Year 2010 in Review, the Best iPhone Games for Real Gamers

2010 is no doubt the best year for the iPhone, which now should really be renamed to iOS devices –with the advent of the iPad, and the gorgeous retina display of the iPhone 4 / iTouch, and the first foray of Apple stepping in with an integrated Game Center experience — while hugely flawed and nothing-at-all like the friendly Xbox Live, bringing achievements and leaderboards and friend lists and multiplayer without having to subscribe to numerous 3rd party services is godsend; and it marks the dawn of an age where we as serious  console and PC gamers finally start to take notice and spend more time on our phone even when we are just sitting leisurely at home, in between our sessions of hardcore gaming on our 50-inch flat-screen TVs, we find the little magical device in our hands sucking away hours of our time. Finally Nintendo and Sony has a true contender — while we admit that iOS gaming will never be serious enough to take us away from consoles, it IS good enough for us to take our eyes away from our precious PSP and DS. After all, we are always going to have a phone in our pocket but who takes their bulky PSP out when they are standing in line at the local restaurant?

Just like last year’s article 10 Best iPhone Games for Real Gamers, this year we are compiling a similar list for those of you who consider yourself a core gamer who also happens to own an iOS device, or looking to purchase one. Games which make this lists are not limited to games that are considered for either the hardcore or casual crowd, but unique to the platform, meaning that console clones (games made by Gameloft comes to mind) and ports are not going to be included for they are no doubt an inferior experience on a handheld. In no particular order:

1) Fruit Ninja by HalfBrick Studios [ Lite / iPad]

An amazing achievement in a way that such a simple concept of simply slashing fruit translates to endless hours of fun — and nobody thought of it before, not even on the Wii. Fruit Ninja is one of the first games to utilize Game Center multiplayer and matches could end under a minute — definitely the most competition you can get out of your iPhone when press for time. The downside, you might actually get addicted to it and spend hours cutting apples and oranges.

2) Cut the Rope by Chillingo [Lite / Holiday / iPad]

A physics puzzler that is cute, charming, innovative, and never stops being fun  — a cakewalk of a game even for the casual crowd, yet appeals to the hardcore completionists who likes the challenge to collect every star in the game; makes it standout from the million other physics puzzlers out on the App store. If you can read the title, you can play the game.

3) Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment

By the makers of Shadow Complex, Infinity Blade is one of the first iPhone games running the Unreal engine with graphics to rival the PS3. The best looking iPhone game-to-date, Infinity Blade is Demon’s Souls meets the classic Punchout, and could also be described as the real man’s Fruit Ninja. While the environment isn’t free roaming, the gesture based sword fighting gameplay more than makes up for it. While the game contains light RPG elements, it is every bit a skill based game where one must learn the movement of his opponent in order to advance into the depths of the castle to defeat your nemesis.

4) Solomon’s Keep by Raptisoft [ Lite ]

While being not big fans of dual stick shooters, Solomon’s Keep managed to charm its way into our life by simply being unique and fun — a  Diablo style dungeon crawler featuring some explosive magic and menacing bosses; while the game is quite short, it was sweet while it lasted (resists the urge to tell relationship jokes). While we had some complains with the not-too- accurate shooting mechanics of the right stick just like every other iPhone game which uses virtual joysticks, it really didn’t stop us from loving the game.

5) Chaos Rings by Square Enix [ iPad ]

By the development studio behind the Wild Arms series and the publisher of Final Fantasy, Chaos Rings is the best traditional jRPG featuring fast-paced turn-based combat and epic storytelling fit onto the iPhone. Among the decline of the genre, Chaos Rings managed to shine even in the midst of its console brethren.  Read our review here.

6) Space Miner: Space Ore Bust By Venan Entertainment [ Lite / iPad]

An accidental gem we found on the App store, Space Miner is asteroid meets Wing Commander Privateer with a unique sense of humor, combining fast paced action shooter, space exploration and starship customization –  it is one of the most enjoyable experiences we had this year.

7) ZombieSmash by Gamedoctors

While the Castle Defense genre and zombie games have been getting old from the previous year, ZombieSmash stands out from the crowd by being extremely polished with its unique Ragdoll physics and a soundtrack to die for (by famed composer Chris Hülsbeck). There is just something incessantly satisfying about pulling zombies from the ground with your fingers, lifting them, dropping them, and watching their limbs fly as they clash onto the ground.

8) Tiki Smasher by JetFable Studios [ Lite ]

As a Castle Defense title, Tiki Smasher manages to be entirely different from its siblings by solely using tilt-based controls letting the player control a pinball against hordes of enemies in defense of the Tiki god. With unique enemies like sharks leaping out of sands, wizards casting runes to freeze the ball’s movement, and zombies bursting into acid puddles which reverse the gravity of the player’s phone, Tiki Smasher takes actual strategy and skill to master, and is unlike anything else you have experienced before.  Read the developer interview here.

9) Tilt to Live by One Man Left [ Lite / iPad]

Another enjoyable title built on a simple idea of survival, the player tilt the device and control an arrow to avoid red dots which are the enemies. With the different array of weapons, game modes and a captivating color palette, this unique title has earned a permanent slot on my phone.

10) Carcassonne by TheCodingMonkeys

While we own every version of the classic German boardgame Carcassonne, the iPhone version is simply the best one — superior to the XBLA title with the clunky interface, and eliminates the time-consuming and tedious  nature of organization and score-keeping of the physical boxset. The casual pick-up-and-play nature of Carcassonne may have turned off some serious boardgame players who are into more serious strategy games like Settlers of Catan and Puerto Rico, Carcassonne is perfect for the short sessions available on the iPhone no matter if you are playing against an AI or a real opponent — its robust multiplayer mode with chat and push notifications is godsend for boardgame lovers.

11) The Incident by Big Bucket Software

The Incident is a very simple game about tilting the protagonist left and right to avoid falling objects, tapping the screen to jump on top of them as they stack up. What is charming about the title is the retro 16-bit era pixel art and the hundreds and thousands of different objects that the game generates. If the game doesn’t get points for gameplay originality, it wins by captivating us with the care and love the developer has infused into the product — the game tells you which object you are killed by — like by an actual Carcassonne logo.

12) Pix’n Love Rush by Bulkypix [ iPad ]

While we weren’t totally crazy about the gameplay of Pix’n Love Rush — you walk left and right, shoots and jump via virtual controls which are placed a bit too far apart from each other; the game amazes and captivates by its randomly generated levels and ever-shifting pixel art environment which brings back the different eras of gameboy and other good old Nintendo memories — a vision hard to be put into words; can only be experienced.

13) Hector Episode 1: Badge of Carnage by Straandlooper

A perfect little  indie point-and-click adventure game with Leisure Suit Larry like humor and professionally done dialogue and voice acting, pretty much the only original adventure game which is not a port on the App store with the polish to compete with the likes of Telltale and Monkey Island games, not to be missed by the fans of the genre. Read our review here.

14) Babylonian Twins by Cosmos Interactive [ iPad ]

What is special about Babylonian Twins is its unique history involving with its development, as the first game from Iraq, it was originally planned for Amiga release in the 80s.  The game is unique in the way that it brings back the gameplay frustration from that era. We could think of a million ways the game could have improved to lessen the frustration level for its player, but heck, it ended up being very memorable for us regardless. Read our review here.

15) Samurai II: Vengeance By MadFinger Games

Last year we dabbled with Samurai, a final fight clone set in feudal japan with beautiful cell shaded graphics and ended up not liking it because of the unintuitive and unresponsive gesture based controls. This year, the developer brought the most improved sequel ever by replacing the swiping with virtual buttons which we at first thought counter-intuitive, but ended up making the game much more enjoyable. On the retina display, the game is gorgeous and reminds you of Okami on the PS2, and before the debut of Infinity Blade, it was hands down the best looking game on the iPhone. We do have some complains of repetitive gameplay and lack of variety in boss fights, but heck, it is still such an awesome title to show your iPhone 4 off.

16) Mirror’s Edge by Electronic Arts [ iPad ]

Never would have thought we would put a EA game on this list — the change of management and direction this year EA has made somehow set the evil empire on the path of redemption — with new IPs like Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, and Dante’s Inferno, EA is willing to take a chance not just pumping out the next Madden sequel or the next Harry Potter game. Mirror’s Edge was one of those blunder — come on, how can anyone not realize that even on paper, a FPS platformer running simulator is simply a bad idea — you can’t see your feet for god’s sake and playing the game for 5 minutes will guarantee  a trip to the bathroom emptying the contents of your stomach.  When this game is ported from the console to the iOS devices, the developer realized what was wrong with the original title and set out to rectify it — while retaining good about the original: the color palette, setting, storyline, and character design; Mirror’s Edge iOS was magically transformed  into a side-scrolling Prince of Persia like title with a lot of speed and some exploration, played purely by swipe controls. We enjoyed the heck out of this game.

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