Fez just hit the App Store yesterday, and I’ve been having a blast with it all day today.

Considered a modern platforming game classic, and the primary subject of the critically-acclaimed film Indie Game: The Movie (93% on Rotten Tomatoes!). Fez presents itself as a classic 2D pixel-art platformer, but quickly changes things up by introducing a novel new 3D perspective shifting mechanic.

Using the shoulder buttons, you can shift the camera between 4 views, revealing new perspectives on the 2D platforming world you inhabit. Changing the camera perspective flattens every axis back into two dimensions. As a result, platforms that would be far away along a Z axis in a three-dimensional world can be brought right next to each another when flattening back to just the XY axi.

This is a difficult mechanic to describe, but it quickly becomes second-nature during gameplay, and is a novel, unique take on bridging three dimensional and two dimensional platforming games.

I know this one is a hard sell in writing, but if you’re a platforming game fan, you need to take my word on this one – there’s a reason Fez has gotten as much acclaim as it has. It may look like a bunch of other indie games, but Fez is one of the most important games to hit the App Store.

• Download Fez on the App Store

If you’re a car person, GRID is probably an essential buy. While many mobile racing games strive for a more casual, arcade-friendly experience, GRID is all about realism. Original developers Codemasters spent a long time trying to make the handling of every car feel true-to-life, and while I can’t speak for the accuracy of how it would actually feel driving these cars on these tracks at high speeds, it feels right.

Many of the courses in GRID are directly based on famous real-world circuits. Courses not based on real racetracks, such as the city locations, still match the feel of the locations. You’ll be driving on these tracks in a variety of real-world licensed cars, for that added dose of realism.

Porting studio Feral Interactive really went all-out with this iOS version. GRID has lost absolutely nothing in its transition from console to mobile, and in some ways, actually looks better than it in its previous life on the PS3 and Xbox 360. This shouldn’t be a surprise – modern iOS devices easily outclass previous-generation consoles. But far too often, developers seem to struggle to take advantage of this power, and release games that simply show off what the hardware is capable of. GRID bucks this trend.

Quite simply, GRID is a breathtakingly beautiful game. Installing the optional (but free) DLC texture packs make it even more beautiful, but either way, you’re looking at one of the best games ever seen on iOS.

Unfortunately, GRID doesn’t quite run as good as it looks. Despite limiting itself to only the most powerful iOS devices available, GRID is capped at 30fps, and occasionally stutters trying to reach that. This is unfortunate – modern iPads run natively at 120fps, and racing games, in particular, really benefit from a high frame rate. Maybe future updates will solve this problem.

Perhaps the best part of GRID is one thing it did not gain in its transition to mobile – a new business model. There are no freemium currencies here, no wait timers, no ads, no nonsense. This is a serious, console-class experience. For a one-time fee, you get the whole game. There are quite a few DLC packs available with additional content, but in a welcome break from expectations, these DLC packs are entirely free. Yes, you can install all the extra courses, cars, and HD textures you want, for no added fee.

If you’re a fan of racing games, GRID is an essential buy. And if you’re a believer in premium, console-class games, GRID is one of the best examples yet of a real-deal, top-flight, no compromise console game on mobile.

• Download: GRID Autosport

Sonic 2 joins the original Sonic as part of Sega Classics. Classics is a marketing initiative where beloved games from throughout Sega’s history are released on mobile and made free-to-play, with an optional in-app purchase to disable ads. Some of the games in Classics are emulated, others are rebuilt from scratch to run on modern hardware.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about these classic Sonic games that hasn’t already been said. You’ve probably already played these games – they’re among the best 2D platforming games of all time, and they virtually defined gaming in the late-’80s-early-’90s. They established Sega as a major player in the world of gaming, and Sega is arguably only alive today because of the franchise these games spawned. If you’ve never played these games, you should download them immediately.

These games are timeless masterpieces, and I’m not going to try to sell you on them. Instead, I want to talk about what makes these particular versions of Sonic so special, and why these mobile ports are the definitive versions.

There have been many releases of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 over the years. Name any game system, handheld or console, and there’s a good chance one or both of these games have appeared on it¹. But the iOS versions are notably different from all previous releases. They’re unique in that, unlike every other release, the iOS versions of Sonic, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD were rebuilt, from the ground up, specifically for iOS. A little history:

The year is 2009. Sega released both Sonic and Sonic 2 on the App Store. These original releases were poor quality, struggling to maintain 30fps on Apple’s most powerful devices, and lacking any modern features. Quality aside, the ports are successful from a sales perspective, and Sega is eager for more. They ask the community: which game should the bring to the iPhone next?

Developer Christian “Taxman” Whitehead, a longtime Sonic fan, and participant in the Sonic modding community, has an answer. In his spare time, he rebuilt Sonic CD himself, as a fan project. It runs on his own custom game engine, which perfectly replicates the physics of the classic Sonic games, down to the tiniest detail, at vastly greater performance than the poor-quality emulators Sega has been using. Whitehead shows off his custom version of Sonic CD, running at 60fps on an iPod Touch. The community wanted Sonic CD, and Whitehead wanted to work on it, but Sega went silent.

Two years later, and we’ve heard nothing more about Sonic CD or Christian Whitehead’s engine. Everyone assumes the project didn’t work out. Then, almost out of nowhere, Sonic CD hits the App Store.

Whitehead’s Sonic CD release is amazing. It runs perfectly on all iOS devices. It includes an expanded feature set, tons of bug fixes from the original ’90s game, and tons of additional bonus content. Arguably, it was the best release of any Sonic game, for any platform, ever. Better yet, because it was originally released for the obscure Sega CD system, it is one of the least-played games in the classic 2D Sonic catalog.

Because of these factors, Sonic CD’s iOS port was a huge success. It immediately became the best Sonic game on iOS, and was eventually ported to all of the major game consoles, PC, and Android².

Sega and Whitehead followed-up Sonic CD by updating Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, with the assistance of co-developer Stealth’s development studio Headcannon. Gone were the poor-quality emulators, replaced with brand new, completely rebuilt, versions of the classics. These versions gained all the performance improvements and bug fixes that could be expected from the improved engine, but also included numerous new features. Knuckles and Tails were added to the original Sonic and Sonic 2, and an incomplete level that was cut from Sonic 2 was finished and re-added back to the game.

After these ports, Whitehead and Stealth attempted to convince Sega to approve development of a similarly-updated port of Sonic 3, and even released a video proof-of-concept. Sadly, it wasn’t going to happen³. Sega had other plans.

Whitehead and Headcannon’s work on the mobile Sonic releases was so good, Sega trusted them with development of a brand new Sonic game using the new game engine – Sonic Mania. Mania has gone on to be the highest reviewed Sonic game in over a decade. It is, in fact, arguably the best game in the entire series. And it wouldn’t exist without the engine Whitehead used to port Sonic CD to iPhone back in 2009. But that is a story for another day.

Unlike with Sonic CD, the updated versions of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 were not ported to any other consoles, or to PC. The only way to play these versions of Sonic is on iOS and Android. For whatever reason, rather than porting these versions of Sonic to other consoles, Sega has reverted back to using emulated versions everywhere else. And unfortunately, even though Android has these updated versions of the Sonic games, only the iOS versions support the Gamevice (yeah, we’re hoping they fix that, too).

As it stands today, the best possible way to play Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 is on iOS. And although these games work with touchscreens, they’re best with a controller. And the Gamevice is the best controller you can get for iPhones and iPads. So we’re in an interesting position where the very best way to play two of the very best games of all time is on your iPhone or iPad, with a Gamevice. And on top of all that, the games are free to download now, with a one-time fee to remove ads.

If this isn’t enough of a reason to give Sonic a download, I don’t know what is.

• Download: Sonic 1 for iOS
• Download: Sonic 2 for iOS
• Download: Sonic CD for iOS

Morphite, an incredible new sci-fi action/exploration game, was just released on iOS, as well as PC and a variety of consoles.

It is impossible to talk about Morphite without mentioning the game that serves as its obvious inspiration: No Man’s Sky. Both are space exploration games, both feature procedurally generated planets, both are played from a first-person perspective, both require you catalog procedurally-generated plants and animals with a scanner – it’s clear that Morphite wouldn’t exist without No Man’s Sky.

With that said, Morphite is no mere clone of No Man’s Sky. Morphite brings something No Man’s Sky mostly lacks: a clear focus and direction. Where No Man’s Sky is all about exploration and wandering, Morphite both a directed storyline and a clearly-defined (and fully voiced) protagonist. It also features a more action-oriented gameplay style, with a focus less on exploration and more on Metroid-style action-platforming. I don’t want to understate what a difference this makes – to many people, Morphite’s presentation as a more traditional “game” will actually make it preferable to No Man’s Sky.

Morphite is also a beautiful game. It doesn’t attempt to mimic No Man’s Sky’s massive scale and photorealistic textures, which would likely be impossible on mobile, instead opting for a low-polygon aesthetic. This gives Morphite a retro vibe, but one that doens’t feels cheap. Colors are vibrant, but not cartoony. Environments strike the right balance between atmosphere and detail. And there are multiple graphics options in the settings to tweak the balance between visual effects and framerate (I personally recommend disabling cinematic effects, which make everything seem washed-out).

Anyways, I’ve been a massive fan of No Man’s Sky since it launched last year – it is one of my all-time favorite gaming experience, and it’s one I’ve put more time into than almost any other games I own. Morphite is its own game, but it scratches a similar itch. I’m looking forward to putting many, many hours Morphite – I’m giving this one a strong recommendation. And if planned features like cloud saving, procedural temples, and multiplayer end up getting added, that recommendation will only get stronger.

• Buy Now on iOS

Good news, RPG fans. The iOS port of the classic ’80s RPG Lunar: Silver Star Story was recently updated to support 64-bit devices, sparing it from the list of games and apps that no longer function in iOS 11.

Lunar SSST has been well cared for since its iOS launch in 200x, receiving numerous substantial updates. Over the past several years, SoMoGa, the developers in charge of the port, have re-drawn the graphics in HD, enabled iCloud save data syncing, added additional language translations, programmed support for every new iPhone screen size, and – of course – added controller support for the Gamevice. It would have been surprising if Lunar was abandoned in the transition to 64-bit-only apps – luckily, it wasn’t.

If you’re an RPG fan who somehow missed out on Lunar SSST in the past, now is a great time to catch up on a classic.

• Download: Lunar Silver Star Story Touch

Hot on the heels of last week‘s amazing releases, Gameloft’s new multiplayer shooter Modern Combat Versus is finally out of its lengthy soft launch and in wide release on iOS.

Like the rest of Gameloft’s games, Modern Combat Versus follows a predictable strategy: take a popular PC or console game, and bring a mobile-focused facsimile of it to a mobile audience that might not be familiar with the real thing.

Modern Combat Versus is straightforward in this matter. It takes the overall feel of one of the “near-future” Call of Duty games, adds gameplay structure reminiscent of Overwatch or Team Fortress 2, and sticks a timer-based unlock system on pretty much every aspect of progression. Unfortunately, Modern Combat VS does not borrow Call of Duty’s epic storylines and incredible polish, nor does it borrow the colorful (and brilliantly balanced) character roster of Overwatch or TF2. Most important of all, Modern Combat lacks any of the the polish and heart of the games it is obviously “inspired” by.

Anyways, that’s just my opinion. TouchArcade gave this one their Game of the Week designation, and it’s also sitting at number 3 on the Top Free Games chart right now, so a lot of people definitely seem to be enjoying it.

The good news is, you can try Modern Combat Versus out for absolutely nothing, right now. Even if you get fed up of the timer system and quit playing after an hour or so, as I did, you’ll at least have received a download’s worth of enjoyment. And really, what else can you ask for in a free game?

• Download Modern Combat Versus on the App Store
• Download Modern Combat Versus on Google Play

After more than a year of anticipation, The Witness is finally out on iOS

The Witness is a modern puzzle game masterpiece, cut from the same cloth as exploration-puzzlers like Myst. You’re alone on an island, with the only interaction with the world around you through a series of puzzles. Solving these puzzles is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the world around you.

Every puzzle in The Witness takes the form of a superficially simple maze. Draw a line between one spot to another – easy, straightforward, clear. It gets difficult fast. Each group of puzzles adds its own rules, its own language. The gameplay is in solving the trick behind each puzzle, learning the gameplay mechanic it is teaching you, and bringing it with you to ever more difficult puzzles.

Solving puzzles is key to exploring the island. Groups of puzzles unlock new areas, these areas containing even more puzzles. Over time, it becomes apparent that these puzzles, the act of solving them, and the exploration of the island itself, weave together into an intricate narrative – the details of which I won’t be spoiling here. Suffice it to say, if the intelligence of the puzzles and the beauty of the island aren’t enough to make you want to play, solving The Witness’ mysteries probably will be.

Narrative and exploration aside, In any good puzzle game, the biggest reward you can possibly get is the satisfaction that comes with solving the puzzle – the “ah hah!” moment, where everything falls into place, and you finally understand what the puzzle is all about. The Witness is full of this feeling. Every series of puzzles in The Witness incorporates a unique challenge. Some of these challenges are quite clever, and require a great deal of thought to solve. And solving them feels great, because outsmarting the game feels great.

The Witness is a rare gem. It won’t appeal to everyone, but if you’re a fan of puzzles and exploration games, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try.

• Buy The Witness on the App Store