The Player: New mobile video games that will keep you going

There are a lot of mobile games out there — last year more than 100,000 iOS games were released in North America. Here are a few recent mobile games worthy of exploration:

“Love You to Bits.” (Alike/Pati). Breakups stink. They’re worse when your girlfriend is scattered around the galaxy. In this iOS game a young boy tries to put back together his first love, a female robot, and learns to live on his own along the way.

“Story Warriors: Fairy Tales.” (Below the Game). Tales such as “Snow White,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella” and more get remixed in this text-driven puzzler about a young woman who gets trapped in folklore. Tap on words to bring them to life, and piece together nouns and adjectives as if they’re math problems, the right solution inspiring a cutesy animated sequence.

“SPL-T” (Simogo). Swedish studio Simogo is one of the most adventurous companies out there, specializing in head-scratching, text-heavy games such as “Device 6” and “The Sailor’s Dream.” “SPL-T” is a back-to-basics puzzle game. In the black and white game, players place a horizontal line and then a vertical one, trying to create as many splits as possible.

“Super Phantom Cat.” (Veewo). Cats! Robots! “Super Phantom Cat” takes the weirdness of “Super Mario Bros.,” gives it a zany feline-meets-sci-fi makeover, and uses slick touch controls to create a freshly retro experience. It’s all delivered with a gooey feel-good message and some rainbow-hued prettiness.

”The Swords.” (Sunhead Games). Imagine a scene in an action movie, one in which one swordsman is surrounded by an army on all sides. Now imagine all the action is presented in a minimal ink wash art style. By zeroing in on the blades, “The Swords” emphasizes the chaos of battle. Swipe fast, and do so with precision.

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