Best mobile games for iPAD

I've got quite a few games on my iPad, but 9 really stand out.

Crimson: Steam Pirates - I absolutely love this game. I've touted the merits of this game in a few threads, but I can't stress enough how great I think it is. It's a turn based pirate game, but more like Civilization turns than Final Fantasy Tactics turns. There are two "phases". You have a planning phase where you tell your ships where to go, and can use their abilities, then there's an execution phase, where you watch your plans and your enemies plans carry out. The missions are pretty short, and the first chapter isn't exactly that challenging, but it does get a bit tougher. Edit - there are multiple turns per level, reading my description made it sound like they were extremely short, when really they can take upwards of 30 turns or so.

Osmos - It's hard to explain this game, but I'll attempt to. You are a blob. You can absorb blobs that are smaller than you, which in turn make you bigger, but blobs bigger than you can absorb you (killing you). You have to expel just a teeny bit of your blob to move, but getting up to speed can take quite a bit of 'mass'. It's fun, and the music is extremely relaxing.

Scribblenauts - Just like the DS game (identical I think, though I never played the DS game). You have a character, you need to get him to the star in the level, you can type in things and they're created. It's got a HUGE vocabulary, and can make some funny stuff.

Final Fantasy 3 - It's the third installment in the Final Fantasy series. The real third installment, with the DS graphics. Despite being designed for a controller, Square Enix put in some really good touch controls that I actually quite like.

Machinarium - Same as the PC adventure game. Help a robot get to his girlfriend. I still haven't beaten it, mainly because I don't want to use the hints or a guide. It's huge, and absolutely stunning looking.

Civilization Revolution - Civilization for the iPad. I think this one is made for multiple platforms, but it's fairly fun. The AI takes quite a jump from the really easy first tier to the semi-difficult second tier. I find Civ 5 to be more my taste, but this one is also fun.

Edge - Fun quick game, navigate a cube to the exit, but with cool music and a few interesting twists.

Worms 2: Armageddon - It's Worms. The touch controls work really well. If you don't like the worms series, you won't like this, because it's pretty derivative Worms.

Snow Fight - This is an interesting game, not in that it's a particularly amazing one, but that the controls for it are pretty neat (and by no means original) but very well executed for a touch screen game. You draw out the path of you soldier, then tap where it shoots. It works very well in this game (limited snow balls, often out numbered). The AI isn't great, so it's fairly easy to win, but it's fun.

Other games to check out:
- World of Goo
- Canabalt
- Tower Madness HD
- Rebuild
- League of Evil
- Russian Dancing Men
- Loop Raccord (I hesitate to put it here, some people love it, I think it's meh)
- Strategery
- Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery (I generally like slow and "boring" games, but this one is slow. Definitely read the reviews or find it on sale first)

I generally hate simulated controllers. If a game uses touch button controls, then I tend to ignore it. League of Evil and Russian Dancing Men are my two exceptions, because they pull it off decently.

The iPad and Android Tablets have a lot of game potential once devs start to realize how to utilize the touch screen as an asset and not a weakness. The games on my list I think do a very good job at this (or at least coming very close).

As an aside - Games to Avoid Buying:

Final Fantasy Tactics - It's supremely disappointing. The controls don't quite make sense, the visuals haven't been touched, it's prone to crashes. It may seem a bit hypocritical to recommend not buying FFT for the visuals, while recommending FF3 for the non-updated (though previously updated) visuals. FFT took an extra 6 or 7 months to make for the iPad. Despite this extra time, it's apparent that not a lot of effort went into the game. The controls are wonky, when a menu is on screen tapping anywhere on the screen acts as accept, rather than cancel which only happens when pressing the cancel button. The visuals aren't any better than the ones for the iPhone. It's $18. The exact same game is currently available on the PSN (SEN, whatever it's called now) for $7 and is playable on the PSP and Vita. There is literally zero reason to buy this game on the iPad.

X-Men - It's the classic arcade game, so I was very excited to try playing it on the iPad. I initially feared the controls (simulated controller, ugh), but I figured what the hell. Bought the game, couldn't run it. It constantly crashed. The dev. recommends an iPad reset before playing the game (what the hell...), and after my third reset the game finally worked. And my fears were immediately realized. The game is fun, but it just doesn't translate to touch controls at all.

Edit: I guess it's worth noting that these were all played on my 16GB Black iPad 2. I'll be looking into getting an iPad 3 around May or so, so I'm not sure if any of the games have been updated for the new screen.
 
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Real Racing HD
Ace Combat
Reckless Racing HD
Sailboat Pro HD
Need for Speed: Shift
Monkey Island
 
Bomo said:
Civilization Revolution - Civilization for the iPad. I think this one is made for multiple platforms, but it's fairly fun. The AI takes quite a jump from the really easy first tier to the semi-difficult second tier. I find Civ 5 to be more my taste, but this one is also fun.
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I got this for my iPhone when I first saw it. It's one of two games I have on my phone (mobile gaming just doesn't appeal to me much) The other is the Scrabble app. I found Civilizatrion Revolution to be a HUGE disappointment compared to all desktop versions of the game.

I find I get more enjoyment out of playing the original 1991 DOS version in Dosbox than I do Civ Rev.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038550632 said:
I got this for my iPhone when I first saw it. It's one of two games I have on my phone (mobile gaming just doesn't appeal to me much) The other is the Scrabble app. I found Civilizatrion Revolution to be a HUGE disappointment compared to all desktop versions of the game.

I find I get more enjoyment out of playing the original 1991 DOS version in Dosbox than I do Civ Rev.
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Agreed. Civ Rev was actually my first civ game, never really appealed to me before. It really plays like a Civilization Lite. My biggest gripe is the balance in the military units, it's very easy for the computer to get very over powered. Plus the touchscreen seemed to bug out on occasion.

That said I haven't played any versions other than this one and 5, and it is definitely a weaker game (ignoring visuals obviously).

I put it on my list because it's, as far as I know, the best game like it on a stock iPad. It's enjoyable, but probably shouldnt have been called Civilization.
 
Bomo said:
Agreed. Civ Rev was actually my first civ game, never really appealed to me before. It really plays like a Civilization Lite. My biggest gripe is the balance in the military units, it's very easy for the computer to get very over powered. Plus the touchscreen seemed to bug out on occasion.

That said I haven't played any versions other than this one and 5, and it is definitely a weaker game (ignoring visuals obviously).
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I would recommend also giving Civ 4 a try. (if you buy it, get the "beyond the sword" version. It is the most extensive version and contains everything from the original) It is definitely the most complex of the Civilization series, with many more variables to consider than in Civ 5 and definitely more than Civ rev.

Civ 3 is considered the best of the classic Civ's by all the long time fans I have spoken to. I have never played it myself though. I played the original on my 286 back in the early 90s, but then got away from the series. I remember hearing of Civ 2, but I believe it came out during my DOS purist phase, when I refused to have Windows on my computer, and it was a Windows only game. Then I don't recall hearing anything about the launches of Civ 3 or 4. It wasn't until 2009 that I rediscovered the Civ series when an ad popped up for Civ 4 on Steam. I played it extensively and Pre ordered 5, which was a little bit of a letdown compared to the complexity of 4.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038550964 said:
I would recommend also giving Civ 4 a try. (if you buy it, get the "beyond the sword" version. It is the most extensive version and contains everything from the original) It is definitely the most complex of the Civilization series, with many more variables to consider than in Civ 5 and definitely more than Civ rev.

Civ 3 is considered the best of the classic Civ's by all the long time fans I have spoken to. I have never played it myself though. I played the original on my 286 back in the early 90s, but then got away from the series. I remember hearing of Civ 2, but I believe it came out during my DOS purist phase, when I refused to have Windows on my computer, and it was a Windows only game. Then I don't recall hearing anything about the launches of Civ 3 or 4. It wasn't until 2009 that I rediscovered the Civ series when an ad popped up for Civ 4 on Steam. I played it extensively and Pre ordered 5, which was a little bit of a letdown compared to the complexity of 4.
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Cool beans, will look into 4.

To the OP:

Crytek just released a game today called Fibble, I'm going to check it out. It has another one of my pet peaves for mobile games and that is charging for the game and then having in app purchases. Still it looks pretty and is made by Crytek. Hopefully it's at least fun.
 
If you like Asassin Creed, get Backstab - it's about pirates, Caribean and getting revenge with lots of similarities in game mechanics with AC. But without templars/animus crap :)

Get GTA 3 too :)
 
Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Civilization is available for the iPad? WHAT? WHERE WAS I?
 
BiH115 said:
Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Civilization is available for the iPad? WHAT? WHERE WAS I?
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Been out for years. I bought it on my iphone a couple of years ago.

It's a gimped down version of Civ Revolution from the consoles, which in its turn is a gimped down version of desktop Civ games. I feel its barely worth my time. I played through it once and I wasn't too impressed, unfortunately.

Instead, jailbreak it, install DosPad (DosBox for the iPad) and play the original Civ 1. It's a much better game :p
 
4 Elements is a decent timewaster, and well polished for a free game.

PvZ has been out forever but implements pretty well with a touch interface. Still a fun game.

Eufloria - I haven't tried it yet on the iPad but the game itself *should* translate to a touch interface. I'd be worried about pegging the CPU on some of the levels.

++ for Osmos

Puzzle Quest 2 - Kind of lame graphics and extremely repetitive, but I like the PQ games overall and it's easy to pick up and put down.
 
Definitely check out Hero Academy, it just got a universal update and the game fits the iPad screen now.
 
Anomaly Warzone HD - It's Tower Defense in reverse and it has surprisingly deep gameplay, especially at higher difficulties (because you have to be faster and more efficient with the tools.) If I had to fault it for anything, it would be that it's a little short. It does feature an endless challenge mode and some other things like that however.

Cut the Rope - Everyone knows this one, but it's quick and fun especially if you're standing in line for something and don't want a super involved game.

Fruit Ninja - Yeap... I said it... it also has 2 player, which is nice to waste time on if you're with a sig-o or etc. while you're waiting for something else.

Infinity Blade - I haven't played 2, but I hear it's even better than the first. I played the first game a lot and got into the gameplay enough to go through at least 2 levels of New Game+ mode (which if you know about this game is probably more than what most do, and it's a bit nuts.) I love the timing style of gameplay, the graphics, and the addictive must upgrade RPG side of it.

Monkey Island 1/2 - Classic games with updated voices and graphics. What's not to love?

Plants vs Zombies - I played this game to death. It's probably the new classic in tower/base defense games.

Sentinel 3 - I wasn't aware of the first 2 Sentinel games, but no bother. This is another tower defense game in a much more classic form. Baddies try to get into your base, and if they do you lose. However this game features a few tricks. You control a commander, you can upgrade and sell your defenses, mine for extra cash, repair walls, and other fun stuff. The real challenge of course is to max out your commanders level so you can compete against others in "Endless Mode" to see if you can compete and get past more waves than anyone else in the webiverse.

SimCity DLX - This game plays surprisingly well on the iPad 2 and the controls also were thoughtfully put into it. It's not as deep as some of the desktop versions (like you can't make bordering cities, or make deals with them for example) but it does have most of the game play from SimCity 2k. The graphics are pretty enough as well.

Zombie Gunship - It's basically the Gunship portion of COD:4 in an app. It's great when you just want to shoot stuff and let off some steam.


Anyway, those are generally my favorites.
 
Ascension is pretty great. Turn based multiplayer card game for both the phone and the pad. All of the telltale game are also great - adventure games work well on a touch screen.
 
Check out jubeat by konami if you like rhythm games.
Also games made by kairosoft are pretty addicting.
 
7th Guest, it's as good as the day I was playing it on PC :)
Real Tennis / Real Football
Majesty
Another World
Max Payne
Trainz
Hospital Havoc

Counting all those games, I figured, that I now spend more time playing on iPad, then on PC. Buut, playing in a garden, enjoying the sun, beats PC gaming :)
 
Plants vs. Zombies
Street Fighter 4
Chaos Rings

I can't think of anymore at the moment but these were truly great games
 
MorgothPl said:
Counting all those games, I figured, that I now spend more time playing on iPad, then on PC. Buut, playing in a garden, enjoying the sun, beats PC gaming :)
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Careful with that kind of talk around here ;)

I can't judge you though, I'm in the same boat recently.

Here's my list:

- Junk Jack - great game if you like Minecraft but in 2D
- The Sims FreePlay - I wouldn't be caught dead playing The Sims on PC, but it's a fun time waster for the iPad
- Touch Tanks - multiplayer top down tank game, reminds me of "Bolo" for anyone that's played that
- Kingdom Rush HD - Great tower defense game (on sale right now for $0.99!), my current addiction
- Mass Effect Infiltrator
- Real Racing 2 HD - Good game with great graphics
 
MorgothPl said:
7th Guest, it's as good as the day I was playing it on PC :)
Real Tennis / Real Football
Majesty
Another World
Max Payne
Trainz
Hospital Havoc

Counting all those games, I figured, that I now spend more time playing on iPad, then on PC. Buut, playing in a garden, enjoying the sun, beats PC gaming :)
Click to expand...

7th guest is missing 3 puzzles, and my ipad overheats in the sun :(
 
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