Touch Arcade

SwapQuest is a perfect example of a game with a simple premise that is executed so well and includes so many complementary layers that it becomes an experience far beyond that premise. It’s rare to get a complete puzzle experience without any IAP or freemium elements that impact it. Obviously its roots mean that that there’s subset of folks that it won’t be able to appeal to but for everyone else it’s well worth checking out.

Mr Jump has a very specific appeal to it. I'm sure you can tell right away whether it's your thing or not. If you enjoy frustrating action games where you have to fight tooth and nail to move past almost every obstacle, you're going to have a blast here. It's got excellent stage design, a good bag of tricks to keep things fresh, and a simple but pleasant presentation. The collision shenanigans we sometimes see in this kind of game are not an issue here, and it's a lot of fun learning the ins and outs of the jump physics.

This is a free-to-play game that's a lot more honest than most about what they're going after and what they're trying to do. And Stormblades does get the basics of the combat down to be a fun game you can play for as long as you want. If you're tired of waiting for the next Infinity Blade, this might be just a good enough substitute.

I’ve been really impressed with Odd Bot Out, even the lack of tutorials provided a challenge which was a puzzle in itself. The game is fresh, challenging, and the wobbly walk of our robotic hero is definitely worth checking out if you like puzzle games. I'm looking forward to spending more time with Odd and helping him reach the surface.

The puzzles themselves are devilishly designed and use simple rules to create increasingly complex challenges, introducing new ideas at a steady enough pace to keep things from becoming rote. More casual fans are likely to find a lot of frustration in TouchTone. If you can stick with it and see it through, I promise the juice is worth the squeeze. If you're prone to moving on to the next game when you hit stubborn walls, I'm afraid you've probably got the wrong number here.

To Be Or Not To Be truly is one of the most purely-entertaining experiences of the year, because Ryan North manages to both live up to my expectations with his take on this literary classic, and also manage to go to places that I just did not expect. This game is utterly uproarious, and Tin Man did a great job at using their gamebook engine, along with their visual and music touches, at making this come to life.

These are things that feel like they could be fixed! But in a world where a global launch is a one-and-done proposition in many cases, RAD Boarding will have the apocalypse catch up to it before it can pull off its tricks.

Make no mistake, Dungeon Hunter 5 is knee-deep in its freemium systems and it’s not going to make any converts of those that are staunchly against such elements. However, for those others willing to engage with what it offers in the environment that it offers it in, I believe you’ll have a good time. The visuals are impressive, presentation is top-notch and all the game’s systems are fairly mature in implementation.

You can play it and know that you're getting your money's worth, and you get a lot of game out of this, because getting to space is extremely difficult, and a real accomplishment. Check this out.

I think that as long as you have patience for the inherent randomness of playing card games, you'll love Card Crawl's dungeon-y twist on things. It's got great art, gameplay with cards that isn't like other card-based dungeon crawlers (a surprisingly burgeoning genre), and is perfect for sitting back and relaxing while playing it. I highly recommend checking this one out.