Top 10 point-and-click adventures for iPad

Telltale knows how to pick its source material. Whether it's British claymation classic Wallace and Gromit or cultish web cartoon Strongbad, the Californian developer has managed to find franchises that resonate and work with puzzles.

Back to the Future is no different. It's timeless '80s chic, quirky sense of humour, and time-travelling mind-bendability makes it a perfect setting for puzzles and dialogue trees.

After the events of Back to the Future 3, the Doc has gone missing and Marty must travel back to the '50s to get him back.

Nothing's ever that simple, though - present day Doc is locked up, past Doc considers giving up science altogether, and alternate-universe Doc is a malevolent, dystopian dictator.

Hopefully you can get it all straightened out in five episodes, which are packed with puzzles and voicework from the major cast members of the original movies (including a special guest performance from Michael J Fox in the last instalment).

Broken Sword: Director's Cut HD (Full Review - Download)
Broken Sword - The Smoking Mirror: Remastered (Full Review - Download)

For George Stobbart, the quick-witted lawyer from California, it was a bomb that started his second career as a globe-trotting adventure hound. A bomb planted by a clown, that is. A clown who's tied to cultism, subterfuge, and a conspiracy that dates back centuries.

Over the course of two must-have point-and-click adventures, George and photo-journo Nico Collard will track down this band of neo-Templar nasties, following their footsteps from the cafes of Paris to the pubs of Ireland, and from the underground in London to the Aztec step-pyramids of Mexico.

Broken Sword's engaging story will make putting your iPad down tough, and the smart puzzles in both games will ensure you never shut the app in a rage.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (Full Review - Download)
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge (Full Review - Download)

For many, Monkey Island started a lifelong love of adventures, puzzles, barmy stories, and rubber chickens with pulleys in the middle.

Guybrush Threepwood's not-so swashbuckling tales of a wannabe pirate are a true benchmark for comedy point-and-clickers, and few games meet their level of wit and design.

Luckily, LucasArts has seen fit to port the first two titles in this cult-classic franchise onto iPad, and even decked them out with flash new graphics, a fresh orchestral score, bonus artwork, and even a commentary from the game's developers.

If you don't fancy all that, it's easy enough to turn the new stuff off. As you traipse over Melee Island, work your way through Insult Swordfights, dig up treasure on Big Whoop, and kick LeChuck's butt (twice), you can swipe two fingers over the screen to switch to the old pixels, bleeps, and bloops of the original.

Simon the Sorcerer (Download)
Simon the Sorcerer 2: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe (Download)

Like Hector, there's something about Simon the Sorcerer's acerbic British wit that just can't be found in any American-made game. Simon pokes fun at the fantasy cliches, mocks the player, and regularly breaks the fourth wall.

In the game, teenage Simon (irritatingly voiced by Red Dwarf's Chris Barrie) is teleported into a magical realm of goblins, giants, dwarves, and a little green swampling with low self-esteem. He'll need to bat away baddies, plough through fairytale cliches, and get enough mucusade to return home.

The iPad ports aren't wonderful, it must be said. They're prone to the odd crash and the control scheme is troublesome - but at least the game saves regularly. If you can put up with the bugs, you'll find a wonderfully funny adventure game within.

Machinarium, the indie epic from Czech developer Aminata Design, is the only game on this list that doesn't have a single word of dialogue.

That doesn't mean it's not funny, like Monkey Island. Tin-can robo-hero Josef and the game's cast of automata often raise a smirk with their slapstick routines and animated gags.

And it doesn't stop it having an affecting story, like Broken Sword. Josef's love for his nuts-and-bolts girlfriend, the true nastiness of the city's bullies, and the backstory to the game's world are all elegantly explained through action, emotion, and gorgeous hand-drawn artwork.

And no lack of words can stop Machinarium from delivering excellent item-based puzzles, brain-bending logic mechanisms, and a truly memorable little adventure that will stick with you.

Hector: Episode 1 HD - We Negotiate with Terrorists (Full Review - Download)
Hector: Episode 2 HD - Senseless Acts of Justice (Full Review - Download)

The Hector games are so crass, crude, off-colour, off-kilter, and just plain off that it's a genuine surprise you can even download them from Apple's restrictive storefront at all.

Over the course of two games (with a third coming soon), layabout detective Hector will use a condom as a fishing net, use his own toxic turd as a makeshift bomb, donate pig blood to the NHS, and infiltrate at least two smut dungeons. It's definitely not for kids.

But if you're a responsible adult with a working laugh-box, Irish developer Straandlooper has set you up with one seriously funny and suitably barmy adventure trilogy that's packed with smart and wholly-logical puzzles.

It had been nine years since the last Monkey Island game (and 12 since a good one), so developer Telltale had a lot to prove when it promised a quintet of new Guybrush Threepwood episodes.

Luckily, the adventure studio didn't disappoint. After cutting its teeth on Bone and Sam & Max, Telltale pumped out a consistently funny, clever, and faithful epilogue to the swashbuckling franchise.

As Guybrush once again tackles LeChuck - though this time he's got a demon pox, a star-crossed assassin, a creepy French scientist, and a few dozen angry pirates to deal with too - you'll soon realise that the puzzles and humour stands shoulder to shoulder with LucasArts's piratical romps.

Until LucasArts brings Indiana Jones to the App Store, you'll have to make do with his closest living relative - the brash Brooklyn pilot Joe King and his penchant for getting lost in Amazonian jungles, ancient Mayan crypts, and Nazi world-domination plots.

When Joe's spluttering, tin-can plane crashes into the deep undergrowth of the jungle - mechanic Sparky and '40s film star Faye Russell in tow - he'll not only need to save his own bacon but civilisation too once he finds a bonkers German nutcase turning Amazonian tribeswomen into dinosaurs.

Joe's adventure will take him through the forest, deep down into spooky tombs, and through the doors of a suspiciously-located Lederhosen factory. It's funny, silly, and thoroughly memorable - if you played it back on the Amiga, that is.

Sadly the iPad port is riddled with bugs and the control scheme isn't amazing, but if you can muddle through you'll have your hands on one seriously fun, camp, and pulpy adventure.

While Telltale's later series - like Back to the Future - feature a complete storyline over the course of their five episodes, this point-and-click take on claymation classic Wallace and Gromit is a more standalone affair.

Telltale only released one West Wallaby Street episode to the iPad before getting distracted and working on something else. Not to worry, though, as The Last Resort - the second episode and the only one on iPad - is arguably the best of the bunch.

His holidays ruined by torrential rain, Wallace decides to turn his house into a staycation resort for the town's residents - complete with a candy floss machine in his living room and a waterslide in his bedroom. Wallace must keep his guests happy, solve a murder mystery, and finish a bunch of puzzles. You get the idea by now.

1112 episode 01 HD (Full Review - Download)
1112 episode 02 HD (Full Review - Download)
1112 episode 03 HD (Full Review - Download)

If you want mystery, the episodic 1112 series has it in spades. As Johnny Depp look-alike Louis Everett works through his nightmares, marital issues, and stress, he starts to realise that something odd is happening to him.

Maybe it's the fact that he's misplaced the last six months of his life that's tipped him off, or the fact that his wife is missing, or that the weirdest denizens of New Jersey seem to be following him about. Whatever the case, he's got to get to the bottom of it all.

The story is suitably bonkers, but the game is presented with a sense of class and atmosphere that's tough to find elsewhere, and the visual style is top-notch.

It's definitely not for those who are hunting the gags and fast-paced fun of Monkey Island, but if you like your interactive narrative immersive and character-driven, you'll be right at home.