Sometimes the best things in life are simple. Nintaii is one of those things. Similar to the mobile game Brain Cube and the browser game Bloxorz, you control a block on a maze-like stage and must guide it to the exit hole by tipping it end over end. We say "guide", but really we mean "plot a complex path through a nigh-impossible obstacle course"!

As gas prices continue to rise, preserving fuel is an issue that's on almost everyone's mind. In response, YoAmbulante has created Traffic Wonder, a game built around the concept of finding the most efficient routes possible to save that precious flammable liquid we all depend on!

An interesting combination of 2D and 3D, Rinth Island takes classic sokoban block-pushing, switch-throwing fun, throws in some tropical twists, and shakes it up to make an iOS game that's as refreshing as a hurricane (the cocktail, that is). With 60 adventure levels, 3 more modes for each level, and an in-game level editor and user-created levels, it's a lot of puzzle for the price.

Grooh is happygrr! Grooh is also the star of the lovely puzzle adventure Grooh, a tile-based isometric puzzle game that's all about destroying the very floor you walk on. Not only does it provide an ample number of challenging levels to complete, it looks and sounds like a cheery cartoon show, which will make you even more inclined to play it through to the end!

Guide a laying hen around her running eggs until there's enough of them to set off a chain reaction hatching explosion! If that idea doesn't brighten your mood by itself, we'll sweeten the deal by telling you it features zany kazoo music and the cheerful art of master developer Orisinal. Now you're ready to get cracking!

If you always liked playing Pictionary as a board game with friends, now you can doodle away mobile style with Draw Something. A game very similar to Charadium or XSketch, OMGPOP brings players a socially addicting Pictionary-style game to both iOS and Android platforms. The game has even become so popular that it could possibly spawn a TV show!

Puzzle games are good brain food, and this recent addition to the iPhone library is no exception. The first mobile app from EatonLabs Ltd., PixBlock, reincarnates a well-known kind of logic puzzle that puts your pixel painting logic to the test. It's picross, folks, and it's a stylish and simple implementation that makes playing as easy as scribbling on a piece of paper.

Have block, will tip it over in every direction trying to slide it through the exit pit! Brain Cube is a mobile game that's similar to the browser game Bloxorz, putting you in charge of a little rectangle that can be flopped bottom over top to maneuver it around a grid-shaped board. The goal is to move to the exit chute so the block slides neatly through, but getting yourself in the right position at the right time takes planning, luck, and probably a lot more planning.

Well, do ya? Because if you don't, you might as well just give up now, this game is too much for you. In fact, give up writing and talking altogether. Why bother, right? Kinda hard not to accept a challenge as brazen as the one brought forth in the title of So You Think You Know Words. Fortunately, the mobile word game doesn't skimp in the content department, allowing you to spend hours on end proving that you do, indeed, know words.

IncrediBlox is a falling blocks-style puzzle game that uses careful color matching to craft a smart little mobile release. The black IncrediBlox are turning everything to shadow, but you can stop them with a little creative maneuvering of the red, blue, and green blocks that fall from the sky. Your goal is to match up groups of four squares, creating combos whenever possible to score massive points and keep the screen clear. It's all very simple at first, but then, the actual incrediblox start to appear and real strategy sets in!

Something of an unusual, one-shot kind of game, ChessCards combines playing cards with chess rules, creating a puzzle experience that takes some time to wrap your brain around. You start with a massive field of playing cards, each laying face up and waiting to be moved. Your goal is arrange it so that each suit is on its own row. The catch is that cards can only be moved according to their assigned chess piece patterns!

When you hear the phrase "the best things come in small packages", you should mentally amend that to "the best things come in small cube packages". Cubemen is a no-bloat tower defense game that tries to do one thing and do that one thing well: strategy. Forget mini-games, artificially inflated campaigns, and storylines that make about as much sense as a koala flight attendant. Cubemen delivers pure, raw tower defense strategy, and it does it so well, you'll lose yourself each time you play.

An arcade game of raw survival! Standing on a cloud-piercing mountain, it's you versus evil alien robot things who really want to be kind of this here hill! Armed with a single-shot gun, you must lob shots at the foes to keep them away from the pinnacle. Two control schemes let you customize how you play, but beyond that, it's up to your skill with this simple weapon to see how long you can survive. Bonus 16-bit visuals give it an extra epic feel!

Most of us have been craving a game that pits skeletons against pizza. Obviously, pizza is going to be the winner, which is why this crazy hodgepodge sort of arcade game puts you in control of a giant, customizable pizza. Skeletons rise from the soil every thousand years, but a doughy arch nemesis arises this time around, and it's your job to roll, jump, and crush the boney bad guys with your supreme skills. Not only that, but you'll participate in over 100 neat-o levels with dozens of themes, including skiing down long snowy slopes, finding and rescuing puppies, balancing, swimming, taking out skulls in a very Crush the Castle sort of manner, and even customize your pizza with all sorts of accessories. You're a Renaissance pizza, that's for sure. A very creative game that's worth its weight in laughs and sheer awesomeness. Pizza vs. Skeletons Free is also available.

Golf and cards rarely seem like a fitting pair, but when you see them combined as elegantly as in Fairway Solitaire, you'll start to wonder if other crazy sorts of combinations might work. Like peanuts and pickles! A new mobile port of the previously reviewed PC and Mac release, Fairway Solitaire builds on the game of solitaire using golf terms and rules in a very casual sort of way. Add to that an epic story about gopher revenge, mini-games, an in-game store, and hundreds of courses to play, and you've got a card game that'll keep you busy until the gophers come home. That's a saying, right?

If you're the kind of person who spent many hours playing Pac-Man, then Evac is for you. You play as a square, attempting to escape from a maze-like prison. In order to unlock the door at the end of each level, you must collect all of the multi-colored dots. This isn't an easy task, however, as red squares will attempt to capture you. Luckily, you're not left defenseless. Many different power ups exist, such as the ability to turn invisible or the ability to shock your pursuers.

It seems like everybody's obsessed with some sort of undead creatures nowadays. Zombies, vampires, skeletons, republicans... They're popping up all over the place, and game makers are taking advantage of this left and right! Cases in point: most of the games below!

TeraLumina, who already showered us in rubies, sapphires and diamonds, indulges us once more with its best, and most challenging, escape game to date. All four walls of this lavishly decorated room are filled with clues, useful objects and all kinds of goodies to explore and delight every escaper's whim. You'll be hard-pressed to keep track of heaps of clues for the multiple puzzles, a number of which take on mini-game proportions. With its gorgeous graphics, thinky puzzles and cohesive gameplay, it's safe to say Emerald Den Escape shines amongst the best in the genre.

TeraLumina makes a reappearance in Weekday Escape with this gem-tastic selection. Once again you're locked inside an upscale, decorously furnished apartment. Besides searching for clues to exit, you'll also be on the lookout for eighteen sapphires furtively lurking in every nook and cranny. The changing cursor and well-organized inventory helps with that as you put your deductive reasoning skills to the test. While perhaps not enough to make us forget our favorite room escape designers, Sapphire Room Escape still manages to sparkle with escaping fun.

Sleepy Jack is the tale of a young boy's dreams told via a graphically-lush arcade shooter. You play as Jack himself as he races through various landscapes, battling enemies in order to achieve the goal of getting a good night's rest. Throughout the levels you must collect "Zs", which ensure that you get a restful sleep. If your Z meter runs low, you wake up and lose the level!

As far as puzzle games go, the simpler and the more mind-bending, the better. Quell takes that idea a step further and adds a shining, stylish visual package to the mix, encouraging you to keep playing not just because you're hopelessly addicted, but because you honestly enjoy staring at your mobile device.

Eating food is fun. Making food is fun. Growing food is work, but it's fun. Buying food can even be fun. But what part of obtaining noms is the least entertaining? Bagging your groceries. (We would have also accepted "paying for food".) With Bag It!, a game we originally mentioned when it was released for iOS, stuffing packaged foods into a paper bag finally has some reward to it. You still have to be careful, though, because crushed eggs in a mobile game are even more disappointing than in real life!

Not all games are created equal, and Carcassonne is a great example of how game makers are constantly striving for innovation. For the uninitiated, Carcassonne was originally a German board game created in 2000 where players work together to build a medieval world. This mobile adaptation is everything you could want from a portable Carcassonne, right down to the price!

When you think of a "mobile" game, you probably think of a stripped-down, broken version of what could have been a big and meaty game for a PC or console system, right? Well, this week's selection of games aims to prove you wrong. Three titles that migrated from larger platforms but gained content in the process. Is that some sort of magic?!

Captain Skyro is a classic "pull back and fling" game similar to the old browser series Sling, only instead of tossing around squishy gross things, now you get to control a pirate! Grappling up through the clouds, you'll encounter cargo holds full of crazy obstacles, clouds that you'll swear are out to get you, and score-based gameplay that will inspire you to go back and play again, just so you can nab that last coin!

Get your acorns in a row, it's time to settle down and partake in some mobile en-ter-tain-ment with the smell of burning tires in the air and a shower of clockwork machines for all to enjoy!

No one ever said being a bandit was easy. Especially not a righteous Beat Sneak Bandit! This impressively creative game from Simogo (Bumpy Road, Kosmo Spin) combines the most basic musical elements with a visually sparse but stunning art style. The gameplay is different from just about every other iOS game out there, and you'll absolutely fall in love with it from the very first level!

Surviving in a town overrun with zombies is tough. We get that. Scavenging for food, desperately hailing survivors, and attempting to expand your territory while fighting off infected hordes can tax just about anyone's resolve. And let's not even get into drafting a constitution with the undead knocking on your door! In the iOS version of Rebuild, the captivating zombie survival strategy simulation browser game from Sarah Northway, you get to do all of those things, plus repair a broken helicopter, raid a bar, and help scientists work on secret research projects!

Things can get messy when you're a ball of ink. Or when you're a bug that can only live while riding on a turning gear! Those guys should switch places. An insect could do great things flying through a world of pencils, and why would ink care if it fell from a piece of machinery?

Show me the fun! Sure this jigsaw puzzle from the brilliant team at Plexus starts with the most romantic phrase ever quoted, but does it deliver? You bet. Gorgeous, brightly-colored individual images which fit together perfectly to form one unified picture. Use arrows to rotate then click to drag each piece into place. It's both complex yet simple, exceedingly charming and definitely fun to play.

It's a serious trip on Nostalgia Lane when you pick up Retro Racing, an arcade-style racer from the creator of QWAK. True to its roots, you focus on pure skill and coming in first place rather than crazy jumps or tweaking your car. Look for the most efficient path through each course, and pick up power-ups to increase your car's speed, acceleration, or tire stickiness to keep you in the game. Mistakes must be kept at a minimum, as this game doesn't coddle you just so you feel like a winner. Earn your rank and you will be rewarded! A neat local two player mode is also available.

You're dead. But where normally that might mean Game Over, in this port of Capcom's gloriously quirky, surreal and imaginative puzzle adventure, it's only the beginning. As one very special newly dead soul, you have the ability to jump from object to object and change the course of someone's fate, hopping back in time four minutes before they died. Use your abilities to save their lives if you can figure out how to manipulate your environment, but don't dilly-dally; the clock is always ticking, and something big is going on tonight in this strange town. To say nothing of what'll happen to you when the sun comes up the next morning. You've got one night to make a difference and find out the truth... make the most of it.

Here's a puzzle for you to piece together: how can you help a pack of dogs evade the cops while getting the attention of a girl who won't pay you any mind even though you've got the moon on a string? PROTIP: You'll need two iOS devices to pull that simultaneous feat off!

As the title suggests, the room you're to escape from is haunted, although it is haunted with a Japanese ghost, which means not jump scares, screams, and buckets of blood, but rather quiet glimpses as you explore each area of the tiny apartment searching for a way out. Escape from the Haunted Room is an atmospheric little escape game with amusing puzzles. It's not very long, but it contains enough chills to be worth the effort. Enjoy trying to escape the room with the good ending.

Slice, grate, carve and fry your way to the top of the culinary food chain with the wave of a finger in this time management-heavy cooking sim app that's so addictive, it has to contain MSG. Once you know the basics, there's an easy pick-up-and-play style that will compel you to sneak a few days' work in between classes, during lunch breaks, before bed, whenever.

Help our spunky, white-smiled heroine repair her great great grandfather's time machine to escape the creepy alien beings that are pursuing her—and threatening our very existence! Full of corny plot devices and lots of cheese, this part point-and-click adventure, part escape-the-room game is best played with tongue-in-cheek and a tolerance for rather clunky inventory controls. That said, if you feel your inner Marty McFly/Nancy Drew/Fox Mulder clamoring to get out, Adventures of Veronica Wright: Escape from the Present is exactly the game to do it.

What a world we live in, where mankind can walk on the moon, salad can be purchased in cups, and falling block puzzles can be fused with word games. If you're ready for your brain to have a little run through the multitasking wringer, Puzzlejuice is without a doubt the best way to hurt your synapses. With a little Tetris-like block arranging and a little Spelltower-style word building, you, too, can drive yourself mad with delight!

Scene opens in the forest. A mysterious castle looms in the background. Hobbling in from the side, a group of three seals carrying machinery on their backs. They know what the secret of mana is, but they're not telling. They're not telling... indeed!

Originally released as a download version in 2008, this lovely musical game by Alexander Porechnov of Kranx Productions mingles elements of tetris, sudoku and hidden object scenes into a point-and-click puzzle that's both unique and very entertaining. First seek and find the pieces of a musical outline, then use audio, geometric and symbolic clues to place the puzzle pieces in their correct order to reconstruct a classic song. With its melodious instrumentals, gorgeous graphics and challenging puzzles, Musaic Box is as pleasing to the eyes and ears as it is fun to play.

The time has come for adventure!... well, a little one, anyway! This simplified roguelike from Ido Yeheili offers three different heroes ready to delve into a dangerous dungeon in search of an evil Minotaur what needs slayin'. While definitely not quite as complex as other titles in the genre, Cardinal Quest offers an ease of use and engaging gameplay that's hard to beat and harder to put down.

e slow paced but challenging iOS title from Highline Games has a sharp focus that sticks firmly to word crafting. No weirdo bonus mini-games, clowns, hidden objects or other gimmicks, just long levels of wrapping your brain around a grid of letters. Oh, and just so you know, W.E.L.D.E.R. stands for Word Examination Laboratory for Dynamic Extraction and Reassessment. Aren't you glad you were curious?!

Sports and ladders! Snakes and beer! Can you imagine a combination of things more exciting than that? More exciting combinations that do not involve sharks, bears, dinosaurs, or anything capable of fusion, that is.

Hey, Super Crate Box, the awesome arcade and shooting game released by Vlambeer way back in 2010. What are you doing on the iTunes App Store? What's that? Being as awesome as the PC/Mac downloadable version? Sounds great! With handfuls of unlockables, perfectly-tweaked touch controls, and a constant worldwide tally of crates collected, you'll be short on excuses not to play this lovely, crazy little game.

It's an iPhone/iPod Touch special on this edition of Mobile Monday! Who needs those big iPad screens when a cozy, portable device can hold the same amount of fun? Of course, if you do happen to own an iPad, you can still play everything below, but it's sort of cheating, wouldn't you agree? Nah, who cares!

Originally released as a WiiWare download back in 2008, LostWinds has finally wafted its way to the iOS device world, bringing with it the same shining visuals, imaginative gameplay, and creative use of physics, all told through the wide eyes of a young boy. LostWinds combines traditional platforming elements with a touch of wind manipulation, giving you control over more than just the main character as you explore the lush world before you!

Joy to the world, a new Plexus puzzle has come! Let us receive the jigsaw! It's never too late for some jolly good puzzling fun, and this latest treat from the puzzle providers at Plexus has jolly sprinkled all over it. A PieceFull Christmas contains familiar images you might expect to see around Christmas time, including a decorated tree, presents, elves, and jolly old St. Nick himself. Perhaps the fact that this is a Plexus puzzle you can overlook the fact that it's no longer Christmas time.

New to the iPad world is the tower defense game we all love to love, Kingdom Rush HD from Ironhide Games, a port of Kingdom Rush for browsers released not too long ago. The team had a bit of a problem when an unauthorized clone appeared on the iTunes App Store weeks before release. The knockoff was spotted and eventually removed (whew), leaving space for this excellent port of an already excellent game to wow and surprise gamers in the iOS device realm!

Well, it's the final Mobile Monday of the year. It's times like this we like to take pause and think happy thoughts about all of the mobile games of the past months. We wonder things like "how many were developed by people wearing hats?" and "do you think at least one of these game's names is a palindrome?". Questions without answers, so we just nod our hatless heads and prepare ourselves for another year.

The chugging little car is back! Windosill, a 2009 release from Vector Park, creator of Acrobots, Levers, and Feed the Head, has wormed its way to the iPad, bringing with it all the dream-like levels of the original browser game. Windosill remains one of the most charming experiences any casual player could hope to stumble upon, and it's a perfect fit for the iPad and a great mobile game as well!

RPGs and pretty physics games and... SONIC! So much to consume on this edition of Mobile Monday. So much. Sooooo much. Hmm. Maybe too much? Yeah, a bit. Maybe just pretend these three games are two games, one of which has an unusual growth on the side that looks, acts, and plays like a different game? That's not too much to handle is it?

Infinity Blade 2 is the reason your iOS device exists (other than all of that non-gaming stuff, of course). It's the deep, compelling, great-looking release that melds the casual and the mainstream gaming ideals together. It seamlessly incorporates a strong fantasy story with role playing elements, upgrades, exploration, and even a hint of hidden objects along with fast-reflexes action that will make you sit up straight to play.

Cute games seem to be the "in" thing to do for iOS releases. Why feature an ugly cockroach as a main character when you can sketch out an adorable dolphin with rainbow eyes instead? Most of our games this week are frosted in that sugary cuteness, so you might want abstain from riding on your unicorn for a few hours, just so you don't overdose on adorableness!

Swift Stitch, from Sophie Houlden, author of some fan-favorite browser games like Linear RPG and BOXGAME, is a one button (almost) arcade game that's all about speed, direction, and crashing into walls because you got confused as to which way your ship was going to go when you pressed the "switch" button. Smart decisions and quick reflexes get you through this game, and if the 20 odd levels in the free browser demo get you excited, there's more than twice that content awaiting you in the full version!

If you're looking for a few wild distractions, allow us to point to your left, where you'll see a tricycle riding a bear eating a hotdog. The bear isn't eating the hotdog, the tricycle is. And it's covered in mustard. The bear, not the hotdog. Also, four unique mobile games representing four different genres, each capable of stealing hours of your life away!

If you've spent any time around the indie gaming scene, you're familiar with the name increpare, also known as Stephen Lavelle. Known for creating short, small, creative and artistic-type games, increpare has jumped from the realm of experimental games to the world of full-fledged releases, unleashing the fantastic English Country Tune for the world to scratch their collective heads over. The game looks fantastic and plays like several of your favorite logic puzzle games rolled into one superb, pseudo-3D package.

The masters of the jigsaw at Plexus certainly weren't bundled up for winter when programming their latest mind-bending picture puzzle: FlutterBy. This time the subject is bugs and blossoms, drawn in a softer, more childlike style than we usually see from the developer. But don't let the big noses and sproingy antennae fool you: This is a puzzle that will take all your visual acuity to resolve into the final big picture.

From the creator of Unify, BitPilot, and Halcyon, Zach Gage, comes an iPad release that blends a Boggle-like word game with a traditional falling blocks puzzle. SpellTower is a wordophile's dream come true, featuring four unique modes of play that let you take your time and think or force you to build words in a rush. No matter your playing style, there's plenty of challenge in this sleek little release, and it's worth picking up if you have even the slightest interest in word games!

Need a pick-me-up to start the week? Why not try saving a goldfish from an impish little brat? Going on a quest for biscuits? Or, heck, bag some groceries!

ZONR, from the master if bite-sized iOS games Klick Tock, will engage you for longer than you'll care to admit. The simple reflex game is focused on quick recognition skills, challenging you to act fast, act decisively, and recover from your mistakes without hesitation. Stressful? Never! More fun than it ought to be? You bet!

Still not sure iOS devices are a serious gaming platform? Game designers sure think they are, and the result is more and more big games making their way to the touch screen. Minecraft is a fine example of this, and this week, it's making its iOS debut with a highly playable portable version of the desktop game!

Shantae: Risky's Revenge is the sort of game retro-minded players will immediately snatch up. Modern players may look at it and think "another platform game?", but as soon as any human being plays it, it's easy tell that Shantae is anything but ordinary. Risky's Revenge is an action/platform game that's smartly focused on exploration in the style of a good old-fashioned metroidvania. It's a labor of love that's funny, challenging, creative, and absolutely gorgeous down to the last pretty pixel!

You thought you had it bad when you were forced to trick-and-treat with your twin, but things only get worse when he (or she!) is mistaken for an actual piece of candy by the real monsters that are pillaging the town! None of the adults will believe you, but unless you want to be in a lot of trouble when you come home alone, you'll have to embark on a rescue mission in this charming, laugh-out-loud funny adventure RPG from DoubleFine. Create and unlock new costumes and do epic battle as you become the very thing you're dressed up as, and stop a candy conspiracy that could threaten the world!

Mage Gauntlet, from Hook Champ and Super QuickHook creator Rocketcat Games, is the modern 16-bit action role playing game you've been waiting for. Everything about it is retro, from the level design to the pixel art, only instead of having to dust off your SNES, you just fire up your iOS device. In a decidedly awesome twist, this RPG doesn't take hours of playing before you can get into it, opening it up for shorter mobile sessions and casual gamers alike!

Nintendo DS owners most likely recognize the name, but for everyone else, the Scribblenauts series is a relatively unknown treasure. That all changes with the release of Scribblenauts Remix, an iOS version of the phenomenal creativity puzzle game from 5th Cell. The tagline "Write anything. Solve Everything." couldn't be more appropriate, as Scribblenauts challenges you to solve puzzles by typing in words and phrases. If you can imagine it, you can probably do it, so feel free to summon a huge invincible flying pregnant angry rainbow giraffe to fight with Zeus, if you like.

You find yourself on the floor of a dilapidated hospital, apparently situated in the middle of a meadow filled with the drone of cicadas. Monsters roam the halls, and the only other human occupant babbles about a witch who's trapped you both there, but as you piece together the truth from papers and journals, you'll begin to wonder who you can really trust... if you can even trust yourself. An action-heavy adventure title from Phosphor Games for your iOS made with the Unreal Engine, boasting great writing, beautiful visuals, and a lot of mystery.

Alligators aren't usually known for being picky about their personal hygiene. Swampy, the smiling 'gator who lives deep in the sewers, is quite a bit different. While the rest of the alligators are tearing up everything in the sewers, Swampy is getting ready to take a bath. It seems his shower isn't quite working, though, so you'll have to suss out the source of the problem. In Where's My Water?, a smartly-built physics-based puzzle game from Disney Mobile, its your job to cut holes in the soil to direct the water down to Swampy's tub. And with things like movable walls, puddles of acid, and lively bits of mold, that's much easier said than done.

It's super space puzzle action! In space! And, you get to be a delivery boy! In space! How could life get any more exciting than that? How about pirates, a snarky robot companion, a boss with an attitude to match his mustache, black holes, portals, and bombs? There, that should do it. The comedy-laden puzzle game Galaxy Express for iOS devices is all about twisting your brain while making you laugh, and it does so while looking spectacular!

Wacky, serious, filled with animals, containing goat kisses, and populated by sentient glops of furry... whatever. It's not a Mobile Monday if you don't reach for the disinfectant spray!

TeraLumina has created a short, but fantastic escape game with one of the best fake-out endings we've seen. You won't see puzzles with the complexity of, say, Neutral, but what is there is fun and involving and perfect for a quick escape. It's time to go treasure hunting!

The Last Rocket, from Shaun Inman, looks and sounds like it belongs on the top shelf of your Game Boy Color library. It plays like a puzzle-oriented version of VVVVVV, high level of difficulty and retro presentation included. It's the sort of game that will challenge you to make precise movements, quick decisions, and flawless maneuvers, and if you fail, you die and have to start the level all over again. But hey, you don't get to be the big hero without crashing into spikes a few dozen times, do you?

From Halfbrick Studios comes a cave flying-style game with the power to keep you playing for many multiple hours. Jetpack Joyride takes the best from jump-and-run-style games and mixes in a host of achievements, missions, store upgrades, vehicles and more, crafting a game that looks phenomenal and will keep you doing "just one more joyride" dozens of times in a row.

Scattered across the land, the adorable little mokis are in trouble. But guess what? You get to rescue them! Using bombs! iBlast Moki 2 is Godzilab's follow up to the epic iOS physics puzzle game iBlast Mokie, and it stuffs every ounce of material you could want into a single robust mobile package. Time to (safely) bomb some mokis!

A great Calamity rocks the world, wiping out all of civlization in an instant and leaving behind only a handful of floating islands in a vast void. As the Kid, along with your ever-present Narrator as a guide, search the remnants of the world for something that might rebuild it, uncovering the truth about the Calamity (and human nature) as you do. Featuring stunning visuals, an engrossing story related in a unique, immersive fashion, and fast-paced combat with upgradeable weapons, Bastion is a top-notch indie action RPG players looking for another realm and a good story will definitely want to investigate.

Imagine if the hit game Adverputt had all the advertising stripped out and replaced with pure, unadulterated wonder. Why, you'd have to call it Wonderputt, and that's exactly what you get in 18 holes of mini-golfing fun.

More pachinko, anyone? Kickin' Momma is the latest from Hothead Games, the team that is perhaps most famous for creating the Penny Arcade adventure episodes beginning with On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. Now, though, the studio is focusing some efforts on the iOS market, creating a crazy sort of game that's very similar to Peggle.

Several years in the making, the darkly atmospheric (and strangely realistic) platform game LIMBO has finally migrated from console download to the PC ecosphere.Crafted by Danish studio Playdead, LIMBO drops you in a shadowy world filled with dangers, immensely difficult puzzles, and more ways to die than you would really want to count. It's an incredibly stylistic and engaging game, one that just about any player can pick up and enjoy from beginning to end.

True fact: this edition of Mobile Monday was written almost two hours later than originally planned. Why? Because the games below occupied more of my time than I had ever anticipated. Seriously, mobile game developers, why are you doing such cool things these days?!

Ruby Loft Escape is a wonderful and bracing mid-week treat, a visual and logical delight from a relative newcomer, one we're looking forward to seeing more of. So have fun robbing some poor rich person blind.

Ever think about the high cost of the clothes you wear? No, not just the price you pay at the register, but the people on the other end you never see or even consider? Littleloud brings us a strategy simulation that tasks you with running a factory overseas struggling to meet demands for the most popular items. Will you be able to keep your boss happy without sacrificing the well being of your workers? Or will the need for speed and money trump health and safety?

FBI Agent Nelson Tethers works for the Department of Puzzle Research... yes, that's a thing, and he's quite happy with his job, until the day he's assigned to Scoggins, Minnesota, to find out why the local eraser factory has stopped working. What starts out as a simple missing persons case takes a drastic turn for the bizarre, and soon Nelson finds himself wrapped up in the weirdest, creepiest small town mystery he's ever seen. Take a trip to Scoggins in this clever duo of point-and-click adventure game that doesn't skip on the charm, the creeps, or the chuckles.

Those of us adept at folding space-time (with or without the use of spice) are very familiar with the concept of moving chunks of the universe around so we can easily step from one area to another. For everyone else, there's Continuity 2: The Continuation, a sequel to the familiar Flash puzzle game Continuity. Combining a little bit of 2D platforming and a lot of sliding puzzle logic, Continuity 2 is a unique and challenging experience made better by the battery of almost 50 new levels packed into the iPhone's tiny little screen. It's all the space-time folding you could ever want, without the blue-in-blue eyes to show for it!

From Japanese developer Kairosoft, creator of Game Dev Story, comes another surprisingly deep simulation game for the mobile market. Grand Prix Story drops you in the shoes of a business owner trying to make it big in the world of grand prix racing. You manage everything from your mechanics and drivers to research, vehicle repairs, engine upgrades, and driver training regimens, all designed to vault you to the top of the leaderboards.

Serve the Pact, serve Avadon, serve Redbeard. So it goes for you, a new recruit to the fabled Black Fortress, eager to make a name for yourself and help uphold the ideals of your land. But all is not as it seems; Redbeard, Avadon's commander, seems to inspire as much fear as he does loyalty in his followers, and murmurs of dissent ripple through the ranks while rumours of traitors both unnerve and intrigue you. Decide for yourself what path you will follow in this massive, engrossing turn-based fantasy RPG from Spiderweb Software. Just remember to watch your back so someone doesn't stick a dagger into it. Who can you trust?

Happy peasants harvesting grass. Peaceful people admiring the clouds. Then the bad guys come along and start sieging and such. You don't need much of a story when it comes to physics-based chain reaction games, but in the case of Siege Hero, from the creator of Sieger, you definitely need to know you're the one fighting on the side of good! This highly-polished iOS game features gameplay similar to Castle Crashers, Angry Birds, and even Implode!, although the sum of its well-made parts adds up to something much more intriguing.

Ready for a rhythm game that will make you feel like a musical mastermind while potentially sending your synapses into a frenzy? Pulse: Volume One has that power, and this iPad-exclusive from Cipher Prime, creator of Fractal and Auditorium, has both the visual package and musical variety to lull you into a brilliant trance of dot tapping and circle watching.

When Amanita Design's Samorost or Machinarium meets a smart, non-formulatic hidden object game, The Tiny Bang Story is the beautiful result. A point-and-click puzzle game at heart, this charming release from Colibri Games will hook you from the start, keeping your eyes busy and your cursor mobile from the opening screen all the way to the very end. It's a stunning and very memorable game that will make you wish more games followed its careful design concepts.

Lights! Camera! Puzzle! Everyone's favorite sawer of jig, Plexus, is back, with a new mind-bender of a visual workout. This time, the subject is the literal zoo that is Hollywood as some animal auteurs have gathered to film the latest boffo-box-office, fun-for-the-whole-family, critical-darling, summer blockbuster! All the pieces are here for a smash hit, but they'll be needing you to put them into place. Roll 'em!

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery is, in one sentence, a gorgeous piece of playable, explorable art with a phenomenal soundtrack and overall design that begs to be experienced. We'll call it a point-and-click adventure (a touch and touch again adventure?), but really Sword & Sworcery is all about satisfying your curiosity in a visually striking world and doing one-on-one battles with a few discontented beings. It's a game so stepped in atmosphere and setting you'll feel like it's as epic as The Lord of the Rings, all compactified into your mobile device.

Flaws, the interactive work of fiction from author Jon Ingold, is a difficult game to categorize as well as a different game to review. For starters, it isn't really a game in the traditional sense, more like a choose your own adventure produced for modern, Kindle-enabled devices. Then there's the nature of the story, where discussing even a few of the details can spoil whole bits of the experience. Suffice it to say, Flaws is an intriguing interactive fiction "game" about finding treasure and fame, the Andromeda galaxy, a mysterious diadem, and a possible assassination.

With the release of a brand new iPad 2, we thought we should celebrate with a collection of some of the platform's best exclusive games! What better way to break in that Apple A5 processor (or even the original Apple A4 processor!) than with a couple of big, gorgeous casual games? Look for more iPhone or Android games next week!

If you're looking for a fantastic point-and-click adventure that combines mystery, suspense, pharmaceuticals, science fiction, and an extremely goofy English translation, then look no further. Take two shots of Dr. Stanley's House 2 and call me in the morning. Presuming, of course, that you ever find your way out of the air ducts.

New from Hitpoint Studios comes Guardians of Magic: Amanda's Awakening, a casual adventure game that focuses on inventory puzzles, exploration, and a lush fantasy setting. You take on the role of Amanda, a young girl who discovers some secrets about her late grandfather's life, including his feud with her mentor, Dr. Magus. It's technology versus magic in this well-spun game, and you'll get to explore a heap of scenes as you search for items to help you solve puzzles.

Life in the Gemini galaxy isn't easy; war has left its mark on the lives of the people within it, but most of them are more concerned with the all-seeing eyes of the Boryokuden, a crime syndicate that seems to operate outside the law and swiftly deals with any opposition. In this top-notch adventure game, you play as Azriel Odin, a detective on the streets of New Pittsburgh, and Delta-Six, an amnesiac test subject stuck in a sinister training facility, and attempt to stay alive while you uncover a conspiracy that might hit closer to home than you suspect.

At long, long last, Jordan Mechner's (creator of the original Prince of Persia game) adventure gaming masterpiece The Last Express is available as a digital download! The game was first released in 1997 where, despite being an amazing interactive experience, it failed to gain much commercial traction. Its cult status survived the turn of the century largely due to the unique nature of the gameplay, the incredible writing, and a visual style that's more like an animated television show than a video game. No more tracking down rate copies of the original CD-ROM. Just download, install, and enjoy!

Ready for another game of ambiance and intrigue from Nifflas? NightSky is the latest release from the designer/artist known for creating enchanting atmospheric settings in his games, and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. It's simpler and more streamlined than Knytt Stories, but there's no shortage of challenge or variety to be had!

Virtual Villagers 5: New Believers is a brilliant addition to the genre and ramps up everything that is fun about the series. The puzzles are tougher as are the challenges, which is a good thing for those who love this series of village sims. The story has a darker, more sinister edge as you explore what the destruction and grief have done to the original inhabitants of Isola. There's much to love and recommend in this fantastic new adventure. Go explore!

Are you one of the estimated 6 million new iPad owners this holiday season? Or was it just new socks and a cheesy sweater this year? We've been keeping up with the gaming scene on Apple's really big touch screen device, and we're pleased to report there are several great reasons to part with some cash in exchange for a great gaming experience.

In this physics puzzle platformer from WoblyWare, the Maoi Duck God has demanded tribute, and has luckily granted you, his humble servant, power over gravity to fulfill his godly demands. Waddle through forty colorful and increasingly challenging levels, bounding from surface to surface, avoiding enemies and collecting golden eggs.

Alan Probe is back! In the new sequel to the popular surgery simulation game that we all fell in love with back in 2008, the good people at Adult Swim have come up with something gorier, more excessive, and far more satisfying than any of us could have ever hoped for.

Prepare to be puzzled in the latest unconventional jigsaw game from Plexus and Smartkit! Try to match up the edges of each image to lock them together to form... um... no coherent scene, which only adds to the challenge of figuring out how to connect all the pieces. Pirates! offers puzzling fun with a swarthy theme.