25 of the best games apps

Max Payne Mobile

iOS (£1.99), Android (£2.30)
A smartphone remake of the 11-year-old Rockstar Games classic, Max Payne’s touch controls may lack a bit of the immediacy and finesse of the original, but the film noir cool and bullet time craziness remain – and go a long way to making this a must-own on Android and iOS.

Moto X Mayhem

iOS (Free), Android (Free), Windows Phone (79p), BlackBerry PlayBook (£5)
Mount your dirt bike and attempt to negotiate a series of mental obstacles in this physics-heavy 2D scroller. The rag doll effects mean crashes can be almost  as entertaining as pulling off the required jumps and climbs.

Rebuild

iOS (£1.99), Android (£1.89), BlackBerry PlayBook (£3)
A turn-based strategy game that sees you lead a ragtag group of zombie apocalypse survivors in an attempt to, well, rebuild society. Expand your camp in an infested city, scouting out areas, scavenging for supplies, managing resources and avoiding or eliminating a variety of hazards. Addictive, especially if you’re one of the many people who has envisioned their own zombie apocalypse survival plan.

Grand Theft Auto III

iOS (£2.99), Android (£3.84)
When Grand Theft Auto III arrived on the PS2, few could have seen such an expansive 3D game ever being playable on a mobile phone – and yet 10 years later here it is, looking if anything even better than before. The touch controls work well, and everything else you love about GTA – the violence, the humour, and the way the two are mixed – remains intact.

Osmos

iOS (£1.99 on iPhone, £2.99 on iPad), Android (£1.99)
This trippy title (named “Osmos HD” on Android) features psychedelic galactic motes absorbing smaller organisms while striving to be absorbed themselves, all to an ambient electronica soundtrack. A gorgeous visual experience.