add extra flavour to the game. 55. Alice in the Secret Castle If brutally difficult old-school games are your thing, Alice in the Secret Castle will appeal. The game boasts 64 rooms of NES-style hell, with a curious game mechanic that hides walls when you hold the 'A' button. Progression therefore becomes a case of mastering taxing and relentless (but rewarding) puzzle-oriented platforming. 56. Fairway Solitaire Blast In this game, golf met solitaire and they decided to elope while leaving Mr. Puzzle Game to fill the void. What's left is an entertaining bout of higher-or-lower, draped over a loose framework of golf scores, with a crazed gopher attempting to scupper everything. You get loads of courses for free with Fairway Solitaire Blast and can use IAP to buy more. 57. PicoPicoGames It's clear you'll never see Nintendo games on iOS, but PicoPicoGames is the next best thing: a collection of tiny, addictive NES-like minigames. Frankly, we'd happily pay for scrolling shooter GunDiver and the Denki Blocks-like Puzzle; that they're free and joined by several other great games is astonishing. 58. Froggy Jump At first, Froggy Jump seems like Doodle Jump, starring a frog. That's probably because Froggy Jump pretty much is Doodle Jump, starring a frog. However, its character, unique items, themes and lack of price-tag makes it worth a download, especially if you're a fan of vertically scrolling platform games. 59. StarDunk Another game showing that simplicity often works wonders on mobile titles, SlamDunk is a straightforward side-on basketball game. The time-attack nature of the title gives it oomph, though, and there's also the option for online competition against players worldwide. 60. Into the Dead You know, if infinite zombies were running towards us, we'd leg it in the opposite direction. Not so in Into The Dead, where you battle on until your inevitable and bloody demise. The game's oddly dream-like (well, nightmare-like), and perseverance rewards you with new weapons, such as a noisy chainsaw. VVRRRMMM! (Splutch!) 61. Drop7 What do you get if you cross Drop7 with Zynga? A free version of Drop7! Luckily, the game's far more entertaining than that attempt at a joke: drop numbered discs into a grid and watch them explode when the number of discs in a column or row matches numbers on the discs. Drive yourself mad trying to boost your score by chaining! Forget to eat! 62. Punch Quest The clue's in the title - there's a quest, and it involves quite a lot of punching. There's hidden depth, though - the game might look like a screen-masher, but Punch Quest is all about mastering combos, perfecting your timing, and making good use of special abilities. The in-game currency's also very generous, so if you like the game reward the dev by grabbing some IAP. 63. Galaga 30th Collection In the old days, invaders from space were strange, remaining in a holding pattern and slowly descending, enabling you to shoot them. By the time of Galaxian, the aliens realised they could swoop down and get you, and Galaga 30th Collection is the game you get here, with minor updates that improve its graphics and pace, albeit for a weighty 140+ MB footprint on your device. Galaga fanatics can unlock other remakes in the series via IAP. 64. X-Baseball It's a little-known fact that baseball mostly involves trying to hit colourful birds flying overhead and bananas lobbed in your direction by a mischievous fan. But X-Baseball provides a perfect, accurate one-thumb iOS recreation of America's favourite banana-thwacking pastime. (What?) 65. Rogue Runner Rogue Runner is another one of those endless games, where you leap over gaps and shoot things until you fall down a chasm and ponder why your in-game avatar doesn't learn to stop once in a while. Rogue Runner stands out by offering a ton of skins and a smart overhead dodge-and-shoot variation, which is a bit like Spy Hunter if someone knocked the original arcade cabinet on its side - the vandal. 66. Draw Something Free "No drawing skills required!," boasts the App Store description for Draw Something Free. You might argue otherwise when this app demands you draw something suitably tricky for your friends to guess, but can merely manage a red blob. Still, Pictionary plus iPhone plus social gaming equals 'must have' in gaming maths. 67. Temple Run Top tip for any budding Indiana Jones types reading this: do not steal shiny things from temples guarded by demon monkeys, otherwise you will die. Still, if you're too stubborn to take our advice, use Temple Run for training, swiping and tilting your device until your on screen hero meets his inevitable demise. 68. ElectroMaster We've no idea what's going on in ElectroMaster, beyond a bored girl trying to avoid responsibility by killing everything in sight with electro-blasts. The game's sort of like a twin-stick shooter but you tap-hold to charge and then release to let rip, dragging your finger about to fry your foes. Games are short, but this is one of the most thrilling blasters on the system, despite it costing nothing at all. 69. Grim Joggers Freestyle The original Grim Joggers was odd enough: 15 joggers jog for their lives in oddball environments, including a warzone, the Arctic, and an alien world. In the free Grim Joggers Freestyle, you get just one world, but it mashes up everything from the paid game into a surreal (but thoroughly enjoyable) endless survival game. 70. Wind-Up Knight Kings in fairytale lands have a screw lose, or perhaps just an odd desire to create the conditions for a tough videogame. In Wind-Up Knight, a princess has been kidnapped. Horrors! But rather than send an army, the king tasks a knight with rescuing her. Only he's fragile. And clockwork. And can't turn around. Really, it's an excuse for puzzle-oriented swipe-based thrills, which demand near-perfect timing as the quest nears its end. 71. Flood-It! 2 Flood-It! 2 meets the rules of great puzzlers: keep things simple, but make the game so challenging that your brains start to dribble out of your ears. In Flood-It!, you tap colours to 'flood' the board from the top-left, aiming to make the entire board one colour using a limited number of taps. This release offers additional modes over the original Flood-It! (timers, obstacles, finishing with a defined colour), and offers schemes for colour-blind players. 72. The Sims Freeplay EA might not have a great reputation when it comes to free-to-play (*cough cough* Dungeon Keeper), but The Sims Freeplay is one of the games that's closer to getting the balance "right". Buying more Simoleons (the in-game currency) with real money will let you skip ahead, but you can also simply make your Sim earn them in the good old fashioned way by getting them a job. Lifestyle points will let you skip timers, but they can also be earned by levelling up. As for the game itself, this is the closest thing to a fully-fledged Sims experience you'll get on your mobile. 73. Tiny Tower Social management games are big business, but are often stuffed full of cynical wallet-grabbing mechanics. While Tiny Tower does have the whiff of IAP to speed things along a bit, its tower-building and management remains enjoyable even if you pay nothing at all, and the pixel graphics are lovely. 74. Letris 4 At first, Letris 4 looks like yet another bog-standard word game, albeit one that's rather visually swish, but it regularly tries new things. The game's based around creating words from falling tiles, but it keeps things fresh by adding hazards, such as debris, ice and various creatures lurking in the letter pile. If you're feeling particularly brainy, you can even play in two languages at once. 75. Bejeweled Blitz Before we played Bejeweled Blitz, we never knew precious gems were so 'explodey'. Still, here's the frantic member of the match-tree/gem-swap family, giving you one minute to obliterate as much shiny as possible, and then discover via online leaderboards that your chums are gem-smashing wizards. 76. Cool Pizza Cool Pizza isn't so much endless running as endless weirdness. In a world of stark black, white and neon, a skateboarder catches air to hack oddball enemies (laser-spewing mini Cthulhus; rotating pyramids of doom) to death. The crunchy soundtrack adds to the sensory overload, resulting in one of the finest freebies on the platform. 77. Frisbee Forever 2 We already covered Frisbee Forever on this list, with its Nintendo-like fling-a-plastic-disc about larks. Frisbee Forever 2's essentially more of the same, but prettier, smoother and with wilder locations in which to fly through hoops and collect stars. It's lovely and costs precisely zero pence, so download it. 78. Gridrunner Free Jeff Minter is a shoot 'em up genius, and his Gridrunner series has a long history, starting out on the VIC-20, at the dawn of home gaming. This update riffs off classic Namco arcade machines but also shoves modern bullet-hell mechanics into a claustrophobic single screen, and in this version's survival mode, you have just one life. Argh! The 69p 'Oxtended Mode' IAP adds the rest of the standard game. 79. Subway Surfers It looks a lot like Temple Run mashed into a children's cartoon show, but Subway Surfers plays a lot more like Run!, with its primarily linear leaping and sliding action. There are also plenty of power-ups to keep your graffiti-spraying hoodlum away from the chasing lawman and his faithful mutt. Just don't try this at home, kids, unless you want to redecorate a train with your innards. 80. HungryMaster The hero from the insane ElectroMaster returns, but this time she appears to be tasked with feeding sentient houses roaring "HUNGRY!" in a fairly rude manner. Local monsters amble about, which can be snared by swiping over them with a surprisingly deadly pixie dust trail, whereupon they're handily converted into food to be collected. Much like ElectroMaster, HungryMaster feels like someone found a lost classic arcade game and squirted it into your iPhone, but forgot to charge you for it. 81. Temple Run 2 We have no sympathy for the heroes of Temple Run 2. Having presumably escaped from the demon monkeys in Temple Run, they steal more ancient and shiny goodies. This time, they're pursued by only one undead ape - but it's massive. Cue: more running/jumping/hopefully not falling over, and some new mine-cart and zip-line sections. Wheeee! 82. Chip Chain This combo-oriented match game has a casino feel, and there is a certain amount of luck evident, not least in the way new chips are added to the table. But in carefully laying your own chips in Chip Chain, merging sets of three to increment their number, and wisely playing cards, you can amass high scores while simultaneously wondering why real casino games are rarely as much fun. 83. Score! World Goals Take dozens of classic goals and introduce them to path-drawing and you've got the oddly addictive game of Score! World Goals. As you recreate stunning moments of soccer greatness, the game pauses for you to get the ball to its next spot. Accuracy rewards you with stars; failure presumably means you're compelled to take an early bath. 84. Groove Coaster Zero Tap! Tap! Swipe! Rub! Argh! That's the way this intoxicating rhythm action game plays out. Groove Coaster Zero is all on rails, and chock full of dizzying roller-coaster-style paths and exciting tunes. All the while, you aim for prodding perfection, chaining hits and other movements as symbols appear on the screen. Simple, stylish and brilliant. 85. Pac-Man 256 This latest rethink of one of gaming's oldest and most-loved series asks what lies beyond the infamous level 256 glitch. As it turns out, it's endless mazey hell for the yellow dot-muncher. Pac-Man's therefore charged with eating as many dots as possible, avoiding a seemingly infinite number of ghosts, while simultaneously outrunning the all-devouring glitch. Power-ups potentially extend Pac-Man's life, enabling you to gleefully take out lines of ghosts with a laser or obliterate them with a wandering tornado. Although there's an energy system in Pac-Man 256, it's reasonably generous: one credit for a game with power-ups, and one for the single continue; one credit refreshes every ten minutes, to a maximum of six, and you can always play without power-ups for free. If you don't like that, there's an IAP-based £5.99/$7.99 permanent buy-out. 86. Cubed Rally Redline The endless rally game Cubed Rally Redline is devious. On the surface, it looks simple: move left or right in five clearly-defined lanes, and use the 'emergency time brake' to navigate tricky bits. But the brake needs time to recharge and the road soon becomes chock full of trees, cows, cruise liners and dinosaurs. And you thought your local motorway had problems! 87. Whale Trail There's something delightfully trippy and dreamy about Whale Trail, which features a giant mammal from the sea traversing the heavens, powered by rainbow bubbles, collecting stars with which to attack menacing angry clouds. The game's sweet nature disguises a challenging edge, though - it takes plenty of practice before your whale stays aloft for any length of time. 88. 1800 Games don't come any simpler than 1800. You try to stop a cursor in the dead centre of the screen, which rewards you with the maximum score. Any deviation and you'll be awarded with a lower number and have to try again… and again. This one might be insanely minimal but it's absurdly addictive. 89. Peggle Blast If you've never played Peggle before then get ready for a new addiction as shooting balls at pegs has never been this much fun. Actually, before Peggle shooting balls at pegs probably wasn't even slightly fun, but with its colourful art style, crazy power-ups and high-score chasing Peggle Blast is very much a game where one more go turns into a dozen. In app purchases can give you an edge, but it's playable without them and hearing Ode to Joy at the end of each level is all the sweeter for having earned your victory. 90. Clowns in the Face Tennis in the Face had a racket-wielding hero saving a city from an evil energy drink corporation, mostly through smacking enemies in the face with tennis balls. This freebie version comes across like the protagonist's fever dream, placing him in a clown-filled hell, with only his fuzzy balls to save him. 91. Plants vs Zombies 2 This is more like Plants vs Zombies 2 vs freemium grinding. But if you can look past the forced repetition of stages and irksome IAP, there's a lot to like in EA's horticulture/zombie defence sequel, including loads of new stages, a bunch of new plants, plenty of unique features, and a smattering of time travel. 92. Doctor Who: Legacy It's a case of timey-wimey-puzzley-wuzzley as Doctor Who: Legacy aims to show you that your iPhone is bigger on the inside, able to house intergalactic warfare. The game itself is a gem-swapper not a million miles away from Puzzle Quest, but all the Doctor Who trappings will make it a must for fans of the show - or Daleks fine-tuning their tactics regarding how to finally beat their nemesis, mostly via the use of strategically placed coloured orbs. 93. Rise of the Blobs Poor Marsh Mal. He's atop a cylindrical tower, about to be mauled to death by waves of hungry blobs. His only defence: a limitless supply of fruit, which he can use to blow up like-coloured blobs, thereby holding off death for a few precious extra moments. Yep, it's Rise of the Blobs - another block-falling game (think: a simplified Dr. Mario wrapped around a tube), but this one has wonderful visuals, suitably squelchy sound, and strategic underpinnings for those willing to master the game mechanics. 94. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol Nyeeeeooowww! Daggadaggadaggadagga! It's biplane o' clock in this Civ-like take on World War I dogfighting. You and the bally enemy take it in turns to climb, dive, roll and shoot, as you aim to turn the tide of the war and ensure it'll all be over by Christmas. Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is also one of the few games we've seen that understands the concept of micro-transactions, for example enabling you to spring POWs for 69p/$0.99 a pop. 95. Tiny Thief It's hard not to have a smile glued to your face when playing Tiny Thief, with its colourful cartoon graphics, inventive levels and constant humour. It feels like a point and click game of old redesigned for the smartphone generation, with simple controls and bite-sized levels. While you get several level packs for free several more are hidden behind a paywall, but whether you stump up for them or not the game is likely to prove memorable and well worth your time. 96. Pocket Planes The Tiny Tower devs take to the air in game form. In, Pocket Planes, this management sim, you take command of a fleet of planes, aiming to not entirely annoy people as you ferry them around the world. Like Tiny Tower, this one's a touch grindy, but it's a similarly amusing time-waster. 97. Dots Dots looks and feels like the sort of thing Jony Ive might play on his downtime (well, ignoring the festive theme, which is probably more Scott Forstall's style). A stark regimented set of coloured dots awaits, and like-coloured ones can be joined, whereupon they disappear, enabling more to fall into the square well. The aim: clear as many as possible - with the largest combos you can muster - in 60 seconds. 98. Smash Bandits In Smash Cops, you got to be the good guy, bringing down perps, mostly by ramming them into oblivion. Now in Smash Bandits it's your chance to be a dangerous crim, hopping between vehicles and leaving a trail of destruction in your wake. The game also amusingly includes the A-Team van and a gadget known only as the Jibba Jabba. We love it when a plan comes together! 99. Sage Solitaire If you're of a certain vintage, you probably spent many hours playing Solitaire on a PC, success being rewarded by cards bouncing around the screen. Sage Solitaire's developer wondered why iOS solitaire games hadn't moved on in the intervening years, and decided to reinvent the genre. Here, then, you get a three-by-three grid and remove cards by using poker hands. Additional strategy comes through limitations (hands must include cards from two rows; card piles are uneven) and potential aid (two 'trashes', one replenished after each successful hand; a starred multiplier suit). A few rounds in, you realise this game's deeper than it first appears. Beyond that, you'll be hooked. The single £2.29/$2.99 IAP adds extra modes and kills the ads. 100. Shooty Skies On a mission to fill your entire iPhone with tributes to classic arcade games with super-blocky graphics, the Crossy Road and Pac-Man 256 devs return with Shooty Skies. It's a top-down vertically scrolling blaster, with heroic animals hopping into their biplanes, taking to the skies, and doing shooty things. Bob and weave between enemies and bullets, or pause for a bit and unleash homing-missile destruction the next time you move. The game's relentless, enemies coming thick and fast, spewing all manner of weirdness in your general direction. The deranged bosses are especially tough, such as a huge garbage-emitting mouth, and the "freedom eagle" that flings dollars, fast-food fries and then cruise missiles your way; if you're fortunate, you'll pick up a gift beforehand and get a suitably quirky wingman assistant, such as "gunny rabbit."

Updated: The best iPhone games 2016 Posted: The best of mobile gaming It would take approximately 34,506,455 years to play through every single iPhone game on the App Store. Well, OK, we might have made that number up, but surely we can't be too far off. The App Store is crammed with gaming goodies to keep thumbs busy, but not all iPhone games are born equal - which is why we've done the difficult job of playing through as many games as humanly possible in order to tell you which are best. After many trials and tribulations, we arrived at the list you're about to dive into: the 50 best games you can enjoy on your iPhone today. New: Pug's Quest ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Pug's Quest is a charming dungeon crawler puzzler that has you guiding a heroic little dawg all over a trap-filled castle to save his kidnapped friends. Each room randomly generates to keep the action flowing and the puzzles puzzling, so you never know what dangers await you each time you start. Press buttons, gather keys, and see how far you can go until you lose your last life and are forced to start over again...such is this dog's life. Love You To Bits ($3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) Love You To Bits tells the adorable story of a boy who goes out into the far reaches of space to find pieces of his beloved robot girlfriend after she gets blown to bits. Each planet you visit is a compact-sized that you must solve it in order to retrieve a missing part of your significant other. Vertical Divide ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Vertical Divide is one to test your division skills . This smart puzzler has you dropping blue numbered tiles on a grid. When you drop a tile on top of another, it'll get divided, and the result will clear the same number of pink tiles below. Any remainders in your calculations will result in even more pink tiles so plan your drops carefully. Assassin's Creed Identity ($4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Assassin's Creed Identity lets you create your own assassin and play missions in sandbox-like worlds of past games. Each mission gives you objectives to complete and employs tried-and-true gameplay like blending into crowds, parkour action, and distractions to ensure you get your mark and make it out alive. Gorgeous visuals, smooth animations, and classic series staples are a joy to see and play on mobile. The Walking Dead: Michonne ($4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) The Walking Dead: Michonne follows this mysterious and often taciturn character during her absence in the comic books between issues #126 and #139. This episodic game lets you make choices that can impact how Michonne and her newfound companions deal with obstacles, the undead, and the living. Just be sure to choose your friends carefully. The Swords ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Your finger is your blade in The Swords, a stylistic action game that tells the tale of an old martial arts master and his long-forgotten styles of swordplay. This means you'll be using your finger to swipe at your foes in different ways: trace Chinese calligraphy, slash down incoming blades, and discover new styles as you move through simple yet captivating puzzles. Rayman Classic ($4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Take a trip back to 1995 with the limbless hero in Rayman Classic, a faithful mobile port of the original Atari Jaguar game. Mobile-friendly controls and some tweaks here and there mean you relive those glory days anywhere you want. Help Rayman save the Electoons and discover new powers - but be careful where you land. Stellar Wanderer ($4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Explore the far reaches of space. exploiting its resources or dominating its colonies in Stellar Wanderer. Customize your ship and gameplay style to your liking, upgrading with materials you find along the way. Choose your profession - fighter, trader, tank, engineer - and defeat other space pirates to open up areas for you to mine and discover. Final Fantasy IX ($16.99/£12.99/AU$26.99) A PlayStation masterpiece, Final Fantasy IX is now available on your iOS device, meaning it's the perfect time to relive the adventures of Zidane and his friends in this moving RPG filled with action, love, and some of the most memorable moments from the series. Fully remastered character models bring a welcome update to this classic title. Shadow Blade: Reload ($13.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) An impressive and polished platformer, Shadow Blade: Reload follows the story of Kuro as he runs, wall-jumps, and slashes enemies on his mission to save the world from darkness. Each gorgeous level will test your ninja and platforming abilities with its traps, and obstacles requiring finesse and timing to overcome. Prism ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Elegant and relaxing, Prism is a puzzler that captivates you with its hypnotic beauty. Each geometric shape is like a piece of origami, and you'll discover even more puzzles inside with each corner you unfold. Its soft colors and pleasant soundtrack turn this puzzler into an enjoyable meditative experience. A Short Tale ($3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) A Short Tale is a puzzler that follows Jason as he figures out how to escape his late brother's childhood room - after he magically shrinks to the size of a pencil. Explore and uncover clues to solve each of the brain-busting puzzles and teasers. Collect passwords, uncover hidden messages, and take photos to help you remember the combination to boxes with secret compartments. One to put your logic skills to the test. Abzorb ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Abzorb is a tilt-based game that requires you to navigate your way around blue orbs and absorb them - but get too close to the red ones and you'll lose precious time. The game includes 65 levels, with later ones throwing in special power-up orbs. There's plenty going on behind the minimalistic beauty. Kill the Plumber World ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Unlike that other game about a plumber, Kill the Plumber World lets you play the bad guys and catch the hero before he makes it to the goal. Jump on him, squish him from above, or fling some hammers his way - each level offers up a new challenge in killing him off. Adventures of Mana ($13.99/£10.49/AU$21.99) Relive a Game Boy classic RPG on your iPhone with Adventures of Mana, a story about friends working together to protect the Tree of Mana from the Dark Lord of Glaive. This remake updates the original and offers wonderful puzzles, mobile-friendly controls, and gorgeous visuals. Enjoy its combat system and stellar soundtrack as you fight to save the world. Tsuro ($3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) Tsuro is a beautifully meditative board game that comes to iOS, letting you play with friends or against the computer. You and your opponents will take turns drawing cards and placing them on the board for your playing pieces to follow. The objective of this game of paths is to avoid falling off the board. As ever, it's a mixture of strategy and luck. Space Grunts ($1.99/£1.49/AU$5.99) Sneak through the corridors of an alien space station and take down enemies while picking up helpful power-ups in the rogueish Space Grunts. This turn-based game only gives you three weapons to defend yourself with so you'll need to upgrade and stock up on weaponry to take down all the aliens, robots, and security drones standing in your way. Pull My Tongue ($.99/£.79/AU$1.49) Pull My Tongue is a charming puzzler that requires you to pull a chameleon's tongue and guide it to the elusive popcorn piece in each level. You'll have to pull his tongue in such a way to avoid traps like spikes zappers while pulling switches and collecting optional stars to get that high score. 90 cleverly created levels are sure to challenge your thinking skills and keep you smiling. Rainmaker - The Beautiful Flood ($3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) Each puzzle in this minimalistic game lets you transform into different objects and unravels a story about a mysterious rain that is flooding the world. You need to reach the exit in each puzzle you play, so you may need to time your transformations at just the right time in order to get there. Turn into a bubble, a basketball, and even a spider as you discover and solve the game's mysteries. Atomi ($1.99/£1.49/AU$2.99) Help a lovable robot reach the atoms it needs to repair its ship in Atomi, a casual puzzler that is sure to challenge your logic skills. Each level requires you to create a path out of some shapes provided, and the trick lies in figuring out where to place each shape to ensure the path is sturdy enough. With over 200 levels and two difficulty modes, this puzzler is sure to keep you pleasantly occupied. Open Bar ($1.99/£1.49/AU$2.99) Featuring minimalistic and soothing visuals, Open Bar is a casual puzzler that has you placing tiles on the screen to clear out lines of various colors. Sometimes you may need to swap out tiles to make them all line up, and later levels increase the number of colored lines for added difficulty. Its catchy soundtrack and bite-sized puzzles make it highly addictive. Twofold inc. ($3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) Twofold Inc. may look perplexing at first, but once you get your hands on this curious puzzler, you'll be hooked. Each time you play, you'll be given a grid of colored tiles and a few "requests" you need to complete by matching several tiles of the same color. The idea is to complete as many requests as possible before you run out of moves. Match tiles and keep an eye on your available moves as you put your logic skills to the test. NeoArcade ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) NeoArcade is a collection of four arcade-inspired titles that are sure to take you down memory lane and channel your competitive spirit. Games that put a twist on Brick Breaker, ice hockey, Tanks, and Snake are great to play against the world via online leaderboards, or against a friend on the same device. Aim for a high score and rest assured you won't need quarters to play again. Super Phantom Cat ($1.99/£1.49/AU$2.99) A colorful and upbeat platformer, Super Phantom Cat is sure to put a smile on your face with its retro-inspired levels and unique brand of humor. Jump and make your way through various worlds to collect data and stars, avoiding enemies and uncovering hidden areas and characters. A smooth soundtrack, tricky platforming mechanics, and tons of secrets await you. Circa Infinity ($2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Leap into concentric circles in Circa Infinity, a platformer that's as dazzling as it is dizzying. Each level requires you to get deeper inside all the spinning circles, but you need to jump at just the right moment to actually reach the next one. On top of that, demonic enemies soon appear within each circle. See if you can complete each level without dying once. Infinite Skater ($.99/£.79/AU$1.49) An endless runner that's quite easy on the eyes, Infinite Skater is gorgeous to look at an a breeze to play. Your usual runner mechanics come into play here, but its stunning worlds breathe new life into the experience and feature aerial stunts, pastel colors, and spirit animals to find and befriend. Crashlands (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Crashlands is an engrossing story-driven RPG that lets you craft and battle your way through a hilarious tale of survival and package delivery. Build weapons and tools out of you the materials you get from your surroundings and complete various side-quests for the creatures you meet along the way. Fresh and addictive, the game is sure to keep you coming back for more crafting and hilarious one-liners that are sure to make you smile. Click here to buy Crashlands Sky Chasers (free) A beautifully pixelated adventure, Sky Chasers requires you to use your fingers to guide your character along side-scrolling paths collecting coins and completing side-quests for his friends. Your cardboard ship has a limited fuel supply, so you'll occasionally have to stop by checkpoints to refuel and avoid any pesky enemies that add an element of danger to your otherwise peaceful trip. Solve simple puzzles and upgrade your ship as you enjoy its rich colorful worlds. Click here to get Sky Chasers Playnets (free) Keep your planet alive by tapping out any enemies that approach its orbit in the addictive survival game Playnets. Each planet you save also comes with its own set of abilities you can use when in a pinch that can stun, freeze, or zap incoming baddies. You'll need to have quick fingers to guarantee your planets survive waves of attacks so be sure to upgrade them to make them stronger and take more hits. Click here to get Playnets Dungelot: Shattered Lands (US$3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) Tap your way through dozens of dungeons in the roguelike Dungelot: Shattered Lands. Each room you travel to requires you to tap its paths to uncover keys, treasure, or even monsters to battle. The objective is to make it to the exit in one piece but chances are you'll die and try again until you get there. Its addictive format and leveling up features are sure to keep you coming back for more. Click here to buy Dungelot: Shattered Lands Lost in Harmony ($3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) An elegant blend of colors and sounds, Lost in Harmony is a rhythm runner that follows the intriguing story of two friends and their dream-world adventures. Levels have you dodging enemies that come from behind or in front and tapping on cues in sync with the music. The music, ranging from classical to modern techno, evolves as you progress, and you can even make your own levels to share with the world. Click here to buy Lost in Harmony World Chef (free) Build the restaurant of your dreams and make sure you expand and manage it just right to make it beat the competition in World Chef. This management sim requires you to use your resources well to so your chefs have access to the ingredients they need to cook the foods your customers want. Money and experience will allow you hire more chefs, build new rooms, and turn your restaurant into the go-to spot on the block. Click here to get World Chef Guardian Stone: Second War (free) Team up with spiritual guardians from the past and harness their abilities as you complete quests and try to save your kingdom in Guardian Stone. Turn-based battles require you to think on your feet and choose the correct attack that ensures you stay standing despite the opposition. Choose from over 69 guardians, evolve them, and create the character you want to play in this robust RPG. Click here to get Guardian Stone: Second War Exploding Kittens (US$1.99/£1.49/AU$2.99) Combine cats and explosion and you have yourself a card game that's quite the winner. Based on the physical card game, Exploding Kittens is a local multiplayer title that puts a feline twist on Russian Roulette. This means you don't want to be the player who draws the kitten or else you're done. Draw cards that help you avoid or move any possible explosions and figure out strategies to make sure you don't blow yourself up. Click here to buy Exploding Kittens The Westport Independent (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) The Westport Independent is essentially a censorship simulator that lets you see what the effects your choices in running a newspaper have on society. Will you choose to leave out the less favorable details from your front page story or will you lambast the Loyalist Party in the stories you publish? Your employees will be affected by what you publish and so will your country and its citizens. Click here to buy The Westport Independent Geometry Lock (free) Simple and yet increasingly difficult, Geometry Lock challenges you to correctly tap the screen at the right time to complete pieces of a geometric pattern. Each level gives you a different shape to reassemble and starts off a timer so the trick is to be quick but accurate when figuring out where a shape should go. Play alone or hook it up to Apple TV for four-player matches. Click here to get Geometry Lock 1. AG Drive (US$3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) We've been after a decent futuristic racer on the iPhone for some time, but none of them really felt right. AG Drive bucks the trend, echoing Wipeout and F-Zero: breakneck speed is married with pitch-perfect tilt controls and suitably shiny graphics. Also, there's absolutely no IAP, so the only way you're going to win is with mastery and skill. Click here to buy AG Drive 2. Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise (US$2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Explore the stylish home of a nefarious spy in Agent A, a snazzy puzzler that is sure to captivate you with its sleek visuals and ingenious puzzles hidden in the environment. Check underneath everything for any hidden trinkets, disable security systems, and keep mental notes of where you think an item is used as you play. Keep your logic skills on point as you enjoy this casual yet engrossing puzzler. Click here to buy Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise 3. Alpha Omega (US$0.99/£.79/AU$1.49) Anagrams and crossword puzzles combine in Alpha Omega, a game where you only get the first and last letter of each word which you'll need to unscramble. Perfect for those who crave a challenge, this puzzler offers hundreds of levels that get harder as you progress through the Greek alphabet. Use a hint if you must, but these puzzles are sure to please purists who simply love a good word challenge without any distractions. Click here to buy Alpha Omega 4. Alphabear (free) Bears of all shapes and sizes will make you smile as you spell words with the letters on your screen in Alphabear. Each time you make a word, bears will populate your board and grow in size the more letters you use around them. The bigger the bear at the end of your game, the more points you score. Use helpful bear buddies you unlock to give you bonus points as you play through an endless array of word challenges. Click here to get Alphabear 5. Brickies (free) We've all played brick-breaking games here and there, but Brickies enhances the familiar concept and takes it to a whole other level. You'll still need to break all the shapes on the screen, but some of them will require multiple hits to break, for example, while others can only be hit from a specific side. Use power-ups to break through multiple blocks, but keep an eye on the timer as you play through its addictive levels. Click here to get Brickies 6. Capitals (free) Capitals is a word game that requires both a knack for vocabulary as it does for strategizing your enemy's demise. Each match puts you against an opponent and requires you to spell out words around your enemy's "capital" or yours. Using his letters will diminish his dominance and using yours will expand your realm. If you or your opponent loses his capital, the game is over. Plan ahead and come out victorious. Click here to get Capitals 7. Chaos Rings III (US$19.99/£14.99/AU$30.99) Chaos Rings III is one of those RPGs that will suck you in. Featuring rich colors and 3D worlds to explore, this game takes place on a floating continent and brings together a group of different characters on a pilgrimage to reach the Marble Blue planet and uncover the mysteries it holds. Fight your way through countless battles, complete mobile-friendly missions, and enjoy the gorgeous vistas as you explore its world. Click here to buy Chaos Rings III 8. Clicker Heroes (free) RPGs can be complicated affairs with tons of rules to master, but Clicker Heroes simply requires you to tap your screen to defeat thousands of enemies and make your way through its near endless worlds. Hire heroes to do damage for you so you can take a break from tapping and farm coins to power them up or unlock stronger allies. It's a charming quintessential clicker game that is sure to get you hooked in no time. Click here to get Clicker Heroes 9. Crossy Road (free) This endless take on Frogger finds your cuboid character confronting countless deadly roads, train lines and rivers, before inevitable squashage. It's the characters that make the game, though – a varied roster of people, animals and 'things' won using a one-armed bandit, fed with coins collected en route (you can just buy stuff, too, but Crossy Road also lets you earn by watching videos and bestows regular coin top-ups anyway, making it the least obnoxious free-to-play game with IAP imaginable). Click here to download Crossy Road 10. Does Not Commute (free) Does Not Commute is a clever game that combines driving and puzzle elements to provide you with a unique and suspenseful experience. Each chapter requires you to drive a number of quirky commuters to their destinations, and once you do, the path you just made is saved and replayed when you control the next vehicle. You don't have much time either, so you'll need to avoid crashing and plan your paths carefully to succeed. Click here to get Does Not Commute 11. Drop Wizard (US$1.99/£1.99/AU$3.99) Single-screen platformer Drop Wizard is infused with the soul of classics such as Snow Bros. and Bubble Bobble, but it's also part auto-runner. You can only run left or right, and your wizard blasts magic on landing. Strategy, therefore, involves careful timing, to avoid and zap foes, and then kick them into a tumbling combo that will bounce about in a pleasingly destructive manner before turning into fruit. Because that's what vanquished platform-game enemies all did in the 1980s. Click here to buy Drop Wizard 12. Fallout Shelter (free) Fallout Shelter is an addictive resource management game that lets you be the overseer of your very own vault. This means you'll be responsible for its daily operations and need to assign your dwellers with jobs that benefit from their skills. Farm resources like water and electricity and expand your vault with more rooms and residents, but also protect yourself against accidents, raider invasions, and pesky radroach infestations. Click here to get Fallout Shelter 13. Final Fantasy VII (US$10.99/£8.49/AU$16.99) A game needing no introduction to console players, Final Fantasy VII lets you dive into the city of Midgar and join Cloud, Tifa, and a whole party of classic heroes on a fight to save the planet from a villain named Sephiroth. This timeless JRPG now comes with mobile-friendly controls and even some nifty cheats for those who might have beaten the game a few times before and simply want to relive the moments everyone is still talking about. Click here to buy Final Fantasy VII 14. Framed (US$0.99/£0.79/AU$5.99) If you're looking for a hidden gem of a game, Framed has your name written all over it. It's a unique puzzle game that makes good and novel use of the touchscreen. Each scene looks like a page ripped out of a comic book and it's up to you to guide the character through it. Starting from left to right, you have to organize each panel so that you can run through and avoid harm. Click here to buy Framed 15. Game of Thrones (free - episode 1 only) The fate of House Forrester rests in your hands in this Game of Thrones episodic series. Enjoy a gripping storyline with plot twists around every corner as you play as characters trying to keep their family strong and united. The choices you make will have lasting consequences and repercussions, so be sure to play your cards right. But as it is with any Game of Thrones episode, tragedy is inevitably followed by more tragedy. Click here to get Game of Thrones 16. Guitar Hero Live (free) Tap into your inner rock star as you tap your screen to the music in Guitar Hero Live, the mobile version of the console game that comes free with two songs to try. Crowds will cheer you on if you're performance is solid, but miss too many notes and your bandmates will be seen shaking their heads and the audience will let you have it. The full game can also be played with a separate guitar controller and comes with over 40 songs and even more you can stream online. Click here to get Guitar Hero Live 17. Hearthstone (free) Yes, the insanely popular online card game Hearthstone has been squashed down to fit your iPhone screen - and it works surprisingly well. With less space to play with, the creators have rejigged the deisign slightly; it's still the same game, just a bit more considerate to your thumbs. It's also still compatible with the tablet and desktop versions so you'll be able to play against your friends on the move. Requires at least an iPhone 4S or 5th generation iPod Touch. Click here to buy Hearthstone 18. Her Story (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) An intriguing little game that lets you play detective, Her Story has received rave reviews for its incredibly engrossing gameplay. As a British woman is interviewed about her missing husband, it's up to you to search through the clues and discover what happened. An impressive achievement. Click here to buy Her Story 19. Heroki (US$4.99/£0.79/AU$1.49) Charming, colorful, and lots of fun, Heroki follows the adventures of its eponymous hero tasked with saving his cloudy village from doom. Boasting over 10 hours of gaming, this side scroller features gorgeous worlds with secrets to uncover and menacing foes to defeat. Find collectibles, go on quests, and upgrade Heroki's abilities to last through some impressive boss battles in this engrossing adventure. Click here to buy Heroki 20. Hitman GO (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Square Enix would have been on a hiding to nothing converting its free-roaming 3D game to touchscreens, and so it's great to see the company do something entirely different with Hitman GO. Although still echoing the original series, this touchscreen title is presented as a board game of sorts, with turn-based actions against clockwork opposition. You must figure out your way to the prize, without getting knocked off (the board). It's an oddly adorable take on assassination, and one of the best iOS puzzlers. Click here to buy Hitman GO 21. hocus. (US$0.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) If you've ever been mesmerized by impossible shapes and perspective illusion puzzles, hocus. is sure to take you for a spin. Each puzzle requires you to move a small red cube to reach a hole on a shape by guiding it down its sides. These kinds of geometric shapes can be deceiving so you'll need to figure out which sides will lead to where as you solve its 50 relaxing yet tricky conundrums. Click here to buy hocus. 22. Horizon Chase (US$2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49 IAP) Time was racing games were all about ludicrous speed, gorgeous graphics, and the sheer rush of weaving through a sea of cars to the finish line. Horizon Chase briefly reverses back to such halcyon days, grabs the best bits from the likes of Lotus and Top Gear, before zooming back to the present as a thoroughly modern arcade racer. It looks gorgeous, with some stunning weather effects, and an odd but pleasing low-poly roadside-object style; it sounds great with veteran games musician Barry Leitch on soundtrack duties; but most importantly, it handles perfectly, and is a joy until the very last track. Click here to buy Horizon Chase 23. I Am Bread (US$0.99/£0.79/AU$0.99) Loaf lovers and gluten gourmands are in luck - I Am Bread will fulfill your lifelong wish to become a piece of bread and navigate your way through rooms to become toast…actual toast. Each time you begin a level, you'll need to keep your eyes sharp and locate anything that can help you get crisp and then tread across dangerous territory to get there. Don't get too dirty, though. No one likes a dirty piece of bread. Click here to buy I Am Bread 24. Implosion (US$9.99/£7.99/AU$14.99) Humans are again getting a kicking at the hands of nasty aliens and it's up to you to stop them. Cliches aside, Implosion offers a stompy slash-and-shoot experience that feels entirely at home on the iPhone but scratches that itch when you fancy playing something that resembles what you'd find on a 'proper' games console. Click here to buy Implosion 25. Jollygrams (US$1.99/£1.49/AU$2.99) Anagrams are one thing, but Jollygrams are another form of word scrambles that don't make sense at first but say them over enough times or rearrange their syllables and you'll get a phrase that does. Words like Plouse Hant and Band Socks will try to stump you, but think it over a bit and you'll earn some coins and move on to the next puzzle. Use a hint if you must, but soon you'll find it's all a "keys of pake." Click here to buy Jollygrams 26. Lara Croft GO (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$6.49) Following in the footsteps of Hitman GO, which astonishingly managed to transform that series into an adorable board game, Lara Croft GO reworks the adventures of the world's most famous tomb raider. It's another turn-based affair, with lashings of atmosphere, finding Lara carefully working her way past traps crafted by an ancient civilisation with a penchant for blocky design and elaborate moving parts. There are also lots of snakes and deadly lizards about, which she's quite keen on shooting in the head. The five chapters are quite brief, but savour the game rather than blazing through, and you'll find something that merges early Tomb Raider's sense of adventure and solitude, Monument Valley-level beauty, and bite-sized touchscreen gaming that's perfect for iPhone. Click here to buy Lara Croft GO 27. Leo's Fortune (US4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Leo's Fortune finds gruff hairball Leo in search of his gold, which has been dropped in a suspiciously trail-like manner across typically platform-game environments. As he scoops up coins, he finds himself whizzing round Sonic-style loops, solving puzzles by manipulating the environment, and negotiating increasingly complex and deadly pathways. It's a beautiful game, full of character, and well-suited to quick bursts on your iPhone. Click here to buy Leo's Fortune 28. Lumino City (US$6.99/£4.99/AU$10.99) Beautiful to look at and even more amazing to play, Lumino City is a puzzler that's also an adventure into a world of magic and color. Play as a Lumi, who ventures into the puzzling city following her grandpa's kidnapping and discovers people in need of her help. Featuring paper-like visuals, the city is filled with unique puzzles for you to find and solve and is sure to charm and invite you in every step of the way. Click here to buy Lumino City 29. Monument Valley (US$3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) In Monument Valley, you journey through delightful Escher-like landscapes, manipulating the very architecture to build impossible paths along which to explore. It's not the most challenging of games (nor one with the most coherent of storylines), but each scene is a gorgeous and mesmerising bite-sized experience that showcases how important great craft is in the best iOS titles. Click here to buy Monument Valley 30. Octodad: Dadliest Catch (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Play as a dad and a husband in Octodad, a hilarious game that tasks you with accomplishing basic daily tasks as best as you can so that your family doesn't get suspicious that you're, in fact, an octopus. Moving around in a man's world is harder than it sounds and you'll need to get used to your cephalopodan limbs as you pick things up, move around, and interact with people without accidentally outing yourself. Click here to buy Octodad: Dadliest Catch 31. Operation Dracula (US$7.99/£5.99/AU$12.99) Bullet-hell meets blood-thirsty vampires in Operation Dracula, a shoot 'em up that boasts some great top-down action, a catchy soundtrack, and a difficulty curve that makes you feel like you're back in the 80s. Missions have you maneuvering your craft through levels that continuously assault you with enemies, bullets, and some relentless bosses so you need to keep your cool amid the frenetic violence happening all around you. Click here to buy Operation Dracula 32. Order & Chaos 2: Redemption (free) Get lost in the amazing worlds of Order & Chaos 2: Redemption, Gameloft's follow-up MMORPG that comes with even more quests to sink your teeth into. Optimized for mobile, this game features a new race to choose from as well as a new story that follows your character as he or she tries to restore peace to the world of Haradon. Plenty of exploration, characters, and dangers await you in this massive adventure. Click here to get Order & Chaos 2: Redemption 33. Pac-Man 256 (free) Pac-Man 256 is a twist on the classic pellet-eating formula and has you racing for your life as the menacing Level 256 glitch from the original game tries to devour you. But it wouldn't be a Pac-Man game without those pesky ghosts to avoid and power pellets and fruit to collect. Use power-ups like lasers, tornados, and even a "giant" mode to survive when things get rough, but don't accidentally run into a dead end or it's over. Click here to get Pac-Man 256 34. The Path to Luma (free) Save the world as you hop through the galaxy in Path to Luma, a gorgeous adventure puzzler that lets you harness the power of clean energy and explore planets to find the switches they need to power back up. As you play through the game's 20 levels, you will have to recharge batteries, turn on windmills, or rotate planets to create new routes to explore. You'll soon discover puzzles within puzzles that are a joy to solve. Click here to get The Path to Luma 35. Pixel 8 (free) You're in store for a gallery of pixelated masterpieces in Pixel 8, a charming puzzler that tasks you with recreating paintings pixel-by-pixel before time runs out. Paintings start off simple and small, but you'll soon be working on large works of art that span several themes and categories. Completing each one in the fastest time earns you a spot on the leaderboards as well as coins to unlock more puzzling galleries. Click here to get Pixel 8 36. PixWing (US$3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) With its pixelated visuals and a soundtrack that is sure to make you feel nostalgic, you'd swear PixWing came out for Sega Genesis decades ago. This colorful flyer brings things into the modern age with its optional gyro controls that let you use your body to navigate your plane and it will even track how many calories you burn as you play. Gorgeous levels, collectibles, and timed challenges are sure to keep you busy in a good way. Click here to buy PixWing 37. Power Hover (US$3.99/£2.99/AU$5.99) Power Hover is an impressive action game that takes you through a beautiful world to recover a village's stolen power. Hover through deserts, oceans, and highways, and grind on rails as you make your way to the finish line, chase down baddies, or play through arcade-style boss runs and challenge your friends for the best score. Collect dropped batteries to unlock even more gorgeous and thrilling levels. Click here to buy Power Hover 38. Progress to 100 (US$2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Progress to 100 is more than just a puzzle - it's a cleverly unique experience that will engage all aspects of your iPhone as you figure out what you have to do to move on. As its name states, each of the 100 puzzles you'll play gets you one step closer to finishing it, but each one also comes with a hint as to how to solve it. Repeatedly tap your screen, put your nose on your device, or move your head to solve its silly and satisfying riddles. Click here to buy Progress to 100 39. Prune (US$2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Prune is a meditative experience more akin to the art of bonsai than your usual puzzle game, but its relaxing levels and soothing sounds will captivate you nonetheless. Each level lets you grow a tree with a swipe of a finger and then prune enough of it branches so its buds can flower in the sunlight. As you progress, shadows and red orbs will pose obstacles for your tree as they'll block it from the sunlight and even poison its branches. Click here to buy Prune 40. Race the Sun (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) The setting of the sun signifies your doom in Race the Sun, a tense and riveting endless racer that gracefully challenges you to prolong the inevitable and keep flying. Each time you start a race, you need to be mindful of both incoming obstacles that can destroy your aircraft and power-ups that can extend your flight. The world you fly through changes every day so you are always on your toes wondering what lies ahead. Click here to buy Race the Sun 41. Rayman Adventures (free) Join Rayman and friends as they journey through colorful worlds retrieving lost eggs and helping a sacred tree flourish. Levels in this action platformer can involve searching for hidden Teensies, beating up enemies on your path, or solving puzzles before making it to the goal. Take care of the creatures you hatch by feeding and playing with them and then take them on your adventures for a helpful boost. Click here to get Rayman Adventures 42. Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon (US$1.99/£1.49/AU$2.99) A game of exploration, mystery, and puzzles, Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon once again stars an intrepid eight-legged protagonist and lets you unravel a subtle story with each clue you find. Trap insects in your web as you explore the enormous Blackbird Estate, and solve some puzzles along the way too. What's more, the game uses your location, time, and local weather to add dynamic features to your experience each time you play. Click here to buy Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon 43. Sproggiwood (US$9.99/£7.99/AU$14.99) Strategy is a big part of your success in this colorful roguelike, so you'll need to plan your steps accordingly or else enemies will ambush you when you least expect it. Use your items wisely or purchase equipment to permanently own them and give your characters a fighting chance when up against some tough bosses. Just don't be fooled by its whimsical music or deceptive cutesy design - this is one tough game. Click here to buy Sproggiwood 44. Super Dangerous Dungeons (free) Super Dangerous Dungeons is sure to bring you back to a time when 16-bit platformers ruled the world. Its 48 colorful levels feature classic traps and enemies that will keep you engaged as you turn on switches, find keys, and avoid dangerous terrain on your way to the exit. Jump your way through bottomless pits and beat giant bosses that require some finesse and careful timing to defeat. Click here to get Super Dangerous Dungeons 45. Super Hexagon (US$2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) Ah, Super Hexagon. We remember that punishing first game, which must have lasted all of three seconds. Much like the next - and the next. But then we recognised patterns in the walls that closed in on our tiny ship, and learned to react and dodge. Then you threw increasingly tough difficulty levels at us, and we've been smitten ever since. Click here to buy Super Hexagon 46. Tales from the Borderlands (free - ep 1 only) Follow a group of unlikely friends on their quest for greatness in this episode series set in Pandora following the events of Borderlands 2. You'll travel to familiar locations and interact with pivotal characters from the action games, but your choices are what matter most as they can come back to haunt you later on. Clever writing and a talented cast are sure to keep your laughing through each hilarious episode. Click here to get Tales from the Borderlands 47. The Room Three (US$4.99/£3.99/AU$7.99) Featuring more than just boxes to examine, The Room Three expands the format of the original just enough to create a uniquely tactile experience that definitely pulls you into the many nooks and crannies you'll be entering to solve. Gorgeous box puzzles still play an important role in the game, but many other clever logic games are sure to tickle your brain and condition you to look closely at everything that could turn out to be a puzzle. Three's a charm indeed. Click here to buy The Room Three 48. TouchTone (US$2.99/£2.29/$4.49) There are two sides to TouchTone. The foundation is a topical story about intercepting communications, ostensibly to make the world safer. The game itself involves reflecting signals to receivers, using a tiled grid where every item on a row or column moves as one. The story gives you added impetus to keep going, even when you've been racking your brains for days to come up with a solution to a particular puzzle. Click here to buy TouchTone 49. You Must Build A Boat (US$2.99/£2.29/AU$4.49) It's always great when a savvy developer rethinks a genre and comes up with something that feels fresh. EightyEight Games welds auto-running to match-three in You Must Build A Boat. Deft fingerwork must be married with careful timing, matching keys as the hero approaches locked chests, or swords at the moment an incoming enemy prepares to get all stabby. Get shoved off of the left-hand side of the screen and you're told YOU WIN!, because every step potentially adds to your coffers. There are missions to complete, abilities to power-up, and a cheeky sense of humour that sets the title apart from its frequently comparatively po-faced contemporaries. Click here to buy You Must Build a Boat 50. Zodiac: Orcanon Odyssey (US$8.99/£6.99/AU$13.99) An immersive story, stellar soundtrack, and a fluid turn-based combat system are just a few delights that await you as you journey to the world of Orcanon and uncover the first installment of this mobile RPG. Gorgeous cutscenes accompany your characters as they travel throughout a kingdom filled with dangers and secrets. Customize your experience by crafting your own weapons and bring your friends with you into battle as you fight to save the world. Click here to buy Zodiac: Orcanon Odyssey

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