I’ve been playing on the iPhone 4S a lot. What’s been worthwhile since my first post on mobile games circa 2012?
Civilization Revolution: one day I got up from the computer to clean up the apartment. I picked up the phone to complete one turn of Civ Rev. Two hours later, my battery was dead and my feet ached. I plugged in the phone and completed the game, taking a further hour or so. It’s simple and small, but it’s still Civilization.
Gridrunner: the best shooter on mobile. Beautiful 8-bit graphics, wonderful punk attitude. It makes me want to make games. You’re supporting llamas when you buy this game.
Gauge: sublime one-button, minimalist gameplay with audio-visual execution bar none. You control a… progress bar, which goes up and down. The game does its best to distract you from doing a simple task. Also super inspirational, making you want to make games.
Radiant Defense: the best tower defense on mobile. Field Runners doesn’t have a patch on this. Gorgeous game with great feedback.
Super Crossfire: the second best shooter I’ve played on mobile. It’s Space Invaders made modern with the twist of being able to warp to the top of the screen and back.
Elder Sign: very interesting single-player mobile take on a board game. It’s a bit too abstract for it’s own good, but totally works, and presents a worthwhile challenge. If you ever obsessed over Arkham Horror, you need to try this.
Spell Sword: slightly wonky controls, but otherwise a great game with super nice graphics and sounds. You play a single screen arcade challenge, jumping around, swinging a (spell) sword, made interesting by the ever changing challenge conditions and the collectable spell cards which can turn the tide at any moment.
Super Hexagon: I thought Gauge was perfect. Super Hexagon is more perfect. You are capable of feats you had no idea of until you spend a while with this game. Rocks the best soundtrack in years.
Minecraft Pocket Edition: so it’s smaller and doesn’t have all the features, but it’s still Minecraft. My initial session lasted a whole day.
Jetpack Joyride: the best endless runner game, finally a design so comprehensive it actually beats Canabalt.
Clash Of Clans: I’ve been surprised by how much time I’ve put into this game. It’s basically Travian on iOS and really very sweet presentation. The one thing they’ve got so very right is the asynchronous multiplayer, and you should check it out for that if nothing else. It’s doing over 300 000 USD per day right now, and deservedly so.
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