London - Tablet computers sold at more than one per second in some UK chain stores over Christmas - and an influx of tablet-friendly games means they won’t just be used for surfing the net.
The cute, colourful role-playing romp Final Fantasy IV (iPad) will keep young gamers quiet for dozens of hours - but only if nostalgic parents haven’t bagged first go of this re-released 1991 classic.
Touchscreens still aren’t great for fast-moving games - where they excel is slower adventures where you curl up with the tablet and prod gently at the screen. This creaky old classic is perfect.
Paying more than £10 for a game two decades old might seem pure insanity, but the new version is based on a 3D revamp from a couple of years ago, with added voice acting, and cartoon-like graphics that look gorgeous on iPads.
Some action-hungry youngsters will find the endless, menu-based battles a little indigestible, but it’s worth persevering - the game’s huge, gorgeous world should win over all but the most hard-hearted gamers.
Time can be less kind to gaming icons, though. Sonic The Hedgehog has fallen on hard times since his mid-Nineties heyday. He has appeared in some truly dire games in the past decade and Sonic Jump (iPad) appears at first to be a rip-off of the hit phone game Doodle Jump, just with Sonic instead of the usual scribbly cartoon hero.
But Sonic Jump is actually based on a Sonic game that appeared long before Doodle Jump - and although it shares the same gameplay, where you hurtle from platform to platform, it’s far more challenging.
Sonic fans will revel in this return to form, while anyone who enjoyed Doodle Jump will love this - it has the same simple gameplay but adds a dash of hardcore challenge and some mid-Nineties charm to boot. - Daily Mail