All prices are subject to change and all links jump straight to the iTunes store. Enjoy!
Games
Plants vs. Zombies (iPhone/iTouch: $2.99, iPad: $9.99)
I know, I know; What am I thinking starting off my list with a paid application if I'm writing this to help introduce people to new applications? Well, Plants vs. Zombies is just that good. It's essentially a tower defense game, meaning enemies (read: zombies) steadily approach your base (in this case, your house) while you have to stave them off with stationary defenses (here, an arsenal of plants). The gameplay is simple enough for anyone to pick up, gamer or not, deep enough to keep even hardcore gamers interested, and addictive enough to keep you saying, "Just one more level..." repeatedly. It's a great game on the PC and Mac, a somewhat better game on the iPhone because of the touch controls, and an amazing game on the iPad with the extra screen real estate. You can try this one in the Apple Store if you don't believe me. Note: It's currently (10/28/10) on sale for $0.99 on the iPhone/iTouch and $4.99 on the iPad, but I think that sale only lasts through Halloween so you should probably get on that if you're interested.
Tip: Stars and tire tracks are highly underrated plants and a steal at 125 and 100 sunshine, respectively.
Angry Birds (iPhone/iTouch: $0.99, iPad: $4.99) and
Angry Birds Halloween (iPhone/iTouch: $0.99, iPad: $1.99)
Angry Birds Halloween (iPhone/iTouch: $0.99, iPad: $1.99)
Another paid app?! Yes, I'm afraid so. Again, Angry Birds is just that good. You have a gajillion levels (almost 200, last I checked, and they continue to update it for free) where you get a few birds, each of which have special powers, and you have to launch them at malicious pigs who've stolen your eggs. It's got a catchy soundtrack, colorful cartoon graphics, and a great personality. Huge qualifier, though? Beware of getting it on the iPhone/iTouch, since zooming out makes everything microscopically small.
Tip: Ha...ha. No tips will save you in this game, except to say that if you're playing on the iPad you should zoom out as far as you can before making your shots.
TapDefense (iPhone/iTouch: Free)
Yes, it's free. TapDefense has been around for quite a while and was one of the first tower defense games I picked up back on my 1st Gen iTouch. It's simple, yet very well done and probably the best free tower defense game out there. It doesn't look so good on the iPad, so I only recommend this one for iPhone/iTouch users.
Tip: Don't forget to use ice towers! They're way better than water towers and super important.
We Rule: Quests (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: Free)
If you enjoy asynchronous games (ones where you do something in game, then it takes real time out of the game for things to happen), I suggest you give this a shot. You get control of a kingdom, replete with a castle, farms, villages, and assorted structures, and you get to build it up from nothing. You make money by farming plants, taxing villagers, and building up various industries (mining, lumber mills, etc.), and then you use that money to build new, better, and cooler structures. If you'd prefer a modern take, there's We City as well, plus there's a Farmville imitator in We Farm.
Tip: If you can check your game often, Wheat and Onions are great plants to farm. If not, go for the Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkins.
Scramble by Zynga (iPhone/iTouch: Free)
This one is a word game, one where you get a 4x4 or 5x5 grid of letters and you have to drag your finger across adjacent letters in any direction to form words. Some of the possible words are definitely out there (and I'm not quite sure they're actually words), but the game is pretty fun at times and there are nice leaderboards that integrate well with Facebook and the like. There's no high resolution version for the iPad, but you wouldn't want to be moving your finger around the screen that far anyway so you could get this one on whatever platform you prefer.
WordWarp (iPhone/iTouch: Free)
This game is one of those games where you get 6 letters and you have to make as many words as you can with them, moving on to the next round so long as you make one or more 6-letter words. It's simple, fun, and will help make you feel smarter.
Tip: If you get stuck, just spam the "warp" button. Often, you'll get lucky and find new words!
Pocket Frogs (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: Free)
If you like frogs or like collecting things, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try. You gather frogs of different colors and patterns, hop around a pond to feed them flies, and earn coins, habitat backgrounds, decorations, and new patterns as you play. There are achievements to collect/breed specific color/pattern combinations, there's a leveling system where you can earn rarer and rarer frogs, and it's altogether quite addictive. Best of all, you can trade frogs with your friends.
Tip: Designate one or more habitats as "happiness habitats" to let your frogs grow up in by putting all of your high +happiness items in one place. That way you can sell expensive frogs for more money as soon as they grow!
Carcassonne (iPhone/iTouch: $4.99, iPad: Coming soon)
Carcassonne is a German board game where you place square tiles with cities, roads, and fields on them in order to build a map. You claim things with little meeples as you place tiles on your turn in order to score points. It's very simple to learn, but extremely hard to put down. It's designed as an iPhone/iTouch app, but it looks just fine enlarged on an iPad screen, though a dedicated iPad version is "coming soon." You can play online, locally with up to five players, against one or more computer players of various difficulty, or in solitaire mode. Of all of the board game ports, I highly recommend Carcassonne way above and beyond all of the others.
Tip: Claiming fields is the most underrated thing to do. Master fields and you will master Carcassonnne!
Canabalt (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: $2.99)
One button. One function: Jump. This is a minimalist indie game built in just five days by one guy (with one other guy writing the one music track for it) where all you do is run, jumping from rooftop to rooftop in order to escape from...something (you never actually find out what). The ambience is very well done and the game is definitely a "one more try" experience. It feels kind of steep at $2.99 for such a simple game, but it's totally worth it. I know I played this one for several hours straight the first day that I had it.
Tip: A light, quick tap will result in a shorter jump! Also, sometimes hitting junk is useful for slowing down.
We Doodle (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: Free)
It's basically Pictionary for iOS, only you can play asynchronously (you get 7 days to take your turn), you can buy stencils, you can purchase a full array of colors, and you get access to different brushes. You can play in a room of random people (five at a time, one randomly draws and you can choose not to draw), or you can take turns with a friend. You earn in-game currency the more you play, too, so there's an incentive to keep games going. It's actually quite a bit of fun if you've got someone to play with.
Tip: Buying colors makes the biggest difference in making easier-to-understand drawings.
Spirit (iPhone/iTouch: $1.99, HD for iPad: $1.99)
This one is probably one of the more inventive games that I've seen. You play as a little ghost-like character, controlled solely by gestures, and your goal is to defeat all of the geometrically-shaped enemies. You basically get this spirit trail that follows you and lasts for just a few moments, so what you do is move around in such a way that the trail closes in on itself, creating this vortex that just sucks in anything that touches it (except for you). You have several different enemies that all follow unique behavior patterns (such as follow you, shoot at you, wander aimlessly, weave around along the grid, etc.) and levels progress as you clear the screen. It's very accessible but eventually extremely hard to master, so there's a good appeal to keep coming back to it. Highly recommended on the iPad, only slightly less so on the iPhone/iTouch due solely to the increased space for gestures.
Tip: When you're about to clear a wave, try to do so with as large of a vortex as possible so as to swallow up a bunch of enemies from the incoming wave as soon as they appear.
Cube Runner (iPhone/iTouch: free)
Cube Runner is a flight game of sorts where you control an acute angle that flies through a 3D field of colored cubes via tilting your device left or right. As you keep flying, cubes take on different patterns that you have to navigate and become more densely packed and your flying V starts to move more quickly. Simple and addictive, like many of the games on this list. I actually like this one a whole lot more on the iPhone/iTouch because the device is much easier to tilt, but it looks just fine on the iPad too.
Tip: Play in landscape mode. It's infinitely easier.
Pocket Tanks (iPhone/iTouch: free)
Some of you may remember this game from several years ago as a free browser-based game. As far as I can tell, this is a direct port and it performs beautifully. You can play with one or two players (on the same device, no online play) and you take turns adjusting angle, power, and ammunition type to lob various projectiles back and forth. The free version is plenty entertaining, but there's a $4.99 deluxe version with tons of extra weapons, too. I haven't seen this one on the iPad, but it runs great on the iPhone/iTouch.
Mancala FS5 (iPhone/iTouch: free)
This is my favorite free port of the classic board game, Mancala. It's easy to pick up, you can play against the computer or against friends on-device, and it's free. There's no iPad version so you'll have to settle for low resolution if you choose to get it on the tablet.
Super Mega Worm (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: $1.99)
Imagine the movie Tremors, only conceived as an 8-bit arcade action game. Also, you play as the worm and not the humans. Got a good image in your head? That's Super Mega Worm and it's very well done as a universal app for both iPhone/iTouch and iPad. The touch controls handle really well on both devices and it's a hilarious blast to play. There's even a lite version you can try out for free should you not want to shell out the $1.99 right off the bat.
Other Applications
Of course, not everything on your iOS device is a game, so here's a list of some of the best non-game applications that I've found a use for.
Zenbe Lists (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: $3.99)
Do you ever make to-do lists? Would you if they were super easy to create, compile, view, and take with you? I searched high and low for a good to-do list application and Zenbe Lists was what I settled on. The interface is simple and clean; exactly what you'd want out of such an application. There are others out there, some cheaper and some more expensive, but Zenbe Lists is a very solid middle ground. My only complaints are that I wish it could do push notifications for to-do items with a due date and I wish you could search for an item on all lists (then again, if you have so many lists that you need to search them, you're probably doing it wrong).
Mint.com (iPhone/iTouch: free)
Need to keep track of your finances in the simplest way possible? First, go to Mint.com and sign up for a free account, then link it to as many accounts as you'd like (I sync mine up with checking and savings), then go download this also-free application. Voila; you have essentially made QuickBooks obsolete. Mint.com is amazing and gives you up-to-the-minute updates on your finances, warnings when you go over budget on something, and comprehensive reports about just where your money is going. Whether you're looking to save or just need some digital help managing your funds, this is a great place to start. Having it on your portable device is just gravy.
TabToolKit (iPhone/iTouch/iPad: $9.99)
The most expensive app on my list, this one applies solely to those who play guitar. If you're looking for the single most powerful practice/learning tool for guitar, this is it. I've been playing for about 8-9 years and this is single-handedly more useful than any tool that I've ever purchased (save for maybe an IntelliTouch tuner, which was actually 5x the price of this app). You can download electronic tabs in numerous formats, import them to your device, and play them back on TabToolKit replete with multi-track audio, tempo adjustments, side-by-side sheet music and tabulature displays, and every other tool you'd want to use with tab learning. Just talking about it doesn't do it justice: if you have a guitar and an iPhone/iPad, you owe it to yourself to buy this immediately.
Tip: It also works for piano.
ComicZeal4 (iPad: $7.99)
If you have digital comics, you need this application. Reading comics on the iPad is one of those "magical" experiences that really justify the device's size. There aren't very many comic readers out there, but even so Comic Zeal is on the top of the heap. Once a comic is imported, there are almost no load times, it's easy to manage your collection, the app is good about recognizing portrait and landscape views, and browsing itself is a breeze. This is a must-buy for iPad owners who like comics at all. While it's a universal app, I would steer clear of getting it for the iPhone/iTouch unless you really want to go blind reading that tiny text.
Glympse (iPhone/iPad: free)
Ever find yourself calling to let someone know when you're going to be at a certain location? Have anyone in your life who is ever wondering where you are or when you're going to get home? Use Glympse to send them a link on either their smart phone or e-mail and they can, for a window of time of your choosing, view your exact location, your destination, your route, and your estimated time of arrival. You can send your location to anyone, nobody else needs to have the app, and you can send to multiple recipients at the same time for a window of anyone from 15 minutes to 4 hours. It's a very nice app to have on hand and it's totally free. Also, this is one of the few apps where you really need one of the 3G devices given that it's based around GPS, so iTouch and WiFi iPad users need not apply.
There are, of course, thousands of applications on the iTunes store and it would be impossible to cover all of them. Also, many of the applications here are really starter applications, or good apps for people new to the device, new to gaming, or without much extra time on their hands (so don't go whining about how some of these games, like Pocket Frogs, aren't "real" enough). I'll certainly try to cover more applications in the future!
Enjoy!
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