It is perfectly serviceable, but for the average gamer, it isn’t going to provide the satisfaction that so many of us crave. It’ll leave you dried up like the salt flats.

The ads are a total downer, and once they annoy me again I’ll immediately head over and open up another app. It’s a decent enough title for the football enthusiast who has nothing better to do during commercials, and even though this isn’t a ringing endorsement, my kicking days are far from over.

Smash Bandits is one hell of a fun game.

With beautiful visuals, excellent controls, varying raceways, and near-perfect multiplayer experiences, I wholly recommend Asphalt 8: Airborne to anyone wanting a fun, over-the-top racing title. Who knows what Gameloft will do in the future with Asphalt 9, but they won’t be redlining and blowing their engines anytime soon.

Ben 10 Slammers is decently priced at two dollars, and while it’s possible to make in-app purchases, the game doesn’t harass you to get you to make said purchases, which is aces in our book.

Hill Bill should have kept me leaping towards new horizons, but unfortunately, the only thing it’s jumping is the proverbial shark.

Essentially, if you are a super fan of Senses Fail, Grindcore might be worth it to you. You can learn so much more about the members and get extra posters/wallpapers. However, if you’re just looking for some fun, steer clear of Grindcore. The rewards will not interest you, the gameplay’s not that fun, and it’s kind of glitchy.

Once my dragons get stronger and my land appreciates in value, I’ll either start my own tribe (it costs 50,000 coins), or simply join the herd. I’ve had my share of doubts regarding free to play titles, but thankfully Battle Dragons has reignited my faith in a freemium universe.

Drawing lines on a chalkboard may sound like a mind numbing bore, but thanks to this casual game’s intriguing play on one’s memory and use of finger skills, The Impossible Line rises to the occasion.

Way To Go is puzzler that is cute, but ultimately two dimensional. It offers a few minutes of fun, but I have to recommend you steer your finger clear of the little tile icon in the App Store. There are so many better destinations for your puzzle loving brain.

BattleFriends in Tanks is an interesting concept, but doesn’t quite live up to the game it could be.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has a few nice touches that I dig, but will I resume my Shadow Hunter duties anytime soon? Probably not, since there’s just way too many great apps out there waiting to be played on my iPad.

With four galaxies and over 80 missions to explore, I’m still a wide eyed space cadet who’s still trying to earn his wings. I have no idea if I’ll resuscitate the universe’s dying light, but maybe something just as important needs saving.

Dying: Sinner Escape may have a bleak outlook on humanity, but it’s hard not to be drawn into its spellbinding environment.

Gold Diggers was a better title than I thought it was going to be when I first downloaded it onto my home screen. It’s worth giving a try if you’re looking for a new title that offers up some fun, fast-twitch action.

Perfect Kick’s seamless and uncomplicated online mode should immediately get you hooked. Thankfully, it doesn’t exploit its free to play model and ask for your bucks right off the bat. Kicking and protecting a ball isn’t rocket science, but who needs to think when you’re having so much fun?

I’d like to think that, for whatever reason, the developers just had to rush it out the door and there will be more to come that builds upon that stuff. But who’s to say? It could also just be a Cliff’s Notes game.

For just under four bucks, you’ll sail the high seas in an adventure that will keep you glued to your device. I’ve never collected toes or infested the ocean with environmentally dangerous gunk, but there’s a lot of things I’ve done on my iPad that will remain my dirty little secret. Add Pirate Legends to the pile of apps I’ll keep playing (and plundering), ’till the cows come home.

Even aside from the issues, Ninjas – Stolen Scrolls can be pretty fun. Power up your ninja, equip him/her with better weapons, pound on some baddies’ faces, and search for the stolen scrolls. As is typical with most iOS games, the in-game purchases are fairly pricey, so be prepared to put in the time or some real-world dimes.

Skate Madness plays exactly how it looks: a mediocre endless runner with absolutely zero replay value.

Maniac Manors certainly isn’t the best point-and-click adventure out there, with its moderately unimaginative puzzles, poor graphics, and name so close to Maniac Mansion that it borders on copyright infringement, but it’s still a pretty decent point-and-click adventure.

I cannot recommend Pocket Land to any fans of strategy or puzzle titles since it is still very unfinished.

I really would have loved a few less ads for NFL Pro 2014, but since I’ll devour anything with a helmet and pads, I’m okay with the horrible compromise.

Street Cats is an interesting, blood-soaked game that might have needed a little more time and planning to become something truly great. Right now, the crushing difficulty of its Survival Mode is keeping many players from enjoying its other content.

It is a shame that Past Memories isn’t all that much fun to play. It has some interesting ideas and design, but the gameplay stumbles along and falls.

My love for When Ian Fell in the Machine also stems from my personal obsession with sausage. During my obese, high blood pressure ridden thirties, I would travel to my favorite breakfast joint and order a potato drenched sausage burrito. As I currently sit eating a few blueberries mixed in with way too much oatmeal, I drift back to my halcyon eating days.

Butterfly Sky is much more difficult than it looks, and summoning most of your concentration and gameplay acumen is mandatory. It’s not easy living up in the clouds, and catching flying insects is improbable even if you’re stuck on the ground. But stay vigilant, find your rainbow, and see if heaven is only a few butterflies away.

Amateur Surgeon 3 should have been an engaging operation that kept you glued on your device for more than a couple of minutes, but it’s a total freemium mess. Take your scalpel elsewhere and use your skilled hands for another app that’s actually worth of your time — and your money.

Ultimately, Trials By Survival feels a lot like Zombies Ate My Neighbors: with its randomized levels that are filled with dozens of the similar background objects, hundreds of zombies that all look the same, and its frenzied top-down control method. Unfortunately, Trials does not have anywhere near the charm that Neighbors had, and is just a failed attempt at trying to take bits and pieces from tried-and-true areas of both gaming and fiction in order to appeal to a specific niche of fans.

Gleamer’s clutter-free art style and basic controls mask a game with slightly more complexity to it than you’d expect (but not much). Some players will likely find their in-game avatar — the ever-moving cube — annoying, but despite some minor gameplay complaints what lies here is still a fairly solid platformer designed for the bite-sized consumption needs of most iOS gamers.

Nun Attack: Run & Gun is an above average endless runner which should put a smile to your face thanks to its addicting action and its infectious score.

Like its predecessor, Mikey Hooks is a solid title that’s full of lots of fun platforming action. For the price, it’s certainly worth adding to your library if you are looking for some fast-paced fun. And most importantly, it does right by the grappling hook.

For fans of the franchise, Worms 3 delivers what you’d expect. There’s nothing here that succeeds or fails by leaps and bounds. Rather, this latest release is another solid, incremental inching forward of one of gaming’s longest-running franchises.

It’s hard to describe the seductive power of Abyss Attack’s visual design, but its deep waters can only be eclipsed by the breadth of one’s imagination.

It’s an app that doesn’t really set the world on fire, but now that it’s resurfaced with its free to play deal, giving it a chance won’t kill your vibe.

If you’re looking for an action adventure that’s a bit left of center, Hero of Many should deliver the goods. Armed with dynamite graphics and a compelling story, it’s the perfect app to download for your iPad.

Cross Hearts Arcadia gradually drew me into its embrace. It’s absolutely corny, but it’s like seeing an old friend for the very first time. Both of you may not be the brazen warriors of the past, but that’s okay. We get by with a little help from our friends. Even if they’re a total pain in the Eng.

Muscle Run is a steak and potatoes game which gives you a ton of meat on the bone.

A major downside to Mini Warriors being a F2P title is that you are limited in the number of fights you can have per day, and Warriors’ main currency (t-crystals), were a rarity, encouraging you to spend real-life money in order to get more t-crystals (which you use to unlock more daily fights).

It provides a very real tennis experience, but is also very limited in the extra options it provides.

The secret to its success is that it looks deceptively simple, so each time you fail, it makes you furrow your brow and want to solve it just to prove something to yourself. That’s the kind of hook that gets players coming back for more.

The 3D graphics are passable, if not somewhat boring, and the sounds in the game are also decent. But if I had to pick the hero of BattleFriends at Sea Reloaded, it would be the social gameplay that can provide a brief distraction.

Baby Nom Nom will tease your brain and fingers into satisfaction while at the same time making your heart feel nice since you’ve contributed a little bit of good to the world.

There is tons of polish on it and its controls are topnotch, but the rest of my experiences with The Drowned were extremely conflicting. If the gameplay mechanics were more in tune with a survival horror experience, Drowned could have been the definitive horror experience for the iOS format. Instead, it is simply an average shooter that gives a great update beyond the overused two thumbstick-style of FPS control; it simply happens to have great looking monsters and backgrounds instead of your run-of-the-mill FPS baddies.

It’s such a gratifying experience to come across a title that is more than the sum of its parts.

Dropchord may not be the perfect rhythm game, but it has enough style and substance to keep you busy for a good while.

The minimalist audio/visual style is a nice enough way of presenting the game, but the fun factor here is just as minimalist as everything else.

There have been reports floating around that some people have it working, but Puddle has left me high and dry.

Knightmare Tower is a gem that reaches for the stars. It doesn’t quite achieve perfection, but who cares when you’re surrounded by royalty.

Maybe the developer is trying to tell us the best things in life usually involve more than one person, and thanks to my middle aged failings I’m not going to argue.

And don’t feel bad if that grinning monkey inspires a more than a bit of frustration every time he throws a, erm… monkey wrench into your progress.

Happy Dinos gives you a lush and compelling world at your disposal.

There is almost nothing bad I can say about Rymdkapsel. Everything is simple, minimal and cut down. I can hardly think of how the game would function if one of the room-types were removed for the sake of implementing something else.

For only a dollar, this game is really a great value and an impressive effort from developers Chia-Yu Chen and Lee-Kuo Chen.

I still can’t figure out if Freak Tower has any kind of method to its madness, but at this point I’m ok with its crazier than thou swagger.

A wildly amusing and charming game.

Sky Tourist’s unique gameplay and controls put it a notch above other iOS platformers.

While it is a uniquely shaped puzzle block, it is still just another one buried under a number of games that are much more worthy of your puzzle solving time.

It’s amazing to know that for under three bucks, a completely addicting racing title such as Riptide GP 2 exists. To get the full experience, I would suggest giving it a spin on an iPad, as your smart phone won’t capture all the dimensions this racer has to offer.

Delta-V Racing has all the trimmings of a potentially excellent app, but unfortunately in this world, whether it’s two or three dimensional, execution is key. So if you really do have control issues in your real and iOS life, this flawed racer stalls at the starting line.

League of Mages plays exactly as advertised, but there’s not much else to it, with little incentive to keep on playing besides endless grinding for hours in order to change your character’s outfit.

Bloodmasque may not be a perfect game, but its fast combat, (mostly) appropriately-priced upgrades, and minimally-intrusive social networking all mesh together to create a tasty action game for any wannabe vampire hunter.

If you’ve got nothing better to do and want to check out a decent time-waster, definitely download Battle Rush. It won’t blow your mind, but it’s free and provides enough of a distraction that you can pass the time while the next great endless runner is being developed. Which should be within the next five minutes.

What you see is what you get with Iron Force. Even the controls, which has a virtual joystick for movement and a big red button on the right to fire, are simple and self explanatory.

TurtleStrike doesn’t blow you away upon first impression, but turtles understand that slow and steady wins the race.

That rare title that gets better as you progress, crediting dedicated players who know that the best things are yet to come.

I really wanted to like X-Rainbow, but it just didn’t deliver on any front, whether it was through its music, controls, graphics or gameplay.

Pac-Man Dash has some fast and fun action here and there, making it a good title to mess around with for a little bit. But I was not going in to this game ready to be blown away by anything. It’s really more or less what you would expect of a stock endless runner title that revives a classic video game character.

I never thought I’d listen to Flock of Seagulls, but Futuridium EP is a space age love song that sings straight to the soul.

Sky Gamblers: Cold War might be aesthetically pleasing, but its other attributes aren’t.

Free is free, and this game is good for a few smiles and some decent entertainment, but you cannot outrun the ceiling of mediocre, free games forcing players into micro-transactions in order to unlock the fun stuff.

Besides, classic games like this were made for trial and error so that the persistent can come out victorious and with a real sense of accomplishment. This is one game that doesn’t hold your hand and offers a no-frills shooting experience.

If you’re in need of a virtual batting experience should download this free to play title. Just don’t expect a home run.

Kamikaze Pigs may come off as a total joke from the onset, but if you get past the relatively easy game play mechanic, this title has a surprising amount of nuance. This isn’t just a blow them up, score as many points adventure, but if you want to keep it on that playing field that’s completely fine.

Although it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of most of my tablet survivors, Wheel of Fortune Cubed is a total keeper thanks to its word building structure. Whether you’re bankrupt or have thousands of dollars in the bank, at least you’ll know how to put things together, one letter at a time.

If nonstop action and a hail of bullets is your guilty pleasure of choice, A Thug In Time won’t disappoint. It’s a shooter that’s on sensory perception overload with gunfire that would make even Tony Montana blush.

Thus far my Ravenmark Mercenaries experience has been a pleasurable one, but with its potential hours upon days game play set up, I’ve yet to really skim the surface. Witching Hour Studios are hell bent on growing the title as the weeks progress with presumably more content, which is absolutely staggering. I never knew a bunch of money grubbing adventurers could capture my imagination, and thankfully their price tag won’t put me out of business.

Iesabel doesn’t offer much on the RPG front as far as innovation, but that doesn’t detract from its appeal.

Turd Birds is shallow, but fun, and the juvenile humor will keep the young (and young at heart) amused for a while. The sound effects add a hilariously juicy quality with all the splat noises and comments from those who are getting pooped on. It has a pricing structure that’s as typically aggressive as any other freemium game, but there’s still a lot of fun to be had with this feces-encrusted title

It may resemble a boxing match between Optimus Prime and Godzilla, but so what? Robots fighting monsters is a pretty big deal for any video game, especially when it’s done right. There’s nothing too fancy about this title, but that doesn’t detract from its overall effectiveness.

It all adds up to an impressive effort, albeit one that’s noticeably flawed as well.

Tiny Thief is an inspired puzzler which should grab you from the get go.

Once Naughty Boy fixes its bug issues, I may return for a few rounds. But since batteries aren’t really included after you run out of your first batch, I may just delete this app altogether. I’ve paid for in-game additions only to be disappointed with a few glitches down the road.

Smash ‘n’ Bash is a free download, so if saving money is the name of the game, you probably won’t be too disappointed. With such a promising start, Ingvar ends up a hero with tons of guts and gusto, but a surprising lack of finish. He may eventually get his beloved ship once and for all, but you may need a lot of patience and suffer a ton of in-game deaths before reaching gaming Valhalla.

The gameplay, while not overly complex and slightly less fine-tuned as its console cousin, is more than adequate. And the overall package is really quite solid. Playdead knows this and the price tag reflects that polish. But is Limbo worth it? Well, there certainly are no shortage of beautiful physics puzzle/platformers already in the App Store, but there’s not many that can match Limbo’s overall quality.

There is vast amounts of potential, but without spending actual money to unlock some of these potentials, Cross Horizon is simply your run-of-the-mill iOS RPG with a fresh coat of cel-shaded paint.

1941 Frozen Front enables gamers to use their intellect, as well as a little luck, to commandeer their own army. The initial in-app purchase threw me for a loop, and HandyGames gets a slap on the wrist for that irritating choice.

In its current state, Greedy Dwarf is a fun game which will leave players hoping for future updates. The sharp sound design and short levels are great for quick, focused bursts of gaming, and the twisting gameplay helps set it apart from other, similar titles.

Free to play titles usually offer a cute looking game with an empty shell, but The Lone Ranger, amidst all that brush and beauty, actually shows us how the West was won.

To have an enemy offer words that, upon one’s interpretation, is either a threat or a form of encouragement, exemplifies Anodyne’s deliciously surreal tone.

It’s hard to recommend such a limited game, but Attack of the Spooklings’ fast gameplay is surprisingly addictive, and if new options are added it really might become something awesome.

The only thing that really holds the game back is that the cases can be solved pretty quickly.

Sqwords boasts about the replayability of the game focusing on improving your time, but where’s the fun in that? You already know where the letters go, of course you’re going to improve your time so it’s kind of pointless. There might be some replayability there, but it’s of a low quality, keep-you-busy kind of replayability.

Ultimately, what prevents Block Block Block from achieving puzzling glory is not in its gameplay, but everything else.

Diner Dash Rush is easy to pick up and put down. There’s absolutely nothing complicated about its game play, but for some reason, in the middle of all this customer madness, one’s adrenaline is bound to spike.

The only reason why this did not score below a 3.0 was because of its historical accuracy and its ability to have hundreds of soldiers on screen fighting all at once.

There’s so much to do in Siegecraft TD that you could be occupied with placing towers around grounds for quite some time.

If only a virtual thumbstick or something similar was implemented, the game would be a lot more fun to play. But as it stands, it’s kind of just a cumbersome shooter with pretty graphics and an upgrade system designed to entice you to spend your money on in-app purchases.