The holidays are upon us and we hope some of you will have the time to kick back and rest. With that said, we’ve put together a brief list of our all-time favorite iOS games to share with you, grouped into their respective categories. Enjoy!
Note: there have been a lot of price drops on the App Store lately, some of which have affected the games on this list. We have attempted to keep the list as up-to-date as possible, but prices may be subject to change.
Our thanks to Chris Gonzales and Chris Herbert for their work in putting together this list.
Tower Defense
Kingdom Rush Frontiers for iPhone ($0.99) and Kingdom Rush Frontiers HD for iPad ($2.99)
The original Kingdom Rush was a superbly entertaining game, with its cartoonish graphics, awesome tower upgrades, and insane battles. The sequel, Kingdom Rush Frontiers, kicks everything up a few notches and introduces more of just about everything: enemies, lands, towers…the works.
Fieldrunners 2 for iPhone ($2.99) and Fieldrunners 2 HD for iPad ($4.99)
Fieldrunners has long been one of the best and most charming tower defense games for iOS, and the sequel is no different. Where most games of this type have you placing turrets on a pre-defined path, Fieldrunners has you placing turrets on an open field to create paths of your own design in order to stop the hordes of soldiers that are trying to break through to your base. As always, the art style is fantastic and the action in this sequel has been amped up even more than the first game.
Plants vs. Zombies 2 — $Free (Universal)
PvZ 2 is the sequel to the original smash hit. The game revolves around Crazy Dave once again, but this time he wants to eat the same hot sauce-laced taco, so he creates an RV time machine to travel back to eat the taco again. The time machine miscalculates and the player ends up in such lands as Ancient Egpyt, Pirate Seas, the Wild West, and the future. There are all new powers/plants/characters in PvZ 2 as well. It’s a great follow-up to a wonderful original.
geoDefense Swarm — $1.99 (iPhone)
This is one of the older titles on our list, but it’s still lots of fun. The gameplay takes place on a retro-inspired hex grid, and like Fieldrunners, you must use various towers to create winding paths for the enemies to creep through. The game becomes very colorful and explosive as more and more enemies are wiped out. Definitely still a game worth checking out.
Arcade / Platformer
Jetpack Joyride — $Free (Universal)
One of the best games ever made in the endless runner category, and one with a ton of replay value. You play as Barry Steakfries, who breaks into an evil scientist’s lab to steal an experimental jetpack and tries to escape with it. Touch the screen to ascend and release to descend, collecting coins and power-ups as you avoid enemies and obstacles. The coins are used to unlock all sorts of outfits and jetpacks so you can customize Barry to your liking.
Ridiculous Fishing — $2.99 (Universal)
You might not think a fishing game would be very entertaining, but you would be wrong. Ridiculous Fishing is very fun. Once you’ve reeled some fish back up to your boat, they all begin flying into the sky and you have to shoot as many as you can before they fall back to the ocean. With its zany action and awesome soundtrack, this is not a game to miss. Moreover, Ridiculous Fishing was picked by Apple as the 2013 Game of the Year.
Punch Quest — $Free (Universal)
There are endless runners and there are endless punchers — Punch Quest falls into the latter group. There are only two buttons and four basic moves in this game: dash punch (right button), uppercut (left button), slam (left button 2x), and block (both buttons together). Beat up as many bad guys as possible, unlock new outfits, and of course, ride a dinosaur that shoots lasers out of its mouth.
Tilt to Live 2: Redonkulous — $2.99 (Universal)
The first Tilt to Live was a very addictive game that had you tilt-controlling a sort of arrow cursor that could move in all directions. Your main goal was to stay alive as long as possible by avoiding the red dots, but there were also some crazy single-use power-ups that would appear at random. Tilt to Live 2 takes that same can’t-put-it-down gameplay and introduces boss fights, new weapons, and a new scoring system.
Rayman Fiesta Run — $2.99 (Universal)
Rayman Fiesta Run is the sequel to the 2012 hit, Rayman Jungle Run. It uses the same running concept but is set in a crazy Fiesta world with umbrellas, limes, and piñatas. Fiesta Run has over 75 levels, new powers, and even better graphics than the original. There’s an increased depth of field that lets you jump around much like Mutant Mudds. It’s one of the best sequels for an iOS game we’ve played all year.
Strategy & Board Games
Carcassonne — $9.99 (Universal)
The classic medieval-style board game in iOS form. Using randomly-drawn tiles, each player attempts to claim the most land by constructing cities, roads, and the like, all while blocking opponents’ efforts to do the same. “Followers” (or “meeples”) can be placed on certain tiles to gain extra points. The basics of the game are easy to pick up, but there is a lot of subtle strategy involved.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown — $9.99 (Universal)
You play as the commander of an elite paramilitary force, known as XCOM, which has been assembled by the Earth’s governments to fight off an attacking alien race. Not only do you have to manage your various troops in battle (each of which gains their own experience and can be permanently lost if you’re not careful), but you have to make sure that the nations who fund your organization don’t lose trust in XCOM because they will quit supporting you if things get out of hand.
Skulls of the Shogun — $4.99 (Universal)
Skulls of the Shogun is a turn-based strategy game inspired by the likes of Advance Wars and Final Fantasy Tactics. The kicker here is that the characters are all undead samurai. When any unit’s health points are depleted, they are reduced to a skull, which can then be consumed by an opponent to gain health and special abilities. The game’s dialogue is very tongue-in-cheek, and the entire presentation is very slick.
Hero Academy — $Free (Universal)
If you took chess and combined it with a simple RPG battling system, you’d end up with Hero Academy. Choose one of five teams (human, elf, dwarf, goblin, and monk) – four of which are unlocked via in-app purchase, and each with its own strengths, weaknesses, and special characters – and asynchronously face off with an online opponent’s team. The goal is to destroy the opponent’s crystal(s) before they do the same to you.
Battle Nations — $Free (Universal)
Battle Nations is a turn-based strategy game that has you gradually building up a home base (even growing the crops) as you assemble an army to defend it. Combat takes place on a grid with various types of units. Losing units during a battle will have a real effect on your resources, since it takes time for them to heal afterward and costs you money in the process. This forces you to think about more than trying to simply brute-force your way through a fight.
Star Command — $0.99 (Universal)
Star Command is essentially a Star Trek-influenced RPG simulator. You’re the Captain of a small starship and must assemble a crew of personnel to keep things running. Explore the galaxy, engage in ship-to-ship combat, protect your ship (and Captain) from enemies who force their way aboard, level up your crew to learn new abilities, and discover 10 different alien civilizations to interact with.
Action / RPG
Oceanhorn — $8.99 (Universal)
Oceanhorn is an action RPG that’s very similar to Zelda’s Wind Waker / Link to the Past. It’s about a boy whose quest is to find his lost father and defeat a sea monster named Oceanhorn to return the land back to the way it was. It’s one of the best games we have played all year — graphics, gameplay, music, and time-to-complete are all fantastic. It took me almost 14 hours to complete and that’s unheard of for an iOS game. Definitely a Game of the Year candidate.
Infinity Blade III — $2.99 (Universal)
Just like the first two games, Infinity Blade III has you controlling an armored hero who must slay a horde of gigantic enemies in order to reach the final boss. There are some secondary objectives and other stuff to keep you busy, but really it’s all about the big fights. The graphics are also some of the best we’ve ever seen on iOS — they’re nearly console-quality.
Nimble Quest — $Free (Universal)
Nimble Quest is a mix of Snake and old-school RPG. Choose a hero, swipe directionally to move around the field while avoiding obstacles and people within your own party, defeat enemies, pick up additional heroes to make your group larger, and use power-ups to gain the advantage. You’ll be saying to yourself a lot, “oh just one more run.”
Bastion — $0.99 (Universal)
You play as The Kid, who wakes up after some kind of catastrophic event and must navigate through a series of floating ruins, fighting monsters along the way using weapons you pick up. As you move through each of the beautiful, hand-painted levels, the paths you take will literally form in front of you. There’s also a dynamic, cowboy-style narrator who gives you helpful hints and moves the story along.
Mage Gauntlet — $2.99 (Universal)
Inspired by old-school action RPGs, Mage Gauntlet is a fast-paced, funny game that won’t waste your time with side quests. The goal is to beat up as many baddies as possible so you can unlock new weapons and magic powers. Once you’ve beaten the game, you can replay it in the much higher-difficulty Master Mode.
Horn — $2.99 (Universal)
Horn is another iconic adventure game that involves action, puzzle-solving and some RPG elements as well, all based in a fantasy world. It’s about a boy who wakes up after some unknown events and all the people there have been transformed into strange beings. Horn, the boy, has to reverse the curse and save his world. Beautiful graphics and very good gameplay.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP — $4.99 (Universal)
One of the funniest, most interesting, and engrossing games on the App Store. I won’t spoil anything about the story here, because it’s best experienced for yourself. I will say that the pixelated art is absolutely gorgeous though, and the soundtrack is pretty great too.
Puzzles
Machinarium –$4.99 (Universal)
Machinarium is a point-and-click adventure game, played from the perspective of a little robot who has been unceremoniously dumped on the outskirts of a city. He must assemble himself, head into the city, and put a stop to a mischievous plot and locate his girlfriend-bot. The art style is very unique, there isn’t a lot of dialogue to speak of (mostly thought bubbles), and the puzzles, which typically require items you accumulate during the course of the game, require a hefty bit of logic to complete.
The Cave — $4.99 (Universal)
The Cave is a puzzle/adventure video game that started on consoles and came to iOS in October. The Cave lures people inside to explore and find all the strange things going on within. The player initially has to select 3 different characters from a cast of 7 to meander around the cave. Many of the puzzles take all 3 characters to complete, while some puzzles are specific to each character’s special abilities.
Device 6 — $3.99 (Universal)
Device 6 is a surreal thriller in which the world is made from words. Playing the game is a lot like reading a book but the words shift away in all directions rather than just reading a book and flipping pages. It’s based on riddles and puzzles and is about a girl on an island named Anna, and the mysteries of technology and neuroscience.
Letterpress — $Free (Universal)
Created by Loren Brichter (the original developer of the popular Tweetie app that later became Twitter’s official app), Letterpress is a quirky word game where you asynchronously face off against an opponent to find words within a grid of random letters. Longer words earn you more points, but the real goal is to take over the letter grid by using letters, thereby “capturing” them so that your opponent can’t use them. The little audio and visual effects throughout are all quite charming.
Tiny Thief — $Free (Universal)
Tiny Thief appears to be a stealth game but is more like a point-and-click puzzle game than anything else. There are 6 quests to conquer, each with different scenes, that all add up to rescuing the fair maiden from the bad evil hierarchy — like Robin Hood. It’s not difficult, but is loads of fun solving the puzzles and trying to find all the hidden objects. It was developed by 5 Ants and published by Rovio Stars — the Angry Bird team.
Dots — $Free (iPhone)
You might look at this game and say to yourself, all I have to do is connect the dots in lines or squares? Where’s the challenge? But believe you me, you’ll soon be addicted and trying over and over and over to beat your own high score and those of your Twitter friends.
Super Squares — $Free (Universal)
The premise is simple: find a way to connect each colored block with its twin and make sure every star on the grid has been collected along the way. The base game contains 300 (!) 5×5 levels, but you can unlock other levels of various types via in-app purchases. Some have bigger playing fields (6×6, 7×7, 8×8, and 9×9), some are more difficult, and some are just plain fun.
The Room and The Room 2 — $1.99 and $4.99 (iPad)
The Room game, which is a “physical puzzler, wrapped in a mystery game, inside a 3D tactile world”, is entertaining and enchanting. With thoughtful design and interaction that is reminiscent of playing Myst, The Room has a splendid aura about it, combining that old-world nostalgia of wood and gears and clockwork with juxtaposed futuristic feel of trinkets and tricks that unlock clues to a mystery. The Room was featured in Apple’s best games of 2012 awards list, and The Room 2 is in Apple’s 2013 list.