Featuring one of the more seemingly useless creatures of the franchise, Pokemon: Magikarp Jump is a cute Pokemon Go spin-off that is anything but derivative. This game revolves around feeding and training your Magikarp to jump as well as keeping it safe from predatory Pidgeottos. Controlling your fishy friend involves tapping the screen to perform various actions. The graphics are bright and adorable, which fits with the game’s more passive nature. Complete with tons of gaming in-jokes, Pokemon: Magikarp Jump is a delightful treasure. An interesting take on endless-runner games, Flipping Legend is a fun, fast-paced game with retro-style graphics. You control your character’s forward movement by tapping the left or right buttons; the twist is that you can move forward only diagonally, not vertically. This neat shift forces you to think differently when avoiding obstacles and taking down enemies. You can also flip backward in a straight line, but be careful, as that drains your special meter. You’ll race against your steadily declining health meter to reach the end of each course. The game’s music is fantastic and complements the 16-bit feel of the visuals. Making the leap to mobile platforms, Jaipur is a neat card game that revolves around trading resources. Set in ancient India, the game has you collect, trade and sell different goods in an effort to get the most points. The rules are simple to grasp, and once you have a feel of the gameplay, rounds go by very smoothly. The graphics are lovely, and the background music and sound effects evoke the feeling of a bustling marketplace. Plus, each match is relatively fast; you can play an entire set against an opponent in less than 30 minutes. The mobile version of the long-anticipated sequel Injustice 2 is finally out! Choose from among your favorite DC heroes and villains and duke it out on several beautifully rendered stages. The brawling mechanics are simple to grasp, and attacks can be done via tapping or swiping your screen. When your character’s meter is full, you can unleash a devastating super move. The characters move very smoothly and the cutscenes are stunning and full of minor graphic details. Injustice 2 also offers various single-player and multiplayer gameplay modes, and lets you customize your characters to better their strengths and defenses. Whether you’re a hard-core comics nerd or merely a fighting game enthusiast, Injustice 2 is a must-get. Produced by a national museum, Father and Son is quiet and fun point-and-click adventure game. You play as Michael, who is researching his archaeological father’s past. During the game, you’ll travel to different points in time and make choices that will affect the ending. The touch screen is used to move, interact with objects and decide actions. The story line is intriguing, and the graphics are rich and reminiscent of museum-quality fine art. If you’re looking for a unique and interactive adventure, add the game to your library. Everyone’s favorite mustachioed plumber is back for adventure in this addictive side-scrolling, endless runner. In this game, Mario runs from left to right automatically and you jump, double jump, or jump and spin kick by tapping the screen. The game can be straightforward and simple, with you barreling through each level, or you can challenge yourself by collecting five pink coins in each level. However, there is a small catch. While the free version offers you a limited number of levels, you must pay $9.99 to can access all the worlds. The sequel to Drop Wizard, Drop Wizard Tower is a fun, free 2D game with a great early ’90s-retro vibe. Your character is a wizard who’s trying to advance up a tower by killing various enemies by first stunning them with a star and then running into them after they’re dazed. The graphics and the music evoke a feeling of old-school platformers such as Alex Kidd, and the gameplay offers just enough of a challenge to keep you on your toes. Name a fun game-show adaptation that’s sure to keep you occupied. If you guessed Family Feud Live, you’re a winner. Although the game is bereft of Steve Harvey and his ad-libbed quips, Family Feud Live offers three addictive gaming modes and lets you play against your friends or strangers. The game offers classic, tournament and fast-money modes. Classic mode plays just like the show, with three rounds and escalating point totals. Tournament mode is similar but requires you to defeat three opponents. Fast money is similar to the final round, in which you have to guess the top answers to five questions. Set in a lethal circus, Penarium is a bizarre and fun 2D-arena platformer in which your only goal is to survive an onslaught of hazards for a mad audience. The game casts you as hapless innocent Willy who is tasked with collecting barrels and coins. Although the game starts off with easy hazards, after every five barrels, the dangers get harder and harder. Before you know it, you’ll be dodging ice spikes, bees and heat-seeking missiles. You use your touch screen to control Willy’’s movements and guide him to safety. The challenge is as much a part of the charm as are the cool throwback graphics and the silly, circus-like music. Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders is a fun crossover puzzle game developed by Square Enix. Much of the gameplay is based around Arkanoid, the classic game in which you use a paddle to deflect aliens’ shots back to destroy either their spaceships or bricks. In typical Square Enix fashion, the game has an in-depth story and a good justification as to why aliens are bobbing and weaving through bricks trying to colonize peaceful planets, but you can skip this story if you’re not into it. The biggest selling point is that there are no unnecessary in-app purchases, which is a refreshing change of pace when buying a fully realized mobile game. Perfect for the retro gamer on the go, Sega Forever is an amazing app that allows you to play several games originally released on Sega consoles, from mega-hits such as Sonic the Hedgehog to the critically acclaimed but obscure Comix Zone. The emulation on these games is pitch-perfect, the touch-screen controls work like a charm, and with the addition of cloud saves, you won’t have to worry about losing your progress. Although the library is small, more games will be added in the near future, turning this app into a Netflix for retro Sega games. Although Run or Die gives away most of its premise in its title, this side-scrolling, endless runner has a few extra tricks up its sleeve. The game contains 170 detailed levels with day-and-night-cycle variations. In addition to running, you’ll also have to jump, slide and use various abilities in order to stay alive. The touch-screen controls are very responsive, which is perfect since you’ll have to make split-second decisionsto avoid dying. Along with a standard level, Run or Die also contains a very helpful training mode, an endless mode and a challenge mode, in which you can compare your times to players around the world. This underground, indie fighting-game hit has finally made the leap from consoles to the small screen. Created as a love letter to fans of the Capcom Versus series, Skullgirls is a fun fighter with the distinction of having a majority-female roster. Instead of a six-button and joystick structure (which is not possible to comfortably replicate on a touch screen), Skullgirls uses a simplified control scheme in which swipes and taps are used to execute attacks. The game’s graphics are beautiful and complement the jazzy and jaunty music to evoke an old-school Hollywood glamor feel. Whether you’re a fighting game nerd or just a sucker for cartoonish violence, you’ll get a major kick out of Skullgirls. The first thing to notice about Old Man’s Journey is the beautiful art, which gives the game a distinctive look and feel. In this gorgeous mobile game, your goal is to help an old man on a journey by using your touchscreen to manipulate his surroundings. For example, you can enlarge a hill to help the man get to higher ground or tap sheep to move them aside so your character can pass. Instead of relying on words, the game tells a rich story using actions and music for a more immersive experience. If you’re a fan of NASCAR and stock car racing, NASCAR Heat Mobile is a great addition to your Android tablet. Thegameplay involves tapping or tilting your phone in order to steer. The controls don’t feel too stiff, and the maneuvering is pretty smooth. You can generate resources by constructing a Fan Zone and use said resources to enhance your car or hire drivers who have their own souped-up vehicles. Although winning every race is important, NASCAR Heat Mobile also has extra objectives such as maintaining a high average lap speed. Overall, the gorgeous graphics and inspired tracks will keep you doing one more lap.
