Top 10 iOS games for 10 top sporting events

Here at Pocket Gamer, we're more than aware of how important our role is in bringing you all the latest - and relevant - mobile game news.

You know what else we're huge fans of, though?

Sport. Yep. Football. Tennis. Snooker. Cricket. That sport where people hit balls through little metal arches. Cheese rolling.

Ohh, yes, we're well ahead of the game when it comes to sport. Which is why we've brought you this incredibly important guide to the top sporting events in 2013 and the iOS games you should be playing while you watch 'em.

Fore! Goal! Try! LBW! Etc.

Formula 1 - starts on March 15th
We recommend: Formula Micro GP 1

Will Sebastian Vettel make it four F1 Championship wins in a row? More importantly, what can you play on your iPhone when the F1 action gets a bit repetitive?

Formula Micro GP 1 is your friend here, offering a top-down view on the action and containing the sort of gameplay you might have seen in the classic Micro Machines series.

All you need to do is make sure you take those bends at the right angle, for acceleration is automatic. Zrooom!

UEFA Champions League Final - May 25th
We recommend: New Star Soccer

The awkward thing about playing New Star Soccer is the sudden realization that it's a much more enjoyable experience than actually watching the old foot-to-ball on the telly.

But, whether you stay at home or choose to watch the Champions League Final at the pub, there's no reason to relinquish your grip on this ridiculously addictive mobile ball-kicking simulator.

Back of the net!

The Ashes - starts on July 10th
We recommend: Big Cup Cricket

Apparently, The Ashes has something to do with hitting leather balls with sticks of wood. Rather than pillaging your local village and setting everything alight.

That's probably for the best, mind.

Anyway, Eidos's Big Cup Cricket can help you enjoy this prestigious cricket series even more, thanks to its silly take on this popular summer bat-and-ball sport.

Even if we - that's the English, you at the back - end up losing to the Aussies at Lord's, we can always trump them in the virtual game and then pretend that real life and video games swapped places. Sweet, denial-based bliss.

World Snooker Championship - starts April 20th
We recommend: Snooker Club

While hundreds of people make their way to the Crucible Theatre to sit and watch grown men poke balls with giant sticks, you can stay at home, safe in the knowledge that you're experiencing something equally as enjoyable.

Although Snooker Club goes a little too overboard with the scantily clad women, the maker of this really good snooker simulator has absolutely nailed the ball physics.

The Six Nations Championship - running until March 16th
We recommend: Flick Nations Rugby

The Six Nations Championship 2013 is already underway, and so loads of big bulky men from Ireland, France, etc. have been busy wrestling one another into the mud. Ooo, err.

In Flick Nations Rugby, the focus is solely on the kicking-the-ball-through-the-two-poles aspect of the game. And doing so with accuracy and purpose.

If you've already played Flick Golf, it's basically that... but starring an egg.

PGA Tour - next tournament starts February 14th
We recommend: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12

For some inexplicable reason, there was no iOS version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13. Ah, well, the console edition was a bit pap.

Anyways, at least we've still got Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 to remind us of better days.

It's a great golf game, and still perfect for playing alongside a real-life tour event.

Grand National - April 6th
We recommend: My Horse

We have to be careful when discussing matters of an equine nature, what with all the horsemeat shenanigans of recent weeks.

So, rather than home in on the act of racing horses, watching them collapse, and then shooting them, let's focus on the 'other' sport involving horseys. Yes, show jumping!

Okay, okay, the only thing that My Horse has in common with the Grand National is hooved steeds. Buuuuut, the game has been downloaded millions of times... and all of those people can't be wrong, right?

Wimbledon - starts June 24th
We recommend: Tennis in the Face

This year is Murray's year - we can feel it. Again.

But, if 'our' (when he wins, he's British. When he loses, he's Scottish) Andy does fall at the final hurdle on the hallowed grass courts of SW19 this summer, we'll be ready to drown our sorrows with 10tons's Tennis in the Face.

This is a game about tennis that has very little to do with tennis. I know. Think Angry Birds-meets-Serena Williams, though, and we may have ourselves a winner.

2013 World Aquatics Championships - starts July 19th
We recommend: Super Monsters Ate My Condo

Okay, hear us out here. The 2013 World Aquatics Championships are all about diving, water polo, and swimming.

There aren't many good swimming games for iOS, granted. But, Adult SWIM is a great mobile publisher. And Super Monsters Ate My Condo is one of its best games.

Yes, that's a tenuous link if ever I wrote one, but if you haven't played Super Monsters Ate My Condo, you really should. It's ace. (Damn, should have used that in the Wimbledon segment. Ack.)

Tour de France - starts June 29th
We recommend: Joe Danger

Lance Armstrong's doping! Bradley Wiggins's sideburns! So much drama, so much cycling. A sea of nippy bikes and near-collisions.

So, we're going to go ahead and ignore all that Tour de France nonsense, and encourage you to play motorbike arcade game Joe Danger, instead. Because, in all honesty, the App Store is full of rubbish cycling games.

Joe Danger, however, is not one of them. It deserves to be played. A lot. Simple as that, really.