25 Games That Will Make You Take The iOS Platform Seriously

If you've discounted iOS devices as "true" gaming platforms, it's time to wake up.

The platform is still in its infancy, but as developers learn to utilize the touch interface, they produce some amazing work. Now, you're not going to find an RPG with the scope and style of Skyrim, or an MMO on the same technical level as World of Warcraft, but that's not really what the platform is for anyway. What most mobile games lack in sheer breadth and polish, they make up for in creativity and simple fun.

You know what else? You can purchase every single game on this list - games that will, combined, easily last dozens or hundreds of hours - for less than the price of one full-priced console game.

Let's get started.

No, this is not that crazy Metal Gear game with the dude who hates watermelons.

Fruit Ninja is all about making digital fruit salad. Chop the flying fruit as quickly as you can (use two fingers!) to earn the high score. Don’t slice the bombs though. Those aren’t even fruit.

Why would you want bombs in your fruit salad? You’re so silly.

Squareball feels like a video game modeled after @petermolydeux’s own heart. Imagine a game where you don’t control the “character,” but the level itself.

The ball – which is indeed shaped like a square – bounces on its own. You must move the environment to “move” the ball. It’s great fun, but gaps in the environment can be frustrating and tough to avoid.

If you’re looking for a gorgeous, fully featured, 16-bit RPG, Zenonia is probably your game.

There are skill trees. There’s a morality system. There are side quests. There are multiple classes. It’s even got a weather system – which is something I always appreciate in games.

Many iOS games are best when played five minutes at a time. This game should be played for hours on end.

Flight Control is an air traffic controller’s worst nightmare. Lots and lots of planes are heading to the landing strip, and you need to draw their paths. Get them to their appropriate runways (there are jet planes, propelled planes, and helicopters) without crashing them mid-air.

This isn’t so bad with a handful of planes, but when there are a dozen planes dancing around each other in the sky, narrowly avoiding collisions, you’ll be sweating.

Battleheart is a party-based RPG with tons of depth and cast of delightful characters. Unlike a lot of games in that genre, however, Battleheart’s combat system happens in real time. I know how cumbersome that sounds, but believe me, it works.

You won’t find anything original here: An armored warrior, a fire-flinging mage, a life-saving priest, and a thief with a shanking fetish. But what is here looks great, sounds awesome, and is a blast to play.

I hope you like running. And jumping. And plummeting to your death after stumbling off a skyscraper. Everything is illustrated in a neat grayscale style, and the music is catchy.

Canabalt is quick, simple, and infinitely replayable. Check it out.

Doodle Jump was the king of the app store before Angry Birds showed up, but that doesn’t mean this old dog doesn’t still deliver.

You are a doodle dude, and he likes to jump. Tilting the device changes your character’s direction. The goal is to go up as high as you can without falling. Hitting certain objects like springy shoes and propeller hats helps you achieve this goal more quickly.

As I said, the game is older, but it’s still one of the best on the app store.

Ten years ago, I passed dozens of hours perched before a grey Compaq, meticulously scribbling down everything noteworthy. I was trapped on an island – one filled with mysterious recordings, empty tunnels, and elevators that move sideways.

Myst is a lonely game, but you are accompanied at all times by a pervasive feeling that something just isn’t right. To this day, I have still not satiated my curiosity.

Hey, everyone has an Everest, right?

I originally played World of Goo on PC, but the game made the transition to mobile devices so perfectly that I had to buy it again.

The point here is to build structurally sound towers out of living balls of goo. You need to think about supports and load bearing shapes. Reach the pipe and you win.

Trainyard is to trains what Flight Control is to planes and helicopters. Well, for the most part.

Every level is a seven-by-seven grid with two or more train stations. The goal is to draw connecting lines so trains can move from one station to the other. You do, however, need to ensure no trains collide along the way – unless that’s the point (combining a blue train with a red train makes a purple train, for example).

A word of warning: this game gets really, really tough. Look up some of the final levels on YouTube.

If you like Scrabble, you already like Words with Friends.

You know the routine. Draw your letters, arrange them into words, and place them onto a game board. Make sure you use up the “double words bonus” blocks before the other person does.

The stand-out feature of this game is its asynchronous multiplayer. You don’t both have to present and engaged with the game at the exact same time to play. Lie down your letters while you’re waiting for line in lunch. Your friend can then play his word as he’s leaving the office. Convenient!

In Tiny Tower, you start with a tiny tower. The goal? Turn it into a big tower. Simple enough.

Every floor you add is dedicated to some purpose, be it food, recreation, retail, creativity, etc. As your building grows, you need to manage your “bitizens” to make sure everything keeps running efficiently.

The game keeps going even when you’re not playing, so prepare for a bunch of notifications asking you to restock your stores.

Grand Theft Auto III for iOS is pretty much like Grand Theft Auto III for your PlayStation 2, but it’s on your iPhone. That’s a compliment, by the way.

This revolutionary game made the platform leap almost entirely intact. Liberty City is as busy and colorful as it was ten years ago, and the missions and characters you loved are back. Without physical sticks, however, controlling Claude is more cumbersome than it used to be, though that’s certainly no surprise.

Revisit an incredible game, or check it out for the first time while you wait for Grand Theft Auto IV.

You can’t really speak about the best iOS games without bringing up Angry Birds.

Angry Birds is that game where you fling various, uh, birds, at structures housing evil, green pigs. Some forts are made from wood, others from ice or stone. It’s all very simple, unless you’re aiming for the coveted three-star rating.

I do have great news for you. If you play, love, and finish Angry Birds, there are a few great expansions you can play as well. And there are stuffed animals. And key chains. And pillows. And laptop covers. And shirts. And Christmas ornaments.

In Jetpack Joyride, you can ride something called a “profit bird.” You’re convinced, I know, but let me continue.

A touch screen is not an especially elegant device, and developer Halfbrick understands this well. Your dude always moves forward. Just tap and hold to jetpack up; release to go down. Catch the coins and dodge the missiles.

Then spend your coins on a rainbow jetpack.

This game is sort of like Plinko from The Price is Right, but you play as a unicorn. Or a pumpkin. Or a beaver named Jimmy Lightning. Launch balls into pegs and try to hit as many as you can – especially the orange ones. Clear them all and the ball enters slow-mo as it bounces around to Ode to Joy.

Peggle is on nearly every current gaming platform, but it works perfectly on iOS devices.

I know, I know. A golf game?

You know the objective here: hit the ball and make it go into the hole. Do this under par on one batch of courses and you’ll unlock the next set. What stands out, what differentiates this game from golf, is just how silly everything is.

The courses feature impossible cliffs and treacherous falls. And the specialty balls, including the nitro ball and the water hazard-freezing ice ball, add a layer of strategy that you wouldn’t expect in a golf game.

Drop 7 is the most fun you will ever have thinking about math.

Orbs adorned with numbers are stacked into rows and columns. Some are locked under a grey shell, which you must break. The goal is to make them disappear.

Say you have to place an orb with a three on it. If you place it on a stack that’s already two orbs tall, it will of course be the third orb on the stack. Since its position on the stack corresponds with the number on the orb, it pops and disappears.

I know that description is a bit technical, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly.

Cut the Rope is a game about feeding candy to a little green monster named “Om Nom.” The candy is attached to ropes, which you must cut with a swipe of your finger. Strategically cutting these ropes builds momentum and direction, which you must then use to guide the candy into Om Nom’s mouth.

Much in the same vein vain as Angry Birds, your performance in each level is measured on a scale of one to three stars. And, just as it is in Angry Birds, getting all three is a painful exercise in patience.

Listen, everyone. Making games isn’t actually that difficult. Just mash a few genres together, inflate your marketing budget, and voila! Instant classic!

Hire a team, name your studio, and get to work on gems like Dino Fetus and Space Marsupial in Game Dev Story. As your titles grow in breadth and popularity, your team will grow larger and more skillful. Sure, it’s a laughably oversimplified game development simulation, but you’ll have fun when your hybrid zombie/trivia game Brainless gets terrific reviews.

There isn’t much more to say about Plants vs. Zombies that hasn’t already been said. Zombies are getting all up on your lawn, and you must use plants to drive them back. Some units freeze enemies, and others simply block the paths to buy more time.

In true PopCap fashion, the visuals are charming and lovable, and there’s enough plant variety to keep things interesting for days. It’s really hard not to enjoy this game. Play it, already.

This is a game with a simple premise. Get bigger so you can “eat” the things that were initially larger than you. The experience though, is beautiful, and the aurally delightful soundtrack sets the mood perfectly.

Propel your amoebic orb around the level by prodding it. Each prod reduces your mass a bit, which you must regain by eating other orbs. Use precise, deliberate clicks to move around the environment efficiently.

I cannot adequately explain Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP to you. It is a video game, sort of. It involves some very rudimentary melee combat. There are stick people. There is lots and lots of walking involved.

Sworcery is broken up into several chapters, the first of which has you fetching a mysterious artifact known as the “Megatome.” You just… have to play it.

If nothing else, Sworcery has a phenomenal soundtrack – one that will likely earn a permanent spot in your music library.

From Software didn’t release a mobile version of Dark Souls. Thankfully, we have Infinity Blade II.

As a proper sequel should, Infinity Blade II does everything better than its predecessor. There are more types of weapons. There are more offensive and defensive options. There are gems that add elemental effects to your equipment. The world is larger and significantly more interesting to explore. It is just a better game.

You can’t just hack-and-slash your way to triumph, though. Combat is a precise dance of attacking, blocking, and dodging. If you get too zealous and forget to defend, you will be punished. You’ve been warned.

Again, we have a game that perfectly understands the strengths of its platform.

Tiny Wings is all about making a bird fly. He has little wings, though, so you need a helping hand from gravity. Tap the screen to fold in the wings, dropping the bird onto downward slopes. As he peaks, release and let his wings spread, propelling him higher into the sky. Just get as far as you can before the sun sets and it’s time for bed. (I suck. I can’t get past the fifth island.)

I’ve had this game for months, and I bust it out at least twice a week.