Squids is an underwater action game with spineless heroes. Really, they have no spines. Neither do the bad guys you encounter (but that’s because they’re crustaceans). The graphics are pretty nice, the background music is light and doesn’t get annoying or attention grabbing, and there are enough things to discover and acquire for your characters that this game can easily keep you busy. It definitely gets my vote for the next plane trip.

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been waiting for a good-old third-person shooter for iPad, and thankfully, Madfinger delivers with Shadowgun. Mind you, they offer nothing new here—just your tried and tested formula for an entertaining, blast-your-way-through-to-the-end type of game. And yet, Shadowgun is a solid universal iOS game that is sure to delight action gamers.

Before Mortal Kombat, before all the other twitch games, there was Defender, an ’80s arcade which had an unbelievable-for-the-time five buttons to control the ships weaponry. Defender is a classic—the classic—side-scrolling spaceship shooter. Your fighter zooms along, blasting the evil mutants trying to kidnap the helpless humanoids. Your job? Blast ‘em.

Say hello to the happy little hero of Tiny Wings, a sleek standout game from Andreas Illiger. Here’s the premise: Your little bird wants to take off, but he’s a bit stout and his wings are, well…tiny. He needs to pick up some momentum rolling along the ever changing Technicolor hills that make up his simple world. But it’s not just to fulfill his cloud chasing dreams—if night catches up with you, game over, you’ve gotta head back to the nest.

Everybody loves their kids, but that doesn’t stop them from being annoying every now and then. Since you have very little shot of altering human nature, let’s try a time-honored parenting technique: distraction. Luckily, you have a distraction machine in your pocket. Whether it is in the car, at a restaurant or while waiting in line, Curious George Coloring Book and Monopoly can help you to get on track.

I’m not sure who these MunkyFun people are and why they’re here, but if I ever run into them, I’m going to have two things to say. 1.) Monkeys get too much airtime. I don’t know if it’s because people think they’re cute animals or if the word “monkey” is just fun to say, but can we please start passing some of that love onto the jackalope or the platypus, both of which are equally fun to say? 2.) You’ve created the perfect iPhone game.

Now, but let me qualify that. Ivory Tiles is not for everyone. It’s a puzzle game. I know that turns a lot of people off, and that’s fine. But as far as puzzle games go—and when it comes to use of the iPhone/iPod touch’s accelerometer—Ivory Tiles is the best I’ve seen yet.