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SB Recommends iOS Games
Recommended
Blip Blup
Kinto: Neat
puzzle game (of the numerous individual puzzles variety rather than
Tetris-style). Very nice UI, decent level design, very simple idea.
ElectroMaster
glosolalia: I'm not sure
ElectroMaster completely works but it's a charmingly weird attempt at fusing an 80s
Taito-y arcade game style with touch controls. Apparently there's a sequel called
HungryMaster I'll have to check out.
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Intentionally Wrong: Playing this feels more like I'm trying to overcome myself than my opponents, since I've noticed I tend to win any match where I spend at least 5 minutes simulating before I send in my orders, and only lose if I get careless and don't take the time that I need. Perpetual vigilance and attention to detail is rewarded.
JoeX111: I love the asynchronous multiplayer. It's like chess by mail with gunfire.
Dracko: You should be playing Frozen Synapse anyhow if you've got nothing better to do than completely miss the grotesque irony of a cyberpunk tale about violent corporate warfare using proxy soldiers.
Ymer: I think you might like it actually. It's
XCOM style turn-based combat only both players turns take place at the same time after they've been planned and engaged. You can even simulate whatever move you think your opponent might make during the planning phase but you're of course in all likelihood gonna guess completely wrong about it. The multiplayer is also asynchronous similar to Words with friends/Wordfeud so you can have multiple games going at once and not have to make your move in any of them for days if you so wish.
Also a campaign with a real weird GitS-like storyline or something.
The Blueberry Hill: Tight, turn-based tactical game. Really great as a play-it-when-you're ready asynchronous multi thing, with lots of options for your you people, and for simulating the behaviours of your opponents'.
Gears
glossolalia: A ball rolling game which I guess there's a billion of but
Gears seems like it's probably the best. I love how breakable the level design is and the touch controls are solid. It's a 3D iOS game that makes the most of being in 3D and feels right on the iPhone, and those two things are rare enough alone. I guess
Zen Bound fits that description too.
Hardlines
another god: It's a really well done
snake game. I play it whenever I feel like playing a phone game.
Jetpack Joyride
gatotsu2501: Canabalt meets Balloon Fight, only with machine gun jetpacks and Mad Max motorbike powerups and stuff, all nestled within a meta-game goal/reward structure that's addictive without being underhanded. All of which is to say that it's, y'know, pretty sweet.
Sync Ball
colour_thief: A pretty fresh and enjoyable puzzle concept. It's a pure puzzle game, by which I mean there's no time pressure or randomness. Just carefully designed levels with a great learning curve, easing you into ever cleverer puzzles. It's not flashy to look at, but it's a really classy and elegantly done. There are very few game elements even by puzzle game standards, and the levels are minimalistic single-screen affairs. It's all so simple, and yet the solutions get pretty crazy… It'll take you a while to get through all the levels.
If that sounds like fun at all, you'll probably get at least a dollar's worth of fun at any rate.
See Also