Nightmerica's garish coloring, 8-bit violence, and retro aesthetic go a long way to escalate it from simple wave-based gameplay to a much more interesting-looking exercise in gaming exotica, and for 99 cents it's worth checking out the soundtrack if nothing else.

Purple Cape features a fun premise and some good ideas with some lovely cartoon-styled graphics; it's just a shame they weren't attached to a better game overall. It has promise, but definitely isn't ready for prime time.

It's a good game that hasn't quite crossed the line to great, and you'll want to be sure you're familiar with its quirks before you drop money in it.

This might have been perfect as a room in Big Fish Casino, but as a standalone iOS app, it’s probably going to appeal to enthusiasts only. In other words Grandma, if you got that iPhone I sent you, this one’s for you.

Towelfight 2: The Monocle of Destiny is really, really good. Even if you don't dig the humor (and I'm sure it won't resonate with everyone, although I love it), the intense shooter action on which it's built should be enough to satisfy even the twitchiest of thumbs. And if you enjoy a good laugh with your bizarre cartoon violence, then this is one game you really cannot miss.

It's free-to-play so there's no reason not to give it a spin if you're new to the genre and interested in checking it out, but if you've already tried Rage of Bahamut (or Deity Wars, or Pantheon the Legends, or the licensed Transformers and Marvel games) and found them wanting - or are still playing them - then there's really not much point in bothering with it.

1001 Attempts a steal at its launch price, and is an easy game to jump right into.

The Major impresses where it counts: gameplay and innovation.

As far as a Wheel of Fortune clone goes, however, there’s little wrong with how What’s The Phrase actually plays. The question is whether you’ll want to, or if you’ll just opt for the real deal by Sony, which is also on the App Store.

It’s super easy to get started, almost as easy to learn, rather elegant in its simplicity, and a bit more cerebral than a typical trivia game.

Downloading Buddy Blitz gives you 20 hearts and a few thousand coins to carry around, which is just enough to give you a taste of the game before the IAP trap sets in. The gameplay is good in short bursts, but there's little depth or room for strategy; it's just 60 second rounds of mad gem dropping.

Hidden Land brings some nice ideas to the free-to-play hidden object genre, like dual timelines and city-building components. And best of all, it actually gives you the freedom to experience them!

Despite these weaker areas, Partia is a superb representation of the genre on iOS and likely one that will only continue to get better.

Perhaps my expectations for Yet Another Zombie Defense were off-base. I was looking forward to a sharp mix of light tower defense strategy and arcade action, but what I got was a competent but unremarkable dual-stick shooter with sentry turrets and blocks- reasonably fun, but quickly forgettable.

Raft Pirates is a clever game that offers lots to do. Go on and whip the waters into a bloody froth, robo-matey.

Even though Toy Story: Smash It might look a little familiar to Boom Blox fans, it’s still a solid, addictive puzzle game. Experienced players should play alongside youngsters in order to show them the ropes, however. Think of it as mentoring the next generation of Space Rangers.

Real Racing 3’s good handily outweighs its bad. There’s plenty of variety in race types, more vehicles than you can shake a stick at, and even if it’s not ideal, old school racing fans can still have plenty of fun with the assists on.

Alien vs. Predator: Evolution’s heart is in the right place.

Penumbear is a great example of how platforming controls can be done right on iOS - and it's a lovely little puzzler to boot.

This is a sequel that improves upon its predecessor in multiple ways, and it's hard to ask for or expect more than that. With its strangely compelling mix of skill, luck and strategy, King Cashing 2 is a second trip worth taking. Dare we hope it becomes a trilogy?

It’s just a shame (to a rather significant degree) that so much of what’s meant to keep players playing is implemented so poorly.

The poor performance of the controls as a whole ties a neat bow around this muddled mess of a game.

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.

A simple, clever, and fun game which is basically hindered somewhat by its quirks and intricacies. It's all fun and games until the lights go out.

The Gods: Rebellion is no God of War killer. It’s quite linear, its controls need some touching-up, and the suggestions for in-app purchases (which are doled out whenever you die) are sure to cheese some players off. That said, the game looks fantastic and it still manages to offer a button-mashing good time—at least until all that button-mashing misfires and you start executing the wrong attacks.

Even with this laundry list of problems, Shadow Escaper is still worth a download. It’s free, so you won’t be out anything, and it’s one of a very few games I’m willing to describe as lovably insane. It's possible you'll hate it, but it's just as possible you'll fall in love with its particular brand of weirdness.

Grudger is a decent title that could have been even better. It’s fun, challenging, and has a nice bit of replay ability due to the aluminum scavenger hunt and survival mode. And with 30 levels spread across two worlds (with the promise of more to come), there’s enough content to justify a purchase.

Spunk and Moxie may be a little bit too demanding and imbalanced for some, but that’s not to say it’s not a pretty sound experience overall. The cartoon visuals look great, and there’s some nice replay value to be had in all of the bonus challenges, depending on your skill.

Easily the crowning jewel, though, is the way that form mirrors function in this evocative outing.

All the charm in the world can’t make up for control issues, especially in a game where speed and precision are everything.

While Glu Mobile doesn’t stray too far from what made the first Gun Bros. so great, there’s still a part of me that would have liked to see the game take a few more risks, and really introduce some things we’ve never seen before. But that’s still a really minor complaint, as this is still a Gun Bros. game we’re talking about here, and as such, it’s a complete blast to play through.

Simple objectives, challenging platforming, and an adorable art style make Cordy 2 a worthy addition to your library. It's got a robust set of in-app purchases for those looking to take their game further, and plenty of heart to carry it along. Put this little robot in your pocket and check out the first game while you're at it.

Despite tripping on its own IAP system, Life is Magic is a surprisingly captivating game. Great in small, frequent doses, it's the perfect pick-up-and-play title when you want a little RPG action without all the fuss.

A perfectly serviceable adventure that doesn't try too many new concepts, but executes familiar ones excellently, and it should be added to any platforming fan's collection.

Despite an annoying story and unbearably loudmouthed characters, Sela the Space Pirate still managed to win me over with its great controls, fluid animations, and hectic space shooting gameplay.

There certainly seems to be an audience for this type of game, but you’ll have to be drawn in by the atmosphere of Dragon Storm and be prepared to be social if you really want to be part of it.

Rock Runners is a great addition to the one-button runner genre, and runner fans should definitely consider giving it a whirl. What we really need now is a sequel that isn't so dependent on the same content being mashed together over and over again.

It says something about Relic Rush's core concept and presentation that I still find myself calling it a great game, despite this barrage of issues. It's a flawed experience, no doubt about that, but it shows huge potential, and it's worth checking it out just so that you can think to yourself "I hope they get it right with a sequel."

In the end, your Hackycat experience is entirely what you make it: whether you only have 10 minutes to kill, or several hours to spend building up your attributes and adopting every cat.

Hotel Story is far from perfect, but it has a gentle atmosphere that’s appealing if you feel run down by the Hotel Dash games. Go on and stay for a brief visit. Don’t rip off the hair dryer, please.

Bloody Epic is not a bad game. Its ambition alone make it deserving of your time, but it’s unfortunate that that same ambition is overshadowed by a lack of polish and a forgettable experience.

Ultimately this is sold as a game app, and on that level it fails abysmally, being neither accessible nor interesting. It’s something you might play a few times for its value as a historical and human curio, but then forget. And given the relatively high price, such a short lifetime means it can’t be recommended as a value for the money.

The unfortunate clash between hard strategy and random setup is a fairly serious black mark, but the other flaws in the title are relatively minor once you get stuck in.

Feast or Famine limps along at times, but as a whole, it deserves a spot near the top of the endless runner food chain. Grab it, hunt down a Big Mac, and play.

What Rotolla really needs is just that little something else. The main mode is great fun, but that's all there is to it, and something along the lines of a puzzle mode in which you have to work out how to line blocks up perfectly to clear each level would have been much appreciated.

I wanted to like Roar Rampage; I really did. I mean, everything about the game just screamed awesomeness to me. But the problem comes from when you actually get to play it, and have to fumble with the spastic controls, and question the incentive for doing pretty much anything the game has to offer.

Metal Slug 2 is a fun experience, enhanced further by bluetooth co-op multiplayer and a Mission Mode, which allows you to practice stages which are giving you a difficult time on their own. The only real downside to this version is having to overcome the various hurdles the controls sometimes present, but that's still a pretty considerable hurdle.

After Burner Climax is not a bad game in itself, but the iOS port is severely lacking, and a blemish on the series' name.

I was really enjoying Zuko Monsters until all this gauntlet recharge business got in the way and totally killed it for me.

Sword of Inferno won’t win any awards for its story. It looks great in stills but not so great in motion. However, despite a somewhat irksome stamina system and a severe need to hand out gems a bit more often it can be incredibly fun.

While Table Top Racing may have a few kinks to work out in the control department before your Micro Machines are running smooth, there’s no denying the imaginative breadth of this game’s inviting household environments, and the incredibly big races that are crammed into such a small package.

Despite some cute graphics, Horse Life Adventures is a poor offering in a sub-genre that’s not celebrated for quality and depth in the first place. Go ahead and put this one out to pasture.

A nice challenging puzzler, but it offers nothing special to really draw you into its world, and its puzzles aren't so inventive or mind-boggling for you to go and tell your friends about.

Dropple never frees itself from the status quo long enough to justify spending all that much time on it.

It's an innovative title with cute, expressive mascots and it really tries its best to please its audience, but any game that requires you to perform for stars requires controls that go beyond "just okay."

Half-Inch Heist is a nice idea, let down by a lack of content and a slightly shoddy movement system. It's free-to-play so you might as well grab it anyway, but here's hoping a future update rectifies these issues.

House of Hell might not have been amongst the very best of the original Fighting Fantasy series, but Tin Man have made the most of the opportunities afforded by the digital transition to improve on the paper version, and make it as fun as possible.

Deity Wars is the CCG equivalent of counterfeit Manolos; sure, it's almost as good as the real thing, but if you can get the real thing for the same price, why would you bother?

Regardless of these small disappointments, each new job discovered and building constructed is still a wonderful surprise.

The classic board game makes a great transition to iPad.

While Cracking Sands looks like it has some promise, the fact is that - in our opinion, that is - it just wasn't very much fun to play. The bad outweighs the good, and the whole time, it was hard not to imagine ourselves instead playing other better examples of the genre.

The true downfall of Downfall: Clash of Factions is that even though all its separate parts work decently enough, the few bad decisions render the whole experience a little dull.

It's not likely to make converts out of non-fans but if you're into the CCG scene, this one is definitely worth a look.

As ports go, though, this is a very good one, and well worth the wait for iPad owners. It's hard not to get sucked into Mushroom Wars once you start playing, and you'll certainly never look at that portabella on your plate ever again without the urge to send it charging into battle.

Don't let the game's stinginess scare you away, however. Banana Kong is a great-looking endless runner with a fun soundtrack and addictive "one more time!" gameplay. It might make you go (wait for it … wait for it) ape.

Tennis in the Face is one to play, and then replay for a higher score, and then replay for a different higher score, and then replay to serve tennis balls at the 10tons crew in the final level, as payback for all the hours you're bound to lose to this ace.

Even if you're not the biggest fan of arcade-style fighting games, I would still recommend giving Blade Lords a try, as the lighthearted martial arts adventure is incredibly easy to get into, and has enough depth to it to keep all you sword-wielding wanderers coming back for more!

There are tons of enemies to take down, and they're all goofy and just a touch creepy. The game's events are fun to follow thanks to decent writing, and even Slimer makes an appearance without getting up in anyone's face with stupid antics. If you ain't afraid of no ghost, give Ghostbusters a try. Alternatively, you can just fire up your old NES Ghostbusters game. Horrifying!

The interface is a little clunky, the two-dimensional characters are sappy, and it takes a little while to get to The Good Stuff, but none of that's kept me from thoroughly enjoying Lies of Astaroth's spin on card battles.

Variety comes in the great mix of play styles (marathon, timed, etc.) and stages, each of whom bring new types of fruit with different entertaining abilities. All told, however, Rise of the Blobs is about the constant pursuit of that satisfying burst of fruit. Like Jell-O.

If you've got a short attention span, or you're down to the last gig of memory on your iPad, Kingdom Conquest II might come in handy with its multiple styles of play under one umbrella. Otherwise, you're better off just downloading the top single genre games and going with them.

With its bright visuals, extremely catchy soundtrack, and simple one-touch controls, Tin Man Can proudly displays itself as an exciting arcade game.

Even though it leaves a bit to be desired in the traditional video game sense, Wave Trip is still a wonderful testament to that magnificent thing we call music.

Heroes and Castles isn't visually stunning, and its controls might cost you more than one battle, but it's not a bad package when it's taken as a whole. Glory to the king and his butterfingered champions.

I didn't really enjoy playing Space Agency. But it would be unfair to mark down a game that is very clearly tailored to a specific audience, and will likely bring them several hours of absorbing pleasure, just because it didn't suit me.

Infestor is built on a good, solid foundation. Hopefully we'll see future updates that add new levels, more puzzle variety, and maybe some additional challenges and/or surprises. Don't be afraid to give it a whirl right now, though. Infestor is one pile of biohazardous lime Jell-O who's worth knowing.

Even though there are no technical flaws or performance issues with Coin a Phrase, it's very hard to justify a smooth-running game that packs in so little, and that's about as fun as its graphics are bland.

Final Fantasy: All the Bravest is a game that only longtime fans could love, and only because it's a sprite and music dump of past titles. At the same time, it's a slap in the face of those fans with its shameless in-app purchases.

Skip Zen Training. You're better off cleaning the scum off the bottom of a koi pond.

If you're a match-3 fanatic with an iPad and want to make your fingers tango all over the screen, consider 7 Elements a must play.

As best I can figure, the plot is a fairly paint-by-numbers deal centered on a Dark King and the Elemental Knights who could defeat him.

If you were to pit Temple Run, Temple Run Brave and Temple Run 2 against each other, Temple Run 2 would definitely come out on top – but the play-it-safe improvements don't really do enough to make Temple Run 2 stand out in a sea of games inspired by the original. If anything, the content we're seeing here would have made an admirable update to the original Temple Run. But as a standalone release? Temple Run 2 just doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from its predecessor.

A Little War is fun and offers up a surprising amount of simplistic strategy once things really get going. It's also pretty cute and the way the soldiers' and hero's appearances change as they get stronger is pretty awesome. It's just a shame that it pushes the whole "freemium" thing so hard, as it sometimes gets in the way of simply having fun.

Askaryl's Grimoire may keep younger readers enthralled - and on that note, I think it could be a great way to introduce technology-obsessed youngsters to the joys of actually sitting back and reading something - but I suspect that more seasoned veterans of the genre will find it lacking.

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.

Take My Machete won't win any awards, but it's a decent hack 'n' slash romp that costs zero cents, and therefore is worth checking out whatever the case.

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.

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

When Time Surfer does require your input, it's one of the most rewarding experiences you'll find in an "endless" game to date. Even after playing the first 500 meters over and over again, and only seeing the back 3,000 thanks to serious sympathy from the game, I cannot put it down.

Despite its shaky start and less-than-precise controls, Death Golf manages to turn itself into an entertaining game. Simple on most fronts and without many frills to contribute to the wow-factor, it's still an interesting experience that blends something ordinary (golf) with something fascinating (jumping over alligators) to produce a game that's several steps outside the norm.

Joe Danger is an extremely polished and well-developed game, so I'm going to be nitpicky for a minute as I mention some cons. For as gorgeous as the graphics are in the game, there is a disappointing lack of variety in scenery, and a very anticlimactic final level.

Even though it doesn't set out to reinvent the wheel of physics-based racers, or serve as a visual departure from what the developers know best, Noble Nutlings is still a highly fun and highly quality title, and it shows that Boomlagoon have certainly set the bar high for themselves going forward.

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.

Pangolin should wind up with more fans than critics, though. Despite its frustrations, it's cute, it's unique, and swirling safely into the portal at the end of a level is oh-so satisfying. If you're into gravity puzzles and putting, pick up Pangolin. He's cuddlier than a golf ball any day of the week.

The game is full of those small touches that can easily go overlooked, but indicate true love on behalf of the developers: the golden crown that appears on your unicorn when all stars have been collected; the little speech bubble from the King when he's inside a fish cannon, saying "I'm in here!"; or the fact that one of the King's power-ups is an actual green sticky hand.

Fantasy Adventure is a fun, quality game. The little control quirks aren't anything new for games in the genre and never become so much of an issue that they ruin the experience, and there's more than enough content to keep folks busy for a while. It's a shame that it's kind of obnoxious to search for, though.

Run'n'Gun had the potential to be great: an action hybrid that combined layered shooting components with endless running gameplay. There are definitely a few moments of greatness here and there that seep through the cracks, like the more stylized environments later on in the game, and the base gunning feature itself. But while the intentions are there, poor mission designs, bland starting environments, and little offered in terms of rewards or affordable perks make this endless runner just another forgettable fifty-yard dash.

Introductory jostles aside, holding Repulze to the exact standards of WipEout or its ilk would be missing the point of its snack-sized packaging. Ultimately, games like this should serve as complements to their genre forerunners.