Top 11 of '11 - the iOS version. Introduction.

I was never all that bothered about iOS games. Yeah, I had an iPod Touch (1st Generation), and there were some nice little diversions on there, but nothing that really grabbed me enough to make me want to play for ages, or to come back to it repeatedly.


Mos Speedrun. Look, it's not you, it's me.

But as time passed, I found that more and more interesting-looking games were being released, games I actually wanted to play. So I tried to download a couple, only to find that they didn't support my ageing system. That was a bit annoying, but I wasn't buying a new iPod Touch just to play a couple of 59p games.

Time passed by, and my phone contract came up for renewal. I figured now was the time to combine my devices, and get myself an iPhone. Lovely. And I hadn't paid a fortune for it (although I will have done by the end of the contract, but that's another story...). Not only that, but an added by-product of upgrading was that I now had access to all those lovely-looking games I'd had my eye on. Excellent.


Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint. There's just not enough attraction.

I've taken full advantage of that in the past few months, to the point where I've had to narrow down my list of top iOS games of 2011 from 24 candidates! It was really hard to cut some of them out, too. I could have done a top twenty, but if you were reading last year, you'll know that it took me forever just to put my top ten games of the year onto "paper". So I've been cruel and ruthless, and heartlessly cast some aside.

It's at this point that I'll just mention that these are my favourite iOS games of the year, from those I've played. I'm not lucky enough to have access to games devs, so I have to pay for all my apps and games. Because of that, I haven't played stuff like Infinity Blade II, which I'm sure is spectacular but it's also a fiver, and I'm reluctant to spend that sort of cash on iPhone games. Call me crazy, but there you go.


Quarrel Deluxe. Look, I don't want this to turn into an argument.

What's missed the cut, then? Mos Speedrun, for one. It's very good, but I just didn't play it enough to warrant putting it in my top 11 of the year. I must make more of an effort with that one, though. Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint is another big-hitter that didn't make it. It's brilliantly well done, for sure, and I know many people that have got loads out of this game. But it's just not for me... my anti-puzzle brain couldn't grasp the complexities needed for massive scoring.

There were other worthy efforts, too. Ready Steady Bang is a game I played a fair bit, and got some great two-player laughs out of. But when it came to this list, there maybe wasn't quite enough to it. NBA Jam and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing shoved true arcade and console quality into the palm of my hand... astonishing achievements, really. Zookeeper, a game which lit up my DS screens for months, did likewise with my iPhone. And for fans of word games, Quarrel Deluxe provided loads of board game-esque entertainment, and almost sneaked its way in at the last minute. Oh, and do you think I should play more of Tiny Tower?


NBA Jam. I think we can see where this is going.

So many good games, so few spaces on an end-of-year list. But I felt that the ones in the last couple of paragraphs deserved mentions. But now, with little further ado, I'll throw this post up to the masses and get to work on actual posts of substance... my top 11 iOS games of '11. I'll be interested to see what people think of this...