iOS Games

13. Angry Birds

Company: Rovio
URL: www.rovio.com
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
Price: from 69p

There are so many games available for iOS devices now that it’s impossible for us to do more than just skim the surface. However, there’s no doubt that Angry Birds still rules the roost with more than 500 million downloads to date. The original game is regularly updated with new levels, and spin-offs such as Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons keep the fun going. The puzzles – in which you use an assortment of exploding birds to attack pigs holed up inside various buildings – continue to tease and infuriate, and seem to appeal to both young and old.

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14. Real Racing 2

Company: Firemint
URL: www.firemint.com
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
Price: £2.99; £4.99

Real Racing 2 is a cracking single-player racing game, with excellent, detailed 3D graphics, responsive driving controls and a variety of playing modes. There’s an extended Career mode that takes you through a series of events, as well as a Time Trial speed-test mode and a simple Quick Race mode where you can practice your skills. However, it’s also one of the first games to take advantage of the new online features in iOS 5, which allow you to play with four people on a WiFi network and to display the game on an HD TV via an Apple TV.

15. Dungeon Hunter 2

Company: Gameloft
URL: www.gameloft.co.uk
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
Price: £4.99

There are quite a few role-playing games for the iPhone and iPad, but it’s the Dungeon Hunter series that best captures the addictive combat-and-looting formula of the old Diablo games on the Mac. The storyline is pretty feeble – you’re a prince who goes to war in order to save your kingdom from monsters and stuff. However, the slick graphics are as good as we’ve seen on many Mac games, and this sequel has am enjoyable multiplayer mode that lets you play with up to three friends using either a Wii or Bluetooth connection.

16. Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

Company: Gameloft
URL: www.gameloft.co.uk
Requirements: iPhone 3GS, or later, iPod touch third gen, iPad
Price: £4.99

Modern Combat is the closest we’ve seen to the realistic combat of the Call Of Duty games for the Mac and PC. The 3D graphics are slick and finely detailed, and the action just never lets up. The main single-player games includes 13 missions in which you protect the US. Locations range from Los Angeles to Pakistan with different types of mission, such as escort duty, helicopter action, and seek and destroy. There’s also an online mode for up to 12 players.

17. NOVA 2

Company: Gameloft
URL: www.gameloft.co.uk
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
Price: £4.99

If Modern Combat is the iPhone’s answer to Call Of Duty, then the sci-fi oriented Nova 2 is our version of Halo. The single-player campaign consists of 12 missions sets on a series of space stations, in which human forces fight against the Volterites. These mysterious enemies bounce around with jetpacks, so you need to be fast and accurate to keep up with the high-speed action. However, you’ve got your own impressive armoury to help out, including weapons such as the lightning gun, frag grenades and dual hand guns.

18. Cut the rope

Company: Chillingo
URL: www.chillingo.com
Requirements: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
Price: 69p; £1.49

Like many of the best puzzle games, Cut The Rope is based on a very simple idea – you just need to cut a series of ropes in order to drop bits of candy down to the a cute little character called Om Nom. However, that simple task leads to some mind-bendingly complex puzzles, as you work your way through more than 200 different levels. It gets harder as you go along too, with additional obstacles, such as jagged spikes and electrical fields, adding to the fun.

Strategy Games

19. StarCraft II

Company: Blizzard
URL: eu.blizzard.com
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.8, Intel Core 2 Duo, graphics card with 256MB VRAM
Price: £44.99

StarCraft had only just been released when we last did a games round-up, and it kept us playing for months. You play the role of freedom fighter Jim Raynor, who leads the forces of humanity into battle against the alien Zerg and Protoss. The main single-player campaign provides a variety of challenging missions, ranging from small raiding parties to large-scale battles with big stompy robots. This is only the beginning though, as there are two expansion packs planned that will continue to tell the story from the point of view of the Zerg and Protoss too.

20. Civilzation V

Company: Aspyr
URL: www.aspyr.com
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.4, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, graphics card with 256MB VRAM
Price: £29.99

Another year, another version. The basic formula remains the same – you start with a bunch of cave men and progress through history in order to create a civilisation that will rule the world. However, this has some new features, such as a diplomacy system that allows you to get down to some serious negotiating with the computer-controlled leaders of your rival nations. The 3D graphics have been improved, and the game also gives you a set of animated advisors who can help new players get started.

21. Starfront: Collision

Company: Gameloft
UK sales: The Mac App Store
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6
Price: £6.99

Starfront started out on the iPhone and iPad, but recently made the leap onto the Mac screen. There are undoubted similarities with StarCraft, as the game pits the forces of humanity against against rival races of aliens and robots, as they compete to control the supply of Xenodium crystals on the planet Sinistral. The storyline and gameplay aren’t as deep as StarCraft, but the game includes 20 missions and a skirmish mode where you can hone your strategy and combat skills. There’s also a four-player co-op mode that’s good fun too, and at £6.99 Star Front is an affordable introduction to RTS gaming.

22. Age Of Empires III

Company: Microsoft/Destineer
URL: www.play.com
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4, Intel processor, graphics card with 128MB VRAM
Price: £29.99

It’s getting on a bit now, but Age Of Empires III is still a thoroughly enjoyable strategy game. It’s set during the colonial era, and lets you control one of eight European nations, such as Britain or France, as they set out to colonise and control the newly discovered Americas. The 3D graphics are attractive and finely detailed, despite the game’s age, and you can either work through the main single-player campaign or dip into its Skirmish mode for a quick fix every now and then.

23. Rome Total War – Gold Edition

Company: Feral Interactive
UK sales: The Mac App Store
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5.8, 1.4GHz processor, graphics card with 128MB VRAM
Price: £20.99

Rome Total War lets you play as the head of one of three Roman families, fighting a series of battles across Europe before finally attempting to conquer Rome itself. The 3D graphics aren’t exactly state-of-the-art, but the epic battles are great fun as you watch thousands of soldiers clashing on screen all at once. The Gold Edition includes an expansion pack called The Barbarians, that lets you war against the invading hordes of Attila The Hun.

24. Europa Universalis III: Chronicles

Company: Virtual Programming
UK sales: The Mac App Store
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.8, 1.4GHz Intel processor, graphics card with 512MB VRAM
Price: £20.99

Europa Universalis III combines diplomacy and strategy as you develop your own world-conquering empire. However, it focuses specifically on European affairs in the period 1399 to 1820, and allows you to play any of 250 different countries. There’s great attention to historical details, so you may find that you have to contend with religious intolerance among your population, or groups of rebels rising up against the ruling aristocracy. This edition includes both the original game and a number of expansion packs, including Napoleon’s Ambition, in which you have to deal with the intentions of the diminutive French emperor.