Your First 7 iPad Games

Magnificent. If I had to sum Osmos up in a single word, that's what I'd choose. Osmos is the kind of game the iPad was made for -- a wonderfully chill experience that is not without challenge, but in the same breath, is not at all punishing. And it makes near-perfect use of the touchscreen as a way not to just play the game, but connect with it.

You control a mote, an orb of primordial soup that grows when it absorbs smaller motes. You move the mote by tapping on the opposite side of the direction you need to go. This ejects some ooze as tiny bubbles -- which can then later be picked up to regain mass. Herein lies the heart of Osmos. If you blast around the screen too much too soon, you eject so much mass that you're easy prey for larger motes. But if you don't get a move on, other motes may out-eat you, effectively limiting your survival options. So really, as gorgeous as Osmos is -- and more on that in a moment -- don't spend too much time gawking at the pretty colors or unwinding with the haunting electronica.

World of Goo is a brilliant puzzle game that was seemingly made to be played on the iPad, as it's so easy – so second-nature – to use your finger to drag the little goo balls around the screen to create towers, bridges, escape routes, and more. Like Osmos before it, there is just something about using actual touch to control this game… not to get too feely-feely about it, but it creates a real connection between you and the action.

You must help the goo balls escape tough situations. There are escape pipes in almost every level you must somehow reach by creating networks of sticky ink. Dragging goo balls to the edge of a construction adds an extra piece to it, but removes one goo ball from play. That's critical because if you are not smart about building, you can end up using too many goo balls to craft a tower or bridge, only to come up short when you finally reach the escape point.

It turns out that the iPad is the ideal machine to play digital board games. There's no shortage on Apple's tablet right now, such as Small World, Catan, and Monopoly. But the best of the bunch is the classic word game Scrabble. It's easy to crowd around the iPad and launch vocab volleys with up to three friends. But Scrabble also includes online play so you can challenge your Facebook friends. Yeah, yeah – it would be nice if it didn't use Facebook Connect for online matches, but can you really blame EA for piggybacking on the world's most popular social network?

Now, Scrabble for iPad has one very clever extra feature. If you have an iPhone, you can sync it to your iPad and use it as your letter rack. This is ideal for same-screen multiplayer so nobody gets a peek at your tiles. It works flawlessly. And if you accidentally disconnect your iPhone, you can sync it right back up for uninterrupted play. Apparently, Oprah picked Scrabble as one of her Favorite Things of 2010. So if our word isn't good enough for you, perhaps Oprah's blessing will fill the gap?

Mirror's Edge is the story of Faith, a courier in a gleaming dystopia. Information is a precious resource, rarely flowing freely due to the iron grip of a totalitarian regime. Faith must slip through the police state's defenses by blasting across rooftops and burrowing through underground passages. Fortunately, she has both the grace and grit of a lion, able to perform incredible acrobatics.

With the swipe of your finger, you're off and running. Timing upward and downward swipes helps Faith leap over or duck under obstacles. You can defy gravity with wall runs, slide down zip lines, and hop across exposed scaffolding with simple swipe sequences that feel natural. All you need to do is leave one finger anchored in a corner of the screen and make your small but distinct swipes, never obscuring a bit of the gorgeous thrills. This is simply one of the most intuitive action games you can play on the iPad.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is a fantastical marriage of sight, sound, and gameplay. Now, placing gameplay third might freak you out, but don't sweat it: the three elements are expertly combined in this point-and-click style adventure for your iPad. Help the Scythian collect the pieces of the Trigon and make the world right again. Featuring gorgeous pixel-art, it's a retrohead's paradise.

But the music is what truly pushes Sword & Sworcery into higher orbit. Created by Jim Guthrie, the soundtrack is – without hesitation – one of the best game scores in years. There's a strong current of chip tunes in here, but Guthrie doesn't limit himself to the tones of an overactive Commodore 64. The unity of sight, sound, and touch is something special, and it's something that makes perfect sense on a device like the iPad.

Trucks and Skulls is Angry Birds for dudes. Appy takes no shame in aping the biggest hit in the App Store, but brilliantly runs in the opposite direction. Instead of cartoon animals, this physics puzzler is stocked with Viagra-powered monster trucks, boiling lava, and skulls pulled from eighties heavy metal album jackets.

If you know the Angry Birds drill, you can immediately pick up Trucks and Skulls. You launch monster trucks into the air (the guttural "yeah" that punctuates your volley kills me), slamming into skull-populated structures. The fewer trucks you use to eliminate all of the skulls, the more points you earn. There are several different trucks, from the Bombzilla which drops a heavy payload when tapped to the Doomstone semi that eats concrete walls for breakfast. Though you cannot select which trucks you get to use for each puzzle, deploying their powers at just the right time is the difference between hot victory and flaccid defeat.

Admittedly, if you have an iPhone 4 or newest-gen iPod Touch, that's the ideal destination for Infinity Blade, IGN's Best iPhone Game of 2010. But because Epic made Infinity Blade a universal app, it also works on the iPad in native resolution (meaning it's not emulated in the center of the tablet). You are a brave warrior, stalking the God-King in his dark citadel. You must fight the God-King's minions one-by-one until you reach the throne and can challenge the tyrant. Unfortunately for you, he shoves his sword through your gut and steals your essence.

That's actually the point in Infinity Blade, though. You come back as your son, continuing the bloodline time and time again, getting a little bit stronger with each run through the citadel until you have the chops to bring the God-King to his knees. The touch combat is great fun, as you parry or dodge incoming attacks, looking for the perfect opportunity to strike back against the titans and brutes. (We have an excellent guide for Infinity Blade's enemies that will give you the edge.) Infinity Blade is powered by the Unreal Engine, which is the same code running through Gears of War on the Xbox 360. So yeah, this is a gorgeous game.

Not everybody's on board with this whole "virtual controls" thing. Some gamers demand physical controls -- and that's totally understandable, especially considering some developers still struggle a little to make great virtual sticks for their games. Fortunately, there's a rather elegant solution: Fling.

Fling adheres to the iPad screen via a pair of suction cups. The conductive material beneath the stick relays your thumb movements with impressive accuracy. The clear plastic housing that holds the stick lets you see through to the screen, minimizing the amount of real estate blockage.

And it works exactly as advertised: it provides a real analog-like stick for iPad gaming. With games that use virtual sticks and controls, even good virtual controls like Dead Space or Shadow Guardian, the Fling improves play. That's really all that needs to be said. If you are an avid iPad gamer, the Fling is essential gear.