Looking a whole lot better than it plays, OMG Pirates!'s Cartoon Network-esque visuals can't hide the fact that it's an uninspiring hack and slash game - entertaining for short periods but not worthy of much long-term attention.

Great graphics aren't enough to save endless jumping game Volcano Escape from floaty controls.

With performance and control issues, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is a sweet classic turned sour.

An attractive derivation on the well-established chain reaction concept, Splode plays well enough, but doesn't offer any new ideas.

Star Battalion unsuccessfully tries to make up for mediocre gameplay with online co-operative multiplayer and high-definition graphics.

Poor design prevents the cool idea that is Star Wars: Battle for Hoth from becoming a great tower defence game.

A charming entry to the genre, but one which adds nothing new and whose difficulty is pitched too high for its intended market.

Delivering in terms of looks, Chocolate Tycoon proves far less proficient when it comes to the actual process of making the sweet stuff.

The introduction of the undead gives Stenches an interesting change of pace, but more variety would have earned it a medal of distinction.

Immediate and fun but runs out of steam, becoming repetitive.

The flying pig motif is easy to get behind for a little while, but once it wears off there's nothing left but ground up snout and spare ribs.

Tehra: Dark Warrior is a visual triumph, but the gameplay is as skimpy as the main character's clothing.

Splinter Cell: Conviction's fiddly controls and technical quirks spoil an otherwise pacy and entertaining action-stealth game.

Though simplistic in nature, Buddy Rush is charming enough to fill a few moments with basic hack 'n' slash role-playing.

This single-finger speedster certainly offers a refreshing way to drive, but the lack of variety means there's not enough fuel in the tank to ensure it goes the full race distance.

Trucker's Delight Episode 1 makes the most of its naughty music video source material, but doesn't really add up as a racing game.

Showcases excellent visuals and engaging gameplay, but is shot down by frustrating and inaccurate controls.

Charming in both concept and appearance, but its brand of button-mashing action is simultaneously simplistic and unwieldy.

While its scale is to be applauded, Warpgate HD doesn't deliver gameplay of high enough quality to make interstellar trade and travel fun.

An interesting concept that sows plenty of ambitions, We Rule falls short of harvesting compelling gameplay.

An adorable prehistoric romp, Chop Chop Caveman has sharp, modern graphics and clunky, stone age controls.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney retains the wit and charm of the original release without much needed tailoring of the controls and interface to fit iPhone and iPod touch.

Fans of Monster Hunter are in for a decent alternative to their favourite action RPG, but a lack of imagination traps Lords Of Arcana on a plane of relative mediocrity when compared to its bigger cousin.

A groundbreaking, though generic online role-playing game that needs a robust combat system and creative quests to make the portable MMO fantasy a reality.

Crooked House is a competent enough puzzler, but overly simplistic gameplay and unsatisfying controls keep it from making much of an impression.

Despite its iintriguing take on match-three puzzle play, Puzzle Cosmos is just too hard to be enjoyable.

Queen's Crown boasts a polished presentation, but some of the lustre is removed by insignificant quests, error-strewn dialogue, and devious in-app purchases.

Like an elderly man with arthritis, Rayman's platforming adventure is afflicted with stiff controls that prevent enjoyable play.

Full of rough edges and built on a poor facsimile swing system, Real Golf 2011 comes a distant second in most of the areas that matter despite its online multiplayer.

Nicely structured gameplay make Sam & Max Episode 1 playable, even if it's only mildly amusing.

While it's a solid enough platformer, there are plenty of iPhone alternatives that do what Pixeline and the Jungle Treasure does, and do it better.

Killer pixel graphics and awesome music make you want to love The Blocks Cometh, but the crowded controls keep you from embracing it fully.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard should be a good game, yet uncharacteristic lack of polish and attention to detail derail this tactical shooter.

The smartest looking entry in the series to date, Real Football 2011 loses its grip when it comes to actual gameplay, making matches less fluid in practice than they might look from the sidelines.

Though its presentation is second to none, Get Outta My Galaxy! doesn't possess gameplay deep enough to keep you on board for long.

Rayman 3D takes a classic gaming experience and excites with 3D visuals, but fails to solve the camera and control problems.

Effectively a fancy way of playing rock-paper-scissors online, The Witcher: Versus possesses some interesting supporting features that do much to hide this fact, but not enough to hold your attention for long.

It can conjure moments of brilliance, but ultimately The 3rd Birthday is bogged down by indecisive design choices.

If you're aching for more SRPG action from the makers of Disgaea then this is a solid choice, but an eye rollingly bland plot and ironically.

Absorbing to look at and play, Liqua Pop bursts what fun there is by turning the pressure too high.

RoboSockets: Link Me Up is an enjoyable drop action puzzler let down by its stiff difficulty following a gameplay tweak in the latter levels.

A campy turn-based adventure with the right idea, Tactical Soldier: Undead Rising discharges gameplay riddled with flaws both superficial and substantive flaws that make it tough to recommend.

Poor handling and missing features make Race After 1977 feel too much like the dingy vehicles that roll across its post-apocalyptic landscape.

Attractive and fun for a short while, the unbalanced gameplay and lack of social features end up clipping the wings of this fairly pleasant casual game.

Steel Diver provides exciting, tactical underwater action, but a steep difficulty curve and lack of content make it difficult to recommend.

Destructopus may be the environmentalists' answer to the Rampage series, but problematic controls limit its enjoyability.

Ultimately too plain for its own good, Burn it All – Journey to the Sun's rope burning puzzler is engaging in short bursts, but the attraction of its challenge melts away with repeated play.

Bookworm is great for killing an hour or two, but only serious wordsmiths will play for longer.

A bright, breezy puzzle game that's sadly too short and lacking in variety to wholeheartedly recommend.

It hits all the right notes, but Catch The Candy is a pretty average puzzler.

A little overwhelming, but very slick to play, Current will have its fans, but the majority of players will be left bewildered.

While solid and bracingly difficult, A Knights Dawn is a very average tower defence experience.

Monsterz Revenge is too scattered to be fun, its colourful charm offset by oddball tendencies and disjointed gameplay.

The Incredible Machine won't impress in the same fashion as when it was first released, but it still offers a decent collection of surreal physics puzzles.

Slow and saddled with a frustrating interface, Companions has a lot to say, but only the most patient will want to listen.

Cell Bound has the nucleus of a great puzzler, but the rush to introduce new ingredients contaminates this interesting experiment.

An atmospheric and good-looking twin-stick shooter that's saddled with crushingly linear downtime, a rubbish plot, and control issues.

Taking too much inspiration from other – much better – games, Infinite Dreams' shooter never rises to the quality of the titles it wishes it was, instead providing a bland but competent shmup.

Hills of Glory: WWII is an entertaining tower defence romp, but it's too difficult without IAPs and too easy with them.

BackStab sails on restless oceans, thrown about by ropey controls and annoying bugs, but it remains a swashbuckling romp that will appeal to fans of Captain Jack Sparrow and his kin – if they can stay the course, that is.

As a throw-back to the RPGs of old it hits most of the right buttons, but most modern gamers will likely leave the world of Avadon long before it hits its stride.

A cheap and cheerful destroy-em-up that makes up for in fun what it lacks in elegance.

With time we hope that Capcom can nail down the problems affecting net play, but as it stands Street Fighter IV Volt is best appreciated by newcomers and should be approached with caution if you already own the original release.

Magnetic Baby will likely polarise opinion, but its low price means it's worth finding out which camp you belong in.

Despite a few gaps in its defence, Z is a solid time-killer for the solo strategist.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty has strong core concept in terms of its gesture gameplay, but rough edges blunt its appeal.

Fans of historical pseudo-realism will find the format intriguing but a disappointing fighting system nestling at its core scuppers much of the potential of Gladiator Begins.

Better on flash, 8 Ball Pool is still an enjoyable - if limited - game of pool to play on the move.

Patient players might enjoy this cute action-puzzler, but control and design issues will leave others burning with rage.

Feed-The-Duck is a fine but shallow puzzler that could use some depth in its gameplay.

Off-putting, pseudo post-modern comedy nonsense aside, OEG is a slightly lacking shooter / platformer hybrid with wonderful aesthetic vision.

Emberwind is a tough game to dislike, but equally it will probably have few admirers.

Puerto Rico HD is a good game at heart, but its unfriendly graphics and interface will leave newcomers out at sea.

A nice try, with some good ideas, but Spacelings has too many problems to make it a must buy.

A laudably fresh physics puzzler, albeit one with deep-rooted problems.

Madden NFL 12 has plenty of detail, but the rough graphics and slow controls make it fumble.

Driver Renegade 3D has sparks of greatness in its Career mode, but the main Story mode is a disappointing experience.

Cute, charming and creative, but Tiny Invader's twisted take on challenge means it rarely compels obsessive play.

To-Fu 2? It's barely To-Fu 1.2. A major disappointment

Much like the first game, your tolerance of the whims of fire will determine whether you enjoy this or not.

It's not a bad game by any means, but Tiny Defense suffers from a crippling lack of originality, and comes across as a merely passable amalgamation of many other superior titles.

TwinBee is a fun little shooter, but rather quickly its lack of depth is exposed.

Brick People is high on repetition and noisy spectacle, low on meaningful depth or addictive elements. Kids will embrace it, but it's a shame the gameplay isn't as sticky as the product design. Instead of being a brick flung through the church window of mediocrity, it's just another brick in the wall.

A collection of sporting mini-games that, while initially entertaining, prove far too simple and lifeless.

Don't be fooled by the sickly sweet visuals – Roll in the Hole has a sadistic difficulty level which is amplified by awkward controls. It might exude a casual aura, but most players will end up as frustrated as a zoo keeper with a pair of endangered but romantically uninterested pandas.

As movie game tie-ins go, Thor: God of Thunder is definitely one of the better ones, but that doesn't stop it growing stale and repetitive rather quickly.

PES 2012 serves up a decent game of football, but its lack of depth and control flaws mean that it's going to be a long, hard season.

Worth a look if you're flush, but not quite as chillingly effective as it could have been.

Fun but forgettable, this physics-based puzzler is the very definition of 'candidly disposable'.

Pyramids is a clever puzzler at times, but more often than not it's too leaden to let you fully appreciating what it has to offer.

Robo5's excellent presentation and challenging puzzles are undone by awkward and unresponsive controls.

Dark Incursion is a promising game with smart combat and a wonderful style, but control issues, a small map, and a short playtime just make it feel incomplete.

Kids will love Phineas and Ferb, especially if they're into the TV show, but older gamers will see through its generic puzzle platforming.

A few tweaks and Russian Dancing Men could be the rhythm-action game to beat on iOS. As it stands, it's too flawed and frustrating to recommend.

A well-constructed social freemium game, but one that becomes more awkward and less appealing as the game progresses.

Space Tripper attempts to resurrect the hard-as-nails coin-op blaster genre on the iPhone, but the tilt controls don't offer the degree of control required for such a uphill battle.

Imprecise controls and a lack of lasting challenge hamper this otherwise perfectly adequate translation of the sport it's named after.

It's certainly a challenge for Scrabble veterans, but with a lack of modes and a shortage of tension, W.E.L.D.E.R. struggles to stand out in a crowded genre of far better vocab games.

Gore splattered and over the top, Desert Zombie: Last Stand is an enjoyable, clumsy waste of a couple of hours.

The mini-games are just as fun as they've always been and the cute visuals have lost none of their charm, but Adventure mode is perfunctory and crudely made.

In visual and gameplay terms, this freemium action title hits the bullseye, but the complete absence of any kind of storyline robs it of purpose.

If only a little more budget was invested in the development of Breakout Boost, it'd play more like an arcade titan and less like a nostalgic cash-in.

As enormously flawed as ever, yet curiously enjoyable with it, Mad Dog McCree feels oddly at home on the App Store.

When you're following the narrow path the designers expect you to walk down, Corpse Party is one of the scariest portable games you can buy. Yet, failure to do so demands you re-play massive chunks of content you've already seen, significantly diminishing its appeal.

Infantile visuals and a few issues where the game mishandles information detract from an otherwise decent brainteaser collection for grown-ups.

A bafflingly overpraised auto-runner that looks good but soon becomes tiresome.

A marvellous idea that hasn't been executed as well as it deserves. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

Whilst it's not a bad game, Zombie Wonderland 2: Outta Time! fails to learn from the mistakes of its prequel, and that condemns it to the same near-mediocrity.

Woody Woodpecker combines the gameplay of Tiny Wings and Mario Kart to fairly good effect, but perfunctory execution clips its feathers.

While it's unlikely to ensnare new players due to its plodding pace and labyrinthine rules, Caylus is a faithful adaptation of an award-winning boardgame that fans will adore.

Lumi has the looks, it has the music, and it has the ideas, but it just doesn't have the controls to back them up.

Awkward controls spoil an original idea in a game that looks better than it plays.

There's no better game to demonstrate the cool new ways to interact with the Vita, but Little Deviants's long-lasting appeal is minimal, relying on too few gameplay ideas over too long a period of time.

Reality Fighters isn't particularly rewarding and it's a bit shallow, though it's a novel release and a showpiece for the possibilities of integrating cameras into traditional forms of play.

Hardcore strategists will be disappointed by the lack of challenge, but casual players may warm to Eufloria HD's tranquil approach to commanding and conquering.

While Fly With Me is playable, dull gameplay and shoddy implementation of in-app purchases prevent it from taking off.

Despite some broken levels, Ragdoll Blaster 3 still sometimes captures the spirit that made the original great, but nostalgia isn't enough to make it a must-play.

At times, Army Corps of Hell is an adrenaline rush of swift tactical fighting. It's also, however, incredibly repetitive and far too drawn out.

Stupid, glitteringly bright, and a little bit broken, WWE WrestleFest still manages to capture the slapdash drama and violent hilarity of the ring.

Tekken 3D nails its formula but doesn't provide much room to show off and flex it. As far as arcade fighters go, there are better, more substantial alternatives now with much cheaper price tags.

A nice icebreaker for RPG noobs, but this short-lived fairytale will leave experts looking for other page-turners.

Full marks for originality, but this unusual mixture of RPG and tycoon simulation doesn't quite have the killer ingredients to make it fly off the menu.

When you strip Snake Eater 3D down to its individual mechanics, it's still a strong, if aged, video game. But this stingy re-release features a dodgy camera and an occasionally unstable engine, making for a package that doesn't do justice to the original release.

With care and attention, Fun! Fun! Minigolf Touch! could have been great, but instead it feels restricted and poorly implemented.

Fantastic to look at and occasionally excellent to play, but too cumbersome and frustrating to do justice to the brand.

The fundamentals of arrow-throwing are executed well enough, but the spirit of the sport in a larger sense isn't, making for a totally acceptable, but soulless game of darts.

Sir Benfro's Brilliant Balloon is a good-looking and solid game, but it doesn't do as well in gameplay terms as it does in aesthetic ones.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus is what happens when a classic is ported too often.

Occasionally intriguing, but never as much as it wants to be, Gnu Revenge offers a reasonably entertaining experience for a while, but soon dawdles off into repetition.

Those looking for more of the same will get just that, but if you weren't won over by the original, an alien footy team from outer space will be an even harder story to stomach.

Those looking for more of the same will get just that, but if you weren't won over by the original, an alien footy team from outer space will be an even harder story to stomach.

Brilliantly presented, and with some great ideas about asynchronous multiplayer, Sky Gnomes doesn't quite have the gaming chops to back up all of its clever concepts.

Max Payne Mobile's repetitive gameplay and irksome controls definitely won't impress newcomers. But for gamers who enjoyed the original, this iOS edition is a strong enough port to bring back good memories.

All of the ingredients for some destructive fun might be in place, but Burnout Crash! can't quite mix them together into an appetising meal.

If you can see past StarDrone's awful Level Skipper DLC shenanigans, there's a decent little puzzler to spend an evening with.

A neat central idea, held together by some decent level design, Burger Cat is let down by some sloppy controls and a few bad decisions.

While it has some impressive moments, Ballistic SE falls well short of reshaping the genre template it fits so snugly into.

Ice Age Village isn't an awful build-'em-up, but it's severely marred by a lack of character and an absence of social features.

It's about a million miles away from being the Citizen Kane of iOS game but whatever the hell Clear Vision is, it's kind of okay by us.

While it's not without its merits, a clumsy control system and some badly thought-out levels mean Rocket Fox doesn't quite reach the heights it's aiming for.

Packing in character from start to finish, MacGuffin's puzzle play ultimately doesn't entertain enough in its own right to enable the game to stand out from the crowd.

An accessible, enjoyable online shooter that desperately needs more content to expand its appeal.

In an age where we're seeing a great deal of innovation and quirkiness in iOS releases, it's disappointing to see an old classic so lazily ported across to Apple's mobile platform.

While it is a lot of fun to begin with, Pinch Peeps loses its spark pretty quickly, and a serious lack of content only adds to its problems.

The fact that Shifting World's flaws are so easily fixable makes this release all the more frustrating.

While it isn't the worst example of a strategy title on the App Store, The Bluecoats - North vs South is a little too muddled to really recommend.

An imaginative take on the endless-runner that's let down by unresponsive controls.

Exponential Invasion is an inventive and solid maths puzzler that's just too short.

An entertaining, if underdeveloped, physics-based puzzler that's just far too shallow to sustain momentum.

While it tries to tackle some of the problems inherent in the smartphone FPS, Razor: Salvation ends up feeling dull because of it.

A slick adaption of a classic boardgame that's hampered by poor AI and dodgy online matchmaking, making it far too tough to enjoy with any consistency.

There's a great game struggling to escape the apparent confines of the 3DS here, but weak visuals and terrible sound make it a purchase only for those that can't play it any other way.

A slick endless runner that borrows the best bits from its contemporaries but fails to inject any new life into its meticulously assembled corpse.

Interesting controls and sharp visuals belie one of the hardest platformers on iOS. Brutal.

It certainly looks the part, but Catapult King's use of 3D makes it all too difficult to enjoy. Stick with those Angry Birds for your castle-toppling needs.

Whilst it has a few good ideas, Tiny Troopers isn't interesting enough to hold your attention for very long.

A beautifully made attempt at an interactive narrative, The Act never quite manages to successfully blend its story and the player's inputs.

It's repetitive, bland to look at, and the fighting's a bit rubbish, but the allure of grinding levels over and over to unlock skills just about remains appealing to warrant a look for a select few.

While it's entertaining in small bursts, Suspect in Sight! stubbornly refuses to let go of its extra content, leaving you trapping the same criminals for far too long.

While it's reasonably entertaining in the easier levels, Unstoppable Fist is too quick to swamp you when you up the difficulty, and its control scheme just can't cope.

A weird almost-adventure that's missing the wit and energy of its movie namesakes but almost makes up for it with a likeable enthusiasm of its own.

A solidly produced K-RPG that delivers an entertaining, if ultimately over-familiar, action-heavy adventure.

An accessible and fun racing game that places you in the driver's seat as you build, customize, and race cars on the streets.

It's not the most original title you'll play all year, but it's well-made enough to constitute a decent but forgettable superhero movie tie-in.

While the mini-games in the package really sparkle, Moops is let down by some below par three dimensional adventuring sections.

An undeniably good-looking and kid-friendly flight game, Crash Birds Islands stalls thanks to a miserly in-app payment system.

An über-casual time-waster which - like a knight tethered to a peg - ultimately fails to go anywhere, no matter how hard it tries.

The same old Tap Tap beat-matching gameplay we love, applied to an oddly restrictive structure we don't.

A not particularly impressive experiment in cross-platform storytelling, Electric City The Revolt has its moments, but they're too few and far between.

You're not buying much of a game with Freakyforms Deluxe: Your Creations, Alive! but if you're of a creative persuasion, that shouldn't stop you from taking a closer look.

Flick Champions World Edition is more polished than its predecessor, but the new line-up of events simply isn't as accomplished.

Farming Simulator 2012 is slow, repetitive, ugly, and dull. But that doesn't mean it's not a relaxing and often addictive little diversion, too.

It might not have the longevity of its legendary cast of characters, but as long as you don't mind punching things a lot, Justice League: Earth's Final Defense will keep you entertained for a while.

A good-looking and accessible dungeon-crawler, Orc: Vengeance falls down with restrictive levels and woeful controls.

Monster Life is one of the prettiest and best constructed social freemium titles we've ever seen, but its core gameplay systems don't offer anything new or particularly interesting.

Happy Street is a charming freemium builder that fails to live up to its inspiration thanks to a gameplay-distorting freemium model.

By abandoning the original and failing to match the best Temple Run clones on the market, Pitfall has misjudged its leap onto the iOS platform.

A bright and humorous point-and-click adventure with excellent dialogue but frustrating gameplay - just like they used to make 'em.

Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle for the North is a freemium city-builder with genuine slow-burn appeal and a nifty social element, but it may just too much of a slog for the average player.

An enjoyable, engaging blend of two very different genres, but its focus on immediacy over depth makes for a game that's just far too ephemeral.

A well-designed, entertaining take on an excessively familiar formula that's simply too predictable to truly dazzle.

Picross e is definitely Picross, no doubt about that, but it doesn't really do anything we haven't already played numerous times before.

A competent but ridiculously overpriced JRPG with too many old ideas and not enough substance or excitement.

In spite of its classy graphical flourishes, Infinite Warrior is too frustrating to really recommend.

Cosmic Bump is a decent casual puzzler with a fun pinball element, but its physics and reliance on luck don't quite do the rest of the game justice.

An absolutely gorgeous game, Wonderputt is let down by its clunky controls and a distinct lack of content.

Civil War: 1863 is an entertaining turn-based strategy game once it gets going, but its best ideas are too rarely employed and its presentation too dry for the game to appeal to a wider audience.

A great visual style and a whole heap of retro charm can't quite lift Recess Riot to the top of the playground pecking order.

It may not be a must buy title, but simple mechanics married with tricky level design provides a rather challenging game that, while frustrating, urges you to have one more try.

A good low-investment game whose experience is tarnished as you spend more time with it.

It might have interesting ideas, but Blade Guardian buries them under an uninspiring style and repetitive levels.

There's a strange emptiness at the core of Re-Volt Classic, and while it's sometimes enjoyable, you never feel like you're having as much fun as you should be.

Like a new lottery winner, Monopoly Millionaire makes a few immediately gratifying yet ultimately ill-advised changes to the way it does things.

While it doesn't get the hidden object parts quite right, Hidden Runaway is still an interesting, if ultimately disappointing adventure.

It doesn't reinvent the endless-runner genre, but it's a good, low-investment game perfect for those obsessed with chasing leaderboard scores.

Ultimately pointless if you don't own Pokemon Black and White 2, Pokemon Dream Radar is, however, an absolute must-buy for Pokefans.

Initial impressions of Smart As are good, but the game rapidly shows itself to be a brain training title lacking any in-depth planning.

Fun in small doses, Nutty Fluffies is a little too repetitive and shallow to offset the slightly cynical in-app purchase system at its core.

Square Planet looks the part, and it has plenty of good ideas, but a less-than-perfect physics engine lets it down.

If you're willing to slog your way through the most tedious and drawn-out start to a game ever, you'll finally discover that Harvest Moon magic hidden underneath.

With a few tweaks, Gear Jack could be a wonderful game. As it is, it's nearly crushed under a pile of frustrations.

Real Boxing looks and plays nicely, but flawed countering and training systems unbalance a promising beat-'em-up.

Gorgeous to look at but ultimately frustrating to play, Shadowgun: DeadZone needs a lot of work before it becomes the finished article.

There's definitely promise here, but Motley Blocks stumbles at the last hurdle.

A simplistic, reasonably captivating blend of turn-based exploration and real-time combat that's disappointingly hollow without additional investment.

Deeply silly and full of gimmicky distractions, The Bowling Dead simply isn't fun enough to match its outrageously daft concept.

Uncharted: Fight for Fortune is a fun little time-waster in between real Uncharted releases, but it's one that's riddled with issues.

A challenging, surprisingly imaginative match-3 puzzler - but there's little reason to tolerate its free-to-play fussiness with so much stellar competition in the field.