iPhone games roundup

Speedball 2 Evolution

Subtitling this game 'Evolution' is a bit cheeky, as what we have here is effectively a perfect replica of the Amiga classic by the Bitmap Brothers with the benefit of motion controls. Speedball is a futuristic team sport played on a walled pitch, where the object is to throw a metal ball into the opposing goal. That's fairly simple, but the rules allow for full contact, so knocking seven bells out of the other team is considered good form. Add a few score multiplier targets and the ability to supercharge the ball so it flattens anyone in its path, and you have the recipe for a proper dust up. The virtual joystick works well, the tilt controls are brilliant on a 4th generation device equipped with a gyroscope, and anyone who remember the original will adore it.

Minotaur Rescue

Jeff Minter, legendary coder of some of the finest psychedelic twitch games ever made, is back with an eyeball melting title inspired by the legendary arcade game Asteroids. You must steer your diminutive but heavily armed craft around the wraparound screen, taking out enemy spaceships, blasting hurtling space rocks into ever smaller chunks, and rescuing floating knitwear clad minotaurs from certain death in the heart of the sun. Yes, I know - just go with it. Minotaur Rescue offers a quartet of games for your money - Solar Minotaur Rescue Frenzy, Deep Space Minotaur Madness, Tanks! and Jets! - with the second being an alternate version of the first that removes the gravitational hazard of the centrally located sun. The control scheme is unusual but works brilliantly - a quick tap and swipe anywhere on the screen to face a direction, a longer one to face and move in that direction, and then holding the tap briefly for a huge spurt of acceleration. Firing is automatic and constant, so don't worry about that.At first you'll bounce off everything but a few runs later you'll be zinging around like a supercharged dragonfly with a serious attitude problem. The Tanks and Jets games are perhaps less successful, lacking the agility and purpose of the main attractions, but Minter titles often had a little something hidden away to have fun with so it's nice that they're included. One of the finest examples of a retro reboot to hit the app store.

Reckless Racing

A brilliant 3D top-down arcade racer, based around dirt tracks in a variety of rough and ready motors from Hummers to trucks. Powersliding is the way to go, with the sharo control scheme allowing you to tackle the majority of each of the five tracks sideways. You can choose from a career mode, a variety of time based tests, or even head online for some multiplayer bump and smash action. Recent updates combined with a price drop and storming Retina graphics make this a no brainer for a leisurely backroad blast.

Moviecat

Moviecat is a film trivia quiz, sweetened by some of the cutest graphics possible without being too twee. The game takes you through a series of multiple choice rounds, with categories ranging from guessing which film a quote came from, to identifying an outfit worn by a main character. The initial question set is huge, and you'll go through a few days worth of gaming before you start to see repeats. I'm not really a film buff but I enjoyed it immensely because the presentation is so endearing. If you get bored you can buy add-on question packs for a few pence, so it'll last you for quite some time.

Real Racing 2

It's bizarre to think that I was awestruck by the graphics of Gran Turismo on the original playstation just 13 years ago, but now I have a game that royally thrashes it on almost every front, and I'm playing it on a device smaller than a pocket notebook. Real Racing 2 takes the original and improves on it in every way possible - you have a variety of real life cars that can be customised, fifteen tracks to play on, and a full career mode, not to mention a solid multiplayer mode that allows up to 16 players on the track at once. The graphics are cutting edge for the device, the control schemes work perfectly and the whole experience feels like it's been bolted together properly. Essential purchase for racing fans.

Mad SKills Motocross

This is a little gem - it's basically Excitebike, which is a sideways scrolling motocross racer you may remember from Nintendo's NES console. Mad Skills Motocross adds the ability to tilt the bike around, pull various flips and tricks, and call on a few sneaky boost tactics to get the edge on your opponent. The initial difficulty level on release was reined in with a recent update so it's now far more accessible and suited to the odd five minute blast. It's challenging, and simple enough to be hugely addictive without forcing you to master complex controls.

Pixel Quartet

This is one for musicians with a taste for logic puzzles. The game will play a tune comprising of up to four instruments, and show you a pictorial representation in the form of lines with markers for beats. It then gives you an isometric playfield with one ball dispenser per line of music, and a toolbox full of tiles you can lay on the floor. As a ball leaves a dispenser, each tile it rolls across will either play a note or change something about the ball - the direction, colour, timing, etc. The idea is that you 'program' the floor tiles to sucessfully play the tune you heard, and repeat it a number of times in a row. This is far harder to explain than it is to play, but that's nowhere near as tough as it is to master. The controls can sometimes feel a bit clumsy until you go through the tutorials and some of the tiles could do with more examples of how to use them, but if you put the work in you get a lot of entertainment in return. Check out a video and see if it's for you