My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic shines right out of the gate, but it loses its gleam when you hit the inevitable paywall. The core of the game -- building and expanding a town -- is fun and compulsive, while the repetitive mini-games are short enough to be only slightly annoying after prolonged play time, plus Gameloft pulled out all the stops in presentation. But your progress gets heavily stilted if you don’t shell out for in-app purchases, and it appears impossible to finish the story without spending big money.

Nearly everyone likes roller coasters, so you can hardly blame Nutty Fluffies’ carnival-prize stuffed animals for wanting to ride when their theme park is closed. Of course, this being an iOS game -- one made by the studio behind the Xbox 360’s physics-defying Trials series -- it's more than a breezy day in the park for the animals. You must guide them safely through each track by swiping to move the train and collect hearts, but the safety regulations seem nil, so coaster cars can (and will) go flying off the track if you hit a bank too hard or put a little too much speed behind a jump.

With a wide array of turn-based iOS titles likely taking up your time, it can be difficult to find a chunk of time large enough to sit down and play through an entire game of Madden on your iPhone or iPad. That’s where Madden NFL 13 Social hits its stride. Taking the simplistic style of other asynchronous turn-based titles, Madden NFL 13 Social tasks players with completing a game in alternating bursts. Each turn consists of one offensive drive, however long that may be, and you don’t ever play defense, as that wouldn’t really work for the style of play here.