100 Best iOS Games

Peggle is what you get when you take Plinko from The Price Is Right and put it on LSD. This fever dream version of block breaker is one of those games full of flashing lights, bright colors, and excited sounds that keeps you coming back for more. The concept is simple -- shoot a ball at a bunch of pegs to get rid of them as the ball bounces around in the pattern. But, the presentation and variation of all the levels makes for very addicting play. It harkens back to the classic games where your only objective was that high score and bragging rights. Peggle is a game that gives you that dopamine hit of satisfaction each time you break a record or hit an insane fever score. Like Pac-Man or Space Invaders, its core gameplay is fun, but that design garnish around it is what really makes it stand out from the crowd. A competent programmer could create something that plays exactly the same which would be utterly boring and a waste of time. But instead, Peggle leaves you humming, “Ode to Joy” anytime you play it.

If Tron was a tower defense game, it would be geoDefense Swarm. The tower defense genre has been a staple of the App Store for a while now, but while many are striving for better graphics and animation, the people at Mahalo Games went in the exact opposite direction. They instead focused on the core of what makes a tower defense game. They distilled it down to its essence. geoDefense Swarm takes what used to be the graphical limits of the Vectrex, and instead uses it as creative direction to achieve a pure tower defense game. The graphics consist of little hexagonal tiles for you to place your ordinance which look little more than a circle with a line. But they pack a whallop, which you’ll see once the subatomic-looking particles make their way in their endless assault towards your side of the level. It is a game that makes no attempt to disguise what it is, and that is part of its charm.

Break out the glow sticks kids, because you’re in for one hell of a trip for this entry in our 100 best iOS games. Groove Coaster certainly lives up to its name. Being slightly groovy and retro while at the same time providing the most minimalist music game experience you could possibly find. Just like the more complicated rock and roll music games, you have a line with a ball riding along it. In order to rack up as high a score as possible and not mess up the pumped up techno, you need to tap the screen in rhythm at the precise moment the ball falls on the marker. Unlike those more complicated music games, Groove Coaster focuses on one line with one tap at a time. Does it make it less difficult? You’d be a fool to think that. The musical bouncing ball you follow through the techno void twists and turns and you never know where it’s going. It is less of a music game as a whole and much more of a rhythm game. It tosses out the necessity of hitting the right note, with having to hit one note at the right time.

If you ever wondered how ninjas brought their deadly arts to the sport of fishing, your questions have been answered by a little game called Ninja Fishing. You’re given control over a ninja and his rod of mystical fishing abilities which include a power drilling hook. Like most of the best games, the mechanics are simple. All you have to do is weave your lure as far down as you can, dodging as many fish along the way. Their moment to be turned into sushi will come soon enough. Once you actually hook a fish, your ninja line reels in quickly and it is your job to direct the growing Katamari-like ball of fish to snatch up as many as you can on the way up. Be sure to avoid those pesky sea mines that threaten to turn your sushi into tempura. The fun in this game lies in the repetition. Like the infinite runner games, it is all about beating your highest score and making it as far into the infinite depths as possible. And that makes it addictive. It also helps that the presentation is quite silly. It is always satisfying to drill hundreds of fish in half on your quest for the high score.

Remember a time when games didn’t have to make much sense and you only had to keep running to the right? The developers of Mikey Shorts certainly do with their enjoyable love letter to old school platformers. Everyone has been turned into statues and the only way to save them is for Mikey Shorts to touch them. It doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t have to. It’s fun. You’re running against the clock while avoiding robots, saving people, and collecting coins. What could be a more enjoyable platforming experience that doesn’t star Mario? The controls are simple and tight and the ability to slide through gaps give you the feel of free running through each level. The game also emphasizes speed runs and grades you on how well you did. This keeps you coming back and seeking that ever elusive high score. Each time you tap up Mikey Shorts, you’re in for a little dose of nostalgic fun from the days when you had to have a little gray box attached to your big honking CRTV. For now, it’s the closest shot of Nintendo nostalgia you’re going to get in the App Store.

There are thousands of puzzle games bouncing around in the ether of the App Store. Most of the time they offer the same mind numbing mechanics and puzzles, but occasionally a game like Flow Free comes along to add some spice to the puzzle game soup. In this elegantly primary colored app, Flow Free asks you to connect the dots. That’s it. But, it asks you to think about it in a different way. The game asks you to twist the way you think and connect the colored dots in a way to fill up the whole screen without crossing the streams. It is simple while still retaining an insane amount of difficulty. As the game adds colors, it adds complexity and it is so satisfying to see that screen full of a kaleidoscope of colors perfectly filling up every box. It is the perfect little game to waste a few minutes in line for popcorn at a movie theater. Instead of mindlessly tapping around the screen, it asks you to stop and think about your moves like a chess player. You have to be constantly looking three moves ahead. For that, this genius little puzzle game earns a well deserved spot in our list of the best 100 iOS games.

Feed Me Oil seems to be the App Store love child of World of Goo and Where’s My Water?. Does this unholy union make it a disgrace? Absolutely not! It is a fun take on cleaning up the environment with a variety of clever puzzle mechanics. You have to use your knowledge of physics to get that evil oil to the mouths of weird oil gulping mountain things. The liquid physics are eerily accurate and it is quite challenging getting it where you want to go. The cartoonish style of the game only lends to its charm. Each level provides you with new and innovative ways to essentially create a pipeline of oil to the mouth of some waiting, and very thirsty behemoth. It’s a game with character and intelligence that will keep you playing for hours. It may also have you rooting for oil spills.

This is a game for all of you street racing gear heads that only measure distances in quarter miles. CSR Racing brings the excitement of illegal drag races into the palm of your hand. With some realistic graphics, you’re put in charge of some of the most expensive cars and expected to never miss your shifts. One mistake and you’re going to come in second place, which is first of the losers. It is a game that takes skill, timing, and practice to master. The controls are tight and the graphics are top notch. It really gets your blood pumping for those last few crucial seconds of a race where you can win by only the thickness of your car’s paint. Well, in this case, you car’s pixels.

Sometimes games can sum themselves up in just a few words. Sometimes those few words happen to be the title. Robot Unicorn Attack says it all. You’re tasked with piloting a robot unicorn through the convoluted lands that belong in a Nyan Cat video. It is full of sparkles and is a very pink game, but you shouldn’t let that shouldn’t dissuade you. The controls are taught and simple and the gameplay is fast and frenetic. It will keep you stretching your skills to make it just a bit farther into the level for that higher score. With only two controls, it keeps the gameplay simple but that doesn’t mean that it loses any difficulty. It is a challenging game with all the insanity that you've come to expect from an Adult Swim iOS game.

Draw Something is a game for you to stretch your artistic abilities while laughing at the horrible stick figures that your friends attempt to draw. The game challenges you to communicate without that horrible crutch of words and letters. Instead, you have to get your concept across to the other person's brain by drawing. It is a game that brings us millions of years back to when cavemen were desperately trying to let each other know about a saber tooth tiger attack before it was too late. You can also berate them for being stupid when they don't understand your deliberately over-thought visual pun. Draw Something is a game that brings people together with the power of pictures, unless you're that guy that no matter what the prompt is, you draw a penis. But even then, it still is a little funny, especially when your opponent sees your terrible drawing during an important meeting.