Top 10 best iPhone and iPad games: February 2012
Few days, many games
One of the most exciting things about following the App Store is the sheer variety of games on offer. I mean, how often do you get to write about a rhythm-based stealth puzzler from Scandinavia, or a poltergeist simulator from Japan?
Even recycled ideas are given a fresh spin: Beat Hazard Ultra takes the overplayed twin-stick shooter genre and remixes it for a new generation by borrowing your iTunes library for its soundtrack.
To help you navigate your way through the dense jungle of February's iOS games, we've rounded up just about every title that came out last month, played them until our fingers bled, and whittled down the list until we were left with just ten great games.
Here's what we came up with, then: the very best iPhone and iPad games of February 2012.
Ghost Trick: Phantom DetectiveBy Capcom - buy on iPhone and iPad
We're used to being killed in games. But, Ghost Trick is one of the few adventures where you start off dead - and this time, you won't respawn. Instead, being murdered leaves Sissel as a spirit in a ghostly afterlife where he can use his poltergeist powers to live on.
He'll use his ghost tricks to stop more murders: he can make objects come to life, scaring off assassins and luring away targets. The puzzle is figuring out the right object to haunt, and the right time to trick it.
In this lengthy yarn that's funny, moving, and utterly engrossing, the red-suited spirit will also use his powers to solve his own murder.
Beat Sneak BanditBy Simogo - buy on iPhone and iPad
Everything in Beat Sneak Bandit moves in a predictable, looping fashion. Spotlights snap on and off, guards pace back and forth, steel doors slam shut, and trapdoors swing open.
Getting through each stage unseen requires watching and listening to the level so you can learn its rhythm. Then, it's about exploiting moments of downtime so the titular thief can tip-toe past the mansion's cartoonish security.
The real catch is that you must play to the beat. You need only tap the screen to move Bandit through the level, but if you're out of sync with the music, you'll freeze solid on the spot. Not the best career move for a ninja-like burglar.
DoDonPachi Blissful DeathBy Cave - buy on iPhone
The only thing blissful about death in DoDonPachi is at least the Game Over screen is a respite from the hellish sensory assault of the main game. This is a shooter that involves being swamped by bullets and ravaged by lasers and barely hanging on to life.
Which all serves to make DoDonPachi Blissful Death an electric thrill ride, where just getting through each stage alive is a Herculean achievement. Posting a high score - which involves creating a chain of kills throughout the level - is something else entirely.
While Cave has omitted the clever Smartphone mode of DoDonPachi Resurrection in Blissful Death, the latter remains a solid port of 2002's Dai Ou Jou, and a cheap entry point into the scary world of bullet-hell shmups.
League of Evil 2By Ravenous Games - buy on iPhone and iPad
The pixel-art aesthetic really did complement the original League of Evil's gameplay rather nicely. This was a brutally difficult platformer, which would punish you for being a pixel too close to a swinging blade, or a nanosecond off the level's target time. It was Mega Man by way of Mario, and belonged to a lost age of consoles that measured their power in "bits".
But, don't be fooled by League of Evil 2's more modern visual style. This is still a devilishly difficult game, which will demand the concentration of a surgeon and the persistence of a monk. It still has tight controls, it still has ruthless deaths, and it still has scientists to punch in the face. Only this time, they explode into cartoony chunks of meat.
It might not be painted in pixels anymore, but League of Evil 2 is still retro where it counts.
The Tiny Bang Story HDBy Colibri Games - buy on iPad
The Tiny Bang Story HD blurs the line between puzzler, point-and-click adventure, and all-out hidden object game. Much of the time is spent visually scouring these gorgeous hand-painted backdrops on the hunt for jigsaw pieces, balls, gears, spinning tops, and other such bits and bobs.
Other times, you're solving tricky conundrums - from basic pattern-memorisation riddles to seriously difficult puzzles that would make Professor Layton sweat. Finally, you use your puzzles and objects to satisfy the game's oddball cast of mute characters.
The whole thing has a bizarre, slightly surreal Eastern European twist, which makes exploring the world a treat. It all happens at a relaxed pace, making it the perfect game to fiddle with on a lazy afternoon.
Elf DefenseBy Jellyoasis - buy on iPhone and iPad
Elf Defense doesn't deviate much from the typical rules of tower defence. Enemies march in single file along pre-set paths in the hope of breaking into your base. To stop them in their tracks, you build and upgrade a defensive line of turrets.
There are special units to deploy, last-minute items to directly attack enemies with, and items to change the scenery, but it mostly sticks to a well-worn, and well-loved, formula. The way Elf Defense stands out from the crowd is through its undeniable charm and an unmistakable art style.
There are innumerable tower defence games to choose from, but Elf Defense's colourful and boxy motif makes it worth picking.
Pizza Vs. SkeletonsBy Riverman Media - buy on iPhone and iPad
We've seen some odd dust-ups in our day - Plants vs. Zombies, Marvel vs. Capcom, Eminem vs Britney Spears - but a pin-wheeling platter of dough against an undead army of bones? That has got to be the most bizarre yet. And that's before you choose your pizza's toppings - and hat.
This absolutely bonkers game has you tilting your iOS device back and forth to roll through each level, then tapping on the screen to leap into the air, and finally tapping again to crash down on the ground. It's violent, chaotic, and deliciously tactile.
Developer Riverman Media frequently remixes the concept, turning the game from a beat-'em-up to a downhill ski sim to a swimming game to a boss stage.
Reckless Racing 2By Polarbit - buy on iPhone and iPad
It's true that Reckless Racing 2 is quite different from its predecessor. The handling is a lot tighter, for one, replacing Dukes of Hazard drifts with Gran Turismo precision. And you can now tweak your vehicles - which are sports cars, rather than busted old pickups.
But, not everything's changed. The game's country bumpkin cast has stuck around, even if they look completely out of place among Reckless Racing 2's slick menus.
And while the racing model is less boisterous and more controllable, Reckless Racing 2 still offers a deep, satisfying, and fun racing game - online or off.
Ragdoll Blaster 3By Backflip Studios - buy on iPhone or buy on iPad
Angry Birds is not the only game around in which the main characters are cannon fodder for destruction. Players of the Ragdoll Blaster franchise have been firing its heroes into walls, targets, and stacks of TNT for two games now.
As ever, the game is packed with puzzles to solve. This isn't a game about brute strength and luck: you need to set up chain reactions, carefully consider the order of your moves, endlessly restart stages, and rely on judicious timing to win.
To distinguish it from its forerunners, though, Ragdoll Blaster 3 has been given a visual overhaul. No more grungy backdrops and lifeless ragdolls: in this new game, your burlap pals sport googly eyes and a goofy grin, and colourful levels are stored in pop-up picture books.
Beat Hazard UltraBy Cold Beam Games - buy on iPhone and iPad
At first glance, Beat Hazard Ultra might seem like every other twin-stick shooter since Geometry Wars. A zippy little spaceship nukes a bunch of enemies in a photosensitive blitz of lights, strobes, colour, and neon.
But, there's a twist: your iTunes library can become the game's backing track. Each song is made into a level, where rhythms, beats, and tempos dictate the ferocity of your enemies and alter the power of your weapons.
Half the fun is simply trying out different songs and seeing how Daft Punk compares to Justin Bieber.
Top 10 best iPhone and iPad games: January 2012
The 10 best iPhone and iPad games: December 2011
The 10 best iPhone and iPad games: November 2011
The 10 best iPhone and iPad games: October 2011
The 10 best iPhone and iPad games: September 2011
