Get ready to lose your weekend to Scribblenauts Remix, a game in which your imagination is the greatest tool for solving puzzles. Need a tool to get over a wall? Type in what you think would help and watch it appear for your in-game character. It’s a fun way to solve lots of puzzles, and leads this week’s Best Games list. Read all about it, and four other standouts from this week, below.
Scribblenauts Remix (iPhone, iPad) $4.99
In many games, you draw objects and they become usable in the game world – things like blocks and bridges that your character can use to solve problems. Scribblenauts is similar, but even more creative. Type words into the game, and it creates those objects (or characters, animals) for you to use to solve each of its puzzles. Say your requirement for a level is to present a farmer with farm animals. Type in “pig” and you get a pig; type in “car,” or “Pegasus,” or “giant yellow dog,” and you get those things, too. Once those things exist in the world of main character Maxwell, he can use them to get around, ride them, give them to others and more. Scribblenauts is a highly imaginative title with lots of variety and plenty of ways to solve its puzzles. Everybody who enjoys fun should give it a look.
Squids (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Mix turn-based strategy with role-playing elements and an Angry Birds-style animal-flinging system and the result is Squids. The bright and colorful game is actually pretty deep. You’ll use squids with various abilities to wage war against evil sea creatures by shooting the squids at those enemies, using their tentacles as slingshots. Each squid has different attributes and you can add even more customization by purchasing additional head gear for each with money you earn in the game. Squids has a fun story and a great aesthetic, and will scratch your tactical itch while remaining easy to pick up and play in short bursts.
Siegecraft (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Speaking of flinging stuff at other stuff, pick up Siegecraft if you’re looking for something that feels like Angry Birds 2.0. Wielding a variety of siege weapons to defend yourself from hordes of medieval enemies, Siegecraft has you catapulting boulders and firing giant crossbows by using touch and swipe controls, but in a 3-D environment. It works well, testing your ability to pick off barbarians at range while using catapults to destroy bridges and explode barrels of gunpowder. Siegecraft packs 25 levels, plus a multiplayer mode for lucky iPad players.
Forever Drive (iPhone, iPad) Free
The high-scoring part of Forever Drive is pretty fun. You can choose from several cars, more of which you can unlock as you play through the game. Try and race for as long as you can while avoiding collisions, scoring points and keeping the timer going. But possibly even better is the ability to create your own tracks, using parts and structures you unlock through driving. In Forever Drive, the tracks you build can be shared among other players of the game. In fact, many of the tracks you see as you try to drive for as long as you can in the game were created by other users. You’re driving on some other player’s creation, and he or she is driving on yours. That’s pretty cool.
Steambirds: Survival (iPhone, iPad) Free
Lots of people like the World War II airplane shooter Steambirds, and its sequel, Steambirds: Survival, is just as good. The turn-based strategy game has you directing planes around aerial battles with similar controls to games such as Flight Control. You’ll direct your plane where to fly with your finger and choose power-ups for it to use, then hit the “Go” button and watch how the battle unfolds step by step. Strategy and thinking three or four moves ahead is key to survival across the games 60-ish missions. More missions (and more unlockable aircraft) are due soon in a free update. This is an addictive title that’ll keep you busy all weekend.
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