100 BEST APPS
TRICKY QUICKIES Not every game needs to be a days-long epic, as these time-easy teasers prove by stealing your life away in bite-sized chunks
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GOLF SKIES
FANCADE
If you play real golf, you might have whacked a ball into the heavens in frustration once or twice. Golf Skies imagines an entire game played there, launching a ball into orbit and weaving a path through tiny planetoids, each exerting a gravitational pull to drag you off course. Never again will you grumble about a mere bunker. Free / Android, iOS
With its blocky voxels and virtual disks, Fancade is a love letter to old-school thrills reimagined for mobile, from bombing around dinky racing circuits to one-thumb leaping through 2D platforming worlds. Each challenge is brief but collectively they’re a marvel – and when you’re done playing, you can start creating your own levels. Free / Android, iOS
STICKY TERMS
SUPER FOWLST 2
Instead of having you fashion words from letter tiles, Sticky Terms hacks letters to pieces. You then rebuild phrases from what initially appears to be modern art. It’s tactile and smart, with curious foreign phrases that are broadly untranslatable, thereby teaching you a bit about the quirks of language. Free / Android, iOS
Demons are invading and no Hollywood stars are available, so it’s down to a chicken to save humanity. You are that chicken, flapping left and right in graceless arcs, bonking demons on the head and occasionally pooping missiles. This is a demented, brilliant airborne metroidvania. Free / Android, iOS
CRASHY CATS Real-life cats aren’t impressed with humans thinking they own stuff, and so will quite happily swipe a priceless heirloom to the floor. In single-thumb leapy endless runner Crashy Cats, this kitty reasoning is taken to the extreme as a string of collectable felines cause carnage that’d make even Bill Gates’s accountant sweat. Free / Android, iOS
ASTALO This one comes across a bit like Robotron: 2084 with swords and swiping. You find yourself within a tiny arena atop a terrifyingly tall cliff, and swipe to slice your way through foes. Linger an instant too long and you’re dead; do well and you’ll gain power-ups with which to tackle bigger, toothier enemies. Free / Android, iOS
