A classic-in-the-making snowboarding endless runner app is our pick of May’s top mobile game releases
iOS (£1.49)
When reading about Alto’s Adventure you may encounter a lot of (entirely accurate) comparisons to the stellar Monument Valley. It may come as a surprise then that Alto’s Adventure is in fact a snowboarding endless runner. Somehow it manages to take such a common arcade concept and turn it into a beautiful, infinitely replayable, truly memorable experience. A truly unique must-buy.
iOS (£2.99)
A game that proudly wears its F-Zero and WipeOut influences on its sleeve, you know what you’re getting with just one look at AG Drive. Its incredibly fast, its extreme speed factor only rivalled by its astonishing good looks. As well as excellent multiplayer and AI tournaments there’s even a surprisingly rewarding career mode. Just make sure your device can handle it before downloading.
Free (iOS)
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good new rhythm action game on mobile, and the novelty only makes Planet Quest all the more quirky. You control a beat-obsessed alien who flies from planet to planet abducting dancing humans dressed as animals to the rhythm of the music. It is, of course, completely insane – but in a fantastic, fun, PaRappa the Rapper/Saturday morning kids’ cartoon kind of way.
Auro: A Monster-Bumping Adventure
£2.29 (iOS), £1.97 (Android)
30 tutorial levels is a lot for one game. But it’s less than you’d need to learn chess, and that is essentially what you’re getting with Auro. One of the most deep and challenging puzzlers we’ve ever played, it is a remarkable feat of game design. A procedurally generated, strategic, action packed adventure, Auro is a vibrant game that deserves the attention of every 4X or tactics fan with a functioning smartphone.
£2.29 (iOS)
Every now and again a mobile game comes along that introduces something so completely new and brilliant that we can’t believe it hasn’t been done before. Yet It Moves has all the makings of a breakout indie sensation: quaint animated style, a hauntingly beautiful environment, and a silent protagonist who frequently meets a grizzly death. You must navigate each level by rotating the world around you, altering gravity’s pull in the process. It’s that simple – which is to say, really rather difficult.
£1.99 (iOS), £1.25 (Android)
Mobile studio GlobZ is turning out to be a dab-hand at creating tile-based rogue likes. This latest one sees you take control of a vampire attempting to find his way back to his coffin. The only problem is that there’s an array of angry villagers and priests out to stop you. It’s both surprisingly strategic and an oddly accurate depiction of what life as a vampire would probably be like.
£1.49 (iOS, Android)
Horror games can be hard to get right on mobile. A smaller screen makes for less immersion, which is the key to good horror. Dark Echo works around this through exquisite use of audio, coupled with simple, creative visuals to create a truly unique (and terrifying experience). Put in your headphones, turn out the lights, and try to escape the darkness that’s chasing you.
£1.49 (iOS, Android)
Taking control of the titular misfit robot, Odd Bot Out tasks you with negotiating your way from the bottom of the scrap heap to freedom. To do so you must face dozens of interesting physics-based puzzles that creates an experience as charming and as challenging as any app out there. Some are simple, some require a little more though, but they all work great thanks to some ingenious touchscreen controls.
Free (iOS, Android)
Finally kicked that Candy Crush addiction? Congratulations! Now it’s time to start that crippling cycle all over again with Jolly Jam. It’s nothing new – hell, it doesn’t even look new. But it does just about enough different to keep you interested. Rather than matching three, you instead drag a box around the grid of colourful jellies on screen. The caveat is that opposing corners of this box must be the same jelly. Naturally things get more tricky as levels go on and more jellies are introduced. Download at your peril.
Free (iOS, Android)
Magic Touch: Wizard for Hire does a really great job of utilising your smartphone’s touch screen to create a simple yet super replayable arcade experience. Enemy knights float down the screen towards your castle, each held by a balloon with a symbol on it. Draw the symbol with your finger to pop the balloon and send them tumbling. Repeat until you lose, and then repeat again.
