recommended iOS games
Posted: 08 Sep 2015 17:27
Recommended iOS games. I'll start, so you get a bunch of puzzle games.
Blendoku - The Puzzle Game About Color (Lonely Few)
Despite the name, this game really doesn't have anything to do with sudoku. In Blendoku you are presented with the task of lining up a series of colored playing pieces according to how they would blend as pigments. Each puzzle has a few preset tiles to help you along your way and there is a useful hint system to help you with tougher puzzles. Lots of fun for artists or those of us who just like playing with pretty colors.
17.0 MB. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. 500+ levels are free to download, with additional levels as DLC. Supposedly this has been updated to be colorblind friendly, but I have no idea how. (And there's apparently a second Blendoku game out now by Benjamin Moore & Co., which is a paint company. It has fewer puzzles but it's free, so if you somehow manage to finish all the puzzles in the Lonely Few game and want some more without paying money, there's that for you.)
Blip Blup
In this game you are presented with a playing field consisting of a connected series of squares. When you tap on a square, it -and every square in line of sight of the 8 cardinal and intermediate directions- fills with color. Your goal is to color all squares within a limited number of taps. Special squares are introduced, including squares that need to be colored multiple times, directional squares, and instant death squares. The game gets difficult very quickly, especially if you are trying to get 3 stars on all puzzles.
35.6 MB. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. Costs $2 for 140 levels or you can play a free version with 120 levels if you don't mind ads.
Color Zen
In this game you are presented with a screen of variously colored geometric shapes, framed in a border of one of those colors. Some of these shapes can be moved freely with touch screen controls. When two shapes of the same color touch, they fill up the surrounding area with that color. The goal is to remove shapes in this way until the screen is removed of all shapes and the field is the same color as the border color. As the game progresses, additional mechanics are introduced, such as white and black shapes that have special matching rules, shapes with dotted outlines that can be "frozen" in place, and special levels where moving one shape moves another. The description may be a bit hard to follow, but it's an incredibly simple game to understand when it's in your hands. It's perfectly suited to the touch screen and very relaxing to play (it's also designed to be colorblind friendly).
40.8 MB. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. 20 simple levels are free to download and additional levels are paid DLC. Also released on 3DS and WiiU.
Interlocked
A simple game: you are presented with a virtual puzzle box and are tasked with pulling it apart. An excellent game for fans of those wooden and metal mechanical puzzles, it's very satisfying to play with on the touch screen. There are 4 sets of 9 puzzles each.
20.2 MB. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. Costs $1, though you can play a much smaller and easier version for free on your browser. A very similar game to this is Unlock (also $1).
Loopical
Loopical is a puzzle where your goal is to fill the board with one solid, looping line that never crosses itself. Hint tiles are placed to guide you in building the solution. If you like logic puzzles like Picross, Sudoku, or any of the Nikoli puzzles, this game should be right up your alley. If you just like Picross, consider checking out the publisher's other game, PathPix. There are 108 levels and if you like this app, there's Loopical Pro with even more puzzles.
16.4 MB. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5/iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus. $1, there is a separate, free Lite version you can download to try out the game.
Quell+
If you have ever played a Sokobon (Boxxle) game, this game plays similarly. You control a drop of water (2 in some later levels), moving it in cardinal directions with swipe controls. Your goal is to collect all dots on the field. To do so you must make good use of the environment including features such as one-way and moveable blocks, while avoiding hazards such as spikes and infinite loops. This is a beautiful game, both in terms of visuals and music, and the difficulty curve is perfect.
48.7 MB. Require iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5/iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus. $2, with in-app purchases for hints and the like. Has two sequels, Quell Reflect+ and Quell Memento+. Also on Android. There's a similar game with a retro aesthetic called Squarescape, and another similar (but much simplified) retro-looking game called Stompem (both free). Try Escapology, too. Hey, turns out there's a lot of these games!
Rolling Kongs
Rolling Kongs, like many puzzle games, tasks you with clearing the puzzle board of playing pieces. Playing pieces are variously colored squares that can be moved by rolling the entire puzzle board 90 degrees left or right (affecting all playing pieces at once). You can only clear playing pieces when they form a like-colored group that has at least one 2-by-2 brick of pieces. When this happens, you can tap the group to destroy it. Levels are short, but there are a lot of them (456). Might not be colorblind friendly.
47.5 MB. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. $1.
Talesworth Adventure Ep. 1
You are tasked with safely guiding Questy, a very stupid adventurer, through a dungeon. By default, he only walks a certain way, so you must set up certain icons (gold, for instance) to alter his default walking path so he will get to the exit, and not walk into a bottomless pit or nasty troll. The smallest of these games, there are 30 levels (plus 3 hidden bonus levels).
5.8 MB. Requires iOS 3.2 or later. Compatible with iPhone 3GS/iPhone 4/iPhone 4S/iPhone 5/iPhone 5c/iPhone 5s/iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus/iPad/iPod touch (3rd gen)/iPod touch (4th gen)/iPod touch (5th gen)/iPod touch (6th gen). There is a sequel, the creatively named Talesworth Adventure Ep. 2. $1 or free on your browser ($2 for the sequel).
Trainyard
I will never stop recommending this game - it's just so tidy and beautiful. In this game you are tasked with drawing tracks in order to lead trains from their starting stations to their goal stations. Train cars are the same color as their starting station and must end up in a goal station that matches their color. It starts off simply, but new mechanics are introduced as the difficulty ramps up. The difficulty curve is perfect and to make things better, you can design and share your own puzzles. Has a colorblind mode. 150+ levels.
8.1 MB. Requires iOS 3.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. $1, but there's also Trainyard Express, a "lite" version you can download to try the game out to see if you like it.
Blendoku - The Puzzle Game About Color (Lonely Few)
Despite the name, this game really doesn't have anything to do with sudoku. In Blendoku you are presented with the task of lining up a series of colored playing pieces according to how they would blend as pigments. Each puzzle has a few preset tiles to help you along your way and there is a useful hint system to help you with tougher puzzles. Lots of fun for artists or those of us who just like playing with pretty colors.
17.0 MB. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. 500+ levels are free to download, with additional levels as DLC. Supposedly this has been updated to be colorblind friendly, but I have no idea how. (And there's apparently a second Blendoku game out now by Benjamin Moore & Co., which is a paint company. It has fewer puzzles but it's free, so if you somehow manage to finish all the puzzles in the Lonely Few game and want some more without paying money, there's that for you.)
Blip Blup
In this game you are presented with a playing field consisting of a connected series of squares. When you tap on a square, it -and every square in line of sight of the 8 cardinal and intermediate directions- fills with color. Your goal is to color all squares within a limited number of taps. Special squares are introduced, including squares that need to be colored multiple times, directional squares, and instant death squares. The game gets difficult very quickly, especially if you are trying to get 3 stars on all puzzles.
35.6 MB. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. Costs $2 for 140 levels or you can play a free version with 120 levels if you don't mind ads.
Color Zen
In this game you are presented with a screen of variously colored geometric shapes, framed in a border of one of those colors. Some of these shapes can be moved freely with touch screen controls. When two shapes of the same color touch, they fill up the surrounding area with that color. The goal is to remove shapes in this way until the screen is removed of all shapes and the field is the same color as the border color. As the game progresses, additional mechanics are introduced, such as white and black shapes that have special matching rules, shapes with dotted outlines that can be "frozen" in place, and special levels where moving one shape moves another. The description may be a bit hard to follow, but it's an incredibly simple game to understand when it's in your hands. It's perfectly suited to the touch screen and very relaxing to play (it's also designed to be colorblind friendly).
40.8 MB. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. 20 simple levels are free to download and additional levels are paid DLC. Also released on 3DS and WiiU.
Interlocked
A simple game: you are presented with a virtual puzzle box and are tasked with pulling it apart. An excellent game for fans of those wooden and metal mechanical puzzles, it's very satisfying to play with on the touch screen. There are 4 sets of 9 puzzles each.
20.2 MB. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. Costs $1, though you can play a much smaller and easier version for free on your browser. A very similar game to this is Unlock (also $1).
Loopical
Loopical is a puzzle where your goal is to fill the board with one solid, looping line that never crosses itself. Hint tiles are placed to guide you in building the solution. If you like logic puzzles like Picross, Sudoku, or any of the Nikoli puzzles, this game should be right up your alley. If you just like Picross, consider checking out the publisher's other game, PathPix. There are 108 levels and if you like this app, there's Loopical Pro with even more puzzles.
16.4 MB. Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5/iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus. $1, there is a separate, free Lite version you can download to try out the game.
Quell+
If you have ever played a Sokobon (Boxxle) game, this game plays similarly. You control a drop of water (2 in some later levels), moving it in cardinal directions with swipe controls. Your goal is to collect all dots on the field. To do so you must make good use of the environment including features such as one-way and moveable blocks, while avoiding hazards such as spikes and infinite loops. This is a beautiful game, both in terms of visuals and music, and the difficulty curve is perfect.
48.7 MB. Require iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5/iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus. $2, with in-app purchases for hints and the like. Has two sequels, Quell Reflect+ and Quell Memento+. Also on Android. There's a similar game with a retro aesthetic called Squarescape, and another similar (but much simplified) retro-looking game called Stompem (both free). Try Escapology, too. Hey, turns out there's a lot of these games!
Rolling Kongs
Rolling Kongs, like many puzzle games, tasks you with clearing the puzzle board of playing pieces. Playing pieces are variously colored squares that can be moved by rolling the entire puzzle board 90 degrees left or right (affecting all playing pieces at once). You can only clear playing pieces when they form a like-colored group that has at least one 2-by-2 brick of pieces. When this happens, you can tap the group to destroy it. Levels are short, but there are a lot of them (456). Might not be colorblind friendly.
47.5 MB. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, optimized for iPhone 5. $1.
Talesworth Adventure Ep. 1
You are tasked with safely guiding Questy, a very stupid adventurer, through a dungeon. By default, he only walks a certain way, so you must set up certain icons (gold, for instance) to alter his default walking path so he will get to the exit, and not walk into a bottomless pit or nasty troll. The smallest of these games, there are 30 levels (plus 3 hidden bonus levels).
5.8 MB. Requires iOS 3.2 or later. Compatible with iPhone 3GS/iPhone 4/iPhone 4S/iPhone 5/iPhone 5c/iPhone 5s/iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus/iPad/iPod touch (3rd gen)/iPod touch (4th gen)/iPod touch (5th gen)/iPod touch (6th gen). There is a sequel, the creatively named Talesworth Adventure Ep. 2. $1 or free on your browser ($2 for the sequel).
Trainyard
I will never stop recommending this game - it's just so tidy and beautiful. In this game you are tasked with drawing tracks in order to lead trains from their starting stations to their goal stations. Train cars are the same color as their starting station and must end up in a goal station that matches their color. It starts off simply, but new mechanics are introduced as the difficulty ramps up. The difficulty curve is perfect and to make things better, you can design and share your own puzzles. Has a colorblind mode. 150+ levels.
8.1 MB. Requires iOS 3.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. $1, but there's also Trainyard Express, a "lite" version you can download to try the game out to see if you like it.