The best iPhone games for 59p

Buying an iPhone is expensive. Buying an iPod Touch is also quite expensive. But the games? Not so much. It's a race to the bottom on the App Store, with the sweet spot in pricing lingering at the one dollar mark, translating to an irresistibly priced 59p on our side of the pond. Here's a list of the cheap and cheerful offerings that are worth picking up.

Flight Control

They say being an air traffic controller is one of the most stressful occupations in the world, and now you can pay for the privilege! Commercial jets, seaplanes and helicopters are all coming in to land, so you have to guide them to the right strips of land with your finger. A single collision can end the game, so calculating their speeds and when they will cross paths is vital. It's certainly a 'one last go' type of game, and those with the latest firmware can try a spot of peer-to-peer multiplayer as well.

Grunts

Remember Cannon Fodder? For those unluckly enough not to own an Amiga, you must guide your four men around sprawling maps, taking out enemies in real-time, and occasionally hopping into tanks and helicopters along the way. All driven by touch controls but adopting the same style and humour as the Sensible Software classic, this is a blast. It also adds online leaderboards and dedicated vehicular and zombie modes to keep you busy with.

Mevo & The Grooveriders

In a homage to back when rhythm games weren't all about plastic instruments cluttering up your living room, Mevo & The Grooveriders mashes the musical timing of Guitar Hero with a side-scrolling platformer by hitting left and right arrows at the right time. It has a charming 16-bit vibe to it, with stages that branch depending on how well you perform. One warning though: it can stutter on earlier iPhone models.

Shift

Side-scrolling platformers continue to innovate with Shift, a game all about polarity. Stages are an assortment of squares, ladders and spikes in black and white, with the task of reaching the exit by switching between the two, changing the layout of the stage in a bid to reach the end. It's dizzying and brilliant, with a free trial up for grabs for the non-converted.

geoDefense

The tower-defence genre has exploded in the last few years, with geoDefense offering a simple yet explosive take on fighting off hordes of marching enemies with static units. The vector visuals are straight from Geometry Wars, and the gameplay can get just as frantic as neon colours fill the screen with sparks and explosions. It's updated regularly with new maps and difficulties too, so expect long legs from this great value download.

Trixel

Simple but incredibly taxing, Trixel tasks you with transforming a grid into a singular colour by flipping each panel with a single stroke. Touching a panel flips it, so you have to find the right path, often reversing back on yourself to reach elusive corners to finish the puzzle. It reminds us an awful lot of the excellent DS title Polarium, but adds 'super tiles' that adds specific conditions to make your head spin. Essential.

Know of any other dirt-cheap iPhone games? Add a comment in the space below!