Canabalt (Semi Secret $2.99)

In early 2009, a link for a game called Canabalt started making the rounds on Twitter. It was a brilliantly simple flash game. You were running, away from something. The only thing you could do to escape was jump. Jump from rooftop to rooftop, over boxes, and through plate glass windows. Shortly after the wild success of the flash game, it was announced that the game was coming to the iPhone. While the game may have been overpriced initially, two patches have added online leaderboards and new landscapes to jump off of. A game of Canabalt can literally take just seconds, but those seconds are some of the most edge-of-your-seat-intense seconds of gaming you’re likely to ever play.

Doom: Resurrection (Id Software $6.99)

Doom: Resurrection started its life as a Wii game, and you can certainly see that in the finished product. Playing similarly to one of my favorite games of the year, Dead Space: Extraction, Resurrection is an on-rails shooter that uses assets from Doom 3 to provide the best graphical interpretation of modern Doom that we could ever get on a cell phone. It’s the same Doom story that we always get; a space marine stumbles upon some demons and ends up fighting them in Hell before returning to the military base on Mars to clean up the last of the demons. The game guides you towards the demons, and you tilt the phone in the direction you want the cross hairs to go. When you’re satisfied, tap the gun button to unleash your weapon’s fury on the enemy, repeat. It really does a fantastic job of utilizing all the parts of the phone. Motion sense, touch, the large screen, it’s all there. If you recently received an iPhone or iPod Touch and want to see the best in mature gaming on your new device, start with Doom: Resurrection.

Drop7 (Area/Code $2.99)

Maybe you just want a puzzle game. Well then, I have the most addictive, well put together puzzle game I have played since Tetris. In Drop7, the numbers 1-7 appear at the top of a grid. You then choose where to place the number, if the number matches the number of numbers in the row horizontally or vertically, then the numbers that match disappear, and you score points. I know it sounds confusing, but it’s really easy to pick up and play. If I tried to explain it to you, you would probably only get more confused. I would hate to turn you off from one of the best games on the platform. Once you get the hang of it, you wont know how you lived without this game.

Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style $2.99)

In the end, it’s Spider that is the most incredible iPhone game released in 2009. Every part of the game feels ingrained in the iPhone. The concept is simple. You are a spider. You make webs by pressing on the spider and then flicking him at walls and objects to create a strand. Repeat this until you have an isometric shape, and a web appears. Tasty bugs get stuck in the webs; you eat the bugs and earn points. It’s insanely fun, and a level can be played in just a few minutes. So what makes this game so incredible? The secret of Bryce Manor is what makes the game so incredible. In a genius bit of meta-gaming, you, the player, can stop and look around the rooms of the manor and start to realize that something isn’t quite right. Are the husband and wife getting a divorce? Was someone murdered? It’s up to you to decide just how much you want to play detective, and just how far you want to dig to uncover said secret of Bryce Manor. A recent update to the game makes the game the “director’s cut” which includes a level select and some new levels. Not only extending the value of your $2.99, but adding more detail to what exactly “went down” in Bryce Manor. It’s easily the best three bucks you’ll spend on gaming for your Apple touch device. I wait with anticipation to see what Tiger Style cooks up next; hopefully it’s even half as incredible as Spider.