While most people would equate video games with fun, it’s important to see video games for what they truly are: a medium. Like a book, a film, or a painting, video games provide the framework through which a creator can engage their audience. “Fun” doesn’t always have to factor into it.

In the beginning, there was a vast wasteland of interactive nothingness.  And so Man created the video game.  Man then got tired of playing space shooters and sword-wielding heroes, so he created the god game.  One in-game, all-powerful planet spirit got tired of running everything, so he created the Reus: the eponymous Giant designed to do the bidding of the planet through manual labor and you, the player whose not-so-distant ancestor invented the video game.

The iPhone has no shortage of games that have you flinging cartoony creatures at various targets with something approximating physics. If you imagine an Angry Birds where you navigate levels with multiple flings of your cute mascot, rather than aiming for  a single stationary objective, you’ve got a pretty good handle on what Bombcats is like. Are we at our saturation point for using animals as projectiles, or will you want to spend all nine of your lives playing Bombcats?

Throughout the course of gaming history, sequels have typically followed one of two conventions. Some are iterative, by building upon what came before it; a casual passerby might not be able to find much different between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, or Mega Man and Mega Man 2 at a glance. 

More than just a mere update, SEGA's new release of Sonic the Hedgehog rebuilds the Genesis classic from the ground up to not only run on iPhone, but feel optimized for it as well. Fortunately for those who already purchased the original version, upgrading to this version comes at no extra cost.

It’s actually a pretty ingenious idea to develop a video game that can be cross-promoted with actual, physical products. Just look at the success/cash cow that console games like Skylanders have become, and it is kind of a no-brainer. It’s thanks to this concept that the fine folks at Nikko and Paladin Studios (Momonga Pinball) have released a new iOS racing game that not only provides plenty of fun for racing fans, but also reminds us that there’s still a lot to like about RC cars.

I’ve been mucking about with Dragon Bane for a while now; slaying undead, battling dragons, forging powerful new gear, and so on. In all that time I still haven’t managed to figure out how I feel about it. There are some interesting ideas here and a surprising amount of unique elements. Conversely it also uses a very bizarre freemium model that dilutes the fun a bit. It’s complicated.

I think that life around camp just got a whole lot more hairy! Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery borrows from the narrative-puzzle style of gameplay that’s seen in the Professor Layton series on the Nintendo DS, but has some cool ideas and concepts that are all to its own. In the first episode of a planned five, we see Jacob arrive for his first stay at summer camp, after passing by something that looks suspiciously like Bigfoot on the side of the road. What follows is a light adventure with some clever puzzling to be found, but a lot of dead air and wasted potential all around.

Turbo Racing League, based on the upcoming film Turbo, looks to rewrite the definition of “a snail’s pace.” Based entirely around surprisingly quick snails, Turbo Racing League is a kart racer whose focus is less on crazy items and action, and more on track design and speedy gameplay. It has a few painful faults, but its unique style is likely to entertain players of all ages.

Following the success of games like Fairway Solitaire and Solitaire Blitz, the pyramid genre of solitaire games has regained a ton of popularity, as the incredibly accessible game type simply asks players to click on cards one number higher or lower than the card on the deck. Following in that same vein is Solitaire Tales on Facebook, a game that starts strong, but quickly suffers from pushy and even deceptive friend invites, and a skewed level difficulty that makes it hard to progress.

Don’t ask me what the world is going to look like in 2020, because I was one of those kids who was certain we’d have flying cars by now. While we wait to find out, you can shape you own version of the near future by playing 2020: My Country.As a sequel tothe Facebook city builder My Country,this one goes mobile with some new ideas – but ultimately, not enough of them.

There are very few video games out there that have managed to reach such a loved and dedicated fan following as PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies. It seems like every time I log onto Facebook these days, I see fans of the cutesy “flower defense” game posting pictures of PvZ birthday cakes, elaborate zombie setups in their backyards, or their newborn babies dressed up as little Peashooters. Plants vs. Zombies Adventures takes this fun-loving obsession on the open road in a new social setting, and if my time spent with the game is anything to go by, then we’re going to be seeing plenty more creative ways to express our love of this franchise for many miles (and brains) to come.

The Star Trek film reboots have successfully brought classic The Original Series back into mainstream popularity.  Updated Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are again blockbuster sensations, worthy of their own licensed iOS game.  Star Trek Rivals, the result of that gamification, is an aesthetically polished card battler that draws on another classic, Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad.  Unfortunately, its issues overshadow its innovations, resulting in a game that could be great only if future updates give ‘er all she’s got.

Willow Ridge isn't doing so well these days. The trees have come to life and are keen on destroying the town and its inhabitants. And with the lighthouse busted, there's no source of cleansing light to keep the monsters at bay. It's time to strap on your Save the World Boots and get to work in Rite of Passage: Child of the Forest, an extremely well-made adventure from Mad Head Games.

World of Western is the kind of social strategy game that you'd expect a guy like me to love. I might be fat and chained to a computer during most of my waking hours these days, but once upon a time I was a cowboy on the ranches of Texas – spurs, chaps, and even a slightly bowlegged walk. Alas, this is no Red Dead Redemption. World of Western's heart is in the right place, what with its rifle toting buckaroos and friendly Native Americans patrolling digital Tombstones, but in execution it bears far too many resemblances to the many other city-building-meets-combat games that have been popping up on Facebook lately.

FBI agent Erica Reed is back again for another exciting Cognition adventure! This time, her quest to find her brother's killer puts her on the trail of the murderer known only as The Oracle. But is she really the hunter – or has she become the prey?

As far as treasure-themed Facebook games go, Atlas Raider is certainly not a looker, and there was a lot about the initial gameplay that underwhelmed me right off the bat. But as I got ready to simply write the game off and do some backyard raiding of my own, I suddenly realized that several hours had gone by: and that I was actually having fun and didn’t want to stop playing. And that’s exactly the kind of game that Atlas Raider turns out to be.

The North American west in the 1800s was a rough time: settlers striking out across vast expanses of land to create new homes, resources always at a minimum, and some bossy person with a cursor always telling you what to do. Ok, so that last bit is exclusive to Big Bang West, a light-hearted simulation game that lets you build in the frontier one small town at a time. But the rest holds true!

“Bigfoot teaching psychology to boars!” “A kitten in a racecar!” “A pony giving a lap dance!” If you’ve ever played Charades or Pictionary, then you’re already familiar with some of the crazy guesses that your friends and family typically belt out when they’re trying to guess the person, place, or thing you’re drawing or acting out. Heads Up!, a party game promoted by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, works on the same principle of acting like a fool for laughs. It delivers nicely, though some issues keep it from being a top-notch party game.

Striking a balance between depth and accessibility has often been a hassle in strategy RPGs. Some games aren’t deep enough and others are too difficult. A select few games take the Goldilocks route and are just right. Rebirth of Fortune 2 comes close to finding that balance, but slow-paced battles and imbalanced multiplayer take away from what is otherwise a fun experience.