Top 10 best 59p / 99c iPhone games (2010)

The iPhone is the only commercial gaming platform where you can nab new releases for less cash than a chocolate bar, McDonalds Happy Meal, or bus ticket to the city centre. The beauty of the App Store is that games routinely come out at a staggeringly low 59p price (or a single shiny buck for our American readers.)

Okay, we'll confess: we did this very same article only last October. But it's amazing just how often prices fluctuate, new classics are released, and old favourites fall out of favour.

In fact, from our original Top 10 £0.59 / $0.99 iPhone games feature by expert bargain hunter Jon Mundy, only four are still that same pocket money price today. One's free, and the other five have ratcheted up in price.

So instead of fixing that old list, we thought we'd find another ten iPhone classics that'll set you back the change currently under your sofa's cushions. And remember, all ten of these incredible iPhone games will only set you back £5.90. Your wallet will forgive you.

Angry Birds is the defacto iPhone time waster, the pinnacle of human anti-productivity and the go to app for train rides, Starbucks queues and bowel movements.

In an astounding 135 hand crafted levels, you sling disgruntled birds at towers, hoping to topple those feats of shoddy architecture and deck the green piggies living inside. As you go through the game you'll unlock more birds that let you smash pigs in more creative ways.

It also receives masses of support, giving devout players new stages, levels, Easter eggs, achievements and birds just about every month. If your App Store icon suddenly sports a shiny red badge, it's probably Angry Birds with a surprise update.

If you suddenly find yourself with five minutes of inactivity and you need a simple iPhone game to fill the time, here's the flow chart you need to memorise. Got both hands available? Play Angry Birds. Only got one hand free? Hit up Doodle Jump.

That's right, you only need to wiggle your iPhone left and right to control the Doodler and get him as high up as humanly possible by bouncing off platforms. It's probably the most fervently copied, emulated, knocked-off, and nicked game on the device, but none can match Jump's original charm.

Like Angry Birds, it's rather well supported, too, giving you new levels, bosses, and Easter eggs, for absolutely zilch.

Another time wasting game (sensing a pattern here?), this one is possibly even more simple than Doodle Jump. AahH!!, as his friends call him, uses a grapple hook to swing from platform to platform, and its your job to tell him when to let go.

Too early or too late and he'll tumble to his doom. Get it right and you'll live to see another day. Another day of ceaseless leaping for nothing but pointless high scores, but a day nonetheless.

The gravity and wind will suddenly change as you go, sometimes making Mr A as light as a feather, or as heavy as lead. It's all about hitting the very centre of the target, though, so you can see that bizarre "JUST!!" flicker on the screen.

Just what? Who knows.

A sort of build your own Screwball Scramble, a DIY Rube Goldberg contraption. You've got to get the marble from the snake head to the diamond using the gadgets in your toolbox.

You've got catapults, windy tube thingies, whackaroonies, springs and conveyor belts. Some of those aren't the official names. It's all drawn in yummy pixel-art graphics and features oodles of stages for your buck.

Heck, you can even build your own levels and download creations from the net, meaning you've got loads of content to play. The app is updated with new levels from the creator too, so you'll never run out of content. EVER.

In Bulkypix's physics puzzler you've got to get a terrified woolly warrior off some teetering wooden crates, and land him on flat ground. To do so, simply tap (or, in the game's world, shoot) the problem crates so he'll land safely.

If you mess up, the lamb is led to the slaughter, dunked into the toothy yawn of a hungry wolf. Do it right, though, and you'll be presented with all the medals you can handle, some nice fresh grass, and many ewes.

Our favourite levels are the ones with wolves in sheep's clothing which have you toppling the sneaky saboteur off the level purposefully if you can see through its disguise.

Hoggy is like a mix of Mario, Kirby and Sonic The Hedgehog. Like, literally. It uses very similar assets and sound effects to those classic 16-bit platformers as if they're public domain. Though we'll let a little five finger discount pass when the game is this good.

It's not a classic platformer like Mario or Sonic, but rather a mind melting puzzler with brain teasers in every room. Sharp reflexes and hours of Mario training will do you no good here - you need a super sharp mind to succeed.

The game is apparently on sale, but its been like that for months, so we'll include it. Still, don't wait around - grab it now.

Bit Pilot is a bit like Asteroids and its ilk, but played through a microscope. In fact, your little ship is no more than ten pixels tall.

You've got to dodge all manner of asteroids, comets, and lasers as you gobble up power-ups. It's all about the utter precision f the iPhone's touchscreen as you make ridiculously tiny movements and nano-metric dodges.

It uses OpenFeint to share your score with pals, too, so you can gloat about your comet evading skills online.

A little slice of subterranean risk/reward. This game is all about digging as deep as possible, scooping up valuable gems, and returning them to the surface for quick cash.

But it's not just about taking the money earned and spending it on fancy clothes and iPads and football tickets. You've got to kit out your tractor-drill-rocket thing and get back in the fray, perhaps digging even deeper this time.

And when the game tasks you with four hours to dig, collect, and upgrade, that doesn't mean some bizarre in-game time construct that actually lasts about 20 earth minutes. It really means four long hours of digging. Best get started then, eh?

Definitely not recommended to the rhythmically impaired (present company included), but anyone with a modicum of musical talent will have a ball with this game.

Basically, a little pink bird runs along a rope as you belt out classical tunes by plucking notes, slamming spiders and collecting fruit. Make sense?

You can even enter sing mode to whistle tunes through the microphone, or use improvisation mode to play levels with the instruments of your choice.

Until Sega gets its act together and throws Crazy Taxi on the App Store, we'll have to make do with the rather wonderful Parcel Panic.

This fully 3D racing game has you delivering crates to different buildings on a tiny island, dashing from hotel to light house, and maybe throwing in the odd death-defying leap on the way over.

And, if that wasn't enough, it'll play on your iPad too with lovely tablet specific visuals. All for 59p - less than the price of a pack of jam doughnuts.