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The 5 Best Mobile Games Like The Last of Us Part II

Posted by Campbell Bird on June 18th, 2020

The Last of Us Part II is set to come out this week, but review scores have already been rolling in to pump up excitement for the latest entry in Naughty Dog’s expensive-looking apocalyptic survival horror series. Generally speaking, the game has already received near universal praise for its technical prowess, it’s a little less clear whether its story and tone will be as successful.

Some of this is due to the review embargo Naughty Dog has put in place around The Last of Us Part II, which has restricted critics from writing about the game in its entirety. Outside of that, there has been also heavy discussion among writers about how the game’s tone feels overly brutal and needlessly bleak, particularly since these aspects are seemingly being used in order to raise the same tired questions about player agency and violence that have been explored repeatedly in over a decade’s worth of “prestige” games.

The 5 Best Mobile Turn-Based Strategy Games

Posted by Campbell Bird on March 25th, 2020

In a lot of ways, turn-based strategy games are an ideal fit for mobile. Their menu-heavy navigation and slow pace mesh better with touch input than just about any other control scheme.

Unsurprisingly, this means there are a lot of strategy games to choose from on mobile, but not all of them are worth your time (or money). Take, for example, War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. For all its flashy visuals and pedigree, it’s a shameless gacha game that capitalizes on your fondness for Chocobos and older, better games while locking up its strategic depth behind a dizzying amount of monetized systems.

With that in mind, I went ahead and selected our top picks for the best turn-based strategy games on mobile. Check them out below. Oh, and click here to check out all the great lists we’ve been making recently.


The Battle of Polytopia (Free)

If you’re new to this genre and wondering where to start, I can’t recommend The Battle of Polytopia highly enough. It’s free, matches are short, and it does a great job of teaching you the fundamentals of strategy games without feeling overly complicated.

It’s also one of the most convenient strategy games there is, as it plays well in portrait mode and auto-saves constantly. Once you feel ready, you can also spend as little as $ 0.99 to unlock a new tribe that will also give you the ability to play with others online.

Click here to read why The Battle of Polytopia is the perfect introduction to strategy games

148Apps's best games of 2016 - Campbell's list

Posted by Campbell Bird on December 30th, 2016


2016 sure was miserable in a lot of ways, but fortunately there were some pretty good games that came out to help take the edge off. For mobile in particular, it was actually an astoundingly great year. So many great games came out that it's hard to choose just 10! In fact, Jessica and I couldn't even agree on one top 10 game between the two of us. Check out her list here if you don't believe me. Here are my top mobile game picks for 2016.

10.
Pathfinder Adventures takes the epic feeling of playing a full Dungeons & Dragons campaign and distills it into a strategic deck-building game. It also gotten a lot of support throughout the year with added content, making it a game worth continuing to play for some time to come.

9.
I'm particularly fond of Twin Peaks, and Kathy Rain is a point-and-click adventure game that's very reminiscent of that show in more ways than one. Add to that some great characters and not-too-obscure puzzle design, and you've got one of the best adventure games out there.

8.
Steins;Gate is one of the most memorable games from this year almost purely because so much happens in it. It's a Japanese visual novel that takes about 20 hours to complete. All the while, you make subtle decisions that can completely alter your story. In games that give players the power to make choices, you can usually see the seams pretty clearly, but Steins;Gate masks them very well, all while telling a story that grows on you.

7.
I don't like crafting games too much, but I sure do like Crashlands. It takes a lot of the annoying aspects of the genre (inventory management, roguelike mechanics) and tosses them all out the window to make a game more focused on getting lost in a world than on pure survival. It sounds like it could make for a boring game, but there are more than enough things that the folks at Butterscotch Shennanigans threw into the game to keep it interesting.

6.
Shadow Blade: Reload is a silky smooth platformer that looks great and offers plenty of challenge. Plus, you play as a ninja that can dodge bullets. After you finish the game the first time, the there are plenty of collectibles and time challenges to give you something to do on subsequent playthroughs. It's hard to ask for more than that.

5.
I have said it once and I'll say it again: Riptide GP: Renegade is the best racing game on iOS. The game plays like a mix between Hydro Thunder and SSX, all while looking awesome, running at a smooth framerate, and having a robust single-player campaign. It used to have some trouble with online matchmaking, but that's been fixed. If you like racing games, go play Riptide GP; Renegade!

4.
Peter Panic! might as well be called WarioWare: The Musical. It's a downright silly game about saving the local theater by fighting a demon that is trying to destroy it. Since the game is about the theater, there are plenty of goofy and charming musical numbers throughout too. Also, did I mention it's basically a WarioWare game, and a pretty darn good one at that?

3.
I hate when strategy games put you in control of expert characters who can sometimes muck up simple actions because of a bad dice roll. A large part of the reason Invisible, Inc. is so great is that this cannot happen. Its random elements are things you can react to knowing that your expert team of hackers are so good at what they do they will not make a mistake. That is, unless you make a mistake for them.

2.
Every once in a while, a game comes out of nowhere and completely knocks you out. This year, that game was Gemini - A Journey of Two Stars. It's a beautiful game about companionship that tells its story using its mechanics and some wonderful music. It's also one of the few games all year that I replayed multiple times.

1.
If you told me at the beginning of this year that the sequel to Banner Saga would be one of my favorite games of 2016, I would've thought you were crazy. I didn't love the first Banner Saga enough to get more than an hour or two in, but Banner Saga 2 gripped me so hard from the start and didn't let go until I hit the end credits. It's a great strategy game, but it's also so much more than that. Banner Saga 2 blends gameplay, storytelling, and art in a way that makes it feel so much more than the sum of its parts, making it my personal Game of the Year.

What are your favorite games of the year? Tell us about it in the comments below!

The best mobile games on a wintery theme

Posted by Jessica Famularo on December 15th, 2016
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Our rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar :: PUZZLY THE SNOWMAN :: Read Review »


As the miserable winter weather approaches (along with more excuses to hole up indoors -- there’s always a bright side!) it’s time to find comfort in some quality mobile games. To ease into the season, why not try some of these fine games on a winter theme? Snow and ice makes for some excellent platforming challenges, but developers get creative and find other ways to turn the snowy theme on its head. Here are some of our personal favorites.

3 tips to aid your journey in Banner Saga 2

Posted by Jessica Famularo on October 1st, 2016

Stoic Games brings us another viking epic in the guise of Banner Saga 2 this week. It’s a sweeping tale, richly animated and draped in melancholy and moments of beauty. The game’s been received as a much improved follow up to the first entry in the series.

As befitting a game set at the end of days, Banner Saga 2 features a tough grid-based tactical RPG battle system that does not go easy on you. Here are a few tips to ensure that your quest is a successful one.

Banner Saga 2 review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Campbell Bird on September 29th, 2016
Our rating: starstarstarstarstar :: A NEW STANDARD BEARER
In a desolate world with threats looming at every corner, you must lead your group of Viking survivors in this harrowing-yet-touching strategy role playing game.
Read The Full Review »