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12 best iPhone and iPad games this week - Skulls of the Shogun, The Inner World, M.U.L.E. Returns

Papa Pear Saga! Doctor Who: Legacy! Gun Dogs!

12 best iPhone and iPad games this week - Skulls of the Shogun, The Inner World, M.U.L.E. Returns
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iOS
| New releases round-up

Every Friday, Pocket Gamer offers hands-on impressions of the week's best new iPhone and iPad games.

This week, the best games include an economic simulator on a faraway planet, a strategy epic in the samurai underworld, a bike ride through the arctic, and a point-and-click adventure in a physically impossible hollow world.

Think we've missed a top new iOS game? Shout at us in the comments section down low.


This week's top pick

Skulls of the Shogun
By 17-Bit - buy on iPhone and iPad (£2.99 / $4.99)

Skulls of the Shogun

We were quite smitten with turn-based tactics game Skulls of the Shogun when it hit Windows 8 (and Xbox Live Arcade) earlier in the year.

It's a clever Advance Wars-inspired game with slick anime-inspired art. At the time, we said: "Tight, fast, and remarkably fun, Skulls of the Shogun shakes the cobwebs off the turn-based strategy genre with some style."

Now, it's on iOS. And the port is based on the Bone-A-Fide Edition, which contains persistent units, a progression system, an extra episode, and a new Tanuki monk unit. Plus, you can play cross-platform asynchronous multiplayer with your pals on the Steam version.


Also out this week...

Blocky Roads Winterland
By DogByte Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Blocky Roads Winterland

Essentially a free demo of Minecraft-inspired side-scrolling racer Blocky Roads, this freebie only has three tracks (instead of 14) and three cars (instead of nine). But it does boast the cool car editor. We gave the paid version a 9/10, and praised its "irresistible just-one-more-go factor".

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
By Square Enix - buy on iPhone and iPad (£10.99 / $15.99)

FF4 The After Years

Square Enix has ported this obscure Java RPG to real mobile phones, and dressed it up in the same 3D visuals as Final Fantasy IV in the process.

It's a typical RPG, split into ten bite-size stories, with battles that are dictated by the phase of the moon, and a band system where multiple heroes can combine strength into one attack. Full review is on its way.

Galaxy on Fire - Alliances
By Fishlabs - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Galaxy on Fire Alliances

Space shooter series Galaxy on Fire returns to the App Store as a free-to-play multiplayer strategy romp. It's all about forging rocky alliances with other players, as you trade resources and join forces to take out other groups.

You'll be sharing the cosmos with thousands of other players, which is probably a reason for downloading this game just by itself.

Doctor Who: Legacy
By Tiny Rebel Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Doctor Who Legacy

A surprisingly deep Puzzle and Dragons-style game in which you are teleported through the history of Doctor Who. It's all about matching up gems to kill Daleks and Cybermen and other baddies I don't know the names of. You can recruit allies like the ginger girl and the Victorian lesbian crime fighter with a green face.

Icycle: On Thin Ice
By Damp Gnat - buy on iPhone and iPad (69p / 99c)

Icycle On Thin Ice

An iOS follow-up to the surreal, outlandish, and bizarre Flash game Icycle. Once again, you're a nude man on a tiny bike, bounding from platform to platform through pleasingly odd locations. It's fun, but the game has been given the full Chillingo treatment and is a little spoilt by currency, coin doublers, level skips, and dubious in-app purchases.

Puzzle Coaster
By Marvelous Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.49 / $1.99)

Puzzle Coaster

This simple roller-coaster constructor has promise. In each level, you must build side-scrolling rides that send your terrified patrons through floating coins. It's a bit straightforward at the moment, so we'll keep playing and let you know if it gets more challenging.

M.U.L.E. Returns
By Comma 8 Studios - buy on iPhone and iPad (£2.99 / $4.99)

MULE Returns

Seminal economics strategy game M.U.L.E. has made the leap from Atari to iOS. It's all about battling for land and resources on a newly colonised planet. How? By exploiting the balance of supply and demand. It's missing multiplayer, but Comma 8 says it's "coming soon".

Papa Pear Saga
By King - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Papa Pear Saga

I couldn't get into this bland free-to-play knock-off of PopCap's pachinko-inspired Peggle. But reviewer Peter fell in love with Papa Pear Saga, and called it "as essential an experience for the everyday mobile gamer as Candy Crush Saga". It's free, so go see for yourself.

Burn the Rope 3D
By Big Blue Bubble - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)

Burn the Rope 3D

Burn the Rope was a clever game about rotating a tangled spaghetti knot of twine so that a flame would stay upright, stay alight, and - as it says on the tin - burn the rope.

Making it 3D certainly makes things more challenging, and the simple setup is replaced by a rather unwieldy control system that lets you twist and turn in multiple axes. If you loved the first game, get this.

The Inner World
By Headup Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)

The Inner World

A funny and charming point-and-click adventure out of Germany, starring a clueless kid named Robert. It's set in an inspired hand-drawn fantasy world, has loads of good puzzles, and features high-quality voice acting. If you like Machinarium or PC classic Discworld, get this.

Gary Chalk's Gun Dogs
By Tin Man Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (£2.49 / $3.99)

Gary Chalks Gun Dogs

In the latest gamebook from Tin Man Games, you play as a gun dog, a death row prisoner who is fitted with a magical collar and sent on suicide missions. It's written by Jamie Wallis and illustrated by famed fantasy doodler Gary Chalk. In it, you make choices, roll dice, and read. A lot.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer