2010 Year in Review: My Favourite iOS Games

Whether you were playing games on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, iOS gaming was really strong this year. There were a ton of great titles that hit the iTunes store, many of which went on sale at crazy prices. I have bought dozens of iOS games, though I’m embarrassed to admit that I did not put much time into most of them.

If you’re looking for a definitive list of the best iOS games of 2010, I’m sure that sites like Slide to Play and Touch Arcade will do a much better job of that than I ever could. At the very least, I can share with you my list of favourite iOS games of 2010.

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Pick-Up Post: Infinity Blade

Infinity Blade (iTunes)

Infinity Blade has created quite the buzz for itself. Up until I read reviews about the game, I had absolutely no idea what it was about. However, I’ve known about it ever since it was debuted a few months ago. Up until now, I’ve known Infinity Blade as the graphically-stunning iOS game.

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2010 Year in Review: The iPad as a Gaming Device

 

With Christmas rolling in quickly, I’m sure that the Apple iPad will continue to fly off the shelves as the hottest gadget on the market. Having owned one since launch, I can tell you that it’s a ‘nice to have’ device. It’s nice to have as a laptop or iPhone alternative, but if you already have both of those devices, this in-between gadget may not be for you.

Let’s narrow the scope of this discussion though, since this isn’t the place to talk about the device’s usefulness as a word processor or e-reader. How well has the iPad performed as a gaming device so far?

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Osmos Review

I had no interest in picking up Osmos when it first rocketed to the top of the iPad charts. Having only seen screenshots and read the game’s description, it did not sound like anything I wanted to play. However, the strong buzz and sale price a few weeks ago of $0.99 made it hard to refuse. When I first played the game, I was totally turned off by the game’s simple concept and initially awkward controls. But then…it clicked.
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Bit.Trip Beat HD Review

(iTunes)

If you’ve never played this game, seen video of it or had someone explain it to you, it can be hard to comprehend what the heck is going on in the image above. For over a year now, I’ve heard the gaming press talk about how amazing this Wii Ware release is, but just by looking at images of it, I couldn’t comprehend what this was or why it was so cool.

Since it’s on sale right now for both iPhone and iPad, I decided to give the iPad version a go. If you’re interested in finding out what this game is all about, read on.

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Pick Up Post: Believe The Hype?

Over the last few months, I haven’t done too much in the way of iPod Touch/iPhone gaming. Most of my gaming time of late has been dedicated to my PlayStation 3 when I’ve have time to spare. However, my car recently broke down, which meant I’ve spent a lot more time on public transportation over the last few days. It’s been a great opportunity to catch up on Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night, which is worth grabbing at regular price, but is on sale right now for a limited time.

Speaking of sales, iTunes has a bunch of games on sale right now. I grabbed a few games that have gotten a lot of positive buzz. Here’s what I got:
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Game Design Talk: How Conquist Takes iPhone Risk and Ruins it With a Terrible User Interface

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the user interface Risk had on the iPhone. I had a lot to overcome, having not played Risk in 15 years, but I picked it up immediately and the user interface worked exactly how I wanted it to.

I picked up Conquist on the iPad because it looked like Risk with more features, iPad support, it had great user reviews and it was on sale for $1. In spite of its strengths, I hate this game. Terrible design choices make this an extremely annoying game for me to play.

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Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front HD Impressions

For someone who is tired of WWII games, has never played a Brothers in Arms game before and already has too much to play on the iPad, I sure did scoop up Brothers in Arms 2 really quick when it hit $1. I picked it up because it was a brand name, the screen shots were pretty and it was $1.

I haven’t played too much of it, but so far, it’s made a good impression with me.

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Impressions on Predators for the iPhone and iPad

Predators is a universal iDevice game that I’ve actually had for a couple of weeks now. I’m sort of a fan of the Predator franchise, and judging by what I had seen in trailers, I thought it looked pretty good. It also didn’t hurt that it was a $3 game that worked with both the iPhone and iPad. I just past half way through the main campaign, so I don’t feel comfortable enough to pass final judgment on it. But I have played enough to at least share some thoughts on my experiences so far.
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Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition Can Roll Off a Cliff

The first Super Monkey Ball caught everyone by surprise when it was ported to the Gamecube from the arcade. This evolution of Marble Madness was simple to learn, hard to master and featured a fun to play campaign mode and mini games. Thanks to the success of that first game, Super Monkey Ball has grown into a profitable franchise for Sega. However, the steady flow of sales has not led to a steady improvement in quality. In fact, I would go as far as saying that none of the Monkey Ball games since the original have surpassed the quality of the first. Some of the entries in the series are flat-out bad.

Prior to my impulsive purchase of Sakura Edition on the iPad, I had been burned twice by Super Monkey Ball sequels. I caved on the iPad version because I was still starved for new iPad-specific games and it was on sale for $5. Is this the game that brings the series back into top form?
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