Top 10 Mobile Games Of 2013

The phrase “something for everyone” is overused in many cases, but for mobile games in 2013, it actually applied. From the simplest of casual games to titles that aspired to get as close to a AAA console experience as possible, mobile titles spanned every possible genre, style and monetization system possible over the year we just wrapped up.

The continuing adoption of Android devices in former iOS strongholds like the U.S.—and vice versa in other markets—meant that we saw developers get twice the bang for their buck for many of their products. Game creators also continued to grow in their understanding of how mobile gaming differs from experiences on other platforms, including things like controls and UI and length of play sessions, and were increasingly successful in putting that knowledge to use.

But enough with the high-minded stuff. You want to know what the best mobile games of 2013 were, and I want to give them to you. There’s just one problem: even though I review and write about them for (part of) a living, I couldn’t possibly play them all. The sheer volume of mobile titles reelased in a year is just overwhelming.

So I decided to tackle this top 10 list in psuedo-scientific fashion, taking the lists of favorite games from multiple prominent websites and attempting to fashion a consensus list of sorts. I took the choices of places like Gamezebo, Touch Arcade, Pocket Gamer, Inside Mobile Apps and Mashable, assigned points based on where the games finished on their lists (except for TA, which just picked 25 games and didn’t rank them) and came up with my own set of rankings. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than relying on a single set of opinions.

Before we get to the top 10, let’s give a hearty round of applause to the games that almost made it, either by getting a medium amount of love from just one site or by ranking relatively low on several sites:

Top 10 Mobile Games of 2013: Honorable Mention

• “Deus Ex: The Fall”
• “Rayman Fiesta Run”
• “A Ride into the Mountains”
• “rymdkapsel”
• “Tiny Thief”
• “Touchgrind Skate 2”

Also, because this is ultimately my show, I’m giving a special editor’s choice honorable mention to “Republique” by Camouflaj. It came out late in the year, and while it’s not perfect, it deserves credit for the way it tells its story and tailors itself for tablets. Personally, I found “Republique” the most intriguing mobile game I played all year, and you can read my review of Episode 1 to see why.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into the top 10: