Great games for a summer getaway
Fire up your smartphone and take these terrific titles wherever you’re heading
THE August holidays usually see many of us trying to get away for a few days to spend some quality time with the family.
And while there’s nothing more relaxing than a week away from home, it’s nice to have a distraction.
If reading isn’t your thing, you can still feed your gaming habit on the beach with some great titles on your phone.
Something to bear in mind is that while many of these games are free, that’s because there are in-app purchases they want to push.
So if you’re planning on letting the kids loose on any of them, make sure you’ve locked down purchasing rights.
Words of caution over, here are some of the best mobile games to download and take away with you.
Giant Dancing Plushies (PEGI 7)
iOS, Android A light rhythm game that sees you play as the titular giant plushies dancing through city streets.
Following directional instructions on the screen, you have to keep your adorable kaiju in time with the beat.
Strutting your stuff in time with the rhythm helps you destroy the various barricades and obstacles the city’s terrified residents have put out to slow your progress.
Those stockades become more elaborate, and you’ll soon find yourself taking on armoured tanks as you throw shapes to defeat the enemy.
Never has the quest for world domination been so adorable.
Price: 99p
Baba Is You (PEGI 3) iOS, Android
Fans of this wonderful game on Switch and PC, can now take it with them on their phone.
Don’t let the simple 2D graphics fool you, madness lies within this game.
Each level is packed with blocks arranged into sentences which set out the rules of the puzzle.
You need to rearrange the words, to make your own rules and reach a flag to end the level.
For example, the rule might say “wall”, “is”, “stop”. Remove “stop” from the sentence, and you change the rule, meaning you can now pass freely through walls.
It’s a genius concept, simply executed, that gives hours and hours of brain itching entertainment.
Price: £5.06
The White Door (PEGI 12)
iOS, Android If you’re after a game that will stretch your little grey cells, then this point and click mystery could be what you’re looking for.
You play as Robert Hill, who wakes up in a mental health facility with no memory of how he got there.
Through following the facility’s strict daily routine, you can explore Robert’s dreams and help him recall his memories.
Packed full of riddles and brain teasers, the game’s eye-catching, line drawn art style looks dramatic in black and white, but even more so in colour, as you begin to put together the mystery of Robert’s life.
Price: £2.49
Night of the Full Moon (PEGI 7)
iOS, Android This is an RPG-like deck-building game based on the classic Brothers Grimm tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
You play as Red herself, who battles various monsters of the forest with cards to save her beloved grandma.
Instead of Red being a young girl surviving on her cunning and wits, you can choose to play this Red as a knight, nun, witch or soul hunter.
It gets steadily more difficult as you progress through the chapters, and the great thing is, if you’ve whizzed through them all you can replay choosing a different character for Red, or a different level of difficulty.
Surprisingly addictive, you’ll never look at the fairy tale the same way again.
Price: Free
Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! (PEGI 3) iOS, Android
Join everyone’s favourite genetically engineered marsupial Crash and his sister Coco on a mission to save the multiverse.
With a slower, more considered pace than the Crash games you’re probably used to, you’ll still be spinning, jumping and smashing your way through levels. The problem is the further through the game you plough, the more familiar those levels start to seem and end bosses start to give you deja vu.
Mobile games are obviously limited with all the features they can include, but you can’t help wondering just how good this game would be if there was less emphasis on micro transactions, and more focus on gameplay.
Price: Free