10 minute read
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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
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 FANCADE
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
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
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 SUPER FOWLST 2
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 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
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HYPERX CLOUD BUDS
Designed for gamers on the go, the wireless Cloud Buds manage to pack in Bluetooth 5.1, aptX HD and sizeable 14mm drivers for a scarcely believable price. Particular attention has been given to the in-line microphone so it copes with multiplayer comms when battling background noise, and patented silicone tips are there to offer a long-lasting comfortable fit for marathon
ORD.
If you think some old-school text adventures were terse, they’ve nothing on Ord. Here, every scene ped back e words: ription, an (which you ) and an me. With your lling in the the speedy s manage trangely g and tense.
Android iOS READY SET GOAT!
Life would be idyllic for this game’s protagonist if not for deadly ‘creeps’ beaming in by the second. The titular goat must therefore leap on their heads, chaining kills to acquire power-ups. Last 30 seconds and you’re doing pretty well. Stick it out for longer and you’ll unlock all kinds of goat bling.
Free / Android, iOS SHOOTY QUEST
Evil types should know better than to blow up the house of someone called The Deadly Arrow and leave a calling card. As Mr Arrow, you get your revenge by – as the game’s name suggests – getting shooty. It’s intense single-screen fare, with a smattering of strategy as you ponder weapon choices.
Free / Android, iOS
The Cloud Buds work with the voice assistant of your choice, using an in-line mic and multifunction button to take calls, control music and more.
SSILE MMAND: CHARGED
e much-loved original, this e test has you fend off a ge of missiles until your ble defeat – at which point y states ‘The end’. Purists pe that trackball controls een swapped for tap-based g, but the vibrant neon s remain intact.
Android, iOS
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RAZER KISHI
Pawing away at a glass screen is fine for games designed for touchscreen interaction; but when tackling nsole-orientated fare, you want a D ks, triggers and buttons. In short, you r Kishi. Its innovative stretchy design most modern smartphones, in forming your handset into mbling a PS Vita. It doesn’t even s power is drawn from your ortantly, the controls are great.
alot.com
If your phone’s battery runs low while gaming, pass-through charging means you can plug your usual cable directly into the Kishi to juice up. XBOX GAME PASS
If you want console-grade games on your phone in a literal sense, take out a Game Pass sub and you can stream over 100 AAA games to your device, prodding the screen to play or using a controller if you’ve any sense. It’s Android-only for now, mind, because Apple.
from R100/m / Android GRIS
Gris isn’t having a great time, having lost her voice and tumbled into a world of surreal watercolour landscapes. You help by navigating side-scrolling leapy sections, light puzzles and occasional boss battles. Visually gorgeous and now on Android, Gris is a console-quality masterpiece.
R76 / Android R100 / iOS ANTSTREAM ARCADE
Think every game after 1990 sucks? Try Antstream, which pipes all manner of old fare to your phone for R200 a month. It works with touchscreens and controllers, and you’ll find everything from obscure ZX Spectrum weirdness to arcade classics like Bubble Bobble.
R200/m / Android
BOOK OF DEMONS: TABLET EDITION
OK, so this isn’t actually Diablo on your iPad. But it does reimagine dungeon-crawling and constant violence in a manner that works on the touchscreen yet still feels very console-like. Routes are linear pathways and attacks are gestural, but you still get lashings of boss fights and gore.
200 / iPad
SERIOUS PLAYERS
If you’re of the opinion that ‘proper’ games don’t exist for phones and tablets, this console-worthy selection should change your mind
CRYING SUNS
Reckon you’d make a better starfleet captain than those idiots on TV? This PC original, now on mobile, puts that theory to the test as you explore a fallen empire, balance resources, and take on enemies in tense battles that play out on a hex-based grid. Equal parts FTL, Advance Wars and classic sci-fi, it’s great stuff. R155 / Android ● R180 / iOS
FAR: LONE SAILS
Things were tough for the protagonist in side-scrolling puzzler Limbo… but at least they didn’t have to contend with keeping a massive ship moving along an apocalyptic wasteland. With rich visuals and thinky puzzling, Far: Lone Sails will keep you captivated throughout its brief but beguiling journey. R105 / Android ● R80 / iOS
THE UNFINISHED SWAN
An orphan is given one of his mom’s unfinished paintings, but then the swan in the picture ambles off into an invisible world. Fortunately, you’re armed with an endless supply of paint balloons to bring form to your surroundings in this surreal adventure that whops you in the feels.
R100 / iOS
CIVILIZATION VI
If you’ve played any Civ game, you’ll know the drill: start out with a settler, expand your civilisation and aim for the stars (or supervillain-style world domination). It’s deep, brilliant stuff and a marvel to see on a phone screen; and if you tire of the original game, there are loads of add-ons to grab via IAP.
Free (IAP) / Android, iOS KINGDOM TWO CROWNS
You’re a king with a horse and a bag of gold. Peasants do your bidding. Life is good! Except during the night when the Greed appear, dismantling all your work and attempting to pilfer your crown. This is an intense real-time strategy game with added side-scrolling pixel art.
R175 / Android R200 / iOS XCOM 2 COLLECTION
Aliens have taken over the Earth, silencing dissent… but XCOM can still give them a kicking. This happens by way of turn-based strategy and plentiful explosions across the entire PC original plus four DLC packs. Note you’ll need a powerful iPhone or iPad and plenty of free space.
R480 / iOS
THE GARDENS BETWEEN
A game about memories and time, The Gardens Between explores the relationship between two friends through the prism of their experiences. Linear pathways can be altered by reversing time, making changes and seeing how events play out. It’s gorgeous fare with an emotional punch.
Google Play Pass INFERNO+
PEW! PEW! PEW! There’s lots of shooty action in this blaster, which combines twin-stick destruction, maze-roaming and enough neon to choke a thousand dodgy takeaway signs. You get 40 varied levels and endless challenges by way of the 90-second randomised Scorched mode in which to cause maximum carnage.
GameClub
SUPER SUBS
All-you-can-eat gaming isn’t just for consoles: get dozens of top phone games for R100 a month through Apple Arcade, Google Play Pass or GameClub
SPYDER
Think it’d be cool to be James Bond crossed with Spider-Man crossed with a robot? The snag is you’re the size of a spider as you skitter around surfaces, using gadgets to slice through panels, flip switches and ruin the plans of unsuspecting bad people. Just avoid getting whacked by a newspaper.
Apple Arcade
A MONSTER’S EXPEDITION
Fresh from his adventures in superb mobile puzzler A Good Snowman, the titular monster heads for warmer climes. Keen to learn about humans, he explores sites dotted around islands, shoving over trees and rolling logs to create bridges. Responsible forestry management not included.
Apple Arcade SOUTH OF THE CIRCLE
Apple Arcade goes big on games with a strong narrative, and South of the Circle is almost all narrative. Interaction is minimal, bar a few walky bits, as you explore the past and present of protagonist Peter, lost in Antarctica after his plane goes down. Beautiful stuff and a couple of hours well spent.
Apple Arcade SLASH QUEST
How do you make dungeon-crawling family-friendly? Lose the gore, add loads of cartoonish characters, and arm the hero with a ridiculously huge sentient sword. You won’t miss the blood as you wander about, exploring a vibrant world and slicing foes in two as you attempt to take the sword home.
Apple Arcade
LITTLE ORPHEUS
There’s more than a whiff of Limbo and Inside in this one. You spend much of your time hot-footing it, occasionally pausing to fashion a pathway forwards or avoid a terrifying enemy. But the game’s dazzling subterranean imagery, combined with its wonderful voiceovers, make it worth exploring.
Apple Arcade THE LAST CAMPFIRE
Can a flame be rekindled? That’s the aim here as a lost ember searches for home, helping bring light to creatures in abject despair. Might sound like a miserable experience, but The Last Campfire is a beguiling game of puzzles within puzzles, brimming with beautiful visuals and ideas.
Apple Arcade WOOORDS
You know those colourful magnetic letters you stick on the fridge? That’s the interface for this wonderfully tactile word game. Against the you swipe m around, watc stars explod completed w and then ins forget the e English langu when you’re halfway thro high-scoring
GameClub
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BACKBONE ONE
Designed for Apple Arcade and other iPhone titles that support controllers, the Backbone is here to ease your route to the top of high-score tables and then to help you brag about it. Its stretchy form snugly fits any iPhone, and the combined entity more resembles an elongated DualShock than a PS Vita. Along with all the usual buttons, there’s one to shoot grabs and screen recordings, which you can edit in the app and then hurl online to wow your friends.
MINI METRO
The London Tube map remains a fine piece of visual design, and in Mini Metro it becomes a living thing as you make connections between stations and manage carriages and people on your evolving network. Whether playing in the frantic Extreme or chilled Endless mode, this is a rare underground journey you’ll want to make again and again.
