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9 best iPhone and iPad games this week - The Room 2, GTA: San Andreas, and more

Sushi Snakes! AntiSquad! Ski Safari: Adventure Time!

9 best iPhone and iPad games this week - The Room 2, GTA: San Andreas, and more
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iOS
| New releases round-up

Every Friday, Pocket Gamer offers hands-on impressions of the week's best new iPhone and iPad games.

This week, two enormous games were caught in a battle to be our top pick on iOS. Should we go for gorgeous new puzzle game The Room 2, or pick the terrific port of PS2 crime epic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?

We picked Fireproof's puzzler in the end, but both games are worth a purchase. And don't miss out on the fiendishly clever Sushi Snakes or turn-based shoot-'em-up AntiSquad.

Think we've missed a top new iOS game? Shout at us with all your might in the comments section at the bottom.


This week's top pick

The Room 2
By Fireproof Games - buy on iPad (£2.99 / $4.99)

The Room 2

Sumptuous iPad box fiddler The Room 2 is bigger and better than its predecessor in just about every way.

Where The Room was mostly centred on a single box or a lone table, The Room 2 has puzzles that encompass entire rooms. And if you thought the first game was a little short, know that this follow-up is a massive game which stretches across a variety of environments.

It's also even more tactile, with more drawers at which to paw and more switches to twiddle. It's also more creepy, with an even more close and claustrophobic atmosphere. And - perhaps most importantly - the puzzles are more fiendish than ever.


Also out this week...

Angry Birds Go!
By Rovio - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Angry Birds Go

You might be wondering how a game like Angry Birds Go! - with the incessant advertising and endless in-app purchases - can end up on a list of best games. It is hard to stomach, we admit, but the actual racing - when you have enough energy to compete - is simply loads of fun.

The Walk
By Six to Start - buy on iPhone and iPad (£2.49 / $3.99)

The Walk

Another narrative-driven fitness game from Zombies, Run! creator Six to Start. This time, it's about walking, not running. And in this one, you'll keep moving over the course of about three months to continue turning the pages of a suspenseful thriller story. This Naomi Alderman-penned game was funded by the UK's Department of Health and the NHS.

Sushi Snakes
By Benjamin Davis - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)

Sushi Snakes

A devilishly clever little puzzler that calls to mind both Pac-Man and Snake. The idea is to eat all the dots, but your snake turns the colour of whatever she eats and can't pass through walls that are the same colour as she. That means thinking several steps ahead or - in later stages - chomping right through other snakes.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
By Rockstar Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (£4.99 / $6.99)

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

There's no competition. PS2 port San Andreas is now the biggest game on mobile. It's got an enormous world - an entire US state with cities, casino strips, deserts, and mountains - a huge story, and almost 100 hours of content. This faithful iOS rendition boasts slick new visuals and surprisingly strong controls.

Gregg
By Namco Bandai - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Gregg

A sickeningly cute puzzle-platformer about a gurgling yellow square who has to help a sleepwalking pigeon get home. You need to build a safe passage for the bird using boxes or even your own head. It's pretty tough from the word go, but the levels are short enough for constant restarts to not be a pain. The full adventure is a 69p / 99c in-app purchase.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
By Warner Bros. - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Lego Star Wars

The latest Lego game on iOS is a compilation of all six Star Wars games. You get the Phantom Menace for free, and can buy the other episodes piecemeal (at £1.99 / $2.99 a pop), as trilogies (£2.99 / $4.99 each), or as a big bundle with loads of extras for £10.49 / $14.99.

Whichever route you choose, this is a fun kid-friendly game that's about duffing up famous Star Wars foes, solving simple puzzles, platforming, and working through the events of the movies.

AntiSquad
By Bulkypix - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)

AntiSquad

A charming little turn-based tactics game about a hodgepodge crew of gun-toting lawmakers cleaning up Mexico. It might not be as deep as XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but there are plenty of options here for tackling each mission and a wide array of characters and items to use. Fun stuff, but the presence of in-app purchases to give you the edge in battle sours things.

Ski Safari: Adventure Time
By Cartoon Network - buy on iPhone and iPad (69p / 99c)

Ski Safari Adventure Time

It's terrific endless-runner Ski Safari now with the wacky characters (and maddeningly repetitive voice samples) of bonkers fever dream cartoon Adventure Time. Like in the original Ski Safari game, you perform jumps and flips to outrun a rampaging avalanche, and hitch rides on animals. I prefer the original, but this is a neat re-skin for fans of the show.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer