If the journey to get to the best parts of Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past was as interesting as the destination, this would be an excellent comic-based mobile game. As it is, it has to settle for being pretty good, and something that hardcore fans of the source material are going to appreciate much more than non-comics readers.

Don’t let it’s business model turn you off. If you’re a fan of the Crazy Taxi franchise, this is a unique spin on something you already know and love that’s well worth giving a chance.

Zenonia 4 is a lot of fun (despite its horrible storyline and dialogue) thanks in large part to the solid mechanics, great graphics and fast-paced combat. It doesn't exactly break the mold, and it's still got some issues, but it manages to provide an entertaining action RPG experience that is both epic and enjoyable.

It feels like Big Win Baseball with a fully licensed coat of paint applied to it – which it kind of is. You certainly won’t strain your strategic brain cells playing it, but it’s a decent free download if you want to build your own team of MLB stars and you’d rather invest time instead of mental energy.

The end result is a playing field that makes the control scheme feel less like a gimmick and more like a strong platform to test your reflexes and concentration. Losses never felt unfair, and when they did, it was in that satisfyingly frustrating way where I wanted to dive right back in. Oh, the puns! The humanity!

Ultimately, Escape the Titanic is a fun puzzle game when it decides to play fair, but it’s marred by the instances wherein it decides to take you for a ride. It’s worth downloading the title for free, and then you can decide if you want to pay for the in-game tips or just let the darn ship sink to the bottom.

There’s also a lot of different currencies to keep an eye on, with ships needing multiple different materials for different things. On the plus side, Battlestar Galactica: Squadrons does a reasonable job of explaining it all, and it sort of makes logical sense.

It looks pleasant enough, and has a surprisingly beautiful soundtrack, but the game itself is one you've seen many times before, only with new features that aren't all that compelling.

The game begs for greater strategy components in the battle system, or perhaps a means to customize the stats of one's avatar better. All in all though, the game is different than the majority of freemium releases and is still enjoyable to play, and is certainly worth checking out.

If it seems like I’m being too negative about Splash Cars’ monetization, it’s only because I’ve been having so much fun with it. I think it’s well worth playing, but I also think the in-app purchase stuff could definitely use some work.

Even though GolfStar still has some “ironing” out to do in the design department (get it? iron?), it sure is nice to look at, and when you actually get to play it, the core gameplay mechanics are smoother than any mobile golf game you’ve ever played before.

Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai : A Hero’s Bonds is one of those games that manages to be complicated and simple at the same time. If you’re looking for a midcore ARPG with a focus on stat management, a decent level of polish and a bit of actual gameplay thrown in for good measure, it’s well worth checking out.

The slower pace governing Monsters Ate My Metropolis won’t appeal to everyone, especially since its bouncy graphics and silly soundtrack gives the impression that the game is supposed to fly by at a million miles per hour. However, anyone who likes a touch of goofiness with their strategy will have fun matching their fart attacks against a city’s retaliatory bio-waste spill.

Both Elemental Kingdoms and its “inspiration” are very solid and entertaining CCGs. The energy mechanic is a bit of a buzz kill and the need to grind in order to unlock all of the options is made all the more irritating because of it, but it’s still a pretty fun game all things considered. It’s just not original in any conceivable sense of the word. If that’s not an issue, then by all means give it a play.

A good bit of fun. Yes, it's a little shallow and the visuals are a bit dull, but overall it makes for some good, simple game play. Will it be something that appeals to everyone? No, not really. But it is a great, arcade-like title that is ideal for killing a few minutes at a time.

The Blockheads is missing the real secret sauce that made Minecraft king of the current gaming zeitgeist: community.

At its best, Medal Masters is an exciting little RPG to play that’s filled with collectibly cute characters. At its not so best, it’s an all-too-familiar RPG experience that gives me little reason outside of the battles to keep playing.

Dragon Slayer has its striking dragons and just enough creativity to ensure it won't be the last stop on the gravy train, and that's good enough for now.

When Amazing Ants works, it works well, but these types of hang-ups can grate on one's nerves a little bit. Some can be surpassed, although it requires a certain level of patience with the game; whether you'll have that much patience with its inconsistencies and nuisances is another matter entirely.

Polished, easy to dive into, addictive and easy to learn.

Despite its flaws, the new Diner Dash is a decent distraction. If you’re not burned out on time management games, and if you can get around the free-to-play panhandling, you should welcome Flo back into your life.

A game that seems like it's trying to wheedle even more cash out of you despite its base price tag. It's still fun, and one of the better examples of tower defense on the market, but it's hard to escape the impression that Bloons TD 4 wasn't so piratical in its drive to urge you to spend premium currency.

Yet it’s smartly priced, clearly a real labour of love by all involved, and always keeps surprising you. Just not always in a good way, admittedly.

If House of the Dead Overkill: The Lost Reels had a little more zombie meat on on its bones, I’d be telling you to fire up the App Store and download it right away. As it stands, I’d say it’s best to wait for a sale ($2.99 would be a good price), or to go back and purchase either the Wii or PS3 version.

Steam Age is a pretty cool free-to-play game with a heavy emphasis on simulation and combat that works well - assuming players know what they're getting into when they start it up, of course. It's got some clever ideas as well as some slightly clunky ones, but they balance out in the end to make a game that could very well be enjoyed for quite a long time.

Even with the great presentation and nice twist on combat, though, the gameplay just doesn't feel as inspired as it should – especially for a spin-off that exists in the shadow of Mafia Wars 2. At its core, Shakedown offers very little that you haven't seen before.

It’s definitely fun and a different take on both match-3 and Magic, but it’s going to need some updating wizardry to completely captivate me for the long term.

Adventure Bar Story feels like it should be great. Between enjoyable combat and the simple restaurant management, all the ingredients for something special seem to be in place. Unfortunately, things don't really rise like they should thanks to the gameplay's glacial narrative and repetitive grinding.

If you download it expecting to be contented instead of wowed, your head is probably in the right place.

An incredibly deep game that's full of epic storytelling and excellent strategy mechanics… it just might take a little while to appreciate all of this.

For my part, I liked Circadia, but after about 45 of the game's 100 levels I started to get bored.

If you've never played The Fancy Pants Adventures before then iOS isn't a bad place to jump aboard. The entertaining story and abundance of bonus challenges will keep you entertained for quite a while, and the game has style to spare. However, those who have already been on this adventure have no real reason to revisit it due to a lack of new content and gameplay mechanics that still don't feel quite right.

Trials Frontier looks and sounds great, and plays smoothly.

Though folks using older iOS devices may occasionally become frustrated missing a target due to a choppy framerate, Deer Hunter Reloaded is perhaps Glu's most successful attempt at freemium.

Captain Antarctica is not the most original game, but it presents the content in a way that makes it feel fresh. With specific start and stop points in place, it makes it easier to pick up and play for brief periods.

Crossword battles are an interesting idea, and if you match yourself up with the right opponent, CrossMyWord is a lot of silly fun (“Cuts vegetables, hates turtles: S-H-R-E-D-D-E-R”). Serious crossword buffs won’t be impressed, however, at least not until the game receives some much-needed fine-tuning.

Magic Orbz is good, solid fun which takes a tried-and-true foundation and builds upon it nicely. It could do with a little more variety than what it offers, and can grow a little dull if played for longer stretches, but in quick bursts, it satisfies nicely.

Chesster feels quite awkward and rarely natural. Moving the pieces involves dragging them around, rather than simply swapping, and it’s surprising how such a small tweak can instantly make a game feel more cumbersome.

If you've played Modern Conflict, odds are good that you'll enjoy Fantasy Conflict as well. The gameplay isn't a total rehash in a new skin, but it rather it proves familiar enough to keep the appeal alive.

Despite the inclusion of an actual plot (comparatively speaking), a number of quest-giving characters, and plenty of fairytale creatures to care for, Tiny Castle can't quite sidestep the typical pitfalls of the genre. It's not without its charm, of course. There's also no shortage of tasks and quests to complete or animals to raise into adulthood and hybridize--it can just take an awful lot of waiting for meters to fill in order to get through it all.

The low price helps soften this a tad, but there’s still the fact there are three Mom Hid My Game titles available on mobile already – and all free to download. Still, Mom Hid My Game! 2 offers just enough to be worth a go on console. It’s nothing revolutionary, and some may find it a little too bizarre – but for its low price tag it offers an experience that’s like nothing else on the Switch.

Really, it’s all pretty shallow, but as an appetiser before a main course of a meatier feast, it works quite effectively. Even if you’ve seen it all before with a different skin.

Overall, Another Code: Recollection comes recommended to those who love dialogue-heavy games. It’s a relaxing experience, with some head-scratching puzzles thrown in, made all the easier with the brilliant addition of the Compass and Hint functions.

The game looks cool, sounds like highly-concentrated fun, and if you really like simulation games or just the idea of coaching potentially the worst high school baseball team ever, High School High will likely be something you’ll enjoy. However if you’re not someone that can really get behind the slow-sim dimension of the game, you might want to skip this one.

It’s a cute little game that ended up being a lot more clever than I’d expected.

There’s not that much depth to it, there’s not much spice beyond the lovely graphics and the shiny trappings but there’s still a good deal of slightly throwaway fun to be had here. But if you like He-Man, or tapping things, or you just like having an awful lot of fun in the small moments you can steal some gaming goodness on your mobile, then you should definitely have a go on this one.

The bottom line is that Catch the Ark is a pretty good game, at least on a fundamental level. However, the kind of grim undertones seem to make it slightly awkward in some ways. Whether you're fine with that is up to you, but if you are, you should find a pretty good experience here.

Smash Cops offers a fantastic new control scheme and plenty of polish, making Hutch a developer that's definitely worth keeping an eye on in 2012. But their debut has left us with mixed feelings. We love the originality that's here – we just wish it could have gone a little further into the style of missions on offer.

Agent Alice’s wait times are its biggest weakness. If you can swallow them (or if you have money to blow on in-app purchases), there’s a solid HOG here that genre fans should enjoy.

Little more than a re-imagining of TeamLava's Restaurant Story in a new setting – but sometimes a fresh setting is all you need.

Taken as a game, Pivvot lack the edge-of-your-seat challenge I’d hoped to find here. Taken as an experience, Pivvot is a trippy, hypnotic ride that’s perfectly suited to a touch device. Whether or not you’ll enjoy Pivvot is largely dependent on what you’re expecting from it. If you’re in the mood for hypnotic rather than hyperactive, consider Pivvot money well spent.

Dust & Neon is still a fun, stylish, and tidy little roguelite. It can get a bit repetitive, but overall we had fun with it – and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to those looking for a new twin stick shooter.

Between Hans and the overarching story that ties the separate chapters together, Brave & Little has certainly made some great additions to the Tiny Thief formula.

Much like Clicker Heroes before it, Nonstop Knight is insidiously addictive.

If you’re a really big soccer fan who doesn’t take the game too seriously (and yes, that’s probably an oxymoronic formula), Football Maniacs Manager is a good way to smile a bit and put yourself in the manager’s role with a minimum time commitment. Other people are going to shake their heads and not get this game at all, kind of like non-football fans react to the sport itself.

The iOS version of Crazy Taxi is a hard game to judge. On the one hand, it's a pitch perfect port. It's the kind of port that makes me wish more classic driving games would come to the App Store (Burnout, I'm looking at you). On the other hand, the Crazy Taxi license has so much untapped potential that it's killing us that SEGA isn't doing more with it. This release proves that the Crazy Taxi formula is a fantastic fit for mobile gamers… but SEGA needs to think about putting some new tires on this old cab.

While I like the overall concept of Toysburg, —building toys to give to kids to make them larger than life and do cool things— there is a lot of missed potential.

Even though Xenowerks is repetitive and easy, it’s still a fun game that is a great quick-fix to satisfy your urge to blow up monsters into chunky, green, bits.

It’s deep enough to make you want to play for a long time, but instead it’s casual gamers that will glean the most benefit, being able to dip in and out for a fight or two.

It’s got its heart in the right place aspiring to be like the Final Fantasy or Xenoblade series, but it’s still caught up in the platform paradigms we know all too well. In other words, it’s fine for its time, just not timeless.

Epic Flail is a game that requires a certain level of patience and skill.

Worms 4 may irritate series purists, and it may intimidate newcomers a touch (its in-game tutorial and guide can use some work). Its server problems are disappointing, too. But if you approach it with an open mind, and if Team 17 applies a bit of polish, you may find this take-out version of Worms to your liking.

That said, if you are a PewDiePie fan, Legend of the Brofist is stuffed with appearances and jokes you’ll adore.

I still think there’s a lot to love in Verreciel — especially for anyone who enjoys offbeat quirky games as much as I do. If it weren’t for the bugs and the somewhat unfriendly save system (a manual save, or even just a more obvious on-screen indication would be super helpful) I’d be forcing everyone I know to check it out.

Like any tasty drink though, the more you consume, the quicker you'll tire of it.

Similar to the movie that inspired it, Real Steel: World Robot Boxing isn't a runaway success, but it's a solid effort at keeping an idea alive that's too awesome to let go. Until we get boxing robots in real life – and hopefully someone is working on that – this will have to do.

Doctor Who: Legacy was a pleasant surprise. It implements characters, locales, and plot points into a competent puzzle match game that should please Whovians and casual gamers alike.

The few small things Zombie Farm 2 does to improve it over the original will at least keep it as quirky and addicting as usual. It's just a shame to see some of the biggest pitfalls of the original, like combat, end up as a simple cut-and-paste job.

Ultimately this is a hugely fun throwback, but one that won’t have quite enough replay value to justify the asking price for most.

You can adjust the digital d-pad to your liking, for instance. It gives you reasons to keep running, too: As you play a level, you’ll see ghosts from your past attempts, as well as the ghosts of your friends. It’s almost impossible to resist the compulsion to give chase.

Big Hero 6: Bot Fight isn’t the best puzzle / battle game on the digital marketplace, but kids that download it on the car ride home from the movie will love the action, character cameos, and the clank-clank of robot battles.

As a basic sidescrolling platformer game, Mimpi especially shines in its creative and colorful design, full of massive level landscapes that seamlessly blend into one another and constantly create a sense that you’re venturing farther and farther from home. However, it’s during the moments when the game tries to incorporate its interactive world and puzzle elements into the actual platforming that things start to go haywire.

Monopoly Bingo is slick, fast, and definitely represents the brand, it just doesn’t feel like it’s likely to keep anyone engaged long term who wasn’t specifically looking for a new bingo game to play.

For the most part it's a well-made shooter with a high-quality campaign, but players might want to forego playing online until the development team irons some of the kinks out.

The loading screens aside, though, Fashion Icon is a perfectly good Top Girl-style RPG to pick up if you aren't playing one already.

One can only hope that this game is successful enough to justify a sequel of its own (a new Sonny 2 if you will) down the line, perhaps with slightly more elaborate gameplay graphics and a slower progression in difficulty.

What's more, some players might find the game runs choppily on any iOS device that's not equipped with up-to-the-second hardware. It runs well on the iPhone 5, but there have been complaints of choppiness on the iPad 2, and it won't run at all on any iPhone that's older than a 4S. None of this is very surprising, as Karateka is one fine-looking game thanks to its smooth animations and gorgeous backgrounds.

Don’t get me wrong, Gunhouse is a nice mash-up of genres. I’ve definitely been having fun with it. However, there are a few irritating elements that muddle the enjoyment a bit. Having said that, if you’re a fan of quirky games that try new things, Gunhouse is well worth a download.

Normally, I'd say to just stick with Tiny Tower when asked about tower building games, but I feel as if Monopoly Hotels has the exact amount of charm, character and content to keep you interested for the long haul.

Otherworld Legends won’t change the way you look at ARPGs, but it’ll entertain you for long enough that you won’t begrudge it its foibles too much. There are better action slashers out there, but this one fits really pretty well into pocket-sized gaming sessions.

I really wanted to like Phantom Rift. And in a lot of ways, I do. The combat is everything I was hoping for, and finding new spells and gear never failed to put a smile on my face. Unfortunately, in it’s current state it feels more like a proof of concept than a finished product.

RAD Soldiers still offers smooth tactical action for the wartime enthusiast, and the turn-based gameplay functions on a high level of strategy and fun. But the game's lack of inventiveness in level design fails to make the experience stand out from other tactical war games on the market.

Survivor Z has some cleverness to it, enough to warrant a look in what is a very crowded genre. It’s not the kind of game that will eat up all of your waking hours, but if you’re a zombie enthusiast – especially one who travels enough to get the most out of the location-based mechanic – you may find it creeping its way into your daily routine.

It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the console games, but it carries itself surprisingly well as a handheld side story.

There's a deep level of variety there in unit types to fight with, and the puzzle element makes it easy to just pick up and play a fast level or two.

Charging for apps or making it free with an in-app purchases are both viable options for turning a profit, but combining these two is ambitious at best and insulting at worst. Either way it's a bad deal for the consumer. Whether or not it's a deal breaker is up to you. Shame too, because without this stupid blunder I'd have nothing but great things to say about Chromanoids.

Once Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch gets rolling, it’s a great mobile strategy game that genre fans will undoubtedly enjoy. Unfortunately a number of backend issues really hold the experience back from being a must buy for strategy gamers.

The questions are great and the social aspect charming, but at the end of the day, Quiz Climber is little more than a basic trivia app at best.

How much fun you'll have with Avalon Wars really depends on what type of player you are. If a game like Haypi Kingdom makes you doze off, there's nothing all that different on offer here, aside from the theme. But that doesn't mean that the experience isn't deep, and if you're willing to delve into the game's world of menus and statistics it can prove quite addictive.

Adventure Time: Time Tangle isn’t perfect, but there’s enough here to bring a smile to fans’ faces.

Plunder Pirates is a mild, pleasant brew, but you’ve tasted its kind before.

With a few updates and some additional game mechanics, Planet Fish could be something really special. But even without that, it's definitely an enjoyable underwater experience.

But it all means that Duck Roll never sparks into the sort of fiery, all consuming life that it needs to in order to get noticed in a crowded mobile market place. That’s a shame, because if you’re a fan of block-pushing puzzlers, there’s a worthwhile game here.

This is true of Lost Echo as a whole: while its plot stumbles in the final act and its characters never fully get off the ground, the surrounding build-up and adventure is worth experiencing.

As it is, this game is interesting enough of a challenge for just enough time that 99 cents for the curious player will not feel like a waste.

The actual gameplay is fun, and I really enjoyed battling my way through enemy defenses — but I’m so limited by how much gameplay that I can get at a time. And in my opinion, it just wasn’t worth it to spend real money on fuel — a commodity that gives me no guarantee of successfully capturing an island, and no guarantee of keeping it if I do.

It’s not perfect, but it’s worth getting stuck into for the sheer thrill of trying something new.

As you can imagine, Castaway Paradise never comes close to threatening Animal Crossing’s crown, but it does a passable impression as long as you’re not expecting too much. Plus, it’s a lot cheaper than the real thing, making it a tempting prospect as long as you remember that you get what you pay for.