£15’s Worth of iPhone Games

So, you’ve just been handed a £15 iTunes giftcard for Christmas (perhaps by an office Secret Santa) and you already have Katy Perry’s California Gurls – what on Earth do you do? No, don’t accidentally buy Ellie Goulding’s wispy, ethereal rendition of Your Song! You should instead purchase a whole sack of games, of course. Everyone knows the App Store has some affordable games on it, but we thought we’d see just how far we could stretch our £15:

Angry Birds (59p, total 59p)

59p? Bargain. Angry Birds is a bona fide phenomenon, much like those Sunny D adverts in the 90s. It’s even – shock horror – found its way into popular culture. As is usually the case with the App Store, it’s a simple idea – catapult the titular livid fowls into the evil green pigs – executed over dozens of stages. For some reason I tend to find most levels in Angry Birds surprisingly difficult, but I’ve sunk so many hours into this game over 2010 it’s clear I refuse to be beaten.

Angry Birds Seasons (59p, total £1.18)

And while we’re at it, you might as well pick up the seasonal update. It’s more of the same, basically, but with an intoxicating abundance of holiday-themed gimmicks. After doing one of the Christmas levels I immediately ran to the nearest computer and listened to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You. It’s that powerful. And it’s still only 59p, so we’ve got loads of money left.

Cut the Rope (59p, total £1.77)

Another 59p game! Success! The new darling of the iDevices, Cut the Rope has you cutting a series of ropes to drop balls of candy into the mouth of a green blob thing you’re determined to keep happy. The Healthy Eating Committee would probably have a heart attack just thinking about all those empty calories and unrefined carbohydrates, but I’m usually too busy trying to work out how hard I have to tug the pulley in order to get the candy across a field of spikes.

Helsing’s Fire (59p, total £2.36)

This one isn’t quite as popular as the preceding three, but it’s still one of my favourite App Store games of the year. Anything that features suited, moustache-twirling gentlemen taking time to high five and fist bump is pretty good in my books. It’s another crafty puzzler, too, and it involves shining light out of the right nooks and crannies to burn away loads of evil monsters in Dracula’s castle.

Drop 7 (£1.79, total £4.15)

£1.79? Hello, big spender! This is yet another puzzler, which should come as no great surprise to anybody by now. Described as “Tetris meets Sudoku”, Drop 7 has a pleasingly simple and clean aesthetic and is bizarrely effective at keeping you absorbed you for hours. It might be a little bit more expensive than the 59p norm, but it’s totally worth it.

Slice It (59p, total £4.74)

Ah, thank goodness – another 59p cheapie. This one involves slicing up various objects into a number of equal chunks. It’s like Maths: The Video Game, right down to the fact you’re playing the game on graph paper. No, come back – it’s more fun than it sounds.

Trainyard (59p, total £5.33)

I’m worried people are going to think I’m a really boring person. We’ve gone from maths to train conducting, but hear me out. Compared to the simplicity of the games so far, Trainyard is actually quite confusing – it’s all about mixing colours and drawing perfect routes to get trains to their destination. It’s enormously satisfying when you succeed after toiling away (probably on a train, ironically) for half an hour to get through a particularly tricky puzzle.

Paper Toss Ad-free (59p, £5.92)

Now for something a bit simpler. Use your finger to flick wads of paper into the bin, but be careful of the wind direction. This ad-free version might cost 59p, but it’s worth spending a little extra to play without those pesky distractions.

Flight Control (59p, £6.51)

Another 59p legend, Flight Control has you guiding various coloured aircraft into their respective places without having them crash into one another. It’s easier said than done, of course. I saw somebody competent play this game once, and they were so enraptured with the experience they were flailing their arms about like they were conducting actual planes – it was both hypnotic and hilarious.

Super Mega Worm (59p, £7.10)

I’m not really sure how somebody comes up with a concept like Super Mega Worm, but I’m very glad they have. After centuries of being polluted by humans, Mother Nature needs to save the planet from destruction by unleashing the titular worm. You bounce him around and gobble up humans while blowing up tanks and aeroplanes. 59p well spent, if you ask me.

Axe in Face (59p, £7.69)

Axe in Face doesn’t mess about for a second. You’re a cartoony Viking dude throwing axes in the faces of your enemies, like an amusing mix of Angry Birds and Plants Vs. Zombies. Done. Another 59p well spent, too.

Infinity Blade (£3.49, £11.18)

Oh merciful heavens – £3.49? Did we just win the lottery or something? Doesn’t Epic know we’re on a strict budget? Still, it’s probably worth it – Infinity Blade is the most technically accomplished game on the App Store to date. It’s like a Medieval Punch-Out, with you first-person duelling with a variety of foes (across an entire lineage of knights) in an attempt to take out the evil God King, who may or may not be the King of the Gods.

Plants vs. Zombies (£1.79, £12.97)

After mentioning it earlier, I realised I absolutely had to include Plants vs. Zombies in this list – despite it putting me precariously close to my £15 limit. One of PopCap’s finest, this has you controlling an army of valiant plants in an effort to save your immaculately kept lawn (and the squishy pink brains of the houseowner) from an invading zombie army.

Canabalt (£1.79, £14.76)

Okay, so we’ve got 24p left wasting away in the dark expanses of our iTunes account which I can’t find a way to spend. I feel bad about it, but it’s something we’re all going to have to live with. But at least we’ve got Canabalt as our 14th and final game, which has you desperately trying to escape the apocalypse by jumping over a perilous path of randomly-generated rooftops. Canabalt’s success has launched an entire genre of me-too clones, but none of them even come close to topping the original.