A list of the best iPad games available now in the iTunes App Store, regularly updated with great new titles and releases.
Apple fanboys may go on and on about how the iPad will change the world of computing forever, but we know why you really bought an iPad: games. Racing games, strategy games, MMORPGs, they’re all lining the virtual shelves of the iTunes App Store, waiting to be downloaded. How do you choose from a virtual marketplace brimming with so many choices — some good and some horrible? With a little help from your friends, of course. And by that, we mean us. Below are our constantly evolving picks for best iPad games.
Also check out our picks for The Best iPad Apps, The Best iPhone Games, and The Best iPhone Apps.
Bad Piggies HD ($1)
It’s about time the villains of Angry Birds got a game of their own (that isn’t a cheap clone of the original). This release from Rovio is every bit as polished as its smash hit mobile sensation and it features exactly the same cute, cartoon art style. The challenge is to construct contraptions, in the shape of vehicles or flying machines, which can convey your pigs to an end point in each level. If you’re clever, you’ll work out how to grab the bonus pick-ups along the way and hit that finish flag within the time limit. It’s creative, addictive, and offers lots of fun for the whole family.
Trigger Fist ($3)
This reminds us of the early Counter Strike days. It’s a multiplayer, third-person shooter with a nice streamlined approach that works well for mobile devices. There’s basically no y-axis, so aiming is a simple matter of side-to-side shooting and that makes it much more accessible. You’ve got four multiplayer modes across six maps and that’s the perfect recipe for some old-fashioned fragfest fun. You can unlock a bunch of weapons, skins, and perks as you go. The AI is actually fairly decent, but multiplayer with friends or strangers is where it’s really at.
The Room ($5)
Explore the mysterious and atmospheric world of The Room on your iPad. This puzzle game challenges you to unlock the secrets of a series of boxes by manipulating your view to find keyholes or sliding panels. It’s beautifully crafted, with an ambient soundtrack and totally absorbing gameplay. The creepy sense of exploration sucks you in and won’t let go, gnawing away, until you have solved the final puzzle. It is short and there’s nothing really innovative about it, but it is polished and feels like more than the sum of its parts.
The World Ends With You: Solo Remix for iPad ($20)
You won’t find many games this expensive on the iPad, but The World Ends with You is a deep, involved mystery that combines various genres of gameplay to create an immersive experience that will keep you amused for hours and hours. This was a cult classic on the Nintendo DS and legendary Japanese developer, Square Enix, is behind it. It is a seriously stylish anime adventure with an amazing 60-song soundtrack. It is set in Shibuya in Japan and you’re tasked with defeating the Reapers through a series of missions and planned, touch and swipe combat that can get seriously chaotic. It’s typically tough to explain, but if you’re a JRPG fan then you’ll love it.
Tiny Wings HD ($3)
Tiny Wings got its start on the small screen of the iPhone, but it is all grown up now. The premise of the game is simple: you are a bird who’s wings are too small to get you off the ground so you have to use the terrain to help you get off the ground. The game play is easy to learn but hard to master, and the whimsical art is hard to not love. With the iPad version, you get three different play styles, including a head to head mode where you and a friend compete in some rocking split screen action.
Asphalt 7: Heat ($1)
As you can tell from the name, this isn’t the first game in this series, but Gameloft seems to have gotten it right. This racing game is one part arcade racer, one part racing sim, and 100% beautiful. The graphics on this game are impressive, even more so on a retina display, but it’s the game play that will keep you coming back for more. There are several different types of challenges for you to concur, and a seemingly endless list of dream cars for you to buy. If you don’t feel like using the iPad as one giant steering wheel there is an option to have onscreen controls, but where’s the fun in that?
Castle Master 3D (Free)
Don’t let the cartoonish graphics fool you this game is in depth. The goal of the game is to expand your empire, and take over nearby castles. To do this you have to build up your kingdom by taking care of your population, building infrastructure, recruit an army, all while worrying about your popularity. Leading your army into battle is always thrilling, and defeating the larger defending force never gets old. Being a free game there is of course places for you to purchase upgrades or ways to speed up your game, but they are tastefully done, and don’t get in the way of the gameplay.
Draw Something Free (Free)
Playing Draw Something on the iPad is almost identical to playing it on your phone. It’s just a bit… easier to get the details right. The resolution has been bumped up to work on the third iPad’s Retina display as well, though you’ll still find the menus ridiculously large. For those who haven’t played, this is a game best connected to Facebook. You draw a picture and your friend tries to guess what it is, and then vice versa. It sounds silly, but the simple ideas are sometimes the best.
Angry Birds Space HD ($3)
Like its predecessor, Angry Birds Space will probably make its way to every casual games list we have, but one of the best places to play it will always be the iPad. Space takes the Angry Birds formula and changes gravity, allowing you to whip birds around planets and knock pig satellites out of orbit. It’s a bit geekier than the original, but we like it. Be warned, the difficulty of Space seems a bit uneven and the game is shorter than its predecessors. Check out our full Angry Birds Space review.
Temple Run (Free)
Temple Run has finally come to Android, but it’s been on iOS since 2011. The gist of the game is pretty simple. You have clearly trespassed on ancient ruins where you don’t belong and are now fleeing from a bunch of evil monkey creatures. To survive, you must swipe up, down, left, or right, and tilt the iPad to dodge obstacles and collect coins. The key to this game is its simplicity and tight controls. When you swipe down to slide, you instinctively know just how far you’ll go. The precision controls have made it a hit and definitely worth checking out.
Gears (Free)
Gears is a pretty, 3D adaptation of a very old type of game. You must guide a ball through a maze of gears and obstacles, collect coins, and make it to the end of each level. Games like these typically don’t have a story, but Gears is surprisingly epic. The sphere you are guiding by moving your finger around is a high tech healing device that has to make its way through the engine of an ancient city to keep its residents alive. If you fail, all of mankind will perish. Pretty heavy stuff, right? Presentation is where Gears shines.
Fruit Ninja HD ($4)
This game is one of the simplest, most addictive, and most popular games in the iPad game market. Users use finger swipes to slice and dice a variety of fruits as they fly across the screen in a veritable fruit salad. Slice multiple fruits with just one swipe and you’ll get extra bonus points. The game runs on a three-strikes-you’re-out rule, only allowing users to miss three different fruits before they’re out of the game. The more fruits you slice, the better your score, unless you accidentally slice a flying bomb, in which case your game ends then and there. Several different playing modes keep things interesting, and users can play alone of in a multiplayer version.
Plants vs. Zombies HD ($7)
The iPad proves to be yet another winning platform for this casual gaming legend from the maestros at Popcap. As the name would suggest, you’ll need to plant a yard full of anthropomorphic mushrooms, peas, sunflowers and other vegetation to battle it out with wave after wave of invading zombies. A classic tower defense game, sure, but Popcap’s wit, achievements and colorful animation elevate it to a title you won’t be able to put down.
Angry Birds HD ($5)
If you haven’t heard of Angry Birds by now, you’ve probably been living under a technological rock for some time. The simple action game is one of the most popular games across virtually all mobile platforms, but it first gained traction with the iPhone and iPad. The story goes that some angry green pigs stole eggs from their bird neighbors, making the birds, you guessed it, very angry. Users slingshot squawking birds towards the pigs’ fortresses in an attempt to destroy them and move on to the next level.
Harbor Master (Free)
A retake on the classic Flight Control substitutes boats for planes but loses none of the fun factor in the process – and this one’s free. Players must use their fingers to direct a never-ending barrage of boats to docks for unloading and then safely out of the harbor. Lines will help you visualize where your freighters are headed, but be prepared for frantic redirection, near misses and eventually a game-ending collision when the boats start to flood in.
Real Racing HD ($5)
Need to justify your $800 iPad purchase to a group of skeptical friends who claim it’s just an oversized iPod Touch? Download Real Racing HD. Awkward turn-to-steer controls aside, it’s one of the best-looking games available on the system, and discards the flashy arcade-style action of Need for Speed: Shift in favor of realistic, simulator-style driving.
Labyrinth 2 HD ($8)
No, it’s not a sequel to the 1986 David Bowie movie shot in HD. Instead, Labyrinth 2 HD emulates the ball-in-a-maze toys you probably had as a kid, with the same object: Get the ball from point A to point B. But those wooden toys never had the same barriers you’ll find here, which include not just holes but cannons, magnets, carousels and lasers. The game responds realistically to the iPad’s internal accelerometers, and even subtly shifts the viewpoint to create the illusion you’re really looking into a 3D box. Try the “Lite” version for a taste of the game before springing for the real thing.
Scrabble ($10)
The most classic of word games has made its way to the iPad with fun features for Apple lovers. First of all, the board game looks even better than before on the comfortably-large iPad screen, making gameplay more realistic. Users can play up to 25 different matches, connect with friends on Facebook, pay the Pass N’ Play mode, or find a game via Local Networks. Second, the most innovative feature comes into play for Apple fans who want to play together in person. Now users can use iPhones or iPod Touches as personal tile racks and virtually flick tiles from a device onto the iPad game board.
Mondo Solitaire ($6)
The same game that helped you survive mind-numbing shifts at your first cubicle job and hours stuck in school computer labs can now keep you sane on the train to work, plane to New York, or just occupied during commercials on the couch. Mondo Solitaire turns your iPad into a portable card table with the familiar Solitaire layout you know and love from Windows 3.0 and up, but with updated graphics and slick animated card flipping. The app offers “100 games and over 200 different combinations of gameplay” and is sure to contain the classics like FreeCell and Klondike along with many new games that you’ve likely never seen before.
GodFinger All-Stars (Free)
Take Black & White, cuten it up for the iPad, add simplified multitouch controls and you have GodFinger: a classic god game for people who have never heard of god games. You’ll play the role of a higher power overseeing your own planet and villagers. The barren chunk of rock and sole worshipper you start with can slow grow to a lush utopian village with the right measure of rain, sun, and other divine intervention on your behalf. Although its free to play, GodFinger offers the option of purchasing “Awe Points” for your planet to help jumpstart your civilization with farms, fountains, and other frivolities.
Osmos ($5)
This simple and fun kinetic action game starts out with balls made of cells, hence the science-y name. Using momentum, users must move around the screen to incorporate smaller cell balls to become the biggest and most powerful object in the game’s micro-universe. You can only incorporate objects smaller than yourself, and the more your object moves, the more mass it will lose. The game is surprisingly addicting for its simplicity, and there are plenty of levels to keep you going for hours.
Checkers HD ($2)
It’s checkers, plain and simple. We wouldn’t venture that this reincarnation of a 12th-century board game brings anything terribly original to the iPad, but it’s a clean, well animated, and free. The computer opponents can be challenging, and if you would prefer to match wits with a human, the two player mode lets you easily play at opposite ends of the screen.
Fieldrunners for iPad ($8)
Another tower defense game along the lines of Plants vs. Zombies challenges you to build a virtual gauntlet for wave after wave of enemies to run through. Let them reach the other side, and you’re done for. The first waves will prove to be a breeze, but by the time you’re trying to stop a monsoon of planes, trucks and speedy goons on motorcycles, even the sturdiest creations start to crack apart at the seams.
Command & Conquer Red Alert ($5)
You just can’t play a real-time-strategy game on a tiny display. Despite the developer’s best attempt to make Command & Conquer playable on the iPhone, we much prefer the high-resolution iPad version, which lets you build, command and conquer with ease on all 9.7 inches of screen. Just beware that widespread user reports of crashing may make this one to wait on until it gets just a little more polish from EA.
