The only real disappointment to be had in Gizmonauts is how much it feels like ground we've tread before. Yes there are improvements, and yes it's a lot prettier, but at the end of the day it just feels like DragonVale with robots. Is it a better product that DragonVale? Absolutely. But it's just not different enough to really blow our socks off.

One of the best racing games available on iOS, rivaled only by Firemint's own Real Racing series.

Ruby Skies really seems to have that "just one more tap!" element mastered – and that's exactly what a game like this should do.

Deep War is a bit quirky as shoot 'em ups go, for better or worse, but it certainly isn't a bad investment.

It's a decent introduction to cricket and plays well enough for what it is, but the depth and replay value simply aren't there for people who are already fans of the sport.

There's so much theoretical enjoyment to be had with Wizardlings that it pains me to see it all squandered.

If you're looking for a tough dungeon-crawler to eat up your time and spit it back out as XP, grit and fun, Legends of Loot is well worth a bash, especially if it's a free experience you're after.

Letterpress manages to make a new and addicting game with elements of some familiar titles. Its extremely stripped-down look puts focus on the game, and there's a whole lot to love there. Prepare yourself before diving into this title, because you're probably not going to put it down after picking it up.

Totem Runner, at its core, is another side-scrolling runner, which isn't exactly the most complex genre on the planet. While it may not bring revolutionary new depth to iOS gaming, though, it deserves attention because it's such an impressive artistic achievement.

You can spend a lot of time "playing" Pilot Brothers without ever really achieving anything, including fun. I'm sadly grateful to take leave of Chief and Colleague. If we meet again, I hope it's in a much, much updated format, relevant to the current platform.

It takes the best aspects of addictive bubble popper gameplay that we've seen over the last year, and matches them with exemplary social options and decent premium pricing. If you're looking for a new spin on an old classic, don't feel shy about falling in love with this one. I know I have.

Simply put, there's very little to recommend here. What started as a title with the promise of tactical fun slowly revealed itself to be a non-effort hoping to sneak under players' gaming radars. In that respect, I'd say it tanked pretty badly.

Ayakashi: Ghost Guild is not a bad game, but interested parties might be better off thinking of it as an interactive novel instead of a card game. As the former, it offers a decent paranormal story with some great artwork. As the latter, it's a basic, hands-off experience with lackluster presentation.

Punch Quest is what an endless runner would look like if you threw it into a time machine, spat it out in the early 1990s, and put it on an SNES cartridge. This goes well beyond the (masterful) 16-bit graphics to the ethos of the game itself.

Despite the missteps, though, Jumping Finn Turbo still has me itching to pick up my iPad and go another five or ten rounds with it. The concept may not be entirely original, but the world wrapped around it most definitely is, delivering laughs for fans and newcomers alike in the ceaselessly optimistic way only Adventure Time can.

While Twist Pilot doesn't necessarily break new ground, it does spin its way into both your mind and your heart rather quickly.

Having finally played Dominant Species I can confirm that at its core is a superb strategy game, filled with difficult choices and fierce competition. But this conversion to digital is a weak half-attempt, struggling up from the primordial ooze and gasping for breath on dry land. It takes almost no advantage of the inherent advantages of the format, offering no multimedia, no tutorial, feeble AI and limited network play, succeeding only in streamlining the overheads inherent in the physical game.

Finger Tied isn't the first "it's kinda like Twister but with your fingers" experience we've seen on the iPad, but it's the best I've played.

The fact that I don't mind failing at this game is absolutely an endorsement, and Fin Friends has earned it wholeheartedly.

Ultimately, having my hand held through the only portion of Monster Quest that even had a chance to have been a challenge was both frustrating and a little insulting.

If you're in the mood for a decent zoo sim, Wonder Zoo will do the job. It's not a barrel full of monkeys, exactly, but neither is it a barrel full of scorpions.

And aside from its extremely derivative nature, this is an excellent collectible card battle game, particularly for gamers who have a taste for superheroes in general and the Marvel Universe in particular.

With its decent puzzles and wonderful presentation, Hidden Runaway has a lot of potential as both a nostalgia trip and a means to revive adventure games on a new platform. Unfortunately, the wretched hidden object component makes it a hard game to recommend. Newcomers will quickly get frustrated, and the series' fans will wind up on the couch alongside Gina and Brian as one more victim of a broken heart.

As it stands today, Kumo Lumo is an adorably strange game that has stolen my heart, but not a spot on my must-play list. A rainy day game, for now.

Old school fans of Sonic tend to want two things: speed and challenge. Sonic Jump delivers both, but just a little too late in the game.

Playing Monster Mansion is as disheartening as watching someone drop a pack of raisins into your Trick-or-Treat bag. Very young monster fans might appreciate the simple gameplay and graphics, but even kids will crave something with a sharper bite before too long.

There are only sixteen levels available right now, with another eight coming soon, but they are each packed with plenty of things to do, see, and bounce on. Square Planet certainly isn't flat.

True Axis likely has another hit on its hands. True Skate makes you feel like you can really skate, and at least for this writer, that's quite the accomplishment.

Its speedy combat and inbuilt adversity make it a great candidate for the app treatment. A skilled app designer and an experienced author have collaborated and managed the rare feat of creating something greater than the sum of their individual talents.

I had a lot of fun for the first hour or so, and it's certainly competent on a mechanical level, but there isn't a whole lot to it.

Lewis Carroll's strength with Alice in Wonderland was weaving disparate, sometimes unbelievable threads into a cohesive whole; a story that you could get behind regardless of disbelief of any one individual element. Sadly, A Wonderland Story suffers from just the opposite affliction, planting the seeds of a compelling universe, but forgetting to water them. Die hard fans of the mythos may want to pick this up to tinker around with a clever take on a colorful world, but after a short amount of time, many others will feel like (Jabber) walking away.

Despite all of the things that Death Dome does well, it's hard to get too jazzed about it since we've been down this path so many times before. It's not even a stretch for Glu Mobile, which has already done the Inifnity Blade homage itself with its Blood & Glory titles. If the setting, the carnage and the dark humor appeal to you, by all means give it a whirl, just be prepared for a little bit of deja vu while playing.

Luckily, you don't need power-ups to appreciate Funky Smugglers. On its own, the game is fun, silly, and addictive. But it is unsettling that the game's planes always take off regardless of how shoddily you perform behind the scanner.

Breakout is a classic game, but a little bit dry. Super Bunny Breakout has a couple of hiccups, but it's a cute, worthy upgrade of an arcade mainstay. It also serves as a good indication that both Atari and Zynga might be getting the hang of developing stuff for this "mobile game" fad.

One could say that not playing it would be criminal. And should you be accused of such a felony, I can only hope a lawyer as corrupt as Max McMann is serving as prosecutor.

Can't Stop has that ephemeral quality that'll keep you hunched over your black mirror until the small hours, and you can't ask for much more than that.

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.

The gameplay elements are really solid. The on-the-fly puzzle feeling is well thought-out, levels are put together perfectly, and the game manages action and strategy well. It's just not a story-telling game and, because it takes itself too seriously, it suffers in places. The game is worth playing, but it needs to lighten up a little.

Oh! Sheep is a good little game, but it's not as good as it should be on the iPhone, and playing it on a small screen is not really recommended. While we haven't tried it ourselves, it seems that playing on an iPad is likely to produce the experience desired by developers and players alike.

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.

Hopefully Chillingo will address these problems in a future update, because at its heart, E.T.: The Green Planet is a game that's as kindly and warm as the little guy himself.

It is silly, and it's strange, and it's simple -- and the truth is that aside from a couple of technical quibbles (and a bit of sadness, for obvious reasons, that girls don't like nerds), it's also really good. If you like puzzles like girls like robots, then you'll like Girls Like Robots.

If you're easily intimidated by difficult or frustrating games, you might be better off dosing yourself with acid than playing Tentacles: Enter the Dolphin. But if you like things rough, Tentacles is more than happy to challenge you.

Sometimes, when I'm playing Irrupt, the energetic chiptune soundtrack will wash over me and I'll get lost in a non-existent story. Like a 70s sci-fi TV show soundtrack by way of early 90s videogames, the music evokes shades of an epic salvage mission, or crucial repair operation. Then, suddenly, I remember: it's just a simple game about tapping on astronauts. A simple, beautiful game.

Honestly, Paper Toss Friends would have worked as an update to Paper Toss 2.0-but since the game is free, there's no real point in complaining. Better to enjoy the game and save your rage for that jerk-face co-worker that keeps stealing your egg salad sandwiches from the office fridge.

Grow Away isn't especially revolutionary, but it's surprisingly good, solid fun that will keep you busy for a while, coming back for just a bit more.

Unless you fancy yourself a diehard fan of its predecessor, Zaxxon Escape is not a particularly offensive game.

Overall, Stunt Star: The Hollywood Years isn't bad, but it can get a little bit tedious as you constantly try to get things just right for an ungrateful director who you'll want to curbstomp more than Michael Bay by the time you're through playing. Nailing the perfect landing may be a little more satisfying than toppling the pigs' fort in Angry Birds, but getting there can wind up a bit more tedious.

With great level design and some unique twists, Blade Guardian is an absolute must-play for fans of tower defense. It's not a flawless game by any stretch, but with so many competitors on the market, Blade Guardian does more than enough to set itself apart from the crowd.

Dead Stop isn't really doing anything new with the tower defense concept. Then again, it doesn't pretend to, either. If you go into the game knowing how the genre works and are just expecting it to have a little fun with the zombie theme, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Lord of the Dragons is the gaming equivalent of a newbie squire at best. It's a rehash of a bland formula, and its recycled trappings are beyond weather-worn.

The highest compliment I can pay to Catch-22 is that it feels like it was ripped right from the universe of the Rand and Robyn Miller's Myst.

You could do worse than NFL Pro 2013, and if it had the field all to itself the way Madden does in the console market, it would probably be downloaded by just about every football fan with a mobile device. But since it does have competition, gamers are going to want to shop around before deciding if this is the way they want to get their daily dose of pigskin.

Big Win Football isn't going to interest people who want to control the action, but if you're a football fan looking for a simple, fun way to run your own team, it certainly fits the bill. And if football isn't your thing, no worries: There are Big Win baseball, soccer and hockey games, too. Get going on that dynasty.

Unless you play MAMC strictly for Endless Mode, Super Monsters Ate My Condo is absolutely the superior game and what the original should have been, even if we didn't realize it at the time. It retains all of the ridiculous charm and ingenuity from its predecessor, sandwiched between more, more, more: more content, more hooks, and more fun. That's a combo any monster would salivate over.

King Oddball is a nearly perfect gameplay experience, with just the right level of strange to remain memorable. I would call it the new Angry Birds, but it's more than that: it's the new King Oddball.

God of Blades is proof that games can be great without needing to reinvent the wheel every time out. It's simple on the surface but deep where it counts, and you can't ask for much more out of a mobile game than that.

Bad Piggies is just about everything you could want in a new game from Rovio. It maintains that same level of "I can almost figure this out!" challenge that Angry Birds offered, plenty of personality, and basics so easy that a kid could master them.

Indestructible is a neat game with a bit of a learning curve, but as you play, one gets the feeling that those who get the most out of it are the ones who put the most money into it. This seems to be the key differentiation between scrounging for scraps in the hopes of pulling together enough points to upgrade, and being truly "indestructible."

It's a shame Castle Story reigns you in so much, because in other regards it's a solid (if not predictable) castle/town-building simulator. The graphics look good, the animations are smooth, and the character dialogue is amusing.

If you like rhythm games, Demons' Score is a must buy because, well… iNiS. Fans of iNiS have been clamouring for this moment ever since the App Store first opened its doors.

I won't claim that the control scheme here – good though it may be – is on par with using a physical controller, but it's still very solid. Your fingers will inevitably cramp during long play sessions, but all in all Lunar Silver Star Story Touch is an impressive facsimile of the console classic.

In the end, if you're into more classic-styled board games with a mind-bending twist, then GridBlock may be right up your alley. However, the free download only allows you access to the first two sections, with the rest of the 80 levels available at a $2.99 purchase.

If you're dying (Mwa-ha-ha!) for another Dash game, Hotel Transylvania Dash is a worthwhile addition to your collection. If you're Dashed out, though, leave these monsters to enjoy the peace and quiet that they deserve. There's not much unfinished business here.

Despite the surprise treat of real-time multiplayer, Castle Raid still feels like an incomplete game. Some players may find the current amount of content enough to warrant the $2 price tag, but I would mark this as a wait-and-see game.

There's an awful lot to like about Toca Band. The wonderment and joy evoked when kids and adults alike encounter the possibilities of the app for the first time is truly something to behold. And when that glow has worn off there's still plenty of band combinations to try out and soloist capabilities to explore.

Why does a game that promises and sets up for an adventure feel so small...like it never left the comfortable shores of the status quo?

So if a game has some clever ideas, looks pretty and sounds fantastic, but is kind of a monotonous grind under all of that... well, that's where you end up with Guardian Cross, I guess.

It is with no hesitation that I say Rayman Jungle Run is a must-own title for every iOS user. Its bite-sized structure fits perfectly on iOS, and Ubisoft has done a fantastic job crafting a complex experience that works perfectly with a touch screen interface.

J.A.M. would have done better to double the level count, or tweak the upgrades so that it had more of the few purchasable items that felt exciting and optional. I'm far more inclined to throw my money at a game that feels like it respects my time, not one that feels like it's asking me to buy survival.

What NFL Kicker 13 is screaming out for is a little more. The gameplay is fun for a while, but the lack of additional game modes seem like they will hurt long term replay value.

Pretty much everything about Armed Beasts feels middle of the road.

Rail Rush is a blast to play, and the first endless runner that has threatened Temple Run's placement in my favorite games folder. The winner? I'll let the evil monkeys and giant spiders battle it out; I'm too busy playing.

There's a catharsis here that the seminal arcade classic didn't - couldn't - provide...a knowing freedom from the era of dwindling bags of quarters.

In either mode, the game looks good, with attention to detail that shows in things like trees casting little shadows. It sounds even better, which is impressive for a small studio, though you may tire of the soundtrack after extended play sessions.

The technical issues will make it a struggle to stay engaged. For everyone else, there's just no reason to bother.

My Dragon isn't freemium done right: it's a money-earning engine with limited gameplay.

But it does what it does with such skill and enthusiasm that it'd be churlish of me to criticise it too much. Give children the chance to become robot engineers in the Toca Labs, and see what they create.

Yet it's not hard to see plenty of people attempting to help Crimson cut a path of destruction all the way to the emperor, because the production values and action are really good hooks. Blood & Glory: Legend doesn't deviate much from a tried-and-true formula, but that's because it's one that works.

The clunky interface makes it difficult to get things done, and in spite of the Final Fantasy connection, it's really not very much to look at. The added gameplay elements do give it a certain unique appeal, but as collectible card games go, there are better options out there.

Whoowasit? is an endearing and engaging game, which offers a lot of charm, a lot of narrative and a lot of excitement for primary school age children. It's let down slightly by a few poor interface choices, and by the fact that it's a little too long and complex for the age group that's likely to enjoy it most.

What's My IQ? admittedly looks good. The game's anime mascots all wear a look of perpetual low-key terror that will make you recall long classroom hours spent on your worst subject. But while What's My IQ? may get a smile or two out of you, the appeal doesn't last long-and neither do your cheats.

Wipeout also tries to get you to pony up for premium currency, but it's not a free game to begin with. Most of the game is open to you regardless, but panhandling in a paid app is always a little off-putting.

Huebrix's sins are far from great enough to sink it, as its original gameplay, bold difficulty, long term expansion potential, and dedication to hardcore puzzling help it rise above not only its poorer decisions, but feel like a great one for any fan of the genre. Especially those in need of a little humility.

An experience caught perpetually somewhere between hypnotic and infuriating, which teaches you to appreciate all the "little wins" that occur as you game.

The trouble is that while it offers everything, and to a high standard of quality, it just doesn't offer quite enough variety for real long-term value.

Sometimes a three-minute pop tune can dethrone a ten-minute power ballad. My Singing Monsters' toe-tapping charm and gravelly songs are worthy of endless encores.

Unfortunately, it lacks depth.

On the subject of feeling dated, Wild Blood's multiplayer mode reminds me of a PC game called Rune. This is a high compliment. Rune's multiplayer was sweet and I have tasted nothing like it for years, and while I wouldn't call Wild Blood a spiritual successor, I will say its multiplayer mode was a very pleasant surprise.

I wish I could say that Bombshells: Hell's Belles soared to - and past - its potential. The game has more than serviceable graphics, really tight controls, and some high-flying action that is really tough to match. Unfortunately, the action isn't different enough when weighed against the fact that you have to keep playing the same levels over and over to get your upgrades.

A mixed goodie bag. A largely adorable game with lots to love about the zany world it offers you, which makes some unfortunate missteps in the way it values your time and money - or perhaps, doesn't.

Little Masters is free, and if you're desperate for a game that simply looks like Pokémon, you can give it a spin without damaging your bank account. But with Outernauts for Facebook out there, you can get much deeper experiences at the ripe cost of zero dollars. Now if only they'd let us put that in our pockets.

At this stage in mobile gaming, "freemium" has become a derogatory term, and for good reason. Though a scarce few publishers have managed to construct a model that can pay the bills and still be fun for players, most other game makers settle for digital sweat shops that yield precious little entertainment for their customers. Offworld is the grand prize hidden behind the glass that players are never meant to win. The goal here is to get players to sink their time and money into the game without ever truly reaping any rewards.

Time Geeks & Friends's otherwise entertaining, polished veneer begins to crumble at times under the weight of its seeming greed.

Full of variety, truly innovative, and uncompromisingly willing to mix things up, The World Ends With You: Solo Remix is a game every iOS RPG fan should have, and one every fan of the series should have all over again.

Tap Campus Life is kind of inane and empty-headed, as none of the girls exhibit anything close to a personality. Still, it's harmless enough if you're interested in the novelty of running your own sorority. Just be warned, you're in for long waits unless you want to cough up a lot of extra dues.

Even with the control issues, I had a permanent grin during my time with Blast-A-Way. It builds up to more difficult elements -- like portals -- with an incredible level of tact, and it respects the player's intelligence in a way you don't always see in the puzzle genre.

It isn't ahead of its time, or working on the cutting edge of its genre, but for some gamers, it may just do you one better: illustrate the joys of something completely quaint.