That type of versatility and richness speaks to the strength of the core ideas behind Badland. In a marketplace lousy with them, Badland is a well-considered and well-executed physics-based puzzle-platformer, tetchy controls notwithstanding.

Tactics Maiden is an excellent strategy RPG that any fan of the genre should try out.

There's no shortage of puzzle games on the App Store, but I can say that Help me Fly is one of the truly worthwhile ones.

But the core idea, the thrill of pinning a captain's badge to your chest and piloting your own ship through the starry depths, remains intact in the form of an addictive and brilliantly chaotic experience.

If you don’t have access to an iPad or just want to play Company of Heroes with a controller, the Switch version is superb value with its excellent conversion. My favorite portable version remains the iPad, but there’s no denying how good Company of Heroes feels on Switch in this conversion.

While Raging Blasters isn’t out there breaking any shoot-em-up molds, it pulls together a lot of much-loved ideas into a sensible, enjoyable whole. More casual players will appreciate the somewhat gentle nature of the default arcade mode, while those who enjoy a solid score attack game will certainly find plenty to keep them coming back. Another excellent piece of work from Terarin.

It's a heck of a game, gorgeous, challenging and long-lived in turn. I've hardly been able to put it down, and listening to music without the game just doesn't feel as cool right now.

If you had told me that an indie horror game would be on my top 10 games of the year a few months ago, I’d have laughed because of how good 2022 has been for JRPGs but here we are. Signalis is a shockingly good horror game that I recommend to any fan of the genre. It has a superlative atmosphere, stunning art, and an excellent soundtrack.

The player's fingers may not be on Colossatron's trigger or steering wheel but Halfbrick has come up with a puzzling, action packed way to help Colossatron complete his mission of world domination.

Although a bit easy, Spyder is really fun to play. In my opinion, this is one of those games where the journey is more important than the destination. If you’re looking for a casual game that you can enjoy without any issues, Spyder is a great game to try on Apple Arcade.

I'm happy to report that Bug Panic meets the high expectations of a CAVE title, offering a fun and unique adventure that's perfectly suited to the platform.

It takes a lot of risks in service of creating its specific feel, but as long as you’re okay with having conventions challenged within a conventional framework, this should be an easy pick-up.

Overall, Company of Heroes on iPad is easily an essential purchase if you enjoy real time strategy games. While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as Rome: Total War because of the setting, there’s no denying the game quality and port quality here. Having played a lot with both interface options, I’m unsure if the non mobile focused control option will make it to iPhone. The command wheel definitely feels like a good fit for smaller screens. Feral Interactive have proved me wrong multiple times in the past so we will have to wait and see if it does show up on smaller screens in the future. At the asking price, Company of Heroes is an easy recommendation.

Once I start playing this game, even lamenting how I can't keep the multiball going for as long as I want, I can easily lose a lot of time to this game. Hours disappear. Anything Rivverman Media is insta-buy at this point, and MUL.MASH.TAB.BA.GAL.GAL is another winner from the studio. And I hope the game does well: future updates should bring new levels and paddles, and I'm interested to see what Riverman's got in store for the future of this game.

Do you enjoy “experiences” that transport you to another place even if what you’re doing there isn’t particularly challenging or long-lasting? Or do you prefer your games to be tough-as-nails and stressful, putting your brain and/or fingers through a gruelling workout? Like most people, I think I fall somewhere between those extremes. _PRISM is definitely more toward the first category, but I still found it absolutely delightful from beginning to end.

Ultimately, Maximus is an action role-playing game with fantastic controls, vibrant visuals, epic movie-score sound, massive boss battles and my favorite - loving references to a load of pop-culture phenomena that I fondly remember from my days as a tyke, as well as most certainly quite a few that I missed.

Excellent gaming, folks. Do not miss it.

There’s certainly things that Towaga could do better, with its samey environments, token upgrade system, and uneven powers. But the problems never feel like much more than nitpicks, and don’t distract from what is ultimately a great exploration in how to take simple mechanics and weave them into a game that feels like a blockbuster experience.

Almightree strikes a great balance in providing challenge and approachability and comes easily recommended.

If you've been looking for a fun but challenging digital board game with a lot of depth and a great visual style, Antihero is the game for you. There's plenty of content to play through and clever strategies to figure out, and all of that is dressed in a lovely art style. Now go take out all those street urchins and take over the town; just know that you're in for a challenge and will have to plan carefully and execute at just the right time.

I remember thinking how No Man’s Sky was a fantastic experience for exploring planets and listening to brilliant music right from the start, but seeing how many were understandably let down by the initial release. Since then, it has continued to only get better and better while releasing on more platforms. It now more than ever justifies its asking price. As someone who owns just about every version of the game physically and digitally, No Man’s Sky is one of the best Switch games of the year, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves over time alongside the other versions of the game.

I was really surprised at how good Sophstar turned out to be, especially given the reasonable price. It’s a very fun shooter that is easy to learn but with enough depth to please veterans, and includes enough modes, options, and extras to keep you playing for a long time. I wish the soundtrack had a little more kick to it and I suppose it doesn’t really do anything dramatically novel, but otherwise I am hard-pressed to find much fault in this game. A virtual must-have for shoot-em-up fans.

Every element in Rogue Sky just seems to fit perfectly together. The mission-based gameplay and levels work well with the controls and are enhanced by the visuals and music.

Overall this is a surprisingly well constructed game and nitpicks aside, you owe it to yourself to dig into the game and ask why aren't there more big name Poke-clones out there.

Aside from a few issues, I have no complaints with Penny’s Big Breakaway. It is a joy from start to finish with its sublime gameplay, superlative soundtrack, and gorgeous visuals. Playing it on Steam Deck OLED at 90fps made me not want to bother with the other versions at all. Not only is it a great fit for portable play, but having an uncompromised version with no technical issues elevated Penny’s Big Breakaway further. I can’t wait to replay it regularly throughout the year. This is my favorite 3D platformer since Super Mario Odyssey and I hope the soundtrack gets a vinyl release in the future.

If you’re looking for a new relaxing puzzle game to sink your teeth into, Sokobond Express is excellent. I haven’t even bothered trying this docked yet because it feels so perfect in handheld mode on the Steam Deck OLED. This is another win for Draknek and Friends, and I can’t wait to see what developer José Hernández does next.

It's one of the best superhero games in any genre on the entire App Store.

So The Quest Keeper falls just short of the heights that Crossy Road reaches, but it's a perfectly valuable game in its own right. It's a ton of fun, it kept me coming back to it again and again to try and get both high scores and to complete quests, and I got to outrun a bunch of spiders.