Touch Arcade

For chess novices, it might be more of a frustrating experience than an enjoyable one. At the very least, I can promise that if you stick with it, you'll learn a lot of useful techniques for the actual game of chess. Just don't try to pull off that piece-swapping trick in tournament play. They frown on it, I can assure you.

Those looking for an authentic old-school experience, a good story, or something totally fresh will probably want to keep away from this one, but if your ears prick up at the mere mention of a job system, you'll likely have a very good time with Dragon Sinker.

It is a solid platformer first and foremost, drawing on several great inspirations, but it’s also outrageously silly and funny entirely through its world, art style, and sound effects. This is a triumphant tale of allergies, cyborg chickens, your mean Aunt Doris, and eggs.

With a great grey-morality world and characters, design that offers multiple solutions to several puzzles, and original sci-fi story, I can’t recommend Primordia enough to anyone who’s ever enjoyed an adventure game.

Although the appeal of its endless mode probably won't last for a lot of you out there, Spingun has a great premise, a cute bit of in-game lore, and mobile-centric controls that all really come together. I had a blast learning how to control its crazy little ship, and a new game that added a story mode feels like a natural evolution of a formula that already works.

While the levels are perhaps a little too long for their own good at times, Dan the Man is a surprisingly solid and charming action game. There are occasional patches where it feels like it's just coasting instead of excelling, and the bosses could probably put up more interesting fights than they do, given how sparse they are. For the most part, however, it's an easy game to lose yourself in while it lasts. The controls feel good, the fighting is fun, and you'll certainly get your share of eye candy along the way.

I like that Nightgate is mostly an accessible game that can be completed with a bit of perseverance and elbow grease, but I'd love to see the concepts taken to their extremes in some future content, if any is coming.

While I doubt I'll be playing Treasure Buster as long as I played Monster Strike, it's an interesting spin on one of Japan's biggest hits in recent years. Particularly for those who have little interest in going down the social RPG rabbit-hole, it offers a lot of fun for an absurdly low price, with no IAPs, timers, or anything like that to impede your progress.

Really Bad Chess isn’t really bad, because it isn’t really chess - it’s something better.

While Pumped BMX 3 may not completely replace its predecessor, it certainly stands tall enough to be at its side, and that's quite an achievement in and of itself.