Games were better in the old days, right? Well, some were - others are probably best forgotten. Like most Java games for example.

148Apps wants to look at the best of the past though. Specifically which retro titles deserve to be dusted down and given new life on mobile, and why they'd work well on the small screen.

Following on from the triumphant Trivia Crack, Etermax has released its most ambitious title to date in Skydoms.

Skydoms is a different type of match-three puzzler. It includes RPG elements like forming a team out of over 300 hardened fighters and fighting alongside allies in hundreds of quests.

You can also battle against friends or enemies in the PvP battlegrounds if you prefer that kind of thing.

All fighters can be leveled-up and evolved to increase their power, but if you're looking for the very best you'll need to take part in time-limited events where only the rarest of fighters can be gained.

Skydoms is available in a ton of different languages, including English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. Russian language speakers will also soon be able to enjoy it.

Head on over to the official forums if you find yourself getting stuck or you want to befriend new players. Skydoms is a primarily multiplayer game so it's best not to go alone.

Skydoms is out now in the App Store [download] and Google Play [download].

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Nordcurrent's food-em-up Cooking Fever is celebrating it's one year anniversary on the App Store this week, with a new location - Corn Dog Van - being added to the game to celebrate.

Originally released on August 19 last year, the game is a time management sim which asks you to cook a variety of delicious and exotic dishes from around the world - starting with fast food but them moving onto pizza, baked goods, and even sushi.

Corn Dog Van is the third summer location to be added to the Cooking's Fever’s tropical island, which previously boasted just ice cream and juice restaurants. At the van you can serve the corn dogs with a variety of condiments and a range of flavoured donuts.

The eleventh location to be added in the game's suite of restaurants, these don't just offer different cuisines - but also help to mix up the gameplay.

There’s another holiday-style restaurant to open at Cooking Fever’s Paradise Island soon too - we'll be sure to keep to keep you posted!

Boasting 50 million users, the game has also reached first place in the top Grossing Top 50 Charts in the US - so to see what all the fuss about for yourself is head on over to the App Store [download] or Google Play [download] now.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Genera Games has followed up on the success of Frozen: Freefall and Ramboat with its most action-packed title to date, Zombie Hunter: Apocalypse.

You play as a marine who's taking the fight directly to the undead horde in bloody first person battles with a wide variety of weapons.

Pick shots from a safe distance with the sniper rifle, get up close and personal with the magnum pistol, or go old school with a crossbow. Whatever weapon you choose heads are sure to explode.

And they'll do so in a few different environments ripe for zombie murder, like an arctic wasteland, abandoned theme park, or an entire city.

During your quest to rid Earth of the undead you'll ride helicopters, fire missiles, and blast apart loads of genetically mutated horrors.

You can even create your very own personalised missions and share them with friends in the mission editor. This will stretch replayability by a fair bit.

Each time you return to the game you'll earn a bonus reward. Day five nets you a massive bazooka capable of blasting entire groups of zombies into bits with just one missile.

Head on over to the App Store [download] or Google Play [download] to get Zombie Hunter: Apocalypse right now.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Battle of Balls launched as a free app just under two months ago, and has reached a whopping 250,000 daily active users.

Though interest in the title was always strong, things picked up dramatically once Superpop updated the game with the team battle feature, allowing friends to play together as a group.

Before, players could only battle as individuals but now you can invite your friends into a group to battle together.

As soon as this feature was released, big name gamers like Zimin and Big Orange formed a team together which attracted a lot of new players to the game.

Battle of Balls is incredibly easy to pick up and play. You start as a small ball and must swallow smaller balls to grow in size until you're big enough to gobble up enemy player's balls.

The aim is to climb the leaderboards, with your score being tied to how big your ball gets. This really is a case of bigger is better.

You can customise your ball's appearance and name and collect power-ups as you play if you're struggling against the larger opposition.

Alternatively, you could just form a group and battle together and even coordinate using the built-in VOIP.

A new update is set to arrive later this week, adding new virtual items that will enhance the players themselves.

Battle of Balls is out now in the App Store [download] and Google Play [download].

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Bandai Namco has released Pac-Man Championship Edition DX on iOS and Android, which features the classic arcade gameplay that we've all grown to love.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX can be enjoyed in much shorter bursts than the arcade versions but the gameplay remains intact.

Pac-Man will still be gobbling up all pellets, power-ups, and ghosts in his path and you'll still need to bring your reflex A-game if you plan on climbing the leaderboards.

Five different game modes spice up the gameplay and they're played on 10 unique zone layouts across over 130 stages.

Impressively, the visuals and audio are the very same featured in the console version which is one of the most acclaimed titles in the series to date.

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is out now on the App Store [download], where it's already being featured, as well as Google Play [download]. It costs a tiny £2.29 / $499 for the entire game.

If you'd like more information about Pac-Man Championship Edition DX or any other Bandai Namco games, visit the official website or follow it on Facebook and Twitter.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Angel Stone is Fincon's follow up to the massively successful Hello Hero and is out now on iOS and Android.

You play as a member of The Resistance, a group of mighty human warriors who have risen up in defiance of the Demon horde threatening to wipe out humanity.

The horde has already laid waste to humanity's former protectors, the Angels, so it's up to The Resistance to fight back.

They won't be completely without support though. Each fallen Angel's powers have been contained in a bunch of holy crystals called Angel Stones that are harmful to the Demon horde.

There are three different classes to play as, including the Gunslinger, Berserker, and Shadow Mage, and each offer a different playstyle. Try them all until you've found the one for you.

Once you're satisfied with your choice, you can head out into the Training Airship to learn more about the game or participate in the variety of different game modes.

You can battle the horde in Demon Raids or fight with and against your friends in co-op party missions, Battle Zones, and real-time PvP. You'll unlock new skills as you play that will help you in battle.

Cross platform connectivity allows friends on iOS, Android, and Facebook to play together without a hitch.

Angel Stone is out now in the App Store [download] and Google Play [download].

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Parigami Gold is the new premium version of the match three puzzler that includes Apple Watch support and all new content.

You won't simply be sliding tiles around on your wrist, the Apple Watch companion app is an all new mini-game in itself. You'll have to take care of Baby Buddy, your cute little pet bird that needs feeding and playing with to unlock exclusive content in Parigami.

Parigami itself has recently been expanded with 10 new levels and if you pay for Parigami Gold you'll get 125 gold bars right away.

If you haven't played it, Parigami is a papercraft match three puzzler featuring a colorful cast of African animals.

Each animal has its very own mini-game which mixes up the gameplay nicely and lets you do some fun things like feed a hippo's babies or scare off Fang, the lion antagonist.

This isn't your ordinary tile slider though, here you move the entire rows and columns themselves in your efforts to match up three animal heads.

It's played on a fully interactive map set out over five zones and you can see your friend's progress if you connect your Facebook account.

Head on over to the App Store to purchase Parigami Gold [download] or get the original Parigami for free [download].

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

League of Angels - Fire Raiders is the mobile sequel to the hit Facebook MMORPG League of Angels and is out now on iOS and Android.

There are over a hundred beautifully hand-drawn heroes and angels to collect that each possess their own unique special effects when using skills.

You'll need to figure out the best combination of these and level them up, teach them new skills, and upgrade their equipment to create an all-conquering team of angels and heroes.

Sometimes, even the best team won't suffice though. Different enemies require different strategies so you'll need to switch up your approach and use the best team for that current situation if you find yourself stuck.

Battling comes in many different forms. The PvE modes include a single player plot to follow, team dungeons, and mini-games while PvP offers cross-server arena battles and Island Raid.

Island Raid is a guild versus guild mode that assigns each guild a resource-producing island that you and your guild must protect. Of course, you can also become raiders yourselves and take the fight to opposing guild's islands.

Also, twice a week a World Boss appears somewhere on the vast ocean and all players must cease fighting for a moment to team up and bring it down. The more damage you deal, the greater the rewards.

Download League of Angels - Fire Raiders right now from the App Store [download] and Google Play [download] to receive a free beginner's pack worth $15 as part of an exciting temporary event in which players must race to level up, earning gift packs at levels 15, 35, and 45.

With exciting events like this every week and a constant stream of updates, now really is the best time to try League of Angels - Fire Raiders.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

[Written by by Adam Hartley]

The 2D top-down classic Hotline Miami is unquestionably one of the most demanding and satisfyingly “tough-but-rewarding” games to be given the remastering treatment by NVIDIA recently for inclusion in the launch line-up for its new NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV.

The release of such an unashamedly “gamer’s game” by NVIDIA is a positive portent of things to come with SHIELD. In addition to supporting eye-wateringly high-resolution gaming, the new SHIELD will also pump out the pulsing electro soundtrack to Hotline Miami across your 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system to remind us all how classic retro arcade-style gaming can really feel when it’s married with the best-in-class gaming tech available in 2015.

Originally developed by Dennaton Games and published by Devolver Digital, Hotline Miami drops players in a pixelated 1989 Miami cityscape reimagined as the perilous playground of a masked vigilante called Jacket. As Jacket, players shoot their way through the game’s ultraviolent levels while progressing through this devilishly difficult game.

An understanding of the various masks is vital

Jacket follows the mysterious messages that are left for him on his answering machine (remember those!?) which give him the instructions he needs to rid Miami of the blight of Russian mafia.

Firstly, be warned. You will die in Hotline Miami. A lot! But you will also have a strong desire to persevere and beat the onslaught of enemies in the game. And to do so, you will need superfast reflexes, a twitchy trigger finger hovering over your mouse-button and a thorough understanding of what each and all of the various masks in the game can do to help you through each level.

The numerous animal masks that appear in this hallucinogenic gun rampage of a game were apparently inspired originally by Dennis Wedin’s childhood nightmares that, by all accounts, largely revolved around Alice in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows.

From bats, snakes, fish, foxes and panthers through to pigs, walruses, giraffes, tigers, rabbits, crocodiles, horses, dogs and unicorns (and lots more), each unlockable mask in Hotline Miami has a unique power that it bestows on Jacket and can be selected by the player at the start of each chapter. The only mask that doesn’t really do anything is the default rooster mask, “Richard”. And to unlock and obtain the rest of the masks in the game you will need to reach a sufficiently high enough score or find some of them hidden across the various chapters in the game.

For a definitive list of all the Hotline Miami masks, along with a detailed description of how each will help you advance through the beautifully bonkers storyline that defines the game, you can head over to the Hotline Miami wiki, a site that is certainly worth bookmarking before you embark on the latest rework of this challenging gangster gun battle on the NVIDIA SHIELD.

Hotline Miami is available to download on Google Play for the NVIDIA SHIELD right now. Which is pretty much an essential purchase once you’ve invested in NVIDIA’s SHIELD Android TV, also now available to own starting at $199.

There’s no masking the fact that this is one seriously impressive piece of gaming hardware. Providing, of course, that your gamer mettle is up to it and that you are man enough to take on the full and frightening might of the Russian mafia in a truly hallucinatory 1980s Miami!

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

The latest entry in the popular PC RESCUE franchise, Heroes in Action, launches on Thursday on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone and is the first of the bunch to be mobile-only.

RESCUE: Heroes in Action challenges you to take control of a fire department in a big city as you manage a squad of fire fighter's equipment, complete missions, and save lives.

Just like the previous entries in the franchise, Heroes in Action poses a challenge to even the hardened strategy gamer so you'll need to bring your tactical A-game.

We spoke to Mikko Tyni, Creative Director at Fragment Production, about the challenges of adapting the franchise for mobile, what they prefer about the latest entry, and which platform is the most difficult to develop for.

The RESCUE franchise was originally on PC and Mac only. Was it challenging adapting the gameplay to suit mobile?

Tyni: "One of the biggest challenges was how to ensure that the controls would be intuitive and fluid with just one finger.

"Also, early on, we decided to make the levels smaller than in previous entries but still large enough to follow the multiple mission structure. We wanted each mission to still be meaningful but also suitable for shorter playing times on mobile. That took some time to get right.

Are there any elements you prefer about the mobile versions?

Tyni: "While the controls are streamlined for mobile, they worked out very well and actually a greater level of accuracy than in the PC titles.

"Another of my favourite new features is the visual upgrade and the ability to fully customize your firefighters and vehicles."

Is mobile development limited compared to PC?

Tyni: "Mobile as a platform offers many exciting opportunities but it also has limitations.

"Creating a full living city similar to the freeplay mode in the previous RESCUE was impossible due to technical constraints so we had to make the levels smaller and reduce the overall amount of dynamic assets.

"On the plus side, this helped in our other goal of making the missions more action-packed."

Was development comparable on each platform or was one much easier than the other?

Tyni: "Both platforms have their perks on both the game side as well as the development side.

"Mobile projects tend to be shorter and more innovative, while PC projects have fewer limitations."

Is the RESCUE franchise here to stay on mobile now or are PC titles still in your future plans?

Tyni: "We regard the mobile platform as a new foothold for the series but instead of choosing between just mobile or PC, we're going to continue developing for both platforms since each has their positives and different user groups."

Rescue: Heroes in Action is available now from the App Store [download], Google Play [download], and Windows Phone [download].

Bushel is a cloud-based mobile device management app that makes difficult tasks on your iPhone or iPad simpler.

Designed with business in mind, Bushel has some terrific features like a device inventory, that allows you to see your devices capacity, which devices your users are using and what apps they have installed, and the ability to remotely lock or wipe a lost or stolen device.

Bushel also automates a lot of time-consuming tasks, like email configuration, device configuration, or installing apps to multiple devices simultaneously.

Charles Edge, Product Manager at Bushel, believes the simplicity and ease of use of the app is what really sets it apart.

Edge: "Bushel is a simple-to-use cloud-based tool that anyone can leverage to manage the Apple devices in their workplace and allows you to easily set-up and protect all new devices distributed to your team, or those they already have, through an intuitive web portal.

"Bushel’s simplicity gives less tech-savvy people an option to be able to manage devices completely by themselves. Other cloud services require large investment or an IT staff, which are both difficult for a small business to handle.

"Also, with our special focus on Apple products, our company can better allocate our dense knowledge of the Apple ecosystem to ultimately help the end user."

Edge and the development team have watched the app grow and help businesses to flourish and they're satisfied that they've managed to successfully achieve what they set out to do.

Edge: "Since launch, we are most proud at how much our product has helped real customers to manage their business more efficiently. This is what our intention was from day one, and to see it come to fruition is very satisfying."

However, the work doesn't stop here. The team is working hard on polishing the app but are also looking at user feedback to ensure that the most popular requested features make it into the app's pool of features.

Edge: "There is a lot of room for Bushel to improve in the future, but we definitely have to limit ourselves to retain the simplicity that defines Bushel.

"Rather than add more, we are looking to fine-tune Bushel to cater to the specific device management needs of various fields. This will hopefully make the experience more personal, and therefore more intuitive for each business we help."

"One of our newest features is the ability to send apps to a single device, which was highly requested. We also just launched the Bushel Affiliate Program where you’ll earn a percentage of a paying customer's monthly bill that you've referred as long as they are a Bushel customer.

Bushel doesn't currently have Android or Windows Phone support and there are no plans for that at this time, but it hasn't been completely ruled out.

Edge: "We really value our special focus on the Apple ecosystem, as it allows us to understand and utilize it to a deeper level. The presence of Apple in the enterprise is growing rapidly, and we don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.

"The market is good and it is what people want, so we don’t want to even partially step away from it now. we are ok with limiting our scope to focus on our deep-seeded Apple-based knowledge."

Fincon has finally revealed Angel Stone in action in the first ever official gameplay trailer for the anticipated hack and slasher.

Angel Stone is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity is in danger of being wiped out by the demonic Legion.

You'll select a class from berserker, gunslinger, and shadow mage and join forces with humanity's last line of defence against these frightening foes, the Resistance.

Angel Stones are talismans of fallen angels that you'll collect as you play. These unlock new abilities for your character.

There's a single player story to work your way through in mission mode, a co-operative boss raid, and real-time PVP depending on your preference.

To get a chance to play the game before its due out, head on over to angelstonegame.com to pre-register for the early access beta.

Angel Stone will land on iOS and Android this summer 2015.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Parigami, the match-three puzzler set in a papercraft Africa, is out now on iOS.

You'll navigate a papercraft African map made out of origami and paper cut outs, aiming for three stars in each match-three level.

They're not your usual match-three levels though. Instead of swapping individual tiles you'll be moving the rows and columns to try and get three or more paper animals to match up.

Match three animals and they'll simply burst into confetti but match four or more and they'll explode in a paper bomb, giving your score a healthy boost.

You won't be alone on your adventure - you'll be joined by six characters based on species native to Africa. They each have their own minigame, as well. You'll have to clean out Ollie the oryx's habitat, feed Mamma Hippo's hungry children, and chase off Fang, the mean lion.

If you manage to complete a minigame you'll receive paper popper boosters as a reward. These can be used during the main levels to give you a hand.

Parigami also has an Apple Watch companion app that tasks you with raising the baby booby bird, Buddy. He'll assist you during your adventures in the main game if you do so.

Parigami is out now in the App Store [download].

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.

Facebook's hit MMORPG, League of Angels, has been given a mobile makeover in kind-of sequel, Fire Raiders, which contains all the hero and angel collecting, PvE and PvP battling, and combat strategizing you can now expect from the franchise.

While League of Angels - Fire Raiders remains faithful to the Facebook original, it's very much its own game, as David Johansson, Creative Director at GTArcade, was keen to point out.

We spoke to Johansson about the challenges of adapting League of Angels for mobile, what's changed in the sequel, and his and your thoughts on how it plays on mobile.

What challenges were associated with bringing League of Angels to mobile?

Being our first mobile game, the entire process was a learning experience. One of the main challenges was finding ways to take the great League of Angels lore and find a way to make it accessible to mobile players. We really had to start from scratch but this ended up benefiting the game in the long run.

How does the game differ from the browser version?

Countless ways! Though most characters from the browser version can be found in Fire Raiders, we completely overhauled their design to make the game more suited for mobile. We wanted to make the game more interactive so most of the gameplay modes have been changed in the mobile version to achieve this.

For example, Hero and Angel skills are now triggered manually, allowing players to play a more crucial part in every battle. My favorite difference is that we gave the many Heroes and Angels in the mobile version their own unique character voices. I think this adds a lot to the feel of the game and brings the characters to life, creating a more immersive gaming experience.

Which is your favourite way to play - on your browser, mobile, or tablet?

Personally, I prefer the experience of playing games on an iPad. Not only is the performance excellent, but it’s also very nice to have a larger screen to play with during battles. But the game also plays excellently on phones.

How have fans of the Facebook version taken to the mobile version?

So far the response has been great. People are really liking the overhauled design and ability to trigger Hero and Angel skills manually. Some people are a little disappointed that this is a sequel and not just a mobile version of the browser game, but that usually gives way once they have spent a little time playing Fire Raiders. Most players realize it for what it is, a completely separate game, based on the same League of Angels world.

League of Angels - Fire Raiders is out now in the App Store [download] and Google Play [download].