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Top 10 best iPhone and iPad games of June 2013

XCOM! Bridgy Jones! Scurvy Scallywags!

Top 10 best iPhone and iPad games of June 2013
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iOS

Every month, we like to look back at all the iPhone and iPad games that have come out in the past four weeks and pick out the very best of the bunch.

While June may have been predominantly about fanboys fighting over Xbox DRM and iOS 7 design, there were still plenty of top mobile games released this month to keep us busy between arguments.

From top-drawer murder mysteries, spooky horror games, and turn-based tactic epics to superlative musicals, roguelikes, and bridge builders, the App Store was brimming with brilliant titles in June.

In other words, there was something on iOS for everyone this month.

Layton Brothers: Mystery Room
By Level-5 - download free on iPhone and iPad Layton Brothers Mystery Room

Run a paternity test, and it's likely that the star of Mystery Room will end up being the offspring of Phoenix Wright, and not Professor Layton. This pony-tailed lank solves murders, after all; not algebra riddles.

Whatever the genealogy, the whodunits in this game are fun mysteries you must untangle. And the cases move at a gripping rat-a-tat-tat pace. It's all held together by an intriguing story, with typically stellar writing from Level-5.

Either dad would be proud.

Scurvy Scallywags
By Gilbert & Kauzlaric - buy on iPhone and iPad Scurvy Scallywags

If you thought the match-three puzzler was dead and buried, think again. The maker of Scurvy Scallywags makes this most tired of genres feel brand new by turning this game into a meta-musical RPG with witty writing and pirate shanties.

Best of all is the game's original mechanic. Your hero and his enemies sit on the puzzle board, and shift about as you match up tiles.

Putting together gems isn't just about scoring points - it's about collecting treasure, beating up baddies, and running away from monsters.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
By Firaxis Games - buy on iPhone and iPad XCOM Enemy Unknown

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a game of two halves.

There are the tense, turn-based firefights, where you might strategically breach a pizzeria in Canada or storm a downed UFO off the German border using cover and tactics to outsmart your alien enemy.

And then there's life back at base, where you dictate research and launch satellites.

Both parts are as engrossing as each other, and offer their own challenges. Stick them together, and you've got one truly terrific strategy game (and a great iOS port).

Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage
By Nitrome - buy on iPhone or buy on iPad Icebreaker A Viking Voyage

If Rovio's plan was to find the next top physics-puzzler through its Rovio Stars initiative, then the Angry Birds behemoth can pat itself on the back for a job well done.

Pixel-art head scratcher Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage is imaginative, original, and loads of fun.

The idea is simple: you manipulate the environment to get a bunch of stranded Vikings back to their longboat.

However, the puzzles - which involve slicing up glaciers, cutting ropes, avoiding trolls, and get unstuck from slime - are anything but simple.

Home - a Unique Horror Adventure
By Benjamin Rivers - buy on iPhone and iPad Home

Benjamin Rivers knows how to do a lot with less. In this minimalist horror game, Rivers manages to create an intensely unnerving atmosphere with little more than some blocky pixel-art graphics and a few low-fi sound effects.

The claustrophobic conditions whereby you can only see what's in your torch light go a long way, especially.

The story is similarly elusive and non-intrusive - it gets out of the way, and doesn't answer every question, letting you fill in the gaps with your own imagination.

Quadropus Rampage
By Butterscotch Shenanigans - download free on iPhone and iPad

Quadropus Rampage

Quadropus Rampage is stuffed so full of ideas that just writing out its genre in full might use up half my word count.

You see, it is an endless dungeon-crawling isometric action-RPG roguelike. Set underwater. Starring a four-legged octopus.

It's absolutely bonkers - bashing in an evil anglerfish with a pair of magic chopsticks is button-bushy knockabout fun of the highest order. It's free. Get it.

Agricola
By Playdek - buy on iPhone and iPad Agricola

German boardgame conversion Agricola is not for the faint of heart.

Apparently, it's a game in which you try to create enough crops to keep your family alive, while out-farming your agricultural opponents.

I say 'apparently' as the exam-like tutorial has scared me off for life.

But PG reviewer Harry, who is contractually obligated to sit through the whole thing, came out the other side and called Agricola "an incredibly rewarding digital boardgame whether you're playing on your own, online, or with friends on the same device".

Bridgy Jones
By Grow App - buy on iPhone and iPad Bridgy Jones

We've played bridge builders before. But few are as well put together as this Polish-made app. Everything from the sharp level design to the intuitive level editor radiates quality.

Snapping together bits of track to overcome gaps and gorges is, well, as easy as pie.

The real stars, mind, are the extra objectives. By forcing you to make tracks that are strong or economical or low or high, Grow App really stretches your imagination, and forces you to use lateral thinking.

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers
By Ironhide Game Studio - buy on iPhone or buy on iPad Kingdom Rush Frontiers

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That might end up being Ironhide's epitaph, actually.

With Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, the Ironhide team has done very little to differentiate its follow-up from its predecessor - it just does more, and it does it better, while rounding off a few of the hard edges.

And while it won't do much to win back those who are sick of tower defence games, this is a polished, well-balanced, and addictive entry in the genre.

Crush!
By Radiangames - buy on iPhone and iPad Crush

Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the most engaging. In Radiangames's Crush, you tap on squares. If you tap on a big sea of identically coloured squares, you gain a ton of points.

It's got power-ups and a pair of modes, but that's about it.

But with its thumping soundtrack, ceaseless downward progression, and the knowledge that one wrong move could doom your game, this stylish little block tapper has a real ruthless sense of urgency.

Previously... May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 May 2013 - April 2013 - March 2013
Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer