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.

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.

Danger Boat enters an overcrowded genre with a few novel ideas, but some speed bumps prevent it from racing past the competition.

Go Dance is a simple and enjoyable iOS dance game, though its lack of robust features and very thin soundtrack limit its fun.

Lode Runner Classic is just as hectic and demanding as the beloved original, but control problems hamstring the experience.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Fightback’s base combat is entertaining enough, but its reliance on a pay-to-win model dramatically overshadows its gameplay.

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.

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

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.

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

Where’s My Water? 2 provides more physics-based puzzles without rocking the boat, but a barrage of freemium roadblocks – thanks in part to the baffling inclusion of an energy mechanic – drains fun from the latest adventure.

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.

Yu-Gi-Oh! BAM Pocket offers a decent trading card game rooted in the world of the long-running franchise, but its good points lose out against a weak story, a lack of variety, and a clear departure from the source material.

While certainly enjoyable at times, The Drowning's free-to-play implementation hampers the game to an inexcusable degree.

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

Unless you’re a huge fan of The Muppets, you’re better off with one of the many other sim games that execute this format with a bit more subtlety.

The relationship between player decisions and race results can be hard to determine in NASCAR: Redline, while vestigial in-app purchases put the brakes on what could have been a solid lightweight sim.

Dream House Days is a cute concept that’s almost ruined by free-to-play shenanigans.

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.