Wayward Souls is teeth-grindingly hard, thanks to some loose controls and punishing perma-death, but high replayability and a smart progression system tease you back into the fray.

With atmosphere and story driving the slow-burning adventure, Out There is decidedly light on action and excitement. That said, it's the game's personality and surprises that will keep you pushing deeper into the stars.

Scurvy Scallywags erects a grand scaffolding of curious creativity on a well-worn puzzle formula, resulting in a familiar experience with lots of fun new twists.

Junk Jack X certainly has some of the absorbing potential of the games it nods to, but the fun is harder to come by thanks to tricky controls that get in the way.

While the allure of setting fires cools off before long, the engaging style, story, and puzzle elements make for an enticing experience.

Riptide GP2 doesn’t reinvent the iOS racing game, but with loads of well-executed content to offer, it's still a largely great option.

Despite control quirks, LEGO Batman: DC Super Heroes delivers console-quality visuals and tons of variety to bolster its familiar-but-fun smash, build, and puzzle gameplay.

Toast Time perfectly captures the chaos of a rushed breakfast; similarly, it doesn’t always sit well and it’s tough to fully digest.

Cut the Rope 2 works in some new puzzle mechanics, but we hoped the series’ first numbered sequel would feel just a bit more distinctive.

Equal parts Mirror’s Edge, League of Evil, and NinJump, Shadow Blade is solid, slicey fun for its duration — but that isn’t terribly lengthy.

Quadropus Rampage would benefit from more exact directional controls, but the action pacing and amusing tone carry themselves well on iOS devices.

There’s no in-app purchasing your way out of Touchgrind Skate 2's challenging learning curve, but players willing to put in some practice time will find a satisfying skating game.

Mines of Mars puts a cool building and crafting spin on the side-scrolling action genre, though its fun is whittled down a bit by control issues and minor bugs.

Autumn Dynasty Warlords does a great job of translating 4X strategy for mobile play, although its simplicity threatens the appeal of its combat.

By air, land, or sea, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed delivers an entertaining burst of nostalgia-drenched fun, though the slow-to-unlock content and awkward in-game currency implementation are unappealing new mobile-exclusive features.

Pivvot is an interesting homage to Super Hexagon that proves simultaneously easier and more challenging.

Breezy and pleasantly presented, Go Home Dinosaurs may not be a hardcore tower defense option, but it's still an enjoyable tweak on the genre.

It may not be as involved as other simulation genre offerings, but Pixel People's adorable take on city building and gene splicing makes for good times with a casual focus.

With the look of a classic RPG and the heart of an arcade favorite, Nimble Quest is an engaging free-to-play curio that's a hair less gripping than either influence might suggest.

Angry Birds Star Wars II has a glossy and charismatic exterior, but compared to past entries, its appeal feels largely skin deep.

Glorkian Warrior is a sweet-natured, old-school shooter with a sting in its tail in the shape of a harsh difficulty level. It’s fun but also frustrating, even on the so-called easy setting.

Ms. Splosion Man is a mostly excellent puzzle-platformer, but a couple of unfortunate design decisions hold the iOS version back from greatness.

Sine Mora is still worth exploring on iOS if you can’t play it elsewhere, but know that it’s the difference between eating filet mignon and ground chuck.

A great spooky aesthetic plus ample atmosphere enhance the unsettling storytelling in this indie adventure, though it's just a bit too compact and open-ended.

Word Puttz is a solid free-to-play puzzler, though it won’t scratch the itch of advanced word nerds.

With an excellent mix of costumes, tons of collectibles, some truly clever dialogue, and a pleasant sense of humor, Costume Quest is a very likable adventure. Over time, exploration and battles can grow repetitive, but that shouldn't stop you from digging into this sweet Halloween affair.

Even Up’s un-sexy, straightforward approach may not enthrall everyone, but its logic isn’t without merit.

Deer Hunter 2014 serves up some robust shooting and free-to-play progression, but it lacks challenge, walks an ethical tightrope, and provides only a tiny portion of the complete hunting experience.

Mountain Sheep’s stylish art direction and new ideas are promising, but in execution KingHunt is perfunctory and unfocused, relying too heavily on high scores to the detriment of its pacing and rhythm.

Colossatron’s couple hours of campaign chaos are plenty amusing, but it’s short on the depth and diversity needed to ensure real staying power.

The astonishing illustrations, excellent soundtrack, and delightful world of Morphopolis may be worth the price of admission alone in what is an otherwise middling hidden-object game.

There's nothing revolutionary here, but Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign does a good job of spicing up the match-three genre for comic fans with its hero-centric nerdiness, tense combat encounters, and strong collecting elements.

First of Awesome suffers due to a lack of variety, but it remains an enjoyable experience in small chunks.

Star Horizon is a tightly responsive, beautiful action shooter throwback with only a few issues—namely the bland story and short playtime—holding it back from being a mobile classic.

Eets Munchies will nourish your inner level designer, but the experience as a whole is a bit inconsistent.

Pudding Monsters might try a few too many things within a short span of levels, but its breezy puzzle action entertains while hinting at better challenges down the line.

While there's something to be said for Cold War's new gameplay elements and decent multiplayer, the Sky Gamblers series appears to have entered a deep freeze.

Minor technical issues aside, Kahuna is a flavorful reintroduction to a 16-year-old game of Hawaiian-themed stratagem.

Lawless is easily one of the slickest titles on the App Store, but gorgeous visuals don't really equate to a great way to spend your time.

Pirate Legends HD can't quite match the quality of the game it aims to duplicate, but it comes close enough to consider.

Oquonie is a puzzle-based adventure full of contradictions, notably in being both simple and complex. Soothing to noodle around with but also hard work to understand, it’s tricky to say how much actual fun’s on offer, but Oquonie’s an easy game to be quietly impressed by.

A minimal, fairly effective, and initially compelling arcade experience that lacks the depth and pulling power to keep it around for the long haul. Still, it’s worth a look for a buck or two.

In true Adult Swim fashion, Giant Boulder of Death's oddball tone and gameplay are equally entertaining – in small doses.

Beastie Bay isn't as multi-layered as the games it is based on, plus its battle system is lacking, but the great simulation features may still keep you coming back for more.

Touch screen controls force Machine at War 3 to sacrifice some depth, but it largely makes up for it with a robust selection of gameplay modes and units.

Order & Chaos Duels can quickly become very pricey the more you play, which is a shame since it offers a rich combat system and lots of charm.

Battle Supremacy’s slow, purposeful shooting isn’t thrill-a-minute stuff, but sustained online firefights are satisfyingly tense.

Echo Prime offers plenty of energetic stages full of foes to blast and slice up, but its repetitive nature weighs down some of the more interesting elements.

Progression can be a pain and the controls need refinement, but Super Paper Pool still makes an intriguing puzzler out of pool and putt-putt.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run is a fun, competent endless runner with nice visuals, although we're not fans of its steep in-app purchases.

Temple Run: Oz puts a slick Disney spin on the top 3D endless runner, but isn't quite as captivating or fully-featured as the free and still very recent Temple Run 2.

Mittens is a cute and cuddly time-killer that hearkens back to classic cartoon sensibilities, but its puzzles are a bit more linear than in Disney’s finest.

Dropchord dazzles with its presentation, but doesn't make a lasting impact with its interactivity.

Sporos is a pure puzzle game in the classical sense, with a simple rule set that quickly iterates and expands. It may not dazzle, and it’s easy to fall into a trial-and-error grind – but if you want a cerebral challenge, it’s as difficult as the limitations you place on yourself.

Alien Hive is a unique puzzle game, but the originality crumbles a bit under the weight of limited resources and a pointless enemy tile.

Strike Force Heroes: Extraction almost nails its attempt to bring the classic shooter genre to iOS, but a few mechanical rough spots keep it from being on par with its inspirations.

Baldur's Gate II is a great slice of RPG gaming history, though it’s geared towards serious fans of old-school role-playing — and the tricky touch interface, punishing difficulty, and unintuitive design elements tend to get in the way of fun at times.

Block Fortress: War’s unique blend of real-time strategy with tower defense and base building gains ground early, but gets bogged down in the trenches before long.

Rigid in spots and light on impact, Tengami still feels like the ideal kind of App Store curio: it’s short, sweet, intimate, and handcrafted, with dreamy environs and meditative, low-key puzzles.

The Collectables shapes up well early on, but its straightforward-yet-fun shooting and strategy elements are well and truly hamstrung by a freemium-spoiled design with a stingy reward system.

Even with its odd mix of casual fighting and (eventual) hardcore-only challenge, Injustice’s solid action will please the crime-fighting crowd.

Sky Tourist is delightfully unique and blast to play when it works, but be prepared to muddle through some irksome moments as you push into this interesting, but shakily-executed adventure.

Boom Beach continues Supercell’s fight for your wallet in a solid, yet unspectacular freemium combat strategy game that rewards the patient and meticulous.

Kind of Soccer’s quirky and ridiculous hit-the-referee hook is backed by fun-yet-challenging gameplay and a cool lo-fi aesthetic, though its ultimately shallow nature shows through sooner or later.

This mellow auto-runner offers some interesting gameplay, although it may leave speed freaks craving something more energetic.

War of Nations brings a few small improvements to the free-to-play strategy boilerplate, but high prices and glitches diminish the experience.

For what it’s worth, Liberation Maiden is the far better value and experience than its 3DS counterpart. Play this version of the uncommon shooter if you haven’t already, but don’t expect it to last you long.

Pac-Man Dash! is a surprisingly tight platformer, but it gets bogged down by an unfortunate pace-killing stamina meter.

Surgeon Simulator is full of gags and funny moments that are bound to make you laugh out loud, and the intentional wonky controls ramp up the crazy shenanigans. Bizarreness burns brightly in this silly sim, but its humor doesn't always translate into lasting fun.

Laudably unique and pleasing in short bursts, Fish Out of Water falls short of warranting long-term attachment.

The novelty of uploading your face into Bloodmasque is a lot of fun, but the enjoyment wears thin due to unreliable controls and repetitive action.

With fun exploration and beautiful visuals, Assassin's Creed Pirates skirts close to greatness, but settles for being an enjoyable diversion.

Bookworm Heroes is a polished word/fighting game hybrid, but its aggressive in-app purchases ultimately mellow its charm.

Another Case Solved is enjoyable enough to warrant the free download, but it lacks a strong enough hook to carry you through the eventual tedium and repetition.

Band Stars brings charm and fun in a polished package, but it fails to build on good first impressions and ends up feeling blandly generic.

While lacking the depth and visual diversity of its desktop counterparts, Archangel is a fun touch screen take on the action RPG.

Breach & Clear is a short-lived but smartly designed tactics game with impressive military authenticity.

Strong atmosphere and artsy, minimalistic presentation make Kairo's puzzle-adventure gameplay a fascinating experience, though it lacks the structure and direction that many players come to expect from the genre.

Angry Birds Friends brings the Facebook favorite to iOS, but while the new angle is interesting, the competitive balance seems muddled.

World War Z is an entertaining film-inspired game, even if its combat system could use some polish.

The Lost Reels is a pale shadow of the original, but it does a decent job with what little it's been given.

While perhaps enough to satisfy the most dedicated of Marvel fans, Avengers Alliance's high points are marred by some pretty notable flaws.

CSR Classics holds all the appeal of its predecessor with a nice hot rod restoration element, but progression proves extremely slow and repetitive.

Dungeon Hunter 4's slick look and fun scope get trampled out quickly by absurdly aggravating and omnipresent IAP grabs.

Despite solid controls, cool and playful presentation, and decent depth, Flick Kick Football Legends shoots itself in the foot with invasive advertisements and a too-short stamina meter.

It's not the 1993 original, but dodging traps and cutting down monsters as the re-imagined Prince is still a fun way to dive back into its universe.

Batman: Arkham Origins features almost none of the complexity Batman games are now known for on other platforms, but it's moderately fun for a while — at least until the game starts trying to milk your wallet.

At its best, Knock-Knock is creepy, surreal, and gripping. However, that grip is loosened by frustrating repetition and a set of muddled systems that obscure more often than they engage.

Flashout 2 is fast and slick, but its combat and upgrade systems stand out more than its racing elements. There are more substantial sci-fi racers on the App Store, but Flashout 2 is a fun, lightweight diversion.

Gangstar Vegas may not be "Grand," but it’s sure to satisfy your hunger for a good open-world game on your iPhone or iPad.

In Fear I Trust is a well-made thriller with some clever puzzles, but its tendency towards tired horror clichés makes it feel generic and aimless.

It may be a brief thrill, but high speed and explosions make After Burner Climax a lot of fun while it lasts.

AVP: Evolution might turn into a worthwhile iOS brawler with some notable tweaks, but for now it's a rather mundane exercise in patience.

Ultima Forever’s stripped-down approach to dungeon-delving might alienate more hardcore fans, but the satisfyingly simple battles and the amount of content on offer make it worth a trip to Britannia.

Heroes of Dragon Age is a generally entertaining romp through Thedan lore, but a lack of battle interaction and an overly limiting stamina bar blight the whole.

NBA 2K14 shapes up well for some LeBron-fueled magic, but it fumbles the pass and struggles to meet expectations after a promising 2012-13 season.

There’s a quirky kind of fun in dunking on UFOs, dribbling around explosions, and jumping into outer space for extra coins — but theme aside, NBA Rush brings little new to the saturated endless runner genre, and it’s too shallow to hold much long-term interest.

Iron Man 3 is a fun free game and a very solid diversion, but slow progress saps its long-term appeal.