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The best iPhone and iPad games this week - Zombie Commando, Ingress, Battle Fleet 2

Wage war on humans, zombies, and actual humans

The best iPhone and iPad games this week - Zombie Commando, Ingress, Battle Fleet 2
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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.

Zombie Commando
By Bulkypix - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.49 / $1.99)
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In Zombie Commando you play neither as a zombie nor a commando. Instead you play as a group of armed survivors, steering them with a finger into crowds of zombies and then watching as they shoot and hack their way out.

There are a few different goals, some primary, some secondary, and none especially surprising. In one mission you might have to escort some civilians. In another you might have to stay alive for a set period of time, or simply wipe out all of the dribbling zombie scum.

In between stages you get to expand, enhance, and customise your team, using currency that you pick up during play. Zombie Commando is basic but well-made, and the pixel-art graphics are well-suited to the pleasantly simplistic gameplay. You probably won't be playing it this time next month, but it's solid, original, and worth the price of entry.

Ingress
By Google - download now on iPhone and iPad (free)
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Ingress requires you to do a lot of things that you might not be comfortable with. For a start, it asks for your location and your Google login details (relax - it's developed by Google.)

Then you need to leave your house, to visit 'portals' in the real world – landmarks and places around you that have virtual significance in Ingress's sci-fi universe.

You'll probably have to wander around outside with your phone on display, collecting virtual items to help you claim and hold portals, making you a prime target for ruffians. To make matters worse, in order to really do well you'll need to cooperate with other humans, and possibly even make friends with some of them.

If you're prepared to go through all that you should definitely play Ingress, because may be the slickest attempt at AR so far.

Battle Fleet 2
By Capital j Media - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)
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Battle Fleet 2 is effectively Worms, but set in the Pacific theatre during World War II, and played from a top-down perspective, and featuring ocean-going military vehicles instead of cartoon worms. It doesn't have any novelty weapons in it either.

But you get the gist. The idea in this slick game of battleships is to maneuver your craft into tactically sensible positions and then fire on enemy craft, judging the power and direction of your shots.

There's a single player campaign, during which you build and maintain a fleet and customise your weapon loadouts, but it's marred by some flimsy enemy AI. Your best bet is to play against other humans, either locally or remotely.

It's a deceptively deep (and tragically tutorial-less) game, and if you take the time to learn Battle Fleet 2's intricacies, and persuade a few friends to join in, you'll have a blast.

Rob Hearn
Rob Hearn
Having obtained a distinguished education, Rob became Steel Media's managing editor, now he's no longer here though.