Top 10 Windows Phone 7 games so far

It’s only been out for a mere three months now, but Windows Phone 7 is managing to punch above its proverbial weight when it comes to the range of high quality gaming on offer.

While the price of said titles can be a little shocking to those accustomed to iOS or Android rates, there’s no denying that Microsoft’s fledgling system has a fairly consistent level of quality when it comes to its premium Xbox Live-enabled titles.

We’ll be taking a closer look at some of the best from the Indie scene next week, but in the meantime here are ten games that deserve to be played by anyone with a Windows Phone.

Eye-catching from the very first promo shots, this XBLA simultaneous release (ignoring the AT&T early birds) is as beautiful to play as it is to watch.

ilomilo’s head-scratching combination of traditional block-placing and modern three-dimensional movement (where up becomes down in the blink of an eye) works just as well on the smaller screen as on a large HD TV, and should be high up the list of any WP7 gamer.

"Not Bejeweled again!", you may cry, but there is a very good reason why this latest version deserves its place among the best the platform currently offers.

It’s not that PopCap has sauntered in with a sledgehammer and changed the compulsive match-three gameplay into a first-person shooter or anything like that - it’s still essentially the same game we’ve seen numerous times before on everything from the PC to Babbage’s Difference Engine (possibly).

However, sitting alongside the polished, jewel-matching gameplay is some extremely well-integrated Live support that lets you see exactly how you rank alongside everyone on your friends list and egging you on to better your previous score. It makes this already dangerously addictive game just that little harder to put down.

Oddly, the WP7 platform has not just been picking up Xbox and XBLA conversions - a fair number of WiiWare titles have also made the jump from console to mobile.

Max and the Magic Marker is one of the best of them. A platform puzzler with a gentle learning curve and charming graphics, the transition from Wiimote to touchscreen is performed so well that it’s hard to think of the game as a port.

The second WiiWare title on the list, Glow Artisan made a splash with the Nintendo press on release with its deliciously tricky puzzles and original, colour-based gameplay.

The WP7 version is arguably the more accomplished of the two, managing to properly integrate the promising - but not that useful on Wii - ability to import photos to create new puzzles. It also includes a whole range of achievements for those that rank their gaming credentials by how many gamer points they have (and who doesn’t?).

Ear-marked as the one to watch in terms of graphical prowess, The Harvest - a WP7 exclusive - didn’t quite deliver on the hype when we finally got our hands on it.

While this Diablo-esque sci-fi game may not be the title that makes gamers rush out to purchase a WP7 to replace their iPhone or Android, it’s still an absorbing action-RPG, packed with content and re-playability. Well worth checking out.

It’s starting to feel as if Flight Control has been around for decades, such is the way it's effortlessly slipped onto seemingly every system under the sun.

The WP7 version is no different, offering up slick line-drawing gameplay in what rapidly becomes one of the most intense ‘casual’ games available on any mobile platform.

It lacks some of the more recent additions to the iOS original, but Flight Control's core gameplay remains as compelling as ever.

It’s not quite bullet-hell, but OMG - Our Manic Game manages to live up to its text-speak equivalent with some of the most frenzied and stylish shooting available on the platform.

The unique ability to actively influence how intense you want the action to be, with the highest possible scoring opportunities posing the most threat, makes it a game that shooter fans with a WP7 handset shouldn’t pass up.

There are very few games about which fellow WP7 reporter, Keith Andrew, raves constantly, but there doesn’t appear to be a moment when he’s not excitedly recommending Carneyvale Showtime to anyone who’ll listen.

With a pinball-esque feel to proceedings, Carneyvale Showtime’s mixture of platforming and physical grabbing is somehow as familiar to play as it is unique.

It also contains some of the most unrelentingly joyous level design in recent memory, which makes it hard not to play with a great big smile on your face.

Blasting out of the Zune Marketplace in a shower of confetti, Rocket Riot manages to deliver on its title in a big way, containing more hectic, explosive action than any other title around.

It lacks the XBLA original’s multiplayer modes and has a price that only a mother could love, but in terms of sheer energy, verve, and style, few action games on any mobile platform can match it.

Looking like a blueprint for a 19th century counting machine, Revolution surprised us with its absorbing puzzles and excellently-judged difficulty curve.

The idea has been seen numerous times on other platforms of course, but that doesn’t make the 75 levels of this WP7 exclusive cog-placing puzzle game any the less entertaining.