Top 10 best Retina display-optimised games for the new iPad

Apple's new iPad is now sitting on store shelves in various countries around the world.

If, like many of the Pocket Gamer team, you've managed to get your grubby mitts on one, you're probably eager to show off your new tablet's "resolutionary" Retina display.

We've already brought you a handy article which lists many of the games on the App Store that have been optimised for Apple's third-generation iPad.

Being as helpful as we are, though, we thought we'd go one step further and point you towards ten of the best Retina display-optimised iPad titles.

Enjoy.

Real Racing 2
By Firemint - buy for iPad

If we had to choose a single game that can perfectly showcase what Apple's iOS platform has to offer, we'd probably plump for the Pocket Gamer Platinum Award-winning Real Racing 2.

This immaculately polished racer has been consistently updated with each fresh release of iOS, and it now boasts features such as AirPlay and Party Play, which allow you to compete against three other racers on your big-screen HD TV via an Apple TV.

Infinity Blade II
By Chair Entertainment - buy for iPhone and iPad

Graphics-wise, Chair Entertainment's Unreal Engine 3-powered hack 'n' slash-'em-up gives Firemint's Real Racing sequel a run for its money - especially since it's now optimised for the new iPad's 2048x1536 screen.

If you've sunk countless hours into the Gold Award-winning Infinity Blade, you'll quickly notice this sequel packs numerous new features: namely, the ability to dispatch your foes using three different fighting styles.

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy
By Revo Solutions - buy for iPhone and iPad

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, which was demoed at Apple's latest iPad event, features the likes of bump mapping, atmospheric scattering, 4x anisotropic filtering, and HDR rendering. We only know what half of these mean, but they're all pretty impressive. Probably.

In terms of gameplay, you get a single-player campaign, various multiplayer modes, and a playing field that's four times the size of New York City.

Flight Control Rocket
By Firemint - buy for iPhone and iPad

Like its predecessor, Flight Control Rocket tasks you with drawing lines on your device's screen to steer a variety of craft safely into landing positions.

This time around, though, instead of guiding various airplanes onto their correspondingly coloured runways, you're attempting to direct a range of rockets into the landing bays of a large spacecraft.

buy for iPad

If you haven't picked up Angry Birds Space because you think "it's just another Angry Birds game", you're sorely mistaken - this game's outer space physics adds a whole new dimension to the franchise.

For example, you can use a planet's gravity field to bend your birdies around obstacles and smack those green swine square in the face.

Pinball HD Collection
By Gameprom - download for iPad

Pinball HD Collection is a free-to-play application that gives you access to one pinball table, and invites you to download additional themed tables through in-app purchases.

Each table has its own set of missions, which quickly help you on your way towards a high score and a cabinet full of Game Center achievements.

Created by the studio behind the Silver Award-winning Dead Space, Mass Effect Infiltrator sees you take on the role of veteran Cerberus agent Randall Ezno and set out across the galaxy to procure aliens for illicit experiments.

The intel you gather as you play through this game boosts your Galactic Readiness Rating in Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 title Mass Effect 3.

Gameloft's Call of Duty-esque first-person shooter may not win any points for originality, but it does pack some rather nifty features: multiplayer for up to 12 budding weapon specialists, for instance.

Multiplayer games take place across six different maps and seven unique gameplay modes. Naturally, there's also a single-player campaign that spans 13 missions.

Galaxy on Fire 2 HD
By Fishlabs - buy for iPhone and iPad

Galaxy on Fire 2 HD and its first expansion pack, Valkyrie, are two further examples of titles that will undoubtedly impress your buddies. Y'know, the ones who scoff at the idea of playing games on mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

This title features 20 solar systems, 100 unique space stations, and more than 30 customisable spaceships, so there's plenty to do.

Joining Hands
By 10tons - buy for iPhone and iPad

In 10tons's Joining Hands, you venture into the Whispering Woods and help a strange race known as the Peablins defend themselves against the bogeyman.

You do this across more than 100 levels by moving Peablins around the game's grid until they're all holding hands. The bogeyman can't snatch you if you're tightly gripping one of your best chums.