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2017 was a great year... for games at least. Putting together list of 10 of the best mobile games out there was somehow even harder than it was last year. After playing 350+ games this year and reviewing 213 of them for 148Apps though, I've somehow been able to put together a list of ten games that were my absolute favorites from this year. Check them out below.

The App Store launched July 10, 2008 and brought with it a whole new way of distributing and purchasing software. The first several months were a wild west frontier of pricing, business models (or the lack thereof), and genre, making the iPhone the place to be.

As the years have gone by, things have gotten more crowded, more predictable, and perhaps more "same-old" to some. Let's take a look back at those early, heady days with ten of the best iOS apps from the launch of the App Store.

Cro-Mag Rally - Kart racing with cavemen? Yes, please! This launch title from veteran Mac developer Pangea showed us all how much fun the iPhone could be, paving the way for a host of ports and new gaming experiences on the go.

AIM - Before the recent spate of apps that bring multi-client, desktop-style instant messaging to the iPhone and iPad, there was only AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM. This launch title clued us in to the future of always being in touch, even if we didn't know it at the time.

Fieldrunners - Oh, tower defense games, why do you torment us so? Fieldrunners took the concept already on the web in Flash games and brought it to the devices we had in our pockets every day, iterating its tower defense gameplay to a fine polish. We were hard-pressed to stop playing, to be honest, and still are.

Yelp - Like Urbanspoon, Yelp brought location-based awareness together with user-based opinions on local restaurants and coffee shops at a level we'd never seen before. Yelp has become an indispensable tool when traveling, and even while staying in our hometown, letting us find interesting places to eat and drink at a price we can afford.

Super Monkey Ball - Wait, we were just playing this on our GameCube! How cool is it that we can tilt our iPhones and roll that adorable monkey around the maddeningly difficult tracks? Ten bucks! That's a sweet deal! Oh, what a difference half a decade makes.

Google Earth - This one came out in October of 2008, quickly amazing us all with its innovative zooming interface as well as its comprehensiveness. Finally, we thought, an interesting app from Google.

Rolando - Wow! This game showed us that we didn't have to own a PSP to get a quality arcade puzzle platform game like Loco Roco. It also allowed the early promise of ngmoco;) to shine forth like a beacon in the wilderness.

MLB At Bat - Updated on a yearly basis since 2008, MLB At Bat came onto the scene like a home run, proving that this little App Store thing was for more than just fart apps and casual games. Serious sports fans rejoiced in 2008 when this baby was released.

Galcon - This real-time space-themed strategy game was ready on day one of the App Store, bringing a depth of gameplay not seen yet. While games like Mushroom Wars and the like have since iterated on the concept, Galcon remains a perennial favorite.

Evernote - This essential app has been around since day one, and still continues to improve. Evernote showed us how important it was to have access to our notes, files, and pictures across all the devices we used, whether they were on a desktop or in our pocket.

This week at 148Apps.com, everything was about end of the year wrap-ups and countdowns. Carter Dotson compiled an extremely helpful multi-part 148Apps Top Apps of 2012, and he also gave us his Favorite Things of 2012: "In particular, Super Crate Box and Super Hexagon both left me in states of constant desire, wanting to get that high score while tackling the immense difficulty both games presented. Yet there was one consistent thread in both: failure was usually my fault, the factor of poor execution rather than random chance. It makes success feel all that more empowering. The byproduct of it is constant failure, and frequent profanity usage."

Oprah has nothing on Carter. Read his full list of Favorite Things on 148Apps.

What's a New Year's celebration without pizza? Is it any wonder, then, that Amy Solomon at GiggleApps.com reviewed Bamba Pizza: "This is the fourth year my son will receive play food as a large part of his holiday and birthday gifts from my husband and me. Although he has different hobbies as well that are demonstrated in the other toys he plays with, not a day goes by that it isn’t a birthday for a doll or stuffed animal where pizza is always served, along with cake, cookies and many other selections.

Although I would never expect Bamba Pizza or other apps like it to take the place of playing with toys in the real world, my son also enjoys playing with these types of apps when away from the house or when lying in bed before or after a full night’s sleep, when play food items are not welcome."

Read all of Amy's review at GiggleApps.

The holidays also present endless opportunities for taking photos. AndroidRundown.com reviewer Tre Lawrence showcases a venerable iOS photo app, now making the transition to Android: "There was a time, not all that long ago, when cameras on phones were not too hot. The hardware was rudimentary, and the accompanying software bordered on the silly. Pictures were not that great.
Since then, it has gotten better… much better. So much so, that for many people, their smartphone cameras are the cameras for everyday use.

Snapseed (from Nik Software) is an app that looks to perfect the picture-taking experience. It is a photo-editing title that incorporates a lot of the features people have come to expect with apps of this type. Being chock-full of fan favorite filters definitely makes it an interesting offering."

Read Tre's full review at AndroidRundown.

By this time next week, we will be in 2013, so all of us at 148Apps would like to take this moment to thank you for your constant readership throughout 2012. Without you, loyal reader, we simply wouldn't exist! Thank you, and Happy New Year from 148Apps!

Back when I first reviewed Rage of Bahamut, I knew that I really liked it. I just had no idea how many other people would be every bit as enamored with it. Turns out a whole lot of people think it’s awesome, because the free-to-play CCG with the ingenious approach to duplicates has hit Number One. Number One on Google Play and the App Store grossing charts.

It’s a well-deserved honor as far as I’m concerned. The browser-based card game gone portable for mobile platforms offers a wealth of cards to gather (700+) and almost constant special events to keep the community engrossed and involved. Holy Wars have just wrapped up (my Order ranked in the mid-3000’s, which isn’t too bad), leaving lots of players with a bounty of rare cards. And of course, those that aren’t rare can be used to upgrade those that are.

Reaching the top spot in the App Store as well as keeping said spot for six consecutive weeks on Google Play is no simple feat. It implies that a lot of people are playing. And if that many people are having such a grand old time collecting, trading, and evolving some gorgeous (and powerful) cards on their mobile devices, it stands to reason that it just might be a game worth checking out. And if someone were to check it out, I wouldn’t take offense if they were to use my referral code (lhs90348) at the end of the tutorial to get some extra cash and a special rare card. Just a thought.

It's hardly a surprise that this week at 148Apps.com was dominated by all things related to Apple's new iPad. Carter Dotson put together a great list of ten Retina Display-ready iPad games, saying, "Just bought a new iPad? Congratulations. Sure, tweets may come in clearer than ever, and videos at 1080p quality, but what’s the real way to show off that beautiful new 2048×1536 screen? With games, of course! And how about some online games to take advantage of the LTE option available? Yes, please! Here’s ten titles that show off just how crisp the new iPad’s Retina Display looks."

Read more about Carter's ten picks on 148Apps.

Meanwhile, GiggleApps.com writer Amy Solomon did a little pattern recognition in her review of Line Up. She writes, "Line Up is a wonderful interactive educational app that teaches about patterns in ways children and their adults will be smitten by.

I really enjoy this app – a great application to be aware of because parents have their choice of apps dedicated to pattern awareness within iTunes. I have enjoyed a few of these apps with my son, but a favorite of mine is definitely Line Up, from the developers at Busythings, a company that should not be overlooked."

Read the full review at GiggleApps.

Finally, intrepid 148Apps.biz writer Brad Hilderbrand reported on a recent study regarding smart phone screens. Hilderbrand writes, "A recent survey from Strategy Analytics claims that when it comes to smartphones, bigger really is better. According to the report 90 percent of smartphone owners wish their device had a bigger screen."

Find out more on 148Apps.biz.

Thus ends another vibrant week in the life of all things iOS. But fret not! There's always more right around the corner. Keep track of the latest news, reviews and contests by following us on Twitter and Liking us on Facebook. That is all. You may now return to your Retina Displays.

With the launch of the new iPad and its Retina Display, it may take some time for apps to catch up with the new high-resolution art requirements. Not for these ten apps, which have all been updated to support the new iPad's high-resolution screen.

ABC Player: Want to catch up on ABC shows, but don't want to lose out on resolution? Well, the ABC app now supports the new iPad Retina Display, which should make high-resolution video available from the app shine. It would even be possible, if ABC supports it, to stream 1080p, which is even higher resolution than what local ABC stations display at.

Pandora: How would a music app benefit from a higher-resolution display? Well, it might not, but choosing and discovering new artists and songs to play will look better than ever. As well, the LTE in the new iPad means higher-quality audio is easier to stream while on the go.

Pulse: This news aggregator recently added support for local content, but it got a second update this week adding support for the new iPad. Image previews for articles come through clearer than ever, and reading articles is even easier now with sharper text.

Evernote: The popular service for sharing notes, audio recordings, and pictures to the cloud supports the new iPad with its latest update. Now, all that shared content can be pulled down and viewed more crisply than ever. Well, besides the audio, the Retina Display won't change the sound. Apple can only do so much.

Readability: Don't lose any viewability when viewing the web through this app's easier reading experience. The 1.0.3 update introduces Retina Display support, making the title of the app continue to ring true.

iA Writer – One of the finer writing apps available for iPad, this crisp and clear writing app loses none of its visual fidelity on the new iPad. As a bonus, it now is universal for the iPhone and iPod touch, and still supports iCloud for syncing between devices as well as the Mac version of the software.

Tweetbot: Arguably the best third-party Twitter app available, Tapbots has updated the assets to make the iPad version of their client shine. The new update also brings live streaming of new tweets, but only over wifi, so no need to worry about wasting that LTE data plan.

Kindle: Still not giving in to the Apple ecosystem entirely? Well, good news: at least one third-party ebook service is supporting the new iPad, so Kindle books will read clearer than ever. Well, the text will be. The actual content may still be confusing.

BeoClock: Normal alarm clocks are just too low resolution to be any good any more. Wake up to a beautfiul alarm clock displayed by the iPad's Retina Display, and possibly everything in the world will be more beautiful. Or everything will pale in comparison to this alarm clock's beauty. Either way, it'll probably look really nice.

CalcBot: Tapbots' calculator app may just be the most beautiful calculator on earth, and with its new update, the new iPad can display it in full Retina Display glory. It makes the TI-89 look even more pathetic by comparison. Plus, the iPad doesn't have a built-in calculator app, so this really comes in handy!

If you happen to be curious which recently released iPhone apps and games earned top marks from critics then look no further than this month's breakdown of top rated games from Quality Index. Taking aggregate review scores from well-known outlets such as TiPb, Slide to Play and 148Apps (that's us, yo), QI has ranked the top ten apps and games in two handy-dandy charts. Here's the breakdown of the titles and their overall scores.

Top Ten Games

1. Sentinel 3: Homeworld -9.4
2. Stick Golf - 9.4
3. Galaxy on Fire 2 - 8.8
4. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 - 8.8
5. Wispin - 8.8
6. Stackster - 8.8
7. Bam Bam Dash - 8.8
8. Mushihimesama Bug Panic - 8.7
9. Monster Feed - 8.7
10. Infection Zone - 8.7

Top Ten Apps

1. MobileMonet - 9.7
2. Mario Batali Cooks! - 9.6
3. Disneyland Paris - 9.6
4. Tapatalk Forum App - 9.5
5. Calvetica Calendar - 9.5
6. Instagram - 9.4
7. ColorBlast! - 9.4
8. John Henry - 9.2
9. Stats for Halo Reach - 9.1
10. Audiogalaxy Mobile - 9.1

Given your own knowledge of the market and particular tastes how closely do your top ten lists from the past month match up with that of the professionals? Do we get to keep our jobs for another month or is it time to throw the bums out and let some folks who actually know what they're talking about?

Looking down the list I don't see any apps which I personally downloaded this past month, but looking at the scores now I'm definitely interested in Sentinel 3 and Stick Golf. I'm also not surprised to see LEGO Harry Potter did so well considering the fact that the LEGO game franchise is generally well-received by critics on top of being utterly adorable.

We'll be back with another batch of numbers when the December results go live, but in the meantime feel free to argue and debate these scores and generally carry on loud and angry conversations. This is the Internet after all; that's what it was made for. Well, one of the main things, anyway.