It’s a week of great video games finding their way to Apple’s iOS platform. Leading the pack is Grand Theft Auto 3, the PlayStation 2 classic that put parents and politicians in an uproar a decade ago, re-imagined with touchscreen controls but losing none of its attitude. Read all about GTA 3 and four other quality titles (including two straight out of the console video gaming world of yesterday) in this week’s best games list.
Grand Theft Auto 3 (iPhone, iPad) $4.99
Among the most controversial games ever, and still one of the best, Grand Theft Auto 3 is a steal at $5. This new version of the 10-year-old classic third-person action game still allows you to commit all the crimes you want like stealing cars, fighting off cops, taking on gangs (and working for them) and more. Rockstar Games has optimized it for iOS with touch controls and Retina graphics and it looks great, but more than anything, this is just a huge amount of game to pack into your smartphone or tablet and it shouldn’t be missed. If you’ve never played GTA3, you need to. If you have, now’s a great time to revisit Liberty City and blow some things up.
Chrono Trigger (iPhone, iPad) $9.99
Square Enix has slowly been porting its older, best-known role-playing games to the iPhone, mostly from Nintendo’s DS handheld. That’s nothing to complain about for many video game fans, since Square has brought quite a few classics to the device to play on the go. Arguably the best so far, and perhaps the best of any of Square’s games, is Chrono Trigger, a time-travel-centric, menu-based RPG that was originally released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System way back in 1995. It’s still kind of a high price to pay for a game approaching 20 years old, but if there was ever a game worth over-paying for in the App Store, it’s Chrono Trigger.
Sonic CD (iPhone, iPad) $2.99
Another great port of a classic game, this time of the 2-D side-scrolling variety. If you like Sonic the Hedgehog games, you definitely shouldn’t miss SEGA’s very competent port of its 1993 hit. It’s got optimized touch controls, Retina-compatible HD graphics, and all kinds of classic platforming gameplay from the golden age of the series. SEGA also has added Game Center support for achievements and leaderboards. But more than anything, this is a great price for a classic game that has been lovingly ported to iOS, which is something that SEGA hasn’t always done well. With Sonic CD, the game works great on a touchscreen medium, and that makes it very fun, and pretty cheap to boot.
Snoticles (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Angry Birds might have popularized games in which things get flung at other things to destroy them, but Snoticles uses the formula to addictive success by introducing a bunch of putrid, disgusting characters as heroes. There’s Zit, who (I think) throws bouncing zits, a guy made completely out of snot, and other heroes, all of whom have different powers for destroying evil floating black monsters in each of Snoticles’ physics-based arcade levels. The game has a lot in common with Angry Birds, which isn’t necessarily bad, because high production values and good level design make it a lot of fun to hurl all kinds of gross things at enemies to score points and clear levels.
Heads Up With Cristiano Ronaldo (iPhone, iPad) $0.99
Fans of classic arcade titles like Snood or Bust-A-Move will find a lot to enjoy in Heads Up With Cristiano Ronaldo. The soccer-themed game is all about kicking colored soccer balls into groups of similarly colored balls that descend from the top of the screen. The idea of the game is to make groups of three or more balls of the same color, bouncing your shots off the sides of the screen in order to clear them. They’re often connected to other balls of different colors which makes them fall and lets you rack-up big points. There are also aliens involved, but they’re not really key to the addictive gameplay that’s all about hitting the highest score you can with precision shots.
