Top 10 best iPhone and iPad games of October 2014
Banners! Truckers! Battlers! Skullduggers!
Every month, we take a step back and reflect on the last 30-odd days of new games. We consider every single iOS game that came out in the last month, and pick the best.
As always, it's a diverse list. October's best games included retro throwbacks, PC ports, barmy score-chasers, board game adaptations, and platformers. Freebies and expensive apps.
We implore you to check the lot out, and share your favourite new discoveries from October in the comments below.
Electronic Super Joy: Groove CityBy Yazar Media Group - buy on iPhone and iPad
Electronic Super Joy is not an ideal game to play if you have a headache. This manic platformer bombards you with strobing lights and high-tempo electronica that reverberates right through your skull.
Fight through the migraine, though, and you'll find a brilliant, exacting, rock-hard jumper with shades of Super Meat Boy and a reliable touchscreen joypad. You also get a Steam key for the PC version.
The Banner SagaBy Stoic - buy on iPhone and iPad
Norse mythology and weighty decisions. My two favourite things in life. And The Banner Saga mushes them together in a gorgeous tactical RPG that looks like a Disney cartoon from the '60s.
Between the scrappy grid-based battles you'll have to make dialogue choices that bend the narrative in new directions, and manage your caravan of Viking warriors to balance your fighting force, morale, and food store.
Put all that back together and you give a big, bold, brash interactive saga that will keep you rapt, battle after battle.
RETRY
By Rovio Entertainment - download on iPhone and iPad (Free)
With its wonky physics and aggravating controls, RETRY certainly exists in a post-Flappy Bird world. But this is no clone.
Instead of a random, repetitive ocean of pipes, you must wrestle this loopy little plane around intricate maze-like levels. You'll have to learn both the level layouts and the controls if you want to succeed.
That pixel art is a proper treat, too. But no chip tune soundtrack? Now there's a missed opportunity.
Galaxy TruckerBy Czech Games Edition - buy on iPad
Vlaada Chvatil makes some pretty unique board games. Galaxy Trucker, for example, has you scrambling to build a spaceship from a big pile of tiles, before jetting off into space to see how your DIY rocket fares against the cosmos.
It's a barmy game, and seemed slightly impervious to a digital edition. But here we are, with an incredible iPad port of this creative tabletop experience.
To help things along there's a new turn-based mode and a single player campaign. But it's best played with friends, and there's a whole suite of multiplayer modes for that.
Skullduggery!By ClutchPlay Games - buy on iPhone and iPad
Skullduggery borrows its best idea from an unlikely source: Angry Birds. Rovio's catapult mechanic was designed for a simple arcade game, but it works surprisingly well in a platforming adventure, too.
So, you get around this creepy world by tugging the brain out of a skull, and then letting go to ping the brain box off in a new direction. This gives you all the accuracy you need to navigate these stages.
The game's also filled with retro flair, including screen-sized boss baddies and secret rooms.
Skylanders Trap TeamBy Activision Publishing, Inc. - download on iPad
Much has been made of the fact that Skylanders Trap Team is not some mobile spin-off or cash-in. It's a fully fledged Skylanders game, complete with NFC-powered figures, that just happens to live on tablet.
It's also a jolly good game, with a lengthy Saturday morning cartoon-style storyline, loads of platforming and combat hijinx, and some mini games for good measure.
If you play properly and buy all the right figures, this game is going to cost you an arm and a leg. But, hey, at least you've got some nice new toys for your shelf. That's more than most in-app purchases give you.
HelixBy Michael Brough - buy on iPhone and iPad
Michael Brough's new game is about running rings around your enemies. As baddies waltz onto the screen, the only way to kill them is to dance around their perimeter.
It's a fresh concept, though you won't have much time to appreciate that as the screen is quickly flooded with enemies - some which require multiple circles, or for you to change the direction of your spin.
It's simple, but wonderfully compulsive.
Battle Academy 2: Eastern FrontBy Slitherine - buy on iPad
Battle Academy has a few barriers to entry, that much is true. It's a stuffy historical war game, with strategy and complex rules. And then there's that price tag, which towers over the freebies and pocket money apps.
But pay up, and dig in, and you'll find one of the best strategy games on the store. As tactics expert Matt Thrower puts it, Battle Academy 2 is "a pitch perfect, pick up and play blend of strategy and accessibility, history and thrills".
Air Supply - SOSBy Quantum Sheep - buy on iPhone and iPad
You can tell that this game's developer is a retro fanatic. Not just from the simple knockabout gameplay, the minimalist graphics, or the grating demo-scene music, though.
Mostly from the fact that Quantum Sheep thanks the ZX Spectrum on the loading screen.
Retro gamer or not, you'll appreciate the fast-paced battles and an unconventional control scheme, where jump and shoot are on the same button, that works surprisingly well on mobile.
Inferno 2By Radiangames - buy on iPhone and iPad
Over the years, Radiangames has perfected its neon-dipped, electro-punk, score-chasing arcade formula. Inferno 2 is a slight step back - overcomplicated and a touch unwieldy - but another solid addition to the library.
Like its predecessor, this is a twin-stick, Geometry Wars-style shmup, squished inside a maze. So instead of a boring square battlefield, you'll explore and dart around corners. Terrific, addictive stuff.
Previously… September 2014 - August 2014 - July 2014