The iPhone app store grew from strength to strength this year, even becoming a viable handheld gaming platform, so it was a tough task to decide on our top ten picks.
Cut The Rope – Already a casual gaming classic, there’s every chance that Cut The Rope’s recent success can continue and help ZeptoLab’s effort become 2011’s equivalent of the mega-selling Angry Birds.
Cut the Rope is focused on a cute green monster called Om Nom, who players must feed by cutting the rope (hence the title) holding Om Nom’s food at the optimum time, so that the candy falls into our hero’s mouth. Cutting the rope involves a quick swipe of the player’s finger, while an assortment of obstacles attempt to block and inhibit your path your ability to satisfy the ever-demanding gaping mouth of Om Nom.
Simple to understand and difficult to put down, Cut The Rope is our pick of the top gaming apps this year, bar none.
Hipstamatic – The iTunes Rewind App of the Year, Hipstamatic is the ultimate iPhone camera app, as it allows users to swap lenses, flashes and film, enter monthly photo contests and order analog prints of their efforts straight from the app.
Instapaper – If you find yourself irritated by having to read articles in increments, watching the page itself reload and cost you more of your precious download limit each month, Instapaper is a godsend. An app which allows you to easily save web pages offline to read later, Instapaper can even store emails and has space for up to 500 articles.
Game Dev Story – Simply the most addictive game in the App Store, we at JOE have been cursed at by many friends for recommending this infectious title, which allows players to set up their own video games company and try climb the ranks of the industry, all the while keeping an eye on trade shows, console launches and the Global Games Award Show. It may not sound like the most enticing prospect for the non-gamers out there, yet try putting it down once you’ve taken the plunge.
Wiki Hunt – Considering we all spend so much time on Wikipedia, it’s amazing no-one had thought to create a game of it! Wiki Hunt presents players with two completely random and unrelated links – their goal is to link the two in as few clicks as possible. Wiki Hunt even has another game mode that tasks you to find your way to Jesus in as few clicks as possible from a random article,
Canabalt – A simple idea executed supremely well, Canabalt charges players to guide a free-runner through a monochrome 2D environment, jumping through gaping chasms and along skyscraper cranes at high speeds. Who is the running man and what is he running from? It’s really, really not important – this is gaming boiled down to the basic essentials and all the more fun for it.
Doodle Jump– A bona fide cultural phenomenon at this stage, Doodle Jump is a supremely addictive motion-controlled title that has been honed and overhauled extensively through numerous updates. Also available in a festive edition too.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit – An extremely well-designed app that may be the best racer on the iPhone, Hot Pursuit takes players to progress along a cop career through 24 events, racing rivals and slamming lawbreakers into the surrounding environment, Burnout-style. An extremely tempting app considering EA’s extremely low Christmas sale.
Kindle – The only way read books on your handheld, the Kindle has been a huge success since launch, easily eclipsing Apple’s own iBooks app, which seems unaware that more books have actually been released in the past 150 years. Can sync bookmarks across all Kindle devices, whether you’re using an iPad or even Amazon’s own e-reader.
Visit Dublin – More than just a tourist app, Visit Dublin utilises your iPhone camera to enable Augemented Reality features, has daily bulletins and is fully customisable.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
