3 boredom-busting mobile games

Mobile games are growing in leaps and bounds, and in order for you to not miss out on some of the hidden gems, we’ve laid out three standout games which should catch your attention.

Delver (Android)

Delver is a dungeon-crawler with, dare I say it, Minecraft-inspired graphics.

Your mission, if you care for one, is to crawl through the randomly generated levels, defeating all manner of creeps along the way. If you manage to reach the bottom, you’re lucky enough to now have to go all the way back up.

There’s lots of action and loot to be had. Although the controls can be a little tricky to get used to, praise has to be given to the developer for allowing a keyboard to be used as a control option (tablet owners could probably pair a keyboard with their phone).

According to the Google Play page, Delver is still in early development and there are many more improvements to come. At $2.99 (R16.52), it’s worth it to support this diamond in the rough.

Peti (People for Ethical Treatment of Invaders) (Android)

Peti is the first game from app developer LevelUp Studio – the creators of Beautiful Widgets and Plume. As with both of those apps, a lot of care has gone into Peti’s user-interface.

In Peti, you are tasked with saving the aliens. The actual way of doing this is a sort of mutant version of Connect 4. You are given two blocks at a time, which may be different colours or not, and by lining up 3 or more blocks of the same colour with an alien of the same colour, you clear the blocks and save the invader. If you just line up 4 or more blocks of the same colour, then only the blocks are cleared.

The aim here is to save all the aliens in a given level within the allotted time (which is indicated by a bar on the left). It sounds easy enough, and early on it is, but later levels can get tricky when colours don’t match and you start making mistakes.

At the bank-breaking price of absolutely free, Peti is worth checking out.

Project 83113 (Android and iOS)

In Project 83113 (Belle), you get to play a four-armed, fluffy, pink… something.

It’s an action-platformer with surprisingly simple controls: swipe left or right to start running in that direction, swipe up to jump, swipe down to slide, tap on a group of enemies to use a super blast on them.

If you’re wondering where the “shoot” button is, or how you aim – there is none, and you don’t. Belle aims and shoots automatically when in range.

This may sound like it spoils half the fun, but in reality, it allows you to focus on your platforming and avoiding enemy projectiles. Besides, you still have the super blast and a screen-clearing “bomb”.

Guns are upgradeable between levels by using currency collected in game or bought in-game, letting you blow up more things faster.

With cool graphics, a hypnotising soundtrack, and simple yet intricate controls, Project 83113 is a must for lovers of action-platformers. It’s available for free for both Android and iOS.