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Zombie Night Terror - just one of this month's great mobile games

Zombie Night Terror – just one of this months great mobile games

June turns out to be one of the best months for new mobile games in a long time, thanks to Zombie Night Terror and Rome: Total War.

Although this may seem like just another month, there has been some sort of invisible planetary alignment in the universe of mobile games, producing a rare bumper crop of cracking entertainment. Whether you enjoy the strange and intriguing art piece of KIDS, the organic puzzling challenges of Ordia, or the highly amusing, fraudulent medical practice of Astrologaster, there has rarely been a better four weeks in phone gaming.

Astrologaster for iOS, £3.99 (Nyamyam)

In the late 16th century, London is in the grip of bubonic plague and any doctors that can still walk have fled the city for the slightly safer countryside. For patients left behind the last resort is Simon Forman, an un-licensed quack who uses astrology to advise a hapless procession of hypochondriacs and the genuinely sick.

When each patient enters his practice, your job is to consult the stars and then select from a multiple-choice list of interpretations to suggest a cure for the patient. If they like your treatment, theyll come back for more, adding to their chance of leaving a letter of recommendation. With enough of those, perhaps one day Simon can apply for a real medical licence.

Patients stories are hilarious, as are the songs that pepper the game, and the appalling medical advice you offer based on observation of the zodiac. Even more bizarrely, its based on the life of real Elizabethan astrologer, Simon Forman, albeit jazzed up considerably for the game.

Score: 8/10

Alt-Frequencies for iOS & Android, £3.99 (Accidental Queens)

Your only source of interaction in Alt-Frequencies is a radio that lets you scan through the FM band for radio stations, record specific phrases, and call in to other channels shows to playback your recordings.

Its a limited set of possibilities that supports an interesting and unusual – if relatively brief – game in which you uncover a government-level conspiracy involving a nationwide Groundhog Day-style time loop.

From the makers of A Normal Lost Phone and its sequel, which drew you into the intimate world of the character whose mobile you find, this is another quasi-real life setting made sinister by its fiction. Despite the intrigue, it all ends with confusing suddenness, on a note thats neither resolution nor cliffhanger.

Score: 7/10

Zombie Night Terror for iOS & Android, £3.99 (Plug In Digital)

Originally released on PC, this pixel art zombie apocalypse puts you on the side of the undead, guiding your shuffling horde Lemmings-style to each levels objectives.

Viewed side-on, with each room, staircase, building, and underground station meticulously crafted in retro-looking pixels, you can watch as hoodlums spit on the ground while awaiting their fate and bystanders react in their own ways to impending assimilation by your carefully nurtured, brain-hungry throng.

Its lack of checkpoints, combined with the intrinsic fiddliness of the interface, causes moments of frustration, but the beautiful level design and mechanically fascinating and diverse tasks mean this remains enthralling throughout.

Score: 9/10

KIDS for iOS, £2.99 (Playables)

KIDS is not a game so much as an interactive toy-cum-digital art installation, in which you poke and prod at herds of tiny figures in what looks like an animated Keith Haring painting, punctuated by occasional, hauntingly beautiful choral music.

They crowd, they run, they clap and sing, but youll also find yourself gently guiding them into black pits, where theyre swallowed by grotesquely organic-looking pipes whose peristalsis, driven entirely by your finger, pulses them along until they plop out, falling onto a white plain below, or into fluid through which they can swim.

The sense of mystery and foreboding is heightened by its refusal to explain itself, letting you make of it what you will. Whatever conclusion you come to, the unfettered experimentation in crowd dynamics and unusual combination of cute and menacing make this a memorable and bewildering half hour or so.

Score: 7/10

Rome: Total War – Barbarian Invasion for iOS, £4.99 (Feral Interactive)

Set in the Roman Empires waning years, you can take command of Romes Eastern or Western forces, or choose one of eight barbarian factions – each of which comes with its own advantages, weaknesses, and victory conditions.

Controlling your troops in battle is very similar to the real Rome: Total War, but the variety of situations and factions gives the process a big shake-up, and adds reasons to play the campaign multiple times from the perspectives of its contrasting protagonists.

If youre not careful youll also find yourself learning a lot about the periods history and the Romans divisive final lurch towards Christianity. But dont let that put you off, as this is a deep and varied strategy game that never lets historical authenticity get in the way of fun.

Score: 8/10

Ailment for iOS & Android, £Free (Ivan Panasenko)

Ailment is a twin stick shooter style roguelike where you wake up in deep space on a zombie-infested spaceship, and have to fight your way out, unlocking doors, raiding lockers, and scavenging for medical kits as you progress.

As well as a set of randomly acquired weapons, your survivor also has a force field that absorbs some damage before disappearing, which becomes especially handy when enemies escalate from barehandRead More – Source