Image via Complex Original
There's no denying it: smartphones are video game devices.
They have power, they have strong libraries, and they're with you all the time. Apple's iPhone and iPad have some of the best mobile games around in the App Store. We've dug through them and picked out the 20 games you need to be shaking, touching, swiping, and playing right now.
Get downloading. We hope you splurged on that 64GB model.
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20. Ziggurat
If you're looking for a game to make you pull your hair out, you came to the right place. Ziggurat is insanely difficult. You stand on top of a pyramid to fight off as many enemies as you can before they kill you.
As you play over and over, you start to learn patterns and discover strategies, which makes it rewarding to play. If you don't have the patience for it, though, you'll just end up cursing. A lot.
19. Temple Run 2
Temple Run 2 expanded on everything that made the original so much fun. The graphics are updated, the levels have expanded to include more obstacles, and adds some complexities like leveling your characters' abilities. The changes aren't huge. Instead, they tweak a great game to make it greater.
Put it down. We dare you.
18. Badland
There's a reason that Badland was Apple's 2013 iPad game of the year. The platformer draws you in tight with its dark, moody atmosphere and keeps you there with its addictive gameplay. As you play as your strange fuzz-thing, you find new power ups such as the ability to clone yourself or make your fuzz-things bouncy. These are integral to the gameplay and survival in later levels. It's beautiful, difficult, and a lot of fun to play. Who said platformers were dead?
17. Infinity Blade III
It wouldn't really be a list of the best iOS games without an Infinity Blade title. The series has been used to showcase the iPhone and iPad's power, and it hasn't stopped here. Infinity Blade III is absolutely gorgeous, taking complete advantage of retina displays.
The third entry in the franchise is more epic with tremendous production values. It's a fitting showcase of what the platform can do with the right hardware.
16. Hundreds
Hundreds is among the simplest game you'll ever play, but you won't want to put it down. It features a bunch of circles that inflate to the number 100 (or add up to it). As the circles expand, you have to dodge obstacles and make your circles don't touch the edges of each other. The game starts very easily but gets complicated quickly. Thought simple addition was easy? Think again.
15. Hitman Go
Hitman Go is a strange but wonderful twist on the series. On iOS devices, Hitman becomes a turn-based board game in which you navigate a grid to take out opponents and avoid detection. IO interactive embraces the board game motif completely with stylish wooden figures for characters on environments that look like game boards. It boils down the complexity of the game into a simple board game that has its own intricacies to love.
14. Rymdkapsel
Can't prounounce Rymdkapsel? Don't worry about it (it's Swedish for "Space Capsule," by the way). Instead, pick it up on your iOS device. Players build a space station while fulfilling other objectives such as holding off attackers and and researching. It takes place in a vacuum, with no greater story to speak of. Just focus on building your station, one piece at a time and bathe in Rymdkapsel's beautiful simplicity.
13. Angry Birds Star Wars II
Angry Birds is an iPhone classic. You have surely played some version of it already. Angry Birds Star Wars II expands the formula by adding multiple playable characters (including a pig version of Darth Maul, the best thing to come from the prequels, a brief story, and branching levels. It's also extremely polished - Rovio gets it a little better every time.
12. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
The big surprise about XCOM: Enemy Unknown is how the console and PC release was changed for iOS so seamlessly. It's not the same game, but the changes they made make total sense. It's a turn-based game, which makes sense on mobile, and it gets personal. If your recruit dies, you need to get a new one. When you play it on your iPad, you should be ready for a long play session, as it wasn't made to be played on the go.
11. Device 6
Device 6 is among the smartest games on iOS, and it knows it. It's a mystery text adventure that requires logic and careful consideration to defeat. It's creepy and mysterious. Every step down stairways, hallways and tunnels takes you closer to the answer to this spooky title.
10. Monument Valley
Monument Valley may remind you slightly of Echochrome on the PlayStation, and you're not wrong. You rotate M.C. Escher-esque structures to solve puzzles and change impossible objects into solid pathways. It's not terribly lengthy, but it's relaxing and perfect for a few attempts on the go.
9. Wayward Souls
Looking for an RPG for your iOS device? Look no further. Combine role-playing with a bit of Zelda's action and a bit of Demon's Souls's need for luck, and you have Wayward Souls. The game's goals are simple - get to the exit on each floor - but the methods for doing so are difficult, and you won't be able to put it down.
8. Oceanhorn
Unless Nintendo changes its tune, you won't be getting a Legend of Zelda game on your iPhone or iPad anytime soon. Oceanhorn is as close as you'll get. It's not terribly original, cribbing heavily from Zelda's item inventory and from Wind Waker's sailing, but it's gorgeous and challenging. For what it does lack, you get a deep, ad-free experience, and that's worth checking out.
7. FTL: Faster Than Light
FTL didn't have to work too hard to get on this list. It was critcally praised on Mac and PC, and the iPad version takes all of the stuff that makes it a great game and reworked it for a touch interface. It's incredibly difficult, but extremely rewarding. It also has an amazing soundtrack, though if you pay attention to it while you grit your teeth and keep your game going is another story.
6. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
It may be suprising to anyone who hasn't touched one of Blizzard's complex MMORPGs, but this collectible card battling game is incredibly simple. Don't let "Warcraft" in the title scare you - this iPad (iPhone is coming) game is quickly paced, easy to learn, and has been praised for feeling like a real card game.
5. Ridiculous Fishing
Fishing is boring, right? Not when you fish with a hook and chainsaw, throw your fish into the sky and then shoot them down. That's Ridiculous Fishing in a nutshell.
There are tons of fish to catch in the game's multiple locations, and you'll want to use all of the game's unlockable items to go deeper in the ocean and shoot your catch out of the sky with increasing degrees of ferocity. It's... well, ridiculous.
4. Super Hexagon
Super Hexagon will test your reflexes and your patience. The entire point of the game is to be incredibly difficult. It's difficulty settings are "Hard," "Harder," and "Hardest" - and that's before you unlock higher difficulties. By time you hit a new record, you'll crash, and the computer will go "Begin" again.
Sure. Just one more game.
"Begin."
3. The Act
It's a short game, but The Act is one of the most touching and innovative games on iOS. The game tells the story of Edgar, a janitor who pines after Sylvia, a nurse who works in the same hospital he does. Swipes of the finger become flirting, running, and the heimlich maneuver. It's also one of the most beautifully drawn games we've ever seen.
2. Jetpack Joyride
Three years after its release, Jetpack Joyride is still one of the most addictive games on iOS devices. It embraces it's faux-macho attitude (the protagonist's name is "Barry Steakfries"), and turns it into a crazy endless runner. Add in dragons to ride on, laser walls to dodge, and tons of collectibles and you won't wonder why you're still playing it.
1. Threes
Threes is the paragon of iOS gaming. It's carefully designed, easy to play on a touch screen, and perfect for play sessions of almost any length. It's equally (if not more) rewarding on your hundreth round as it is on your first. There is a magic to this game's perfect mix of complex play and simple interaction, and if you're not playing it, you're missing out.
What? You're playing 2048? Put that down right now and play the real thing.