Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary: Showering alligators and jogging through temples

Hello! And welcome back to our Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary celebrations. If you haven’t been following along – slight shame upon you – we've been looking back at what was happening in each year of the site's existence. We're up to 2011 now, a year that felt like it'd play a significant role in my life because I went to university. In reality, it wasn't the life-changing experience it's often perceived to be, but I suppose an introvert's uni days are always going to be a little different from the usual. I did go to some great gigs, though. Thank you, student loan.

My next step in the education ladder aside, 2011 sticks in many Brits' minds because it saw Prince William and Catherine Middleton get married. I'm not a royalist, and I don't know many either, but a big fancy wedding seems to get my fellow country folk excited regardless of who's involved.

In film, Michael Bay wasn't quite done with lorries that turn into humanoid robots yet, as Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon performed well at the box office. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise was climbing a tall building (I assume, anyway) in Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Never forget the hyphen! And Vin Diesel was reminding everyone of the importance of family while speeding about in Fast Five.

Frankly, it wasn't a great year for film. At least not in terms of what was popular. Music was far better, with the excellent 21, +, and Born This Way coming from Adele, Ed Sheeran, and Lady Gaga, respectively. I'm generally not a pop music person, but those albums are undeniable. Other good stuff included Rise Against's Endgame, The Boxer Rebellion's The Cold Still, and Machine Head's Unto the Locust. 

It was a big year in gaming, too, with Skyrim being the obvious shout-out. As I've mentioned a few times, it does nothing for me. Although I'd be a fool to deny its popularity. Elsewhere, 2011 saw the Gears of War trilogy come to a close with the Locust threat completely wiped out, never to return. Wait, what? They did. Oh, boy. Anyway, we also got the sublime Rayman Origins, a platformer I enjoyed so much I dedicated myself to getting every single achievement. 

But what about mobile games? That's what we're all about, after all. Well, we were still in the days when developers tried to make interesting use of the touchscreen to its fullest potential. That's a trend that's drifted to the background in recent years, largely because most people are now more comfortable with the idea of virtual joysticks and buttons. I miss a good slingshot mechanic, though. Anyway, there are plenty of names you'll recognise from 2011!

Temple Run

If you ask anyone vaguely familiar with mobile to name a few things, it likely won't take long before they reach Temple Run. The endless runner was so popular that everyone tried to get a piece of the pie, quickly whipping up competitors left and right. However, they rarely possessed the same feel as Temple Run, which saw it remain at the top of the pile for some time. If you're unfamiliar, you simply have to avoid obstacles by swiping while collecting coins. Yep. That was it, and it was great.

Jetpack Joyride

To somewhat contradict my previous point, while some endless runners failed to capture the same success as Temple Run, Halfbrick Studios' Jetpack Joyride managed to soar alongside it. It was largely helped by having a different control scheme, where all you had to do was tap to fire the jetpack. And while that lack of involvement might make it sound worse, the intense action on-screen always made sure you were engaged and on your toes. Well, until you hit flow state, that is. But flow state is a nice place to be. Oh, and the protagonist is called Barry Steakfries, which is top-tier silly fun. 

Where's My Water?

One of the things I've loved about dipping back in time for our 20th anniversary celebrations is reminding myself of what I used to enjoy. Somehow, I'd completely forgotten about Where's My Water?, despite playing loads of it. In it, you had to help Swampy the alligator with his water supply. That meant dragging your finger through dirt while avoiding obstacles, allowing that precious liquid to flow freely to our hero's shower. Of course, it's a puzzler, meaning it got a little more complicated than that as you progressed, providing plenty of satisfying a-ha moments. 

Tiny Wings

It's just not just Angry Birds that ruled the roost when it came to avians on mobile, you know? Tiny Wings also took flight in 2011. Well, its protagonist tried to, anyway. You see, our titular hero's wings were too small to do any good. Instead, you had to glide up and down, timing your dips in altitude with hills you could slide down to pick up momentum before hitting the skies once more. Think of it more as falling with style rather than flying, as a wise cowboy once said. 

Death Rally

I could make up some spiel about how the remake of Death Rally was great, but I've only included it for one reason. If you hit the credits button, you'd hear Poets of the Fall's Can You Hear Me, one of the band's best songs in my humble opinion. But you know what? Death Rally was pretty good too, and you could even play as Barry Wheeler from Alan Wake. Not that I’d trust him driving a car.