Disclaimer: I was not paid to write any of these reviews. It would be nice to, though :(. All reviews are based solely on my opinions, and thus clearly cater to my interests. Being the unique individual that I am, I do apologize if you don’t share the same interests as I do, and do not like these games that I recommend. Because you must be weird.

This list only includes PAID game apps. All prices stated are as of time of writing.

I’ve categorized them into time management games, Role-Playing games, brain games (games that require to think lol) and random games. They are not ranked in any particular order.

Time Management Games

All time management games are fundamentally the same. You just have to do what the customer wants you to do in the shortest time possible; before they storm off when their patience has been depleted.

Diner Dash – $2.99

The aim of the game is to seat customers, take their orders, serve them, collect the bill, and clean the dishes. You get double score if you seat a (for example) blue customer on a blue seat. It does get problematic when the customers come in groups of more than 4 and you will definitely end up seating them on a different seat than you wanted originally because it gets difficult to shift them around to your liking.

I couldn’t sit through playing all 50 stages at one go because it does get repetitive after a while. It also gets a lot more difficult at the later stages that it turns you off trying to get expert score.

Certain extent of replay value as you attempt to get expert score for each level. Personally, I never loaded the game again after I finished it for the first time.

Cooking Dash – $2.99

The aim of the game is essentially the same as diner dash, which is to seat a customer, cook the food that he wants, serve him, collect the bill, and wash the dishes. But I enjoyed cooking dash more than diner dash. Because you have to cook the food; so apart from watching the patience of the customers, you have to make sure you don’t burn the food.

After every 10 levels you enter a different restaurant with not only different themes, but also different foods to serve. Although it is technically the same idea and aim, it gives you a more refreshing game experience.

Certain extent of replay value as you attempt to get expert score for each level. I went back to get expert score for every level, then replayed the entire game.

I just bought Wedding Dash – $2.99 because it’s on sale at the moment. I will get back to you on this one. It’s from the same company as Diner Dash and Cooking Dash.

Airport Mania : First Flight – $0.99

The aim of the game is to land airplanes, unload passengers, refuel them, fix them, load passengers and then fly them off. It’s a very simple game with very cute graphics.

There’s more aeroplanes as you progress in terms of levels.

Not much replay value since the expert score is easy to achieve.

Sally’s Spa – $2.99

What I like about this game is that you don’t just tap to finish the job, but you also have to choose which stone to use, which bath bomb to use, which facial to use, etc.

After each stage you also have to stock up on items (like shampoos and sunblock) for sale so you must match the kind of supplies for use on the kind of day the next stage will be. For example, stock more sunblock on a sunny day, because no one would buy them on a rainy day.

Sally’s Salon – $0.99

Cut and color your customer’s hair.

Chocolate Shop Frenzy / Pizza Shop Mania – ($0.99/$2.99)

DO NOT GET BOTH because they are EXACTLY THE SAME apart from the obvious difference in theme of pizzeria or chocolatier.

You have to make the chocolate/pizza, put toppings on them etc. It gets a bit stressful when you accidentally make the wrong chocolate/pizza and topping.

On every 4th stage there is a mini match game. The aim is to make every block green, by getting 3 in a row.

Overall, a very repetitive game. Which makes me wonder why I put this game in this list in the first place.

Are you Alright? – $1.99

Similar to Sally’s Spa except in the theme of a hospital. Instead of manicures you remove glass shards from a patient’s body.

There’s 2 secret hospitals that you must unlock (resulting in 70 levels in the story mode) by finishing the time attack mode. I haven’t completed that because time attack mode is extremely boring.

Role-Playing Games

Zenonia 2 – $4.99

It’s basically your every day RPG. But it features real-time battle. It’s quite the hack and slash game that requires spammage of normal attack; with 4 slots of hotbar for your potions/food and 4 slots for skills.

4 classes to choose from with slight differences in dialogue; although the exact same storyline.

I enjoyed Zenonia 2 a lot more than Zenonia 1 (I never completed it). The graphics are better, I think Zenonia 2 looks more rounded and less blocky.

The storyline is interesting and the dialogue is humorous. New equipment gives your character a different look. The helmets are cute.

Of course touch screen controls cannot beat a real life controller. But Zenonia 2′s movement pad and button certainly surpasses others in the iTunes store. I have no problems with movement.

There is a PVP option. But do note that you are only fighting some one else’s character that is controlled by AI.  PVP gives experience and items. So it does provide you something else to do if you are bored of killing monsters. Something that annoys me is that there are hackers around which makes it impossible to defeat their characters. And mages have a skill that are completely imbalanced, yet the developers have not nerfed it. The upside is that this is not a multi-player based game so you don’t actually have to PVP.

A lot of replay value as each class has a different set of skills.

Brain Games

Mystery Mania – $1.99

A fun brain-racker while it lasts. Not an extensive amount of levels but there’s a variety of puzzles for the number of levels there are.

No replay value.

Angry Birds – $0.99

The story: Green pigs have stolen your eggs. Perform the duty of a suicide bomber to destroy them.

I suppose there’s some mathematics involved with trajectories and all that jazz, but fret not, dear non-mathematically inclined club. You can still play this game without any prior knowledge of mathematics. Just use common sense.

Many levels and types of birds (with different abilities) with future updates to come!

Some replay value as you attempt to reach 3 stars for every level; which is quite a feat considering the difficulty of some levels. And getting all golden eggs (hidden in some levels) which unlock secret stages.

Random Games

Plants vs Zombies – $2.99

I was considering whether to put this game under brain games, but I decided against it at the end because it gets quite spammy.

The plants are cute and so are the zombies. Different types of plants with different uses and different types of zombies (including a Michael Jackson zombie).

Many different stages which include day and night stages.

Doodle Jump – $0.99

I won’t call it insanely addictive (as it is advertised) because I give up easily due to my terrible lack of skills at this game. But I can see how it is addictive, as you try to improve your high score with each play.

There’s a few themes to choose from, such as Christmas and underwater.

Lion Pride – $0.99

Use your finger to draw paths for your lions/lionesses to follow. Draw it fast for them to run, and slow for them to stalk. Ambush your prey otherwise they will run off and your pride will go hungry!

Many different types of prey, such as warthogs and zebras to even elephants! Elephants require something like 4 lions to take down.

This game requires some extent of macro-ing skills (controlling more than 1 lion at the same time) so don’t expect it to be child’s play.

Featuring day and night stages. Get food during the day, and protect your cubs during the night by fending off hyenas.

Surviving High School – $0.99

The game comes with the football season mega pack. Any other stories you have to purchase, but don’t worry, there is a downloadable story every week for free. Make sure you download it before it is gone, otherwise you have to pay!

The football season mega pack itself is great. Depending on what you spend your time on, you either become a jock, a nerd or a lady’s man! Or perhaps even a loser. 3 girls to chase after; who will become your eventual girlfriend?

Some mini-games. But I prefer the question and answer mini game to this one shown in the picture above; that requires you to make the word shown. It is repetitive and not much a challenge.

A lot of replay value because of the weekly updates, but not just that. There are different outcomes for the different answers that you choose for your avatar. Try to get the perfect ending for every story!

I seldom replay stories because it is boring to go through the same story all over again just to choose a different answer just to watch the perfect ending.

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Tip: If you find prices too steep for your liking, wait for holidays to purchase as they usually go on sale then. Check the app store frequently because sales are on for a limited period of time. They do go free sometimes.

Not so much a tip: You’ll get more worth for your money if you let other people play your game apps. :) If you find that you no longer bother opening some of these apps again, let your friend play it to beat your score (For games like Doodle Jump)! Then you have reason to load the game again to play it. :)

Credits: All pictures taken from the respective game pages in the iPhone store.