Familiar and fresh at the same time, Spy Mouse takes an existing formula and expands it into something quite special.

DEO doesn't stand out in the App Store because of its gameplay, but the dark atmosphere will draw you in.

Pickpawket is a neat little puzzler with some big ideas, and while it won't set the world alight it's still well worth picking up.

Whilst its insanely steep difficultly level will alienate many, there's enough bullet-dodging action and excellent retro polish to ensure the hardcore will be satisfied.

A fine, if misguided, attempt to port an unportable arcade game. Rhythm-action addicts will relish the challenge.

Boasting plenty of old skool swagger, The Last Rocket is a challenging but rewarding puzzler slightly spoiled by one or two imperfections.

Wooords's ease of use and challenging puzzles ensure that it's a must have for word buffs and puzzle fans of all abilities.

Some excellent level design aside, the rope-drawing structure behind Save Yammi tends to frustrate more than it does inspire.

A nice try, with some good ideas, but Spacelings has too many problems to make it a must buy.

Emissary of War shows how to make a great iOS dungeon-crawler - it's just a shame there's not more of it.

Mad Wheels is a decent racer with slick 3D visuals but it fails to provide enough features to support its technical achievements.

Despite some interesting ideas, World Siege: Orc Defender falls short of offering the location-based multiplayer epic it promises.

Baby Monkey (riding backwards on a pig) is just as addictive as the YouTube video - but just as repetitious, too.

Anomaly Warzone Earth is one of the most entertaining and enthralling real-time strategy games on iOS.

The odd nostalgic moment isn't enough to recommend this outmoded Amiga strategy.

A title-winning performance from Full Fat - this is flicking brilliant.

Thuddingly repetitive, but sensibly brief stages and terrific tilt controls (just about) save the day.

Arenas, Trial of Valor is far too poorly designed for us to appreciate the potential depth.

Let's Golf! 3 plays and looks fantastic, but its use of in-app purchases and its energy system means it borders on unplayable for those without bottomless pockets.

Puzzle Expedition's difficulty curve may be off-kilter, but it's equally hard to deny that the puzzles are very clever.

Laughing Jackal's latest offers challenge and depth in its mechanics, bottling the chaos of a zombie outbreak in a smartly designed puzzler.

Bloktronik is lofty in its design, but its dull gameplay brings it crashing back down to earth.

Puerto Rico HD is a good game at heart, but its unfriendly graphics and interface will leave newcomers out at sea.

Both easy to learn and challenging, Paper Munchers is an addictive puzzler.

A solid take on the endless running genre that doesn't add anything, but is still fun all the same.

Kairosoft continues its management game dominance with Mega Mall Story: our addiction levels beg for mercy.

With decent production values, Toss The Ball is initially a fun distraction, but it's unlikely to captivate players beyond that early curiosity.

Emberwind is a tough game to dislike, but equally it will probably have few admirers.

Dream Track Nation is an old skool racing blast with great multiplayer options.

An unabashed Peggle rip-off, albeit a very good one.

Clever, polished, and perfectly tuned to keep you hooked, Zombie Gunship is another iPhone time-destroyer.

Shift 2: Unleashed is bigger and better than its predecessor, with a lot more variety of races and excellent single-player career mode.

A huge, immersive experience that suffers because it doesn't bend to the whims and needs of the hardware it's being played on.

Cut the Rope: Experiments adds lots of kooky contraptions to the original hit.

While Leap Worm does suffer from occasional droughts of imagination, its simple controls, excellent presentation, accessible levels of difficulty, and thoroughly addictive gameplay ensure that it appeals to as wide an audience as possible.

Off-putting, pseudo post-modern comedy nonsense aside, OEG is a slightly lacking shooter / platformer hybrid with wonderful aesthetic vision.

A mammoth package indeed, Jet Set Go takes the 'greatest hits' approach, and manages to deliver a fair yet fiercely addictive time-management sim.

Feed-The-Duck is a fine but shallow puzzler that could use some depth in its gameplay.

A casual puzzle game that's clinging so tightly onto the coattails of Angry Birds that it can't help but fall short.

While it lasts, this wonderfully relaxing physics-puzzler makes an ideal antidote to Angry Birds rage.

Patient players might enjoy this cute action-puzzler, but control and design issues will leave others burning with rage.

Gorgeous, challenging and thrillingly different, Groove Coaster is a treat for the eyes, the ears, and the soul.

Impressive visuals and new levels ensure that Waterslide 2 achieves a degree of competency that eclipses its predecessor, but does not disguise its shortcomings.

An oxymoronic retro update of Alien Space, this is a visually appealing and engaging twin stick shooter that is unfortunately too similar to its predecessor to be considered a true great.

Let's Golf! 3D is inferior to its smartphone caddies due to framerate issues, but is still well worth chipping in for.

A brilliantly addictive side-scrolling game that, whilst a little light on content, is well worth picking up.

Engaging to a certain degree, Silent Ops has all the flaws you'd expect from an overambitious mobile title. If you can ignore the lack of polish, then it offers up a fairly decent ride - just don't expect any surprises.

Pocket RPG isn't a sophisticated role-playing game, but if you want to sink time into a good-looking dungeon crawler, then strap on your armour.

Cars 2 features some surprisingly unique stealth sections, but is let down by the awful controls and terrible racing action.

Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds's crisp visuals, compelling crime-themed story, and assorted mini-games compensate for a lack of interactivity.

The dual-screen platformer Grinder will give both your thumbs (and patience) a serious workout.

Reckless Getaway runs out of petrol before the finish, but otherwise this exciting racer is well worth a test drive.

Better on flash, 8 Ball Pool is still an enjoyable - if limited - game of pool to play on the move.

An unusually slow-paced puzzler with a single control niggle which holds it back from greatness.

Squirmee and the Puzzling Tree's tricky puzzles, novel controls, and distinctive ideas ensure that it firmly sits near the top of the iPhone puzzle tree.

Xevious is a true arcade classic, offering a delicate slice of shooting action that will seriously test your gaming skills. The asking price, however, is far too high to fully recommend.

Twin-stick blasting goes online with this excellent and highly addictive title. If you can stomach the large amount of time required to unlock the best weapons, you'll find a long-lasting challenge awaits.

The online mode shows promise, but cheap computer-controlled opponents and a curious lack of excitement make Protoxide one for dedicated combat racers only.

Brimming with content, eminently replayable, and much improved over previous iterations, Sid Meier's Pirates! is a must-have for any self-respecting iPad buccaneer.

A strong ending to a good series, if you've pushed past the technical issues this far then there's no reason why you shouldn't complete the set.

Fans of historical pseudo-realism will find the format intriguing but a disappointing fighting system nestling at its core scuppers much of the potential of Gladiator Begins.

First baffling, then mesmerising, Deflex proves a welcome change of pace for Minter.

Time Geeks: Cloneggs's delightful pixel art and pop culture-inspired sprites are not charismatic enough to compensate for a solid but ultimately mediocre matching puzzler.

Xtreme Wheels is an undeniably fun ride, though the 3D visuals sometimes tax the iPad too much.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty has strong core concept in terms of its gesture gameplay, but rough edges blunt its appeal.

A technically ambitious but unintentionally hilarious shooter that's far too flawed to recommend.

A solid platform game that is well worth picking up despite falling just short in its slingshot leap towards greatness.

Despite a few gaps in its defence, Z is a solid time-killer for the solo strategist.

A good-looking, well written side-scrolling platform/RPG hybrid failed by its lack of online functionality and one-dimensional gameplay.

Though Jack's time-travelling tale is a touch bizarre, the gameplay it's built around serves as the idea model for a time-management sim, delivering a title that's as welcoming as it is engaging.

Taito's Qix is reborn in this visually arresting puzzle title, but fans will have to learn to live with its rough edges in order to gain maximum enjoyment.

A clever and tactical game that just lacks the extra features to truly ascend to the top of the deck.

Until Magic: The Gathering comes to iPhone, Kard Combat will rule the dark magic roost, with hours of single-player card battling action and wonderful multiplayer options.

Despite its cartoon art style and arcadey gameplay, Shake Spears! scores thanks to the surprising tactical intelligence it requires.

Dragging The Settlers into the world of 3D, Monarchia: Second Dawn's set up could do with refining, but it holds up well enough to deliver a rich and absorbing experience.

Finger Shoes is a walking concept that ultimately leads nowhere.

Block Breaker 3 Unlimited's great visuals, effective controls, and multitude of modes and features make this an essential purchase for block-breaking fans.

A fun and easy to play strategy game that entertains with its great graphics and wide variety of troops and missions.

Cubic Ninja tilts towards the bargain bin with awkward controls and maddeningly silly level design.

Magnetic Baby will likely polarise opinion, but its low price means it's worth finding out which camp you belong in.

By turns sadistic and capricious, this twisted puzzler has its moments, but leaves a nasty aftertaste.

Paper Racer is a solid old skool racer, but missing multiplayer and loose controls let it down.

Beautifully presented and utterly compelling, Async Corp. is one of the best iOS titles you'll play all year.

EDGEBobby2 possesses some mildly interesting puzzle gameplay, but few will want to soldier through the terrible presentation and awkward controls in order to sample the goods.

An interesting concept, but this Tiny Wings clone fails to capture any of the speed, thrills, and excitement that made the flightless bird so entertaining.

Naruto Shippuden 3D: The New Era is a lesson in how not to do platformers. A shoddy effort.

Deathsmiles mixes up the formula to drag in bullet-hell fans and lowers the barrier to entry to encourage newbies. Everyone with a passing interest should try out this smart, compulsive and thrilling blaster.

eBoo's challenging controls add to the puzzler's allure.

An impressive side-scrolling shooter whose intuitive touch screen controls and unique art style compensate for a lack of variation and longevity.

With time we hope that Capcom can nail down the problems affecting net play, but as it stands Street Fighter IV Volt is best appreciated by newcomers and should be approached with caution if you already own the original release.

Floaty, occasionally unfair, cheap, and lacking in even the most basic of fan service, Cars 2 is your common garden film tie-in.

With no real link to the series of old, and no gameplay of its own to speak of, James Pond in the Deathly Shadows is the kind of non-event that you're best off ignoring.

In many ways a lightweight exploration game, nevertheless Tiny Lights' demonstrates a certain charm that's a joy to play.

As tired a Transformers tie-in as you're ever likely to see, EA's Dark of the Moon soon descends into repetition, and is far too tedious as a result.

This platform-puzzler has some decent ideas, but it's not likely to be anyone's Cavorite iOS brain-tickler.

A cheap and cheerful destroy-em-up that makes up for in fun what it lacks in elegance.

Pro Volley Tennis is a fun representation of the game, but is limited by the constraints imposed on it by its sport.

Funny and surreal, Puzzle Agent 2 is a case well worth reopening.