If you don’t have Heads Up! ($1.99) on your phone yet, you should think of fixing that problem as it’s one of those games that can make hours melt away in situations where you’ve got friends around to play with. The game is basically a modern-day version of Charades, and it uses your iPhone in clever ways. The core gameplay loop involves selecting a deck of cards, a bunch are included and a ton of other ones are available via IAP, and this deck of cards will have various words and phrases. You hold your phone up to your forehead, and have to guess what word is on the screen (which your friends can see) while they act it out or otherwise give you hints. If you get it, you briefly tilt the phone down, if you’re stuck you briefly tilt the phone up to pass.
What makes Heads Up extra neat is it’s using the front-facing camera the whole time you’re playing to record clips of the games with the words overlaid on top. Here’s what they look like:
Anyway, it’s really cool because it doesn’t matter how many people you play with. The only real limitation is how many people can see your iPhone screen. I’ve been involved in some huge games at bars, and really, the game only gets more hilarious when you’ve got a dozen people shouting clues at you and you still just don’t get it. If you’re planning on sitting in line tonight waiting for good seats to see Star Wars, I highly recommend giving this game a crack. It’s awesome getting everyone involved in something, since, you know, you’re hanging out with your friends and all. Playing a game together is way more fun, and makes time pass way faster than everyone just sitting there refreshing their Twitter timelines. Trust me.
To mark the occasion, they’ve released a special Star Wars card deck. It’ll set you back a buck to unlock, and it’s loaded with all sorts of Star Wars-y words, phrases, character names, and more. I consider myself a pretty huge Star Wars fan, and even I don’t know the specific name of a lot of the weirdo characters this deck includes… So, it’ll be fun to play both with your know-it-all Star Wars friends and other people tagging along just because they like seeing movies with you.
Wow, didn't see that coming. Landsliders and Downwell didn't last more than 15 minutes on my phone. All the great games out there and that's what gets game of the year? What about Card Crawl, that's hands down better than either of those.
I thought Horizon Chase was going to be the one.
Horizon Chase or Space Marshals are far more deserving.
Seeing how the TA team was all wet over it when it came out, i was sure that was going to be the one !
"You were the chosen one!"
Same here
I agree i thought it was a boring game that doesnt deserve to be on any goty list
Obviously it should've been the Witcher 3!
Fallout 4.
heehee
Did some of these developers pay for this
I'm gonna show some Christmas spirit and not question the goty. I thought it was a really ingenious game myself.
Feels like kind of a lackluster year for mobile gaming. I've enjoyed a lot of games on this list, but nearly all had significant flaws that prevented them from being all-time classics. I think there are a bunch of problems related to monetization, Apple's App Store mismanagement, clone apps, and the remaining hardware gap with other platforms that are holding back mobile. Yet I do think a lot of these issues can be improved, so here's hoping to a better 2016!
😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑go to consoles then if u think this year was lackluster cuz u are high if this wasn't a great year for mobile implosion this war of mine Lara craft go and Rex rocket don't starve hero emblems landslides THE AWSOME AIR ATTACK 2 wow Kidd u don't enjoy gaming at all if u don't see the instant classics we got IM APPALED U SAID THAT 😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑😑
In fairness, having several incredible titles released is not mutually exclusive with having a lackluster year. Perhaps it's a testament to the much-maligned App Store, but EVERY year seems to have had some really spectacular games. I think that -- relatively speaking -- it may, indeed, have been a slightly below-par year, which takes away NOTHING from the great games that were released, or from TA's invaluable work in announcing and reviewing them for us.
Yeah I agree, nothing really grabbed me this year like Threes, Hoplite, or Out There, just to name a few past games that I could not put down after downloading. I played Pacman 256, Horizon Chase, and Downwell the most but none of them are particularly memorable or gripping. Agree that the combo system brings Downwell to a new level but the comparisons to Spelunky, probably one of the top 5 games I've played in the last 5+ years, are ridiculous IMO.
Well you're on deck for 2016, Nintendo-san! がんばって！！！
Lol land sliders game of the year? I mean it is a really good game but come on!!!!!!
G.O.B.: "W-Worse that can happen is can I spill some on my $3,000 suit. Come on! Oh, yeah, yeah. The guy in the... the $4,000 suit is holding the elevator for a guy who doesn’t make that in three months. Come on! Oh. Why don’t I just take a whiz through this $5,000 suit?!"
Mine is Cut the Rope:Magic, now that was fun.
Landsliders GOTY? C'mon man!!
"Oh, that’s... that’s-that’s great. The guy who’s dirty dancing with his niece is going to tell the guy in the thirty-six hundred dollar suit how to run the business. Come on!"
Land Sliders is a fantastic game that I sunk hours and hours in but I feel like Downwell is the superior game. That game is just fabulous and hooks you like no other game did this year. Also the games that are ports feel kinda cheap cause the better versions of the games are on PC and console. Just my two cents. Otherwise great list of games that I already have most of! Will go get the rest that I don't
A nice list of games. However, Land Sliders would be nowhere in the list of the year's best games for me.
Land Sliders seemed pretty crap to me.
I hated it after about an hour.
Cont....
However, for what it is it's a really good game. Just not my favorite type. It works very well and I can't imagine how many hours went into programming a game like this. I just get tired of getting killed. 😡
I recommend watching this video before delving deeper into this comment thread: https://youtube.com/watch?v...
The link doesn't work from the app
Coly and paste works :)
Not in the app it doesn't.
If you go back to the article and hit the button in the top right and select "open in Safari" (at least that's how it is on mine) you can see and click on the non-truncated links. The youtube video is [Watsy and Wax - Give a Hater a Hug] I prefer Chappelle's [Haters' Ball].
Is the game off the year selected by the TA reviewers,should be great to let the forum users off TA pick a yearly winnner,the game that won the title was surely not my favorite (understatement)but there will be always many different preferences in games,what is great for one is terrible for another.
The forum users do pick their own GOTY (and GOTW and even GOTM, I believe). This is done in the .... Wait for it..... Waaaait fooor iiiit.... The forums! :)
So it's likely that I missed the info to bring my vote for the game of the year,I am surfing at least once a day to TouchArcade but zero info about the GOTY election?anyway thanks for the info and wish you and others on TA a nice Christmas and a great new year.
You misunderstood. The forum users pick THEIR OWN game of the year. It's completely independent from TA's game of the year. If you want to participate in the forum user's GOTY pick, visit the forums. The game of the week and game of the year threads are stickied at the top of the iPhone/iPad Games forum. You can't miss them.
Landsliders?! Orl?
Good troll is good.
Im happy land sliders won the Goty, the game deserved it.
:)
I thought Warhammer Deathwatch would of been game of the year. Land sliders, not so much (it's a fun, cute little game). Goty no. Downwell is a solid runner up. No gripe with Downwell pick.
Once again I'm super happy we spent so much time this week (instead of taking time off, spending it with family/friends/etc.) going through all the games this year to whiddle down what were our personal favorites for comments like these. You guys are truly just the best.
Commenters bless us, everyone!
Hmmmm, it's just doesn't feel like Christmas unless I ignore my family in order to tell complete strangers to fight me IRL...
I think it's a very, very solid list.
I might reposition one or two higher or lower but as you said yourself, with a list as good as that, it really just comes down to a nitty gritty here and there.
Nothing but top notch quality in there and one or two that I haven't tried myself but certainly will have to now.
Thanks to you and the team for doing it.
It is, as always, greatly appreciated by the silent (well, mostly silent:)) majority.
Considering these are HUMANS you're dealing with (a species with unimaginable varying opinions and senses of self entitlement), what do you honestly expect? There was literally NO game you could have chosen to get a better reaction. People feel what they feel, good or bad, and this is the Internet, so they'll make sure every one reads about it. On that note, your constant use of sarcasm and belittlement of your readers isn't helping the already negative comment sections. It's bad enough when I come to the comments and find dozens of whiny teenagers angry that THEY'RE favourite game didn't make it; but then to also continually find your snarky comments, it just makes the TA site feel so immature. If you're commenters are acting like children, then treat them like children: ignore their selfishness and only give attention to the one who are positive. If you only responded to the reasonable and generally positive commenters, I bet the negativity would really slow down. People just want attention; make a habit of giving attention to the less whiny and the rest will follow. ---- Anyway, great choice of Land Sliders for GOTY! I was really shocked when I saw what you picked, but the article convinced me that it made sense. Of all the iOS games in 2015, it was definitely the one of the only games I can think of that had a very original and unique gameplay mechanic! Personally, Downwell was my GOTY =)
So very well put. Love ya, Eli, but you really need thicker skin, especially for a site of this nature.
We've all got thick skin around here, you have to in order to endure internet commenters. It's just increasingly tiring how the posts that take us the most amount of time get consistently slammed with a tidal wave of negativity. It took nearly four hours before a comment showed up that did more than just take a dump on this article.
Nothing's going to bring out differing and dissenting opinions like GOTY. Just the nature of the beast. And disagreeing is far from not appreciating. We all know the yeoman's effort it takes to put out quality content on a daily basis, and most appreciate it.
I don't think that is true. I said the game prob wasn't my GOTY but I loved this list. I come on TA every day and love it so much. I would never have played Land Sliders if not for TA and I would have missed out on an amazing game!! I'm sorry if I sounded negative at all cause I love the work y'all do here and I appreciate it very very much. Keep up the awesome work Eil!
Yeah dude, it's a really good game. Glad you like it. Merry Christmas. :)
If you actually had thick skin, as you claim, then you wouldn't have responded with such childish belittlement. You would have formed your opinion personally, and taken these comments in stride. The fact that you posted sarcastic, passive-aggressive quips not just once, but multiple times, makes me stunned that you have the audacity to hold out your hand for Patreon donations in the same breath.
Either stand by your choice despite criticism, and be the better person, or don't bother posting it.There are plenty of others who save face better in worse situations who you could learn from.
A Venn diagram of chronically negative commenters and Patreon backers would be two circles. Our Patreon backers are an awesome group of hardcore fans, long-time developers, and other awesome people who appreciate what we do and are stellar members of our community. I think there's likely a large age difference there too.
Then you have a responsibility here. You must be the person who the backers are proud of, who acts positively and calmly in the face of criticism. And you must also show your critics by example, leading them to believe in your product through your actions. One subtle, sarcastic quip would have been enough, but repeated belittlement and patronization brings down how your donors think of you, hurts your site's image, and doesn't convince anyone that their hostile posts might have been inappropriate.
The sooner you drop the defensive stance, the sooner you can start learning from your mistake.
What's kind of fascinating about running a Patreon is it's always the people who aren't backers trying to tell you what your existing supporters want. I've personally emailed all of our substantial backers, and have regular dialogs with many of them that steer the direction of the site. Considering our Patreon has wildly exceeded our expectations and we haven't seen any drop-off in support, I'd say we're on the right track.
I'm not talking about what the backers want, or the site itself, or its direction, or your expectations. I was trying to help you understand how your words here could negatively affect how people view this site, and why you should consider being more polite in the future. You are either quite averse to admitting fault, or you don't understand how belittling your site's users can result in negative opinions of what you represent here.
Even in your response to me, somone who is genuinely trying to point out something to you that you might not see in yourself, you address me condescendingly. You appear more concerned about saving face than doing right by the people you are offended by. This usually doesn't end well, and I think you should try to avoid it, but that's up to you.
I won't waste any more of your time, or mine.
Ok.
I totally
Hear what you are saying. Eli just doesn't it man. A mature adult would have no problem in admitting fault And apologize for belittling its users with sarcastic comments and responses. Eli if you can't say something nice in response then just ignore the mean comments and move on. You make it worse with your rude responses. Pretty disappointed in you.
A. He said "ok"
B. I hate Christmantine interventions and one-sidedness, even when it may have good intentions
C. I don't know that that's entirely fair. For someone to continually take a metaphorical beating online and not vent in any manner would be polite but it's also not who some people are, or an entirely healthy response if that one Simpsons' episode "Moaning Lisa" is to be believed:
.Marge: "It doesn't matter how you feel inside, you know. It's what shows up on the outside that counts. Take all your bad feelings and push them down, all the way down past your knees, until you're almost walking on them. And then you'll fit in, and you'll be invited to parties, and boys will like you. And happiness will follow,"
.but in that episode they also learn that bottling emotions leads to rage and passive-aggression.
.If he was rude wantonly that would be trolling, but being rude in response, although not "adult" by everyone's standards, should be an option that is up to the individual. It is important for someone to understand the ramifications of their actions (I once interloped on behalf of a lady-wolverine fan I thought some were being unkind to, only to find out everything was chill for all parties, so sometimes in text form it's also hard to judge intent). So if people are actually feeling bullied they should say so and I'd ugh... What the hell am I writing...
D. People are human, and if everyone was kind all the time things would be rather boring. (weak)
E. Gah, I'm not trying to make anyone the bad guy here because that doesn't help anyone. Anyone can "get" something, it just doesn't help if you actually say, "you don't get it," that's like telling someone to "just calm down," it's kinda only good at doing the opposite...
Well he didn't pick Candy Crush or Clash of Clans which would have been strange because I'm pretty sure they weren't made this year. He also didn't pick a really obscure game or non-game app that no one's heard of, but he would have gotten double points from me if it's been a really obscure game he had made, like "El Hodapapins's Miek Tysen's Panch Owt 2: Panch 2 teh balz! Amerika Aktivate!" So I mean he could have done worse, hypothetically... Landslider's meta sounds cool. I'll have to try and Googs an article on that...
And once again I am pleased to see Eli denigrate the users of this site in the comments section. You expect people who visit the site to act more mature than yourself? I expect nothing less from you at this point.
Right nothing like having the editors use sarcastic pompous comments to stir the pot more. I too work thru the holidays, it's pretty normal these days...
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you too!
I don't understand why ppl take the time to leave crap comments. It's apparently hard for ppl to just go on with their lives without trying to anger others. Y'all did a good job all year. They are games ppl! Merry Christmas :)
It's just really easy for people to anonymously complain online.
C'mon, it's not like this isn't your (or our, I'm a fellow journalist) job.
You bemoan the fact you couldn't spend more time with family and friends and yet you return to this thread to read and comment every couple of hours.
It's almost like moderating comments is part of my job.
Hey, Eli! Poop poop poop poop pooop poooputy pooopins!
It's like Christmas and youuuu're our family, Eli! You gots to hang with us! Just like in the Twilight Zone!
I consider you family.
Awwwwwwww! I have family! But I thought they all died in a freak gasoline fight accident ;)...
I think you guys should have spent that time with family instead of this, but that's my two cents. Merry Christmas! :)
Notice that only 4 of TA's 26 best are freemium. What was that about the future of mobile gaming again?
If only TA could make the market ignore the $ facts as well as you are able to.
For me GOTY are : Gta LCS , This War of Mine , Horizon Chase , Lara Croft GO , Galactic Keep , Badland 2 , Cut the rope Magic , Geometry Wars , Downhill , Fallout Shelter and much more .... :D
*Downwell .... and these all games here
Yes! I'm happy that Land Sliders took home the GOTY title. Were there other games that were "bigger", deeper, more complex, etc,? Sure. But other than Her Story, none of those games really did much of anything different, in terms of new gameplay features and innovations. I will admit that I haven't played Downwell yet, so it may be more innovative than the videos appear to me, but it doesn't seem to be that much more than a run-n-gun, only going down rather than to the side. Land Sliders is not a complex game, but the simple concept of sliding the world around your character via touch-screen was a really clever use of the mobile platform. You guys have to remember that this isn't simply a game review site, it's a MOBILE game review site, so not only are games evaluated as games, they are also evaluated in how they fit the mobile platform. Land Sliders nailed it, plain and simple. Whether you personally like the game or not isn't a criterion for determining the GOTY.
Sorry for the block-o-text. TA app ignores paragraphing and just mashes it all together.
Sometimes you can get.
.lucky
.like
.this
.but it's not perfect
I suppose you're right about the whole "mobile limitations best of" thing. Game jams are pretty great in that regard (the game "expat" is my fave jam game that I know of, you can find it for free online for pc).
But that's the thing. It was most definitely the most innovative game of the year (sliding and whatnot) but game of the year is typically the most well-rounded game, the fullest experience, and Land sliders was only average I that respect. Compared to the other titles at least.
absolutely 0 interest in any of those...
Space Marshals hands down for me!
Mine was (is) Horizon Chase. What a gem...
No mention for Dark Fear, man i thought that was great!
Meh for the Game of the Year but great list of Winners throughout Game of the year lasted about fifteen minutes on my devices. One man garbage is another mans treasure, or is that the other way around?
Land sliders was cool but I wouldn't call it GOTY but then again this isn't my site. That being said thank you TA for another solid year of updates and reporting and great reading and news regarding the iOS gaming world. If it weren't for you guys the community wouldn't be half of what it is today and is only growing. So while everyone doesn't always or ever agree on what games are good or bad or best or worst we should all agree that touch arcade does us an incredible service and for that I'm super thankful. Long Live TA.
Thanks man! Happy Holidays!
Hear hear!
Was gonna leave a comment like this but I can't say it any better than you just did.
Thanks Jared&Co. for taking the time to put together this awesome list! Got most of them bit still need to add a few. Nice picks!
Landsliders? Huh! Well can't personally say it was the best. Barely touched the game since installing it. While pretty and well developed, it ended up just being a repetitive push-around with a now all-too-familiar freemium mechanic.
What is the Landsliders ARG that was mentioned?
.Gamezebo has an article that mentions Toucharcade (as friends) and the TA forums and the Augmented Reality Game in "Land Sliders' Mysterious Coordinates Send Players on a Global Adventure." Which sounds pretty freakin' sweet.
.My faves viral marketing thing (besides the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninite Gridlock of Boston in 2007, real thing, own wikipedia page!) Is dolphinately Bioshock 2, I read about it on the Bioshock wiki and it sounded really cool and complex, it added a lot to the backstory of how Rapture was made and its location.
My first reaction to Land Sliders GOTY was outrage -- I played it for about three minutes, deleted it, and forgot about it until now. And, in truth, I can't understand a light, "casual" game getting this nod (over Galactic Keep, even!?). BUT, while it's not my cup of tea, I could imagine something like this being released in the NES/SNES era -- with a $40 price tag -- and becoming a classic: then we'd have comments like, "Mobile gaming these days! Remember when they used to make REAL games like Land Sliders, instead of all this Clash of Clans crap?" So, I'll take others' words that it was implemented perfectly and was a stand-out game. And just look at the other games on this list.
Hm I like downwell... land sliders is certainly a unique game with great polish but I have a hard time thinking it'd be fun after five minutes. Granted I haven't played it, but seen the trailers and multiple video reviews.
The random generating stuff is ok but randomization is always done through mathematical algorithms so they are never drastically different from one another.
But hey journalism is mostly opinion so each to their own. Looking back on the year, there weren't a lot of truly standout games- I like Fantastic Plastic ( love that theme song ) and Dead Effect. Maybe cause I hadn't heard nothing about them until I saw and downloaded them.
FANTASTIC PLASTIC REALLY 😐😐😐😐😐😐out of all these games u men in n that free to play 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
Will the individual editors also be releasing separate lists again this year?
Yes, those are coming early next week.
Yaaaay! :)
#SpoilertAlert the answer is actually "boo" to all opinions with the exception of MINE!!!
Great list. Thanks, TA, for filtering the crap and highlighting quality.. Not just here, but every week.
I would add Super Sharp, Sproggiwood, Gunpowder, and Subterfuge.
Now, let's bring in the new year. I'm eager to play some CrashLanders and Banner Saga 2.
Out of that list I loved:
Furdemption
The Executive
Horizon Chase
Geometry Wars 3
Working on and may reach loving:
Air Attack 2
Really didn't like:
Land Sliders
Does Bot Commute
And Eli - no need to get snarky about people disagreeing. The discussion that follows is the main point of these end of year lists.
Your first comment on this story was you racing to tell us our GOTY pick was crap. Surely you don't feel that contributes to any kind of meaningful discussion?
That's why I expanded on it later. It's still better than your sarcastic responses.
I will agree to disagree.
Whoa, man, DNC is super baller... So much so that it dolphinately won my super ballerest game of the year award* (*category: free car game with awesome easter egg). And if y'all don't share my no-nonsense oh-god-white-people-are-somehow-endangered common values, I'm afraid you must be with the terries.
by terries do you mean tories as in the slang term for british soldiers during the american civil war? that would be pretty rad if you meant that.
One if by land, two if by IAP.
Dang it didn't post wither time. Tory is a Brit. conservative or was kind of like a colonial quisling. "Terries" is a Key and Peele reference! "Prepared for Terries" is a good sketch. Now I have a machine gun. Ho-Ho-Ho
It's funny, this article lit up my watched game update notifications like a, well, Christmas tree.
Crowntakers is deserving of a mention. I spent more time with it, horizon chase and Subaracity than anything else this year.
Nothing for Heroes and Castles 2???
I was also going to mention H&C2. It took an already great concept and took it up a notch. Definitely my favorite game of the year.
A solid list overall but Land Sliders I played for about 10 minutes and deleted. Didn't see much in it. In all honesty, I can't see why you guys loved it so much even to declare it your favorite game of the year. A small solid diversion, sure, but game of the year? Personally my GOTY is Dust (even though it's a port - I loved it) followed by Skiing Yeti Mountain (I got gold on all 841 levels - that says something!) and I also enjoyed Crowntakers a lot. Eli - don't be so harsh with your readers, they are your readers after all! You just end up lowering yourself. I also didn't find a lot of these comments to be so disrespectful as yours were actually. And finally, you can't make fun of your readers, and then ask them to support you by Petreon.
I can say with 100% certainty that the people who continually comment here despite disliking everything we do are not Patreon backers, or ever will be. Thanks for the comment though, I loved Dust as well.
Thanks. Just to make it clear - I highly value and enjoy TA and is one of main gaming sources. Heck, I even listen to the podcast regularly! You guys are a fun bunch. In this case though, I disagree with your GOTY pick but it's all good. People have different opinions - makes life so much more interesting!
Good list - never played Land Sliders , but based on this I've downloaded it to give it a go. My own personal GOTY is Horizon Chase closely followed by Agar.io purely because I play it so much.
Nope nope nope ........nope!
Although I've never tried land sliders, I'll give it a nice go now :) super appreciate the team at TA and the effort you guys give! It's too bad there's so much negativity around this post, although I've found some games based on people's "WTF ___________ should be GOTY!" You guys are super awesome and hopefully these crazy people don't get you down. Merry Christmas!
Thanks man, have a great holiday(s). :D
Doorkickers for the iPad was GOTY for me. It is fun but randomly generated levels did it for me. Endless fun.
Wut? No love for Lumino City?!? Ridiculous...
It's on The Weekly Humble Bundle sale and it looks beautiful! They handin' out free artbooks too! Usually I have to do unspeakable things for artbooks!
This game is in my top five favorite games on all platforms this year and definitely the most gorgeous iOS title that launched this year. I let the folks of Touch Arcade do their thing, I love them for that and afterall it's not my list. But not seeing this game anywhere in the list does feel like a mistake... which I think science could prove to be a mistake, somehow 😋 Now for that artbook, I need to get me on of those, thanks for the tip!
Is it bad that I've only played 1 games on this list? XD
Ps. Thanks TA for all the time put into this kind of stuff!
I love Land Sliders! It inspired me to have an afternoon adventure to Boulder, CO in search of a clue (thumb drive) to help unlock one of the biggest secrets in the game. I had a great time doing it, even if I got bloody knuckles in the process (there's a large rock somewhere with some of my DNA on it). Did any other game have a real life egg hunt secretly layered into it? Landsliders also spawned the craziest skyrocketing forum thread I've ever followed. There were so many things going on in that thread, it was mind boggling. Plus, the game itself while seemingly casual at the beginning becomes crushingly difficult after about 5/6 levels in. Is it me or is there something special in the Aussie water? So many great games have come out of Australia in the last year or so. Go Land Sliders!!
Seriously, I can't wait to see what they release next. Following along with the forum thread as people were uncovering the game's riddles is one of the coolest things our community did this year.
Not to mention the fact that the dev running it was able to plant clues to the puzzle within an international game developer's conference as well as inside another company's game. Muscat has been pretty slick with it all.
He's a pretty slick dude.
I'm just glad I already own all but two of these games. Otherwise it could have been an expensive post for me. ;). Everyone have a Merry Christmas tomorrow playing lots of games!
Great list - I pretty much overlooked Skylanders as I something shinier must have come along. Looks like I'll have to re-download. Merry Christmas, all.
*Landsliders too.
Just for the record: I know i am alone here but i found Landsliders boring and stupid. I am happy you liked it, but sad that such a mediocre game should have been the BEST of 2015.
Awww don't be alone! It's Christmas! I found it to be pretty boorish too, but I only tried it for a bit. It brought some other people joy and that's what the season is all about! That and watching John McClane blast up on some terries!
Land sliders wtf that game lasted 2 min on my phone before un installing
Good list of games, a great year for iOS :) personal shout out to Card Crawl one of my top 3 this year not on the list. Happy Holidays and New Year to all the touch arcade staff, you guys do fantastic work no matter what the mindless horde may say.
Mabinogi Duel is one I keep going back to, production values are stunning
My top three:
1) Downwell
2) Pac-man 256
3) Land Sliders
So I kinda agree with toucharcade here. Great write up!!
Tallowmere isn't making it on any Best Of lists and that's a real shame and disservice to one of the better titles out there. And I HATE platformers, but I love Tallowmere. No other game got more of my time.
Pretty solid list. Thanks for not just copying Apples Featured list like all the other iOS gaming sites do.
That said there are a few left off the list and even a few I had not heard of but that's cool it gives me some games to check out. Thanks guys!
Not the best year in the history of IOS gaming, but still enough to keep me interested and thanks to this list will check a few more games out.
Not sure about Landsliders being GOTY, it's definitely a polished and fun game, but also played the similar looking Tearaway on Vita this year and that's more the kind of gaming experience I associate with a GOTY game.
Although my 4 year old kid would disagree with me as he loves pushing the Panda around the screen.
Something to keep in mind with this year in iOS gaming is that the trends in mobile gaming have shifted in a *major* way towards evergreen titles. It seems like a ton of the games I love came out a year or two ago and have been incessantly updated ever since. It feels like ever since the games as a service model has become a thing, games need nearly a year to mature and hit their stride. We had some discussions on how to handle this, could a game that came out in 2014 but got much better over 2015 through endless updates count as a best game of 2015? We eventually decided on only including games that were specifically released in 2015, but, that could be why this list feels a little weird, as most of the "big" games of 2015 didn't come out in 2015.
While Land Sliders was a total miss for me, i still respect TA's picks, everyone got their own tastes ! People mad at this need some therapy xD
Most of the games on this list do make sense, and i do understand why land sliders is well perceived, it just didnt click with me...
My top 3 for this year would be :
1. Subterfuge
2. Chaos Rings 3
3. Would be a tie between Dust and Implosion
I did not play downwell, i might try it even though it isnt really my type, and i loved the executive a lot too !
1. Rocket League
2. Hamami 1 and 2
bits of Transistor and Dishonored... Intro to Destiny...crap... Is that all I played this year? That's so lame :( I purchased so many sale games... Oh Portal 1... I wish they'd updated Deus Ex: The Fall (That's like the only mobile game I remember 'cept Terra Battle)... Bioshock Infinite? No that was... 2013!!!
1. Fallout 4, 2. Fallout 4, 3. Fallout 4
I'll play Skyrim SciFi... ahem Syfy edition soon, saw my friend play it and I'm always happy to wait a bit until those amazing modders make some amazing tweaks!
Merry Christmas to all! Thanks to the staff at TA for all their hard work this year! This coming year is going to be even more amazing for iOS games!
Merry Christmas!
I have a number of the games on the list but never tried landsliders... I might, the FTP ones never hold my interest. I seem to need to pay something to feel I have skin in the game or something...
Anyway, love TA and I likely wouldn't have found or tried many of the games here without it. I was really surprised with how much fun Horizon Chase was!!!
Keep up the good work and the great reviews!
Landsliders winning is like Undertale wich just got voted best video game OF ALL TIME by Gamefaqs lol.
Totes psyched to play that!
Merry Christmas Eli, Shaun, Jared, Carter and the whole TA Crew... Thanks for everything you've done through out the year to make TA my no#1 daily visited site. I may not agree with every word written/review etc, but that's cool, I have a great amount of respect for you all simply for putting yourselves out there and doing what you do. Once again, thankyou.
Well that's not very anarchic but it's an awfully nice thing to say! Merry Christmas to youuuuuu toooo!
and thank you!
Are you an alt?
of?
Stop reading! To bed or no santa! Only Krampus!!!
Why is no one talking about you must build a boat?
Definitely should be recognized in some way. I remember you guys loved it. Love the list, its just missing one thing :p
To be or not to be!
Mcpe story mode!
FS 16
Lifeline
My best for 2015 are CR3 and Horizon Chase
Merry Christmas TA, the only site for gaming I respect and trust
This is a joke, right? This was slightly amusing for about 15 minutes, then I deleted it. So many great games this year...
Horizon Chase was fun during my short game sessions so it's my 2015 release best. But my best purchased game of the year is definitely Wayward Souls.
Wayward souls was 2014 TA goty for a reason, truly amazing game
That is a very good list! If it was last month, I would look at Land Sliders and just say "meh"because I played it for maybe a few minutes before. But after the last update, the perks on the different characters just hooked me - I really got to catch them all, if you know what I mean. And boy, this game is very polished.
On my list This War of Mine is such a great experience too, I will sure remember this one for a long time. however it is a little depressing, even I wouldn't put it on a list, specially on this time of year ;)
I'm waiting for the list of each one of you!
Thanks for this list. As a small indie it is good to see what people like. Although seeing the comments it's clear that so many people have different tastes in games. I believe it does take a lot of luck for a game to become mainstream these days. Good luck to us as we create more games. :). Merry Christmas to all and to all a good gameday.
BTW where is H&C2? I don't think that it was left outside the list on purpose..
For my money I liked Radiation Island, Drylands, Horizon Chase and Cavernaut. Merry Christmas TA!!
It really was a poor year for the sort of games I like on iOS. Great list though! Best part of these best of year lists is that they guide me to consider purchasing stuff I would never play.
Landsliders is free to play junk. Downwell is the best game I've played this year on any platform.
I'm shocked at this choice of game of the year tbh. Out of all of those on the list, I thought Downwell, The Executive or Horizon Chase were much better mobile gaming experiences for me . Not to say that I didn't enjoy Landsliders, but overall the other games felt more unique artistically and gameplay wise compared to the TA winner.
I would have never put those 2 games on top 2. They lasted maybe a day or 2 on my phone and they were for the most part a quick but fun games that was short lived. Dust, FF7, Adventures of Pip, etc. so much better games you guys could have picked from.
Land Sliders seems a bit laughable as a GOTY
It's called click bait.
It's tough to make a call between a game like Land Sliders, which seems at first like a throwaway game with okay mechanics but winds up being some gigantic ARG, and Downwell, which is wonderful right out of the gate, but a little limited in scope. It's like comparing some acquired-taste local specialty done really well versus the best bar of chocolate you've ever tasted. Downwell is my mobile game of the year and my go-to, but I appreciate the puzzles behind the easy-to-play facade of Land Sliders.
This is why GOTY discussions should only be there to point out games you liked and direct readers to them. I'll stand by my choice of Nuclear Throne as my GOTY, but I understand when someone picks The Witcher III or Undertale over it, they're so good and so different.
I'm pretty surprised that Fallout Shelter isn't even on the list. I would have rated it #1, but I understand that others may not have, but it deserves a place on the list at least. It's one of the best management games out there, easily.
Also, there's a pretty small game called Drive Ahead that's slowly been growing in popularity that I thought was pretty good also.
No Transistor means this list is already flawed. For me the #1 but not even in the list just means this is a list that is just randomly put together from some well rated reviews.
I have to replay Land sliders as surprised by that choice. But good list of games.
Horizon Chase is my number one.
I vote for don't starve but without the digital analog stick it sucks and it's a port so my vote would have been implosion,that's just me.
Land Sliders is boring, repetitive, and not deserving of this kind of mention, when so many excellent games came out this year. It's an innovative runner, I'll give it that. But it's too difficult, lacks story or any kind of persistent quality (besides weird costumes), and is too procedural to really stand the test of time. In a few years, unless changes are made, it will be forgotten, shoved into the slush pile set aside for games that could have been better but never were because the developers weren't looking to make quality, only quantity, and games designed like a slot machine preying on the weak. Please go through a more hefty process when you choose games for this kind of award!
I played Land Sliders a few times, but it was running like shit on my iPod, so I haven't touched it since. It was a fun-for-a-while one-trick pony in my opinion. I'm no big fan of the Crossy Road-like unlocking system that every single free game seems to have nowadays, sure, it was fun the first few games, but now it's just annoying. I really can't see how Land Sliders became your GOTY, when there was so many other games released this year, but then again, everyone have their own opinions. Have a happy holiday season, and a happy new year!
To be honest though, Land Sliders is a decent game, I'm just getting really reeeaaallly tired of all these games riding the Crossy Road wave (which also was a decent game). Let's hope that 2016 brings more unique and intresting games.
To be honest this year sure there were a lot of good games on the devices...but not many were keepers to keep on my device once I beat them.
My wife and I both downloaded Land Sliders after I read this article. Both of us gave it two 20 minute play sessions at different times on Christmas Eve and Day during the lulls of visiting with family. Both of us agree the game is a bit underwhelming for a "game of the year" caliber game. I don't think either of us will keep it on our phones. No big deal since it was free.
Would anyone else highly recommend the purchase of Downwell?
I've tried both of them, because they are five stars games, but even after hours and hours, days after days, i can't understand why they are so appreciated. I'm a bit disappointed with TA, while i understand that everybody is different. How such games can be games of the year? A mistery! Anyway, thanks to TouchArcade for allowing us to discover so much games, year after year!
I tried landsliders when it came out, hated the controls, and uninstalled. Decided to give it a second shot based on this article. Still hated it until I went into settings and clicked "reversed controls." This simple change made the game ten times more enjoyable. Game of the year? Prolly not, but a solid game.
You missed Puzzle Craft 2:(
I think there were only two games that really hooked me this year: You Must Build a Boat and Samurai Blitz. Oh, and Fallout Shelter, but just for a week or two. I guess sometimes perfecting a formula can be more effective than something new, at lest for me. Land Sliders or Pac-Man 256 just seemed bland... Maybe I'm getting old! :-D
I appreciate your dedication to mobile gameplay though. Many would say Her Story and This War of Mine could be on top, but those are really just ports of PC games which could have their own Best Port award maybe?