Smartphones and tablets are giving video game consoles a run for their money. Touchscreen gaming on iPhones, iPads and Androids is easy, inexpensive and addictive! While dozens of new and interesting mobile games come out everyday, these five are worth tapping into right away.
Draw Something by OMGPOP (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android: $0.99)
Basically an updated version of Pictionary, Draw Something is well on its way to becoming the most popular mobile app of all time with more than 50 million downloads in less than three months. You can play Draw Something with random strangers or with friends and contacts from your Facebook and Email accounts. Once you challenge someone to a game, you choose between three words of varying difficulty, and must then draw the word for your partner. When you’re done, your partner must then guess what your word is while watching a live, real time recreation of your exact drawing process. Once they guess or fail to guess your word, they go back to step one and do the same for you. If you don’t feel like paying 99 cents without trying the game, there is a lite version of Draw Something where you can take a free test run. You’ll want to pony up the buck thereafter.
Angry Birds Space (iPhone, iPod Touch, Android: $0.99, iPad: $2.99)
If there is any mobile game that is a household name it’s Angry Birds. Even with all the hype – which included an out-of-this-world promotion from NASA – the new Angry Birds Space title does not disappoint. The new gravity-based mechanics, awesome new birds, a darker color palate, and bizarrely amusing space aesthetics make this one of the most refreshing and enjoyable titles in the franchise. For the uninitiated, in this game, birds are good and pigs are bad. You need to stop the pigs by launching kamikaze attack birds from a slingshot, and there are various kinds of bird ammo in your arsenal. You rack up points by causing as much destruction as possible using as few birds as possible, and enough points gets you that coveted three star rating. Newcomers and Angry Birds veterans alike will love this new title.
JAZZ: Trump’s journey (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad: $2.99)
Loosely based on the life of jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, JAZZ: Trump’s journey takes place in New Orleans during the 1920s. The platform game follows the travails of a trumpeter aptly named Trump, as he puts his band together, falls in love, and generally does awesome things. The game has very interesting mechanics and design choices, but it is its musical soundtrack that really makes it unique.
Reckless Racing 2 (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android $4.99)
This is a top-notch sequel to the best racing game available on mobile devices, with great visuals, revamped UI, updated gameplay and plenty of content. The gameplay itself has a totally different feel than the first. While still a very arcade experience at its core, the physics have been largely tweaked. There is a lot more realism in your turns and it’s much easier to lose speed or spin out. There are many control options to explore and other options to tweak to customize the experience for yourself.
Fancy Pants Adventures (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad: $0.99)
In Fancy Pants you take on the role of a shorts-wearing stick figure as you blast an assortment of action-packed levels. Your speed and acrobatic prowess allow you jump off walls, run up vertical surfaces and hurtle through space at a pretty fast clip, while you collect items and stars to pull down the best score in each of the game’s levels.
Find more great games for iOS here
