2008's most innovative mobile games: 21-30

If ever there was a game to make doubters frown, it was a mobile version of Guitar Hero. After all, how fun could playing a rawk music game be without a big guitar peripheral?

Guitar Hero III Mobile showed it could be very fun, particularly with the BREW version, where the songs sounded much better than the Java incarnation. But that's not the big innovation.

No, the reason it's in this list is the monthly downloadable songs that kept the game fresh for players (and ensured good subscription revenues for publisher Hands-On). It's one of the first mobile games in the West to make downloadable content a key feature in this way. Read more

JOYity is as much a platform as it is a game, making use of Android's location-based features with a dash of user-generated content to seize the zeitgeist (or something).

It lets people create their own location-based games using GPS and mapping - for example scavenger hunts based in a certain city, or games of virtual tag.

It was quickly available on Android Market after the launch of the T-Mobile G1 handset, allowing early adopters to get hands-on with it. The company behind it, German firm Zelfi, is working on iPhone and J2ME versions to encourage more usage in 2009. Read more

With most iPhone games focusing on touch'n'tilt experiences, Soul Trapper is taking a different route. Well, it still uses the touchscreen, but the innovation is its heavy reliance on audio.

As a ghost-hunter, you explore a series of locations through more than two dozen chapters of audio clips and spoken dialogue.

Not only is it a new approach for a mobile game, but it also adds hugely to the atmosphere - an important element in a ghost-thriller like Soul Trapper. As the name implies, more episodes are due in 2009. Read review

Another year, another Tiger Woods golf game? Well, yes, but this year's mobile instalment of EA's franchise was important - and not just because the publisher had skipped 08.

Tiger Woods 09 is one of the first mobile games to show the potential of console-to-mobile interactivity. Complete the challenges in the mobile version and sign in to EA's community, and you'll get a 'mobile boost' to your golfer's stats the next time you play the Xbox 360 or PS3 version.

Simple, but brilliant. It wouldn't surprise us if EA's console team took a bit of persuading, but really, they should be including this kind of functionality whenever possible.

Console gamers are notoriously distrustful of mobile games based on their favourite franchises. Features like this for the first time give them a genuine reason to pay £5 for the mobile spin-off. Read more

Wamwam in itself is a simple (yet addictive) puzzle game, but it's the community elements around it that are innovative.

It's part of C4M's Playtomo service, which offers free, ad-supported mobile games within a single application, where players can download new games within the app itself.

Oh, and it's all tied into Facebook, meaning that players sign up for Playtomo from the social network, and get their friend lists preloaded in the application when they download it. It's worth pointing out that this was done before the launch of Facebook Connect, which theoretically makes this kind of stuff easier.

Playtomo is certainly something we'll be hearing more of in 2009, anyway. Read more

ngmoco is shaping up as one of the more innovative iPhone publishers in everything from gameplay to pricing, but it's the use of your iPhone's contact list in Dr. Awesome that gets it into this list.

The game sees you operating on patients to battle viruses, in a modern twist on Qix. But it's the way patients can have the names of your real-life contacts that gives the game an added pull.

It's a really simple feature, but it adds a personal touch to the game, not to mention a talking point - how many people are playing this and then telling friends in the pub "Sorry, I killed you last night on the operating table. No offence."?

That's great word-of-mouth. The feature is being rolled out in some of the publisher's other games, too. Read review

Turn-based multiplayer mobile battling in an Advance Wars stylee? Yes please.

Mobile Battles: Reign Of Swords is a stylish take on the strategy genre, which lets players battle over the network with fluidity and ease.

The original version of the game was also cross-platform, allowing mobile players to fight desktop PC users. There was also an online community with high-scores and news. Developer Punch Entertainment also launched the game on iPhone later in the year. Read review

When it first came out for iPhone, Raging Thunder was an excellent racing game, with crisp 3D visuals, rip-roaring speed, and good use of the sensitive iPhone tilt controls.

However, it's the subsequent update that introduced real-time network multiplayer features to the game that gets it into our innovative games roundup. Partly because it was the first in its genre to support this on iPhone (Gameloft is working on it, but indie developer Polarbit got there first).

But also because of the way Polarbit got players in on the act, releasing software to let them effectively host their own Raging Thunder servers. The same software is expected to be used in more Polarbit games in 2009. Read more

Apple is ending 2009 talking the iPhone and iPod touch up as potential DS and PSP killers. The problem is that while its devices are up to the task technically, there haven't been many games with the scope and depth of the best handheld titles on Sony and Nintendo's platforms.

That's why Hero of Sparta is in this list. The game's theme and structure might be heavily inspired by God of War, but it innovated on iPhone with its sheer scale - offering 6-7 hours of gameplay, blending fully 3D adventuring with set-piece boss battles.

As a sign of where iPhone gaming could go in 2009, it's an important title, which is why we think it's innovative. Read more

In hindsight, it's surprising more fuss wasn't made of Harmonix making a game for Apple's iPod this year. But Phase is a really good example of what's possible with music games on any mobile platform.

Essentially, it's a Guitar Hero style 'notes falling down the screen' rhythm game, reworked for the iPod's limited controls. But the key thing is that it can use any of the songs stored on your iPod, offering near-limitless replayability.

You can imagine the potential for this sort of thing on iPhone in 2009, although Apple would have to let game developers access the music stored on the device first. With games getting high priority at the moment on iPhone, don't bet against it. Read review