Best free iPad games 2017
Looking for the best free iPad games? This regularly updated selection offers a huge choice, from fast-paced arcade thrills to sedate adventuring, all without you spending a penny. And every one of them has been tested by a real human, to ensure they're worth your time.
We've avoided exploitative freemium games, of course, and if apps hassle the player with in-app payments, we'll mention that. (Although a few optional and reasonably priced unlocks is probably to be expected, because devs have to eat.) But if you've got kids lurking, do explore parental controls so your little darlings don't accidentally buy piles of virtual coins with your real money.
Other than that, delve right in. There are dozens of fabulous free games that are perfect for iPad gamers on a budget, many of which take full advantage of the extra screen space you have over an iPhone.
From '99 Rockets' to 'Evil Factory'
99 Rockets
99 rockets. 99 targets. It all sounds so simple. In this sparse shooter, each screen has little darts meander along skinny tracks; all you need to do is tap the screen when the solid dart is pointing at a target. Easy!
Only before long the tracks start looping, and the darts start spinning. Once you get your head around those issues, darts appear with two or three tips, which fire simultaneously. Miss once and it's game over. That the darts can take multiple passes is scant consolation for those times you miss your final target by a whisker, a dozen levels in.
Fortunately, you can save your progress, rather than having to start from scratch every time - although doing so fires up an ad. (This sometimes also occurs after a level, rather obliterating the otherwise tense atmosphere; a 79p IAP banishes the ads forever.) But the ultimate challenge is apparently to make it through the entire game without using any saves at all. To say the least, that requires a steely nerve, a steady hand, and an impeccable aim! Craig Grannell
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
To the casual player Ascension seems not dissimilar to Magic: The Gathering - you build and play from a deck of cards, each of which depicts a warrior, magician or relic of some kind, and use these to slay monsters and acquire both points and further cards. What makes it a 'deck builder' (like the classic card game Dominion, or the more recent Star Realms - which is also free and also worth a try) rather than a collectible card game like Magic is the fact that all players start with an identical, very simple deck. You build your deck within the game itself, rather than in spare hours long before it begins.
It's all weirdly addictive, once you play a few times, and you needn't pay a penny if you don't want to: various single-time payments unlock new sets of cards and suchlike, but the free offering is perfectly decent. And while some reviewers have criticised the mostly rough-seeming art style, we find it all rather beautiful. David Price.
Asphalt 8: Airborne
Whereas some driving games have one foot planted in reality, Asphalt 8 throws caution to the wind, flinging cars into the air with merry abandon and burning nitro like it's going out of fashion. The hyper-real tracks you zoom around are occasionally animated with a launching shuttle or a massive ferry to leap over and totally not crash into. Crashes should instead be saved for your rivals: ramming other cars while nitroing is half the fun and, naturally, rewarded with more nitro. Asphalt just can't get enough of nitro.
The only dent in this game's otherwise fine chassis is its business model. Gameloft and freemium equates to IAP and adverts. But the latter are infrequent and the former can be avoided if you're happy grinding a bit - and given the madcap, glorious courses on offer, who wouldn't want to play them again and again? Craig Grannell
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean. 
