iPhone gaming is great. It’s cheap, there’s a whole lot of it and if you’re willing to search a bit, there’s some truly amazing stuff out there to play. If you don’t have the time to sift through pages and pages of dross on the App Store, just take a few cues from our best iPhone games round-up.
In this second part of our list of the top 100 iPhone games ever, we’ll cover a pair of retro-style shooters, a World of Warcraft wannabe and a game that’s caused us more stress over the past three years than almost any other. But we still love it.
Don’t forget to check out the other parts as well –
100 Best iPhone games 100-81
100 Best iPhone games 80-61
100 Best iPhone games 60-41
100 Best iPhone games 40-21
100 Best iPhone games 20-1
80. I Dig It Expeditions
By InMotion Software
Released November 2009
Plugging into human nature’s tendency towards greed, I Dig It Expeditions put you in charge of a drill-equipped mining craft, ready to burrow through the earth in search of treasure. The more gold and gems you find, the more you can upgrade your craft, enabling it to dig deeper and carry more. This is the sequel to the original I Dig It, and trumps its predecessor with levels in the sea and on ice caps. This is a game you can easily lose hours to.
79. iDracula
By Chillingo
Released February 2009
One of Chillingo’s early successes and the poster child for the twin-stick craze of 2009, iDracula rocketed to the top of the chart at release thanks to its cheap 59p price. Oh, and because it’s great fun too. You’re a vampire hunter who has to take on wave after wave of enemies that keep on getting tougher. Death is inevitable, it’s how long you last that counts. Every now and then you earn upgrades too, increasing your range, health or giving you other neat bonuses. Quick-blast gaming at its best.
78. Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
By Square Enix
Released August 2011
Long-awaited by Final Fantasy fans, Tactics: War of the Lions caused a bit of a stir at release because it’s more expensive than almost any other iPhone game. Play it seriously though and you’ll certainly get your money’s worth. It’s a port of the PSP title of the same name, itself a spruced-up re-release of the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy Tactics. Given it’s asking for more than a tenner for the title, Square Enix could have given this iPhone version more renovations, but the game under the surface is top-notch.
77. Bike or Die 2
By Chillingo
Released November 2008
Trial biking games are known for being tricky – the best rely on complex physics systems that have to be treated, and manipulated, carefully. Bike or Die 2 is beyond tricky. At times it’s downright evil. You control a chap riding a standard push bike, and have to navigate over a variety of drops, ledges and climbs, over an equally-great variety of surfaces. Look away if you want an easy ride, but if you have patience and dexterity, Bike or Die 2 is a great package, and lets you compete with other players online. It includes more than 2500 levels.
76. Order & Chaos Online
By Gameloft
Released April 2011
Fans of online gaming have pawed after World of Warcraft on an iPhone since the App Store took off. Gameloft’s Order & Chaos Online doesn’t make that dream come true, but it’s the next best thing. Indebted to Blizzard’s ludicrously successful MMORPG on several fronts, including gameplay and visuals, it’s a pay-monthly online roleplaying game with a colourful fantasy theme. Our first assumption was that it would be a mess, but it’s actually remarkably fun – not to mention a stunning proof of concept. It’s far from the first massively multiplayer iPhone game, but this takes it to a new level.
75. Tap Tap Revolution Series
By Tapulous
Released December 2010
Although it doesn’t have the grip on the App Store it used to, the Tap Tap Revenge series is still the iPhone’s most important rhythm game series. Playing much like a touchscreen version of Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you tap on notes as they fly towards you from the top of the screen (well, the screen’s “horizon” anyway). Plenty of branded edition of the game are available – including packs from Lady Gaga, Kings of Leon and Nine Inch Nails – but you can also just play bundled tracks for free.
74. Uniwar
By Xpressed
Released April 2009
Uniwar is a tile-based strategy/war game that stood out because of its excellent multiplayer potential. Its action is turn-based, which makes it perfect for mobile gaming on-the-go. There’s also a single-player campaign mode if you’d rather play by yourself. Fans of the excellent Advance Wars Nintendo DS series (sadly still yet to make it to iOS) should consider it a must-download title.
73. The Sims 3
By EA
Released June 2009
The infamous “life substitute” The Sims came to iPhone relatively early, and while it didn’t have the same dangerously-engrossing characteristics of its PC cousin, it was still darned fun. EA slimmed-down the game’s blueprint a little to fit it into the iPhone’s teensy bod, while keeping the basics of getting your sim a job, relationship and a natty set of threads. Since 2009, several standalone “expansion packs” have also been released, including The Sims 3 Ambitions and The Sims 3 World Adventures.
72. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12
By EA
Released March 2011
It may not be as cool to like EA as a niche indie developer, but you have to hand it to the publisher – it knows how to polish a game until it shines like chrome. The latest edition of its Golf franchise, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12, isn’t a huge departure from its predecessors, but it hones the already-great formula with improved visuals and mechanics. In sport games like this, EA’s iPhone games get perilously close to its full-price handheld and console counterparts.
71. Trainyard
By Matt Rix
Released June 2010
In Trainyard, you have to construct train lines between different nodes to make sure the correct trains end up at the correct stops. It’s a brain-teasing puzzler that shot to the number one chart slot in many countries’ App Stores – and all without any flashy graphics or big marketing campaigns. Its success relied on the word of mouth effect that only truly great games can really benefit from. It features 100 puzzles – that’s less than a penny for each one.
70. Pix’n Love Rush
By Bulkypix
Released June 2010
One of the most self-consciously retro-looking games on the App Store, the “pixels” in Pix’n Love Rush are gigantic, and it does its best to look like an oldie monochrome game at most times (think original Gameboy, in neon). But somehow it’s still bloomin’ gorgeous. A shooter-platformer, you play as a pixellated creature that, in old-school fashion, has to collect power-ups and avoid nasties. In 1989 this may have been a bog-standard game, but these days it’s something special.
69. Dark Nebula 2
By 1337 Game Design
Released August 2010
Dark Nebula 2 may not look all that impressive in screenshots, but it’s a dynamic game that makes excellent use of the iPhone’s touchscreen and accelerometer. Like Labyrinth 2 on steroids. You control a ball, directing it through 19 levels packed with enemies, moving platforms and bridges. Distilled to its most basic elements, it’s a maze/labyrinth game, but it takes the form much further than most other titles of this type.
68. Deathsmiles
By Cave
Released July 2011
Bullet hell shooter are, suitably enough, a nightmare for some gamers. But for others they tweak a masochistic nerve that gets them all hot under the collar. For once though, this game does try to make itself accommodating for those without triple-jointed fingers and reactions faster than the refresh rate of the iPhone’s screen. The crucial elements are still here though – crank up the difficult and your fingers will soon be a blur of movement. Oh, and it’s absolutely bonkers too.
67. Labyrinth 2
By Illusion Labs
Released December 2009
The iPhone is lauded for having make touchscreen gaming a real, viable market, but it did the same for accelerometer gaming – which although existed before in mobile gaming was a bit of a gimmick. Titles like Labyrinth 2 prove there’s real potential in the technology. It’s a puzzler based on the real-life wooden maze games, where you navigate a metal ball bearing between various “trap” holes. Labyrinth 2 enriches the blueprint established by its predecessor with many more elements, including magnets and fans.
66. WordFu
By ngmoco
Released February 2009
Most word games are slow, relaxed affairs. WordFu most certainly is not. Sessions can last for less than a minute, and you only have the letters emblazoned on a handful of thrown dice to work with. The more words you make, the more time you’ll earn and the more points you’ll rack up – and the more staccato Kung fu-style sound effects you’ll get to hear. WordFu is undoubtedly one of the most exciting word games available on iPhone. It lets you compare you scores with other players online too – which we tend to find utterly depressing, but perhaps you’ll be better at the game than we are.
65. Osmos
By Hemisphere Games
Released August 2010
Osmos is one of those rare games that tries to transcend its basic action – to become “an experience”. You’re a blob of matter meandering through the universe. You tap to expel some of your own mass in order to propel yourself. Knock into another blob smaller than you and you’ll absorb it. Knock into a bigger blob and you’ll be absorbed – that means game over. Almost eerie in its minimal style and blessed with a brilliant electronic soundtrack, this is a game to plug some headphones into, and just drift away with.
64. Dodonpachi
Resurrection
By Cave
Released August 2010
A fantastic “bullet hell” vertical shooter, Dodonpachi Resurrection originally hit arcades back in 2008 – yes this is that incredibly rare thing: a new(ish) arcade game. It’s expensive in iOS terms, but production values are excellent. Publisher Cave has made sure that it’s not entirely terrifying for newbie players too, with a practice mode packed-in. For a more traditional vertical shooter (without so much of the great Japanese craziness), check out iFighter 1945, a neat take on arcade classic 1942.
63. Theseus
By Jason Fieldman
Released September 2008
Released just two months after the App Store opened, it’s no surprise that Theseus looks a little – basic. There’s no eye candy on offer here. But give it a go and you can’t help but be impressed by its rock-solid puzzle mechanics. A turn-based game, you play as a blue ball – our hero if you like – being followed by a minotaur (okay, a red ball with horns). Like a game of chess, you have to make your moves very carefully around each maze, so it doesn’t catch up with you. You can rewind your moves, step by step, wiping out the frustration of failure.
62. Gears
By Crescent Moon Games
Released April 2011
Like Dark Nebula, Gears is a take on the wooden maze puzzle. But where that game is dark (predictably enough) and moody, Gears is colourful and exhuberant. There’s less blasting, more exploring – and more gawping at the lovely fantasy-tinged visuals. You can control your ball, the game’s hero, using either the iPhone’s accelerometer or your finger. It’s an action puzzle game that manages to summon a sense of adventure too.
61. Final Fantasy III
By Square Enix
Released March 2011
Final Fantasy III from Square Enix is one of the most expensive games on the App Store, but with good reason. A remake of the classic roleplaying adventure from 1990, it offers completely re-drawn 3D visuals and controls that have been properly tailored for iPhone – unlike a great many iPhone retro re-hashes. It probably would never have made it to iPhone if it hadn’t already been released for Nintendo DS back in 2006, but thankfully it did as it’s one of the platform’s best roleplaying games.
The third part in our Top 100 iPhone games series will be published tomorrow. Be sure to check out the first part too, which runs down positions 100 to 81.