33rd Division

A line-drawing game in the tradition of Flight Control and Harbor Master, but with a stealthy twist. Your job is direct soldiers to safe spots on the map, but without them being seen by the enemies. You can’t just draw a path, but must adjust it as the enemies patrol and lie down to stay out of sight. It’s tough, rewarding and incredibly exciting, distilling the essence of stealth into a fast-paced arcade rush.

Angry Birds

An immediate classic, Angry Birds arrived on the iPhone with little fanfare, but captivated everyone who tried it. It wasn’t just that people were losing sleep trying to get through all the levels – it’s that they then lost more sleep trying to get the full three-star rating for each one. A simple game where you launch birds at fortifications, the consistent physics and excellent level design lifted this above similar games. The only real problem is that after many hours spent trying to fully complete the game, it still leaves you wanting more. Much, much more.

Canabalt

Superb conversion of the web-based Flash game, Canabalt is a pure rush, controlled simply by tapping the screen when you want to jump. It’s wonderfully presented, perfectly simple and hugely addictive, with the randomly-generated levels meaning you can never be sure quite what’s ahead.

Doom Classic

Arguably the best game ever made, Doom has never really translated well to handheld consoles due to control difficulties. The iPhone version, however, controls beautifully and makes this the third-best version of this classic game (after the PC and Xbox 360 versions). The level design, weapons and enemies are still as wonderful as ever. If you’ve ever loved Doom, this is the version to carry around in your pocket. If you’ve never played, now’s the time to start.

iDrop Dead: Flower Edition

A physics-based puzzler where your job is to inflict as much damage as possible to cute cartoon characters. Tear their limbs off, expose their skulls and blow them up. This is a game, though, not an animated joke and the level goals are well-judged and careful consideration and well-timed flicking is needed to get them all. Forget Ragdoll Blaster and Max Injury, iDrop Dead is the pinnacle of the ragdoll genre and the Flower Edition contains the most content and is well worth paying for over the free versions.

Minigore

There are a lot twin-stick shooters on the App Store, but Minigore is the best. It may not have the RPG-like aspects of Alive-4-ever or the maze-like levels of Against The Fire, but it surpasses all other examples of the genre in pure frantic shooting fun. It’s fast, furious, relentless and tuned to perfection.

Orbital

Fantastic game that tests your aim and your brain. The mechanics are hard to explain, but obvious when you play. It’s a brutally hard game, but never unfair. Like many great games, you may develop a love-hate relationship with it – but you’ll keep going back.

Ridge Racer Accelerated

At launch this was a rough gem, plagued by slowdown and frame rate problems. A patch was issued quickly, though, and on the 3GS at least, performance is now nearly perfect. It doesn’t have the content of the PSP version of the game, nor the polish, but the glorious tilt-based steering makes it worth owning alongside other versions. No other racer on the iPhone comes close to the sheer terror the game can generate as you struggle to control your car round the twisting hills of the classic Ridge Racer courses. The price you see on iTunes doesn’t include the whole game – you need to set aside another three quid or so for the downloadable content – but it’s worth it.

Soosiz

The sound-bite description is Mario Galaxy in 2D, but with its cute visuals and small, but increasingly challenging, levels Soosiz soon leaves its inspiration behind and proves itself to be its own master. It controls perfectly, features a surprising amount of variety and has a enough levels to keep you going for a long, long time. It’s a joyous, bouncy experience, reminiscent of the best 16-bit platformers while being completely modern.

Str8ts

Sometimes you need to kick back and feed your brain, not your reactions, and there are a number of grid-based number puzzles for such occasions. There’s Sudoku, obviously, and KenKen, but the best of them is Str8ts. It’s impossible to say why, but Str8ts is simply the most satisfying puzzle game there is. It’s always logical and if you’re stuck, it’s only ever because you’ve missed something. The ratio between baffled staring and eureka moments is just right and when things flow, it’s glorious.

33rd Division

A line-drawing game in the tradition of Flight Control and Harbor Master, but with a stealthy twist. Your job is direct soldiers to safe spots on the map, but without them being seen by the enemies. You can’t just draw a path, but must adjust it as the enemies patrol and lie down to stay out of sight. It’s tough, rewarding and incredibly exciting, distilling the essence of stealth into a fast-paced arcade rush.

Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies

A direct port of the Zombies game mode from World At War on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, CoD: Zombies really shouldn’t work. A game designed for high-definition hardware and a fully-featured controller – on the iPhone? Incredibly, it’s a total success. There are three different control schemes, all of which work well. The graphics are astounding, with the zombie animations especially noteworthy. And the wave-based survival gameplay simply never gets old. Even without considering the online cooperative multiplayer, this is one of the ten best games on the iPhone. At the time of writing only one map is available, as more are added this game will only get better.

Canabalt

Superb conversion of the web-based Flash game, Canabalt is a pure rush, controlled simply by tapping the screen when you want to jump. It’s wonderfully presented, perfectly simple and hugely addictive, with the randomly-generated levels meaning you can never be sure quite what’s ahead.

Civilization Revolution

Civilization Revolution was a great game on the Xbox 360. The core of the game was the same in the DS conversion, but an awkward interface made it difficult to enjoy. The iPhone version of the game, though, is a triumph. It may not be as pretty as the 360 version or have the AI tweaks that top players want, but it’s much easier to control than the DS version. It’s more of a game than the the more simulation based PC Civilization games, but that doesn’t stop it being a great way to build an empire.

Doom Classic

It may seem to be overkill to have two first-person shooters in this list when no tower defence or racing games have made the cut, but it’s not my fault that both CoD: Zombies and Doom Classic are deserving of a place in this list. Arguably the best game ever made, Doom has never really translated well to handheld consoles due to control difficulties. The iPhone version, however, controls beautifully and makes this the third-best version of this classic game (after the PC and Xbox 360 versions). The level design, weapons and enemies are still as wonderful as ever. If you’ve ever loved Doom, this is the version to carry around in your pocket. If you’ve never played, now’s the time to start.

iDrop Dead: Flower Edition

A physics-based puzzler where your job is to inflict as much damage as possible to cute cartoon characters. Tear their limbs off, expose their skulls and blow them up. This is a game, though, not an animated joke and the level goals are well-judged and careful consideration and well-timed flicking is needed to get them all. Forget Ragdoll Blaster and Max Injury, iDrop Dead is the pinnacle of the ragdoll genre and the Flower Edition contains the most content and is well worth paying for over the free versions.

Minigore

There are a lot twin-stick shooters on the App Store, but Minigore is the best. It may not have the RPG-like aspects of Alive-4-ever or the maze-like levels of Against The Fire, but it surpasses all other examples of the genre in pure frantic shooting fun. It’s fast, furious, relentless and tuned to perfection.

Orbital

Fantastic game that tests your aim and your brain. The mechanics are hard to explain, but obvious when you play. It’s a brutally hard game, but never unfair. Like many great games, you may develop a love-hate relationship with it – but you’ll keep going back.

Soosiz

The sound-bite description is Mario Galaxy in 2D, but with its cute visuals and small, but increasingly challenging, levels Soosiz soon leaves its inspiration behind and proves itself to be its own master. It controls perfectly, features a surprising amount of variety and has a enough levels to keep you going for a long, long time. It’s a joyous, bouncy experience, reminiscent of the best 16-bit platformers while being completely modern.

Str8ts

Sometimes you need to kick back and feed your brain, not your reactions, and there are a number of grid-based number puzzles for such occasions. There’s Sudoku, obviously, and KenKen, but the best of them is Str8ts. It’s impossible to say why, but Str8ts is simply the most satisfying puzzle game there is. It’s always logical and if you’re stuck, it’s only ever because you’ve missed something. The ratio between baffled staring and eureka moments is just right and when things flow, it’s glorious.

The picture below isn’t of the new world, it’s from an earlier world. Those pink circles are bombs that are triggered if something hits them. One of them has just started to explode.

Things might get messy. Hopefully. Messy = points.

So I went back to the old version and checked. Nope, the times are exactly the same. The game’s just harder than I remember it. Fair enough. That just means it’ll last me longer. Hooray!

So the developer decided to leave iDrop Dead alone, for people who still want blood, bones and brains, but make a new version of the game, with the extra content, but with flowers and candy canes instead of gore. Got that?

So that people who’d already bought iDrop Dead didn’t have to pay for the new version, it was put up for free, which was a nice gesture. (At the time of writing it’s still free, but may cost 59p by the time you read this.)

This all also means that I’ve had to start the game again from the beginning to get to the new content. This is not a problem. In fact, it feels exciting. I get to play it all again with a clean slate – hooray!

You see, iDrop Dead is an excellent game and a graphical makeover doesn’t change that simple fact. It’s a brilliant physics-based puzzle game in any incarnation and I’ll always choose to play the version with the most content. Go get it.

I want you to download the Lite version of iDrop Dead.

I’ll even give you a direct link to the game on the iTunes Store.

HERE.

Got that?

Okay.

Now I want you to play it.

If you enjoy it, the full game is only 59p and is full of lots of levels and modes and characters and blood colours and everything.

Thank you.

I appreciate that this sounds a bit like an advert, but I only downloaded the game on a whim and was very surprised by how good it was. I think a lot of people are just thinking it’s some gory cartoon toy, when in fact it’s an excellent puzzle game. I really just think it deserves a wider exposure than it’s got and I honestly think most people who try it out will be surprised by how good it is.

It’s not perfect, no, but it’s very, very good and any criticisms I might have – some weirdly difficult goals now and again, random placement of saw blades on one of the level means you have to keep playing to get a good layout – don’t amount to much against the good stuff.

Look, it may look like a cartoonish novelty for people who think cuddly animal-based gore is funny and, well, it is in part.

But ignore the graphical trimmings for a second (especially as the blood and bones look like being replaced with woodland fruits and flowers in the next version, due to Apple skittishness, or something) and focus on the game.

It’s fantastic. It’s got a simple interface, but rewards experimentation and imagination. It’s terrifically well-designed and deserves a spot on your iPhone. Trust me.

It’s not the longest game in the world, no, but it’s only 59p and you get a huge amount of entertainment for the price of a can of Coke. It also seems to last longer than I suspected, because I’ve been back to it after finding myself missing it and seem to have been sucked right back in, though now I’m going for high scores and I’m not simply playing to tick boxes.

I finished off all the goals in Normal Mode, now I’m doing the timed goals. They were all very easy – once I’d figured out the right character to use for each one – until I hit one that asks me to get 20,000 points in five seconds on a level and I can’t see how to do it. I’ve tried all the characters and none seem to work. The puny ones don’t give enough points for complete destruction, the ones with high points are too tough. I’ve had best luck with a mid-range character, but that’s only got me 17,000 points at most and I normally get around 10,000.

I’ll have to see if any of the other modes offer as much fun, or whether they’ll just be extras I tire of quickly. Regardless, I don’t think it’s going to be the longest game in the world, but 59p for the amount of fun I’ve had makes it a great buy.