The best iOS and Android games of October 2016: PinOut, Gear.Club and more

Welcome to our new monthly feature rounding up the best games on iOS and Android from each calendar month.

Have you taken your eye off the App Store or Google Play Store for a week or two of late? It's okay, we understand. You were busy. We won't hold it against you.

In fact, we're going to help catch you up on the choicest morsels of mobile gaming from the past 30 days.

October 2016 was a tough one to call, with some varied yet consistently accomplished games released right throughout the month. We've narrowed it down to a solid ten, but do let us know if you'd include anything different.

PinOut
By: Mediocre - buy on iOS / buy on Android

Pinball scratches a particular itch that no other game can reach, but how do you do something fresh and interesting with it? Mediocre has the answer: turn it into a slick, neon-drenched endless climber.

The Bug Butcher
By Noodlecake Games - buy on iOS / buy on Android

The Bug Catcher does great things with the 'dodge from side to side and shoot up' template. Another Space Invaders clone this ain't.

Gear.Club
By: Eden Games - buy on iOS

If you've had a console racing itch ever since Real Racing 3 performed its last photorealistic wheel-spin, boy did October have the game for you. Gear.Club is polished, packed full of content, and particularly well honed for mobile play.

Invisible, Inc.
By Klei Entertainment - buy on iOS

October was a good month for console-quality isometric strategy games. As well as Banner Saga 2, we got this brilliant turn-based roguelike stealth game set in a rich cyberpunk universe.

Flappy Golf 2
By Noodlecake Games - buy on iOS / buy on Android

Take one Stickman Golf 3, strain out the swing mechanic, stir in Flappy Bird's tappy movement system. Bake until golden. Serve up Flappy Golf 2 with a side of smiles.

Maximum Car
By Ancient Games - download on iOS / download on Android

Burnout on mobile? Not quite, but as there's no such thing as Burnout on anything these days (sob), Maximum Car will more than do. It's a fun, frenetic, deeply silly arcade racer that we found rather hard to put down.

Dan The Man
By Halfbrick Studios - download on iOS / download on Android

It's tricky to explain quite why Dan The Man is so much fun. After all, it's yet another retro 2D platformer in love with the SNES era. But it's such a polished example of the form, and so relentlessly entertaining, that it somehow stands out in a competitive field.

Mini Metro
By Playdigious - buy on iOS / buy on Android

A deeply stylish, novel puzzler that looks and feels like you're playing an interactive London Underground map. It might take longer to 'get' than your average mobile puzzler, but that's part of Mini Metro's unique appeal.

Plants vs Zombies: Heroes
By EA - download on iOS / download on Android

Plants vs Zombies: Heroes is closer to Hearthstone than the original PvZ, but it works very well indeed. In particular, the asynchronous nature of its card-based battles makes for some fascinating scraps.

Jade Empire: Special Edition
By Aspyr Media - buy on iOS

At last, we get another classic BioWare RPG to play on our mobile devices. While Jade Empire isn't as good as Knights of the Old Republic - either as a game or a conversion - it remains a compellingly rich action-oriented role player.