You can almost set your watch to it: When a holiday rolls around, one or more big-name developers puts on a sale and reshapes the top-selling games list in their image. This week it’s EA whose big Easter sale (which is still going on, by the way) brought customers flocking to titles like NBA Jam and Dead Space. See the 10 top-selling and top-grossing games, with our review and buy links, below.
Top-Selling Apps
#1: NBA Jam
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: NBA Jam is an arcade classic that’s fully updated for the iPhone– except for the lack of multiplayer.
#2: Angry Birds
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: Destructive physics help make this a very charming puzzler, and the great level variety seals the deal.
#3: Tiny Wings
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: Tiny Wings is brilliant in its simplicity, originality, and ability to keep you coming back again and again.
#4: Angry Birds Rio
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: Angry Birds Rio doesn’t change the formula, but it doesn’t need to. Angry Birds Rio is a blast.
#5: Air Penguin
Our Score: 3/4
Our Bottom Line: Air Penguin isn’t quite at the level of the best casual games on the App Store, but it’s a fun, polished game with pick-up-and-play appeal.
#6: Dead Space
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: Dead Space for iOS is just about everything we’d hoped it would be: action-packed, scary, challenging, and a total blast.
#7: Fruit Ninja
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: As far as simple pick-up-and-play games go, Fruit Ninja is among the best.
#8: The Sims 3
Our Score: 3/4
Our Bottom Line: Sims 3 is a one-of-a-kind life simulation, but aimless goals and other limitations will make you grateful it’s not real life.
Read Our Review (iPad version)
#9: Angry Birds Seasons
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: All the fun of Angry Birds, but more challenging, and with pumpkins and presents.
#10: Tetris
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: This version of Tetris is a lot of fun, especially with the new Magic mode.
Top-Grossing Apps
#1: Tap Zoo
Our Score: 3/4
Our Bottom Line: Lions, tigers, and bears! Also, teeny-tiny animals in a teeny-tiny land!
#2: Tap Pet Hotel
Most helpful iTunes review: Fun and different from all those other games out there! I love my panda!
#3: NBA Jam
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: NBA Jam is an arcade classic that’s fully updated for the iPhone– except for the lack of multiplayer.
#4: Angry Birds
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: Destructive physics help make this a very charming puzzler, and the great level variety seals the deal.
#5: Haypi Kingdom
Most helpful iTunes review: It got too addictive. I kept wanting to get better and rank up. I had a credit card linked up to my account and I ended up spending waaaay too much money on coins.
#6: Zynga Poker
Most helpful iTunes review: Fun way to pass time.
#7: Zombie Farm
Most useful iTunes review: “Every time I finish invading the app crashes and I don’t receive any money, brains, loot, powers, or credit but I still have to wait 2 hours to invade again?”
#8: Smurfs’ Village
Our Score: 2/4
Our Bottom Line: The Smurfs’ Village doesn’t offer much gameplay beyond building a Smurf enclave and some middling minigames. But for a casual distraction, you could do worse.
#9: Tiny Wings
Our Score: 4/4
Our Bottom Line: Tiny Wings is brilliant in its simplicity, originality, and ability to keep you coming back again and again.
#10: Air Penguin
Our Score: 3/4
Our Bottom Line: Air Penguin isn’t quite at the level of the best casual games on the App Store, but it’s a fun, polished game with pick-up-and-play appeal.