The Best iPad Games

Casual Games: Angry Birds HD to You Don't Know Jack HD

 



 
Angry Birds HD
$1.99
The surprise smash hit of 2010 comes to the iPad with the same addictive gameplay that made it a hit on the iPhone. After evil green pigs thieve the birds' egg (and thus giving them their angry demeanor), it's up to you to deliver hard, fast vengeance by using the destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste the oinkers' fortified castles. Angry Birds features hours upon hours of engrossing addicting gameplay, and challenging physics-based castle demolition that's spread across 195 levels.

Bit.Trip Beat HD
$1.99
Think of it as Pong for a new generation. Bit.Trip Beat HD combines charming Atari-like 8-bit graphics and a nostalgia-laced bleeps-and-bloops soundtrack in a game that sees you deflecting musical enemy attacks with the on-screen rectangular paddle. Gamers use the accelerometer or touch controls to move the paddle up and down, bouncing beats back from which they came. Successfully chain beats and obtain the megasphere to go for big scores.

ChuChu Rocket! HD
$4.99
SEGA's quirky puzzle title that amassed a cult following on the ill-fated Dreamcast returns in updated form on the iPad. ChuChu Rocket sees players helping cute ChuChus escape the clutches of evil KapuKapus in a whopping 145 puzzles sprinkled between Normal, Hard, Special, and Mania difficulty settings. The house that Sonic built also tosses in 25 multiplayer maps that support up to four players via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, or, in a feature exclusive to the iPad, allows a quartet of gamers to partake in the action on the device.

Flight Control HD
$4.99
Like Tetris, the appeal of Flight Control HD is its simplicity. The goal? To guide airplanes that are ready to land onto runways using your finger. Flight Control HD isn't radically different from its 99-cent iPhone/iPod touch little brother, but its visuals are designed to take advantage of the iPad's spacious display and make it even easier to wave in planes.

Jetpack Joyride
$0.99
Halfbrick hero Barry Steakfries dons the legendary Machine Gun Jetpack and courage as he attempts to escape a mad scientist's stronghold in Jetpack Joyride. Touching the screen causes Barry to ascend and descend, while simultaneously raining bullets upon enemy grunts. You'll collect coins and complete missions to earn cash and buy new gear. You'll need sharp reflexes to avoid the enemy weaponry, which includes lasers, electricity fields, and guided missiles.

Lane Splitter
$0.99
Lane Splitter may involve cars, speed bikes, and the open road, but it isn't your typical racing game—it's a game of avoidance. The mission is to navigate traffic-filled streets using the iPad's tilt controls, and score points based on the length of your ride, wheelies popped, and how many cars you pass before wiping out. The premise is simple, but the tight controls and addictive gameplay will have you coming back for just one more ride.

NBA Jam HD
$9.99
Packed with over 30 NBA teams and unlockable legendary players such as Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Karl Malone, Dr. Jay, and exclusive iOS-only ballers, NBA Jam keeps the old school, over-the-top simplicity of the '90s arcade machines. Roster updates (something not available for the home console version) and local multiplayer over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi keeps the b-ball antics fresh.

Plants vs. Zombies HD
$9.99
When mobs of lumbering brain-craving zombies decide to invade your home, what should you do? Grip a shotgun? Grab a blowtorch? How about plant seeds? Popcap's smash zombie tower-defense games make the jump to the iPad with colorful, high-definition graphics, a spooky soundtrack, 50's-era sci-fi sound effects, 18 minigames, over two dozen zombie types, and 50 levels. Gamers weened on Popcap's special brand of casual games will find this one just as hard to put down despite the $9.99 premium price.

Pro Zombie Soccer: Apocalypse Edition
$1.99
Pro Zombie Soccer: Apocalypse Edition combines sports, wacky power ups, and cartoon-like 2D graphics into an unorthodox shooter/tower defense hybrid that sees you mowing down wave after wave of the undead with your trusty soccer ball.

Quarrel Deluxe
$2.99
One part Scrabble, one part Risk, Quarrel Deluxe is one of the most original iPad games. Wordsmiths, strategists, and gamers with varied tastes will find much to like in this game, where brains and brawn meet on equal terms to form one of the more quirky, but original, iPad games. Quarrel's multiplayer omission isn't vital, but disappointing—the game could've very easily ranked up there with Mario Party or Saturn Bomberman in terms of multiplayer fun.

Robot Unicorn Attack HD
$2.99
Robot Unicorn Attack HD began its life as a simple Flash game on AdultSwim.com, but the insane premise and catchy soundtrack grew in popularity so swiftly that it was ported to the iPad. Your mission: To run free by guiding the robot unicorn over pits and obstacles as you collect stars and butterflies to the epic cheese-fest that is Erasure's "Always."

Scrabble for iPad
$4.99
EA brings Hasbro's classic board game to the iPad, and it does a remarkable job of recreating the look and feel of the game. Using a finger, you drag titles to the gameboard, and hit "Play" to end the turn. Tapping "Shuffle" rearranges your title to help spark word-formation ideas. "Swap" lets you tap up to seven letters and replace them with tiles that will (hopefully) improve your chances of busting out a huge score, but you lose a turn in the process. The Party Play mode lets you nerd it up with four friends, transforming the iPad into the gameboard and any available iPhones into tile racks.

Tetris for iPad
$2.99
Electronic Arts brings the smash late '80s puzzler to the iPad with the same simple-but-insanely-addictive gameplay that made it a hit on nearly every platform it has touched. Tetris for iPad features multi-touch controls, Endless Play Mode, and perhaps best of all, the original music that would get stuck in our heads for days on end.

You Don't Know Jack HD
$4.99
Jellyvision's classic '90s PC game show makes its debut on the iPad. The pop culture-filled trivia game features over 20 episodes that see the return of familiar segments such as "DisORDat," "Jack Attack," and "Funky Trash." The bombastic announcer is also there, giving the game a touch of the wacky. Coming soon: more episodes and multiplayer play.