The dog days of summer typically bring with them little in the way of interesting M-rated fare. I guess publishers figure even hardcore gamers like to emerge from their caves to soak up a few rays.
If, however, you're looking to fill the long, hot months with a little casual gaming fun, the iPad is, as ever, ready to accommodate. Here are ten games for Apple's tablet that have given me all the reason I need to escape the heat and and enjoy the air-conditioned comfort of my couch.
Pulse ($4.99)
A relatively fresh take on rhythm gaming, this simple music experience sees radar-like circular pulses emerging from the centre of the screen. Your goal is to tap the small balls that float along the lines of concentric circles surrounding the pulse's origin point as the pulse passes through them. The pulse hits each ball in time with the melody of the game's upbeat electronic tracks. The best strategy is to get to know the music and tap balls based on the rhythm rather than let yourself be distracted by visual cues. It's a bit pricey given its short duration, but I've found myself drawn back to it time and again when I'm in places that I can turn up the music.
Continuity 2: The Continuation ($0.99)
This sequel to the award-winning student-made Continuity combines tile puzzles with simple door-and-key mazes. Players control a stick man using intuitive swipes and taps to make him move through the maze and climb stairs, making sure to look for a key to the exit and pick up collectibles along the way. However, each maze is composed of tiles that, when zoomed out, can be shuffled around, creating new ways through the maze. It's a satisfyingly clever concept that's easy to grasp but leads to some devilishly challenging puzzles.
Trenches: Generals ($1.99)
A smart little World War One-themed strategy game, Trenches: Generals has players working to advance their troops from one trench to another with the eventual goal of capturing the enemy's base bunker. You can order up a variety of troops-including snipers, machinegunners, and the always useful engineers, who can build fortifications atop trenches to create new spawn points closer to enemies lines-and command both single units and groups of units with simple gestures. Troops gain experience if they live long enough (which provides strong incentive to protect units rather than ordering them to rush headlong into battle), and a mini-map makes it easy to hop around the battlefield. Good stuff for fans of casual tactics.
Gears ($2.99)
I love marble rollers, but I don't like being forced to tilt the tablet to control ball movement. Happily, Gears lets players simply drag their fingers around the screen to direct their balls. Its imaginative visuals feature wooden gears, twisty shapes that are almost Seussian in design, and a marble that recalls Samus' sphere form in the Metroid games. The hypnotic xylophone score, meanwhile, is almost enough to send players into a Zen state. Navigating the game's blissfully short tracks-avoiding explosive boxes and picking up gear-shaped collectibles along the way-is a pleasure.
Paddle Battle ($0.99)
There aren't an awful lot of simultaneous two-player titles for the iPad, and this fun little arcade style game-which makes good use of the device's multitouch functionality-makes me wonder why that is. Inspired by Pong, players simply move their paddles back and forth to deflect incoming balls and objects in an effort to protect their base's shields. Balls have to travel through an asteroid field, making them hard to aim, but players have access to plenty of fun power-ups-rockets, flying saucers, even spinning hot tamales-that offer more direct control. It's perfect for killing a few minutes now and then with the kids.
Army of Darkness Defense (Free at time of writing)
I've been quoting Bruce Campbell's Ash-hero of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films-for nearly 25 years. That made this game, which is loaded with lines lifted straight from the third film in the trilogy, an easy sell. Beyond the humour, there's a compelling little tug-of-war style game here, complete with upgradeable units and defences. Plus, some of the special powers-including the movie's famous 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 outfitted with a helicopter-like blade-are satisfyingly destructive. I wish there was more than just one environment, but that didn't stop me from completing all 50 missions.
BackStab ($6.99)
Another attempt to create a console-like game on Apple's tablet, BackStab offers strong production values and play mechanics vaguely similar to those found in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed games. Set in the era of swashbucklers and privateers, players explore semi-open environments and carry out sword attacks via a virtual joystick and action buttons. Players can climb the sides of buildings simply by running up to them, and even carry out stylishly graphic finishing moves. The controls are a little loose and unpredictable, and the narrative scenes suffer from unnaturaly long pauses between speakers, but these qualms are at least partially tempered by the price. How many console action games can you think of that cost seven bucks?
War Grimiore ($4.99)
War Grimoire is an interesting specimen in the popular tower defence genre. On the downside, it suffers from sloppy menu design, some significant bugs (occasional freezes being the worst), and terrible English translation. However, overlook these problems and you'll find lots of room to experiment with weapons and tower upgrades and a lovely variety of environments that sometimes force players to work with pre-made routes and other times allow them to sculpt their own tower paths. Replay value is excellent. I'll only recommend it to hardcore genre fans for now, but it's just a few tweaks and updates away from being the kind of game that any casual player could sink hours into.
Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors ($2.99)
I found half a dozen hidden object games ranked in the 40 top selling apps this week-a strong indication of their persistant popularity. They're generally a bit too Where's Waldo for my taste, but my wife downloads them frequently and I occasionally get sucked in. This one has a nice haunted house vibe thanks to some nicely rendered dilapidated rooms and spooky sound effects. Plus, objects are generally properly sized and found in logical places (no enormous pencil-shaped clouds in the sky, thanks very much). We can even put some of the items we find to use in simple puzzles by, say, taping up a severed electrical cord to restore power to light a room. It's not terribly original, but if you're the type who likes to hunt and peck you probably won't be disappointed.
Death Rally ($0.99)
Death Rally reminds me a lot of the black-and-white top-down racers I played in arcades when I was six or seven years old, just with better graphics and a lot more shooting. Players race around short, curvy tracks using a virtual thumbstick and tap the screen when they want to fire off a few rounds at a nearby car or explosive barrel. You can collect repair kits to heal and cash that can be used to upgrade your ride between races. It looks great, and is quite palatable in quick, simple bursts-which is lucky, since there's really not much here. More tracks and cars would definitely be an improvement. And perhaps one of those big plastic arcade wheels I used to spin violently when I was a kid.