100 Best iOS Games: #60 – #51

You spend most of your time in a video game trying not to die. In Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, you don't have much of a choice in the matter. You're dead right from the start. This adventure game has you using your ghostly powers to solve your own murder as well as save others around you. With a simple swipe, you can possess people, move objects and use other ghostly powers to solve your murder mystery before dawn. The art style of Ghost Trick is wild. It looks simply incredible and compliments the story very well. Ghost Trick is a game chock full of charm and character that will keep you playing long after your own actual death. (Little known fact that is completely made up, the iPhone and iPad touch screens work with ghosts. Take that Ouija Board!)

Imagination is king in the Scribblenauts Remix world. Anything you can think of, you can create. You have unlimited possibilities for solving any of the problems presented to you in the Scribble-verse. By typing in anything you want, you can solve any puzzle in the game. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the world worked that way? Anyway, the fantastic hand drawn aesthetic will distract you from your more worldly problems. If you're clever, you can solve the puzzles in exceedingly outrageous ways. Go ahead and try to stump the game with any inane answer you can come up with. Somehow, Scribblenauts Remix will figure out how to render it on your little screen.

Let's be honest, you've always wished you were Spider-Man. You wanted to swing through the streets of Manhattan on strands of thread and give a royal beatdown on some nefarious creatures. Thankfully, Spider-Man: Total Mayhem is only a few taps away. All of your arachnid hero desires can be satiated on your iPhone or iPad. As Spider-Man, you can swing your way to the scene of the crime in style before you introduce your fist to some bad guy's nose. The controls are responsive and it is a simple joy watching Spidey execute outrageous acrobatics attacks. The graphics hold up with the best looking games and, thankfully, it eschews a dark and gritty style for a much more vibrant and comic book feel. Even if your iPhone was radioactive, you'd still want to play this, cancer be damned!

Racing a car on a track can be fun, but the allure of street racing is much more tempting. No officials, no rules, and no boundaries. Need for Speed Most Wanted offers you the open road and all the thrills that come with it. It can be quite fun looking in your rear view mirror and seeing cop cars and your opponents flipping down ravines in a cascading fireball of twisted metal. It is perfectly over the top like any other Need For Speed game, but the the level of delicacy in the controls is to be commended. At the slightest tap or turn of your device, your car can drift exquisitely around any corner you want without those damn realistic physics spinning you off into a ditch like some other racing games.

This game has Skeletor. Need we say more? We do? Fine. In addition to Skeletor, you have a whole bevy of He-Man comrades and villains on display. What is even more surprising is the polished level of design and gameplay put into He-Man The Most Powerful Game in the Universe. The tongue-in-cheek attitude to the story only serves to bring a once campy '80s cartoon into the 21st century ironic lexicon. The game is a goofy and wildly entertaining 2Dside scrolling smash 'em up that will have you talking like Skeletor in no time. Nyahahaha!

Space Invaders was a legendary game where a little CPU glitch served to make getting that last space ship all the more difficult. How do you expand on a classic game? You clad it in retro style line graphics and make each level more and more berserk. There are even some levels in 3D. That's right, a 3D Space Invader game. Purists might scoff at this, but once they clamp their fingers around their iPhone and have a play, all thoughts of pitchforks and torches outside the developer's office will fade away. It is a glorious ode to the original while at the same time bringing you a fresh take on a retro classic.

Gunman Clive is a sepia tones homage to the sides-scrollers of old. It's ancestors include games like Contra, but it switches up the setting and bumps up the graphical fidelity. Despite it's simple outlined characters and pastel colors, Gunman Clive is a beautiful looking games. Like all good side scrolling shooters, you have tight and simple controls that consist of jumping and shooting. Each level is fun and unique while still keeping that old west feel. Throughout the game there is a subtle attention to detail and a genuine care put into each pixel. One of the bosses looks like a giant Elvis Presley with a battling gun. Who wouldn't want to win a shoot out with the King?

Zombie Tsunami is a game that plays exactly the way the title sounds. You're in charge of a zombie and tasked with munching your way through the town biting everyone in your path in order to convert them to your brain munching ways. The more zombies you keep in tow, the more powerful you and your hoard become. The graphics are reminiscent of Rampage, and the upgrade bonuses you can find are absolutely ridiculous. With the right bonus, you have the option to change your group of like minded undead into a slew of ninjas, football players, or one long Chinese Dragon. Zombie Tsunami is a hilarious and very addictive game that will make you laugh in the face of the undead the next time you come close to the formerly living.

Street Fighter is a legendary franchise that will never die no matter how many times it has beaten itself down into the ground. Thankfully though, their latest foray into the realm of iOS is an awesome one. Street Fighter 4 Volt is the culmination of all they learned from making portable Street Fighters. The controls are responsive and delicate, just like a good fighting game fan wants them. The animations are enjoyable and well designed. Each character has their own moves that they execute with devastating results. What would a fighting game be with out some fantastic multiplayer? Well you can settle a bet or argument over wifi with any of your friends. Just remember that it's just a game and don't beat them to a pulp in real life with your iPhone. Then you won't have an iPhone. Or a friend.

Dungeon crawlers are the perfect genre to utilize a touchscreen. Instead of having to click all over the place with your mouse, you can simply tap enemies to death in the game's Diablo-esqe isometric view. Orc: Vengeance is a story driven game that lets you live out the tale of vengeance through the eyes of Rok, the Orc Warchief. A dark power has risen and is attempting to enslave the other orcs. That won't happen as long as you, and tons of loot, are between those innocent orcs and The Dark Lord.