Mobile gaming can occasionally get some bad flack, but the truth of the matter is that it’s something that pretty much all of us have access to at all times. Whether it’s a quick session on the bus or just while you’re watching something on TV, mobile gaming is a great way to fill in the gaps and pass the time.

Anyone who’s braved the iOS or Google Play app stores will know it’s the wild west out there though. While there’s plenty of quality, it’s all usually buried beneath mountains of Clash of Clans and Candy Crush clones. It means that a lot of the time we’re relying on word of mouth to discover the best games on the mobile stores, but what better place to find them than on a gaming site like this, where pretty much all of us are playing mobile games at some point or other?

I’m basically a sucker for word games, and puzzle games in general, and certainly prefer my mobile games to be less action-based so they don’t need my entire focus. Aside from the usual suspects I’ve been really digging into Word Link. It’s a great little puzzle game that blends in lots of unique mini-games aimed at boosting vocabulary. They update it each day with new challenges and it’s basically stress-free puzzle solving that can be great whenever I’ve got a spare 10 minutes.

The other one that I recently picked up is Homo Machina. Considering it’s about an hour long it’s a bit pricey for a mobile game at £2.99, but I think the artwork is probably worth the admission alone. It’s based on the work of Fritz Kahn and it envisions the human body as a giant factory filled with levels, belts and systems that keep it going. They’re all sort of analogous to how the organs work in real life, featuring some fairly rudimentary puzzles to showcase how breathing works, for example. It’s certainly not for everyone but puzzle fans should get a kick out of this short but sweet experience.

While these games are mobile-centric, Felix is always interested in how classic PC games can be run on mobile phones. After all, who wouldn’t want to play Rollercoaster Tycoon sat by a swimming pool? Lately, he’s been plugging away at Battle for Wesnoth, an open source turn-based strategy game that originally came out on PC in 2003. There’s a version of it on Steam but it’s also available as a totally free download on Android, complete with dozens of full-length campaigns, multiplayer, and the ability to download new campaigns and mods from the official servers. It remains absolutely true to the original, right down to the interface which emulates mouse movement. Thankfully it’s all turn-based so there isn’t pressure to do anything quickly, making it a great (and free) fit for mobile.

So what mobile games are you currently enjoying in 2018? Do you tend to go for the free-to-play titles or do you seek out the advert and microtransaction-free premium titles? Let us know what you’re playing below!