30 game for your new iPad

Yes, Rovio's intergalactic Angry Birds sequel has been incredibly overhyped. It's worth it, and worth your money, too. For the first time since the original game, Angry Birds changes the equation by toying with gravity and adding and a ton of clever level designs. Sure, it's a lot more Angry Birds, but this Retina display-enhanced game is the one you want to buy. (A non-HD iPhone version costs 99 cents, but we'd recommend springing the extra two bucks.)

Price: $2.99

Sonic CD

Sega's nearly forgotten rarity from 1993 (originally on the Sega CD, a failed CD-ROM peripheral for the Sega Genesis) is one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog games ever made. The side-scrolling epic is perfectly ported to iOS in a universal app, complete with Japanese and American soundtracks. A clever time-travel mechanic has Sonic zipping back and forth through the stages, adding up to a ton of gameplay. The touch controls are simple and easy to use, too.

Price: $1.99

Zuma's Revenge HD

PopCap's sequel to Zuma is all about shooting balls to match and blast away like-colored balls before their steadily advancing stream reaches and destroys you (or, really, your frog). Simple, intense, and highly addicting, this one has 60 Adventure levels to get through plus 60 tests in Challenge mode.

Price: $4.99

Max Payne Mobile

Rockstar Games does it again, porting a classic M-rated console game over to the iPhone and iPad with relative ease. Max Payne has an edge on last year's Grand Theft Auto III for several reasons: it's the first in a series, it's a game many people are less likely to have played before, and the bullet-time shooting action is arguably a better match for touch-screen controls than fast-paced car chases. Retina display optimization gives this older classic a crisp, sharp look.

Price: $2.99

Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots HD

We've had a number of readers complain that Fruit Ninja never made it to our Top Games list. Consider the inclusion of Puss in Boots a concession to the disgruntled. Despite the blatant movie tie-in (like Angry Birds: Rio), the game itself is new and worthy of a purchase. A new game mode with minigame-like subchallenges adds variety to the repetitive Fruit Ninja formula. You'll still need to buy the original Fruit Ninja for same-screen local/online multiplayer, but Puss in Boots is a dollar cheaper and just as much fun.

Price: $1.99

Beat Sneak Bandit

Simogo's acclaimed indie game feels like a long-lost Nintendo DS game come to life on iOS, simultaneously simple to operate and incredibly challenging. A ton of rhythm-based puzzle levels have your quirky character slipping through multilevel chambers collecting items while trying to elude capture. It's the best of both worlds: a funky musical game with great animation, and a stealth puzzler. It's also a universal app. You've probably never played anything quite like it.

Price: $2.99

Carcassone

Already a classic board game in its own right, the iPhone adaptation of this tile-based strategy game was one of the most beautifully executed in the App Store. A new update has added native iPad compatibility, thus it's earned a spot on our list. Online and local multiplayer and a weekly solitaire puzzle challenge add up to a ton of replay value, and in-app expansions mirror more expensive sets available for the actual board game. If you're board game apprehensive, don't worry: while Carcassone can take a little getting used to, it's a more worthwhile iPad game to own than Catan -- and it's great for pass-and-play multiplayer.

Price: $9.99

Coco Loco

What do you get when you cross Angry Birds with Where's My Water? Something akin to Chillingo's Coco Loco, which is downright derivative, but hey, it's fun and only costs 99 cents.

Price: 99 cents

Contre Jour

Yes, there's a pattern emerging in puzzle games: solve a level, try to three-star it, and repeat. Contre Jour, however, has spectacular art design and music, along with creative imagination, making it feel like an Xbox or PlayStation 3 downloadable game. It's cheap at $2.99, and continually added extra level packs pay the value forward, much like Angry Birds.

Price: $2.99

FIFA 12 HD

We we were impressed by last year's FIFA 11 and EA Sports has upped the ante with this year's installment, adding a Manager Mode and a better control scheme (you and a friend can also use your iPhones or iPod Touches as controllers for the game on the iPad, which is pretty cool). The graphics have also improved, with more-fluid player movements and just all-around great gameplay (that said, you shouldn't expect full-on PS3- or Xbox 360-level graphics). The game does have a few bugs and crashes now and then, but hopefully this will be remedied in an update soon.

If you don't like the idea of spending $9.99, wait for this one to be discounted. EA frequently has sales.

Price: $9.99

Ice Rage

Brought to you by Mountain Sheep, the developer behind the popular game Bike Baron, Ice Rage is a simple two-vs.-two hockey game that is easy -- and fun -- to play but hard to master, especially at higher levels.

The game isn't terribly deep, but the developer has been steadily updating the app, adding a tournament mode and more characters. Hopefully, those updates will continue, because there's a good base here that just needs to be further fleshed out. Some stats would be a nice addition. (Note: this is a universal app, so you can download it for your iPhone or iPod Touch as well).

Price: 99 cents

Infinity Blade II

The year's most anticipated iPad game doesn't disappoint, if you're a fan of the original or crave console-quality graphics. A lot of this sequel's mechanics remain true to the original Infinity Blade: swipe-based swordplay, weapon upgrades, and lots and lots of dying. There are a few new wrinkles, though: for instance, you can now explore branching pathways. Plus, it all looks even better than before. We'd still prefer a full-fledged adventure, but Infinity Blade II is another step forward.

Price: $6.99

Kingdom Rush

Tower defense games are a dime a dozen in the App Store, but this latest one (a paid version of an extremely popular free browser-based game) is wonderfully animated, incredibly addictive, and assembled into a series of questlike challenges. Plenty of upgrades and coin collecting will hook even the most jaded iPad player, slowly but surely. It's also a universal app that works on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: 99 cents

Machinarium

Fans of point-and-click adventures, hand-drawn graphics, and artistically adventurous indie games, look no further: Machinarium is a gorgeously rendered journey through various screens where the answers to the puzzles presented aren't immediately obvious. Previously a PC/Mac game, it's also being ported to game consoles -- but it's making a stop on the iPad first.

Fans of games like Limbo will be in love with the slightly ominous universe. Surprisingly, Machinarium only runs on the iPad 2. We don't really understand why, but iPad 2 owners should leap on the opportunity for a show-off exclusive.

Price: $4.99

Modern Combat 3: Fallen

We're little short on first-person shooters on our list, but that's because there aren't a whole lot of really good ones.

Modern Combat 3: Fallen is a nice step up for the series and worth giving up the 1GB of space on your iPad that it requires (bummer, we know). While it might not quite measure up to console versions of Call of Duty, at least it will remind you of them.

You get 13 levels in the single-player campaign and there's also online play with up to 12 players on six different maps. We also appreciated that this one's a universal title, so you can play on both the iPhone and iPad, though you'll obviously get the best performance from the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

Price: $6.99

NBA 2K12

NBA 2K12 is currently the best basketball game for the iPad, though it does feel like you're playing the circa 2007 console version of the game. While it does feel a little stripped down (there's no play-calling capabilities, for example), the control scheme works pretty well, there's a full season mode, and the game grows on you as you play.

All that said, we're adding this one with a big asterisk because 2K Sports' update for iOS5 created huge graphical glitches that have caused a number of users to leave one-star reviews. Hopefully, 2K will correct this soon because it's a solid basketball otherwise. Oh, and it would be good if it lowered the price while it's at it.

Price: $9.99

Osmos

Photos_5.12.10_008_1.png — Screenshot by Scott Stein/CNET

A mesmerizing kinetic action game featuring spherical cell-like balls, the goal of Osmos is simply to jet around using momentum to glom with smaller objects and become the largest object in your micro-universe. Big eats small, and the more you move, the more mass you cast off. It's a fascinating miniature arcade experience with plenty of levels.

Price: $4.99

Plants vs. Zombies

For those who haven't been keeping tabs, this gateway drug to tower-defense strategy games is quite a bit of fun for beginners or the more hard-core. It's a spot-on version of the PC/Mac version at a more affordable, with new mini games and modes that round out the standard levels.

Price: $6.99

Real Racing 2 HD

Firemint, the company better known for Flight Control, has made the iOS version of Gran Turismo for two years running. Real Racing 2's graphics enhancements and physics, along with its stable of cars, racetracks, events, and online play, put it in a league that nearly equals consoles. As an added bonus, the game works with HDMI-out, turning the iPad into a steering wheel while racing at 1080p resolution on a TV screen. It's an expensive game, but well worth it for racing fans -- just remember the enhanced graphics work best on an iPad 2 (consider the original Real Racing if you have a first-gen iPad).

Price: $6.99

Reckless Racing 2

Arguably the best top-down racer on the iPad right now, Reckless Racing 2 has nice graphics and a good selection of cars and tracks (some folks are already clamoring for an update, however). The original Reckless Racing HD is also good and was previously on this list.

Note: This one costs $4.99, but we picked it up for 99 cents during a holiday special.

Price: $4.99

Sid Meier's Pirates! for iPad

Those hungering for either pirate-themed strategy games or excellent PC gaming ports on the iPad will celebrate the arrival of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a port-exploring, ship-managing, booty-collecting game that's excellently adapted for touch. It's not only the best pirate simulation of all time, it's a triple-A PC game that's easily worth twice what the App Store's charging, and then some. This is a great example of the App Store economy in action.

Price: $4.99

Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy

Namco's Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy was one of the first games to hit the app store with Retina display support for the third-generation iPad and it's one great looking game. Those hoping for more of a hard-core flight sim, this certainly isn't it. But one of its strong points is its easy accessibility -- you can jump right in and play, and the levels, along with the various game modes, offer enough variety to keep things interesting.

Price: $4.99

SpellTower

SpellTower has always been a highly rated word game, but it's really taken off thanks to a combination of game developer Zach Gage being featured in the New York Times Magazine and an update to the game itself, which added Retina support for the third-generation iPad, plus a multiplayer mode.

The basic idea here is that as make words your tower of letters gradually crumbles, leaving you with fewer and fewer letters to use. Naturally, longer words earn you more points. Warning: This one is incredibly addictive -- in a good way. Price: $1.99

Super Stickman Golf

Graphically speaking, this is about as far away from EA's Tiger Woods franchise as you can get, but don't let the crudely drawn "courses" fool you. The gameplay here is simple yet shockingly challenging and it's quite possible that you may find yourself playing this one more than the Tiger Woods game.

Price: $.99

Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP

Do you like your games weird? Mysterious? Pixelated? Filled with indie music? If you answered "yes" to more than two of the above, pick up this ode to point-and-click graphic PC adventures of the '80s. The minimal feel, lush atmospheric sound effects, and puzzle-solving oddities add up to an experience worth having, especially if you dig the indie scene.

Price: $1.99

Ticket to Ride

Yes, we love board games on the iPad. In the tradition of Settlers of Catan and Carcassone, Ticket to Ride is an award-winning board game that's actually easier to learn but offers endless replay value. Online multiplayer is fast and a breeze to set up, and additional board game expansion packs are available for when you tire of the main game, which will likely be never. Newly added pass-and-play multiplayer -- and the ability to use the iPhone version of the game in local matches -- makes living-room play far more fun.

Price: $6.99

War Pinball HD

Gameprom's Pinball HD was our favorite pinball game on the iPad; the sequel, War Pinball, ups the ante in several key ways. One: better graphics and physics. Two: the addition of motion-controlled tilting. Three: three movie-themed tables based on "Platoon," "Missing in Action," and "Navy Seals." Four: Charlie Sheen and Chuck Norris. Need we say more?

Price: $2.99

Where's My Water?

This deceptively simple puzzler has you trying to run water sitting at the top of the screen to bottom so Swampy (the alligator mascot of the game) can take a shower. Naturally, there are plenty of obstacles to overcome -- and a few ducks to collect -- as you dig a path and tunnel the water to Swampy. This one also appeals to a wide age range, from young kids to grandparents.

Price: $.99

Words With Friends

We had Scrabble on this list for a while but have relented and swapped in Zynga's Words With Friends, a knockoff of Scrabble. Why? Well, because everyone is playing Words With Friends and it costs less than Scrabble, which lists for $9.99 but sometimes gets discounted.

Price: $2.99

World of Goo

Either you've played World of Goo before, or you haven't. If you're in the latter category, it's time to pony up and join the club. An indie Game of the Year candidate when it first debuted as a downloadable game on the Nintendo Wii and PC, the iPad version is actually an improvement thanks to a shift to intuitive touch controls, as opposed to Wii remote-based gestures. A combination of construction toolkit and puzzle-platformer, World of Goo instantly rises to the top of our App Store must-buys.

Price: $4.99