There are over 2 million apps available in the App Store and a good deal of them is represented by games. Although mobile games for Android are extremely popular, Apple remains a reference name in the world of mobile gaming.
It was the launch of the iPhone in 2007 that opened a new era in the field and initiated the competition for developing more and more affordable smartphones that can be used as gaming platforms. Until then, the only games you could play on your phone were monochrome or colored at best, but not very complex or with the excellent graphics we enjoy nowadays. A year later, in 2008, the App Store was launched, four years before Google Play, so there has been almost a decade of gaming on iPhone and other Apple devices. Keep on reading to discover the best iPhone games:
Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga is not a game dedicated exclusively to Apple devices. The first version was released in April 2012 for Facebook, and other versions are available as well for Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 10.
The game is a match-three puzzle video game, free to play and with the possibility of enjoying extra features at additional costs. The gameplay consists of swapping colored pieces of candy on a game board with the purpose of matching three of more pieces of candy. Matching candies are eliminated from the board and replaced by others, thus creating the possibility of new matches. The daily revenue of Candy Crush Saga on iPhone exceeded $2,200,000 in January 2018.
Clash of Clans
Clash of Clans is the most successful strategy game for iPhone – the first version was launched in August 2012, followed by an Android version in October 2013. An online multiplayer game, it requires users to build a community, train troops, and fight with other players to obtain gold, elixir, and dark elixir. In order to store gold and elixir, players need to build mines and gold storages. Elixir is needed to train new troops, while gold is needed to build defensive buildings.
The game was developed and published by the Finnish company Supercell and according to the latest statistics the daily revenue of Clash of Clans is around $885,000.
Trivia Crack
Trivia Crack is originally called Preguntamos (Spanish) and is inspired by other trivia games such as Trivia Pursuit. The game was originally launched in October 2013 in Latin America and was translated to English to become the most downloaded game from the Apple App Store in December 2014. The reason behind this surge in popularity was offering users the possibility of adding their own questions.
Trivia Crack is based on six knowledge categories: Entertainment, Art, Sports, History, Science, and Geography. The objective is to answer correctly to six questions before the opponent does.
Marvel: Contest of Champions
Launched in 2014, this free-to-play fighting game has been developed and published by Kabam and is set in the Marvel Universe. The game has been released concomitantly for iOS and Android and is available in both single-player and multiplayer mode. Players take up the role of a Summoner, required to build a team of Marvel heroes and villains and place them in combat against each other. The game fighting arena is provided in 3D with a 2D plane that presents characters’ movements and actions.
Marvel: Contest of Champions initially offers access to only two characters and players can further add other characters such as Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Magneto, Hulk, Ultron, Rhino, and Loki. Soon after its release in December 2014, the game was named Editor’s Choice on the App Store and received positive response from critics.
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing is a Nintendo franchise which has originally been released in 2001 and later adapted for smartphones, including iPhone. Gameplay is open-ended in Animal Crossing as you don’t have any defined objectives – the player assumes the role of a human character who visits a village where anthropomorphic animals live.
Activities you can perform in this game are collecting items, planting flowers, socializing with animals living in the village, and so on. The game has been made more interesting by offering a high level of customization including the player’s character and their house. Players can communicate to each other offline and online.
Words with Friends
Words with Friends is a board game based on Scrabble, with pretty much the same rules. Players can find their friends by username or through Facebook, or can be assigned a random opponent. Developed by Newtoy, Words with Friends allows up to 30 games played simultaneously and players receive push notifications when it’s their turn. A chat feature allows players to communicate to each other.
The reason why we have included this game in our article is its success between 2010 and 2011, when Words with Friends was among the top ranking games in the iOS app store. As for the payment scheme, users can choose between an add-supported version and a paid version without any ads.
Angry Birds
The first game in the Angry Birds series was launched in December 2009 for Apple iOS by Rovio Entertainment. The game focuses on the conflict between multi-colored birds and green-colored pigs; birds need to save their eggs from pigs, their enemies. The game became so popular that a large number of spin-offs were created for PC, console, Android, and other platforms; furthermore, the game inspired merchandise, cartoon series, a feature film, and amusement parks. The original game was called among other praises “the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far.”
A less successful moment in the history of this game dates from January 2014, when the app was revealed as “leaky” for allegedly collecting data about its users by the National Security Agency. However, the app recovered and a sequel of the main series was released later in July 2015, called Angry Birds 2. A new installment in the Angry Birds series, more exactly the 17th, has been announced for February 2018 and it will be called Angry Birds Blast Island.
Are you an iPhone user? What is your favorite mobile game for iOS?
