HANDHELD GAMING

Yes, you’re using it for emails and pet photography… but slap any recent iPhone in a controller and it’ll become a fine gaming device

T he keenest of mobile gamers (or just your average Candy Crush fiend) would argue that the iPhone has always been a worthy handheld gaming device. And that’s probably true. But it’s never been better than right now.

From indie hits to rock-solid ports of console classics, the App Store is teeming with games to play. Whether you want a more traditional gaming experience or something that was specifically designed for the iPhone’s multitouch interface, you’ll find it here. And the Apple Arcade subscription service takes iOS gaming a step further, offering a slowly growing collection of premium (and mercifully ad-free) games for a monthly £5 fee, many that launch alongside their console counterparts. Oh, and you can also effectively turn your iPhone into an Xbox thanks to Game Pass.

Pad but true

Casual gaming often works well on a touchscreen, but for meatier stuff you need a proper controller. There are some great iPhone pad-ons these days, and the gold standard is the Backbone One above (£100, playbackbone.co.uk). It’s comfy in the hands and is powered by your phone, so you never have to charge it.

There’s a capture button and one that takes you to Backbone’s superb app, from which you can launch games and jump into multiplayer matches with friends. It’s all incredibly slick, and sets the Backbone apart from rival controllers like the Razer Kishi.

Pro me heaven

Any iPhone from the last three or four years will make for a decent gaming device, but if you want a real consolebotherer you’ll need the iPhone 13 Pro. Its A15 Bionic chip will chew away at anything you throw it, while the 6.1in OLED display (6.7in on the Pro Max) can reach a 120Hz refresh rate.

High refresh rates are a big deal in gaming, resulting in a much smoother and more responsive experience; and while you can expect 120Hz support to roll out slowly on existing iPhone games, it should prove a significant upgrade over time.

■ALTERNATIVELY…

ASUS ROG PHONE 5

Gaming-centric phones are a bit of a niche curio: typically bulky, pricey, and unnecessary for most users. But the Asus ROG Phone 5 is the most convincing attempt yet to close that gap, delivering top performance at a fair price. It’s a beast thanks to a Snapdragon 888 chip and up to 16GB of RAM, plus an immense 6000mAh battery. OK, it’s also heavy like a brick, so there are trade-offs.

But this really does feel like a smartphone maximised for mobile gaming enthusiasts. £800 / asus.com

SONY XPERIA 1 III

Like the iPhone 13 Pro, this year’s Sony flagship isn’t a true gaming phone, but it’s a hell of a handset to use for that purpose.

The ultra-tall 21:9 4K HDR display is a brilliant rectangle on which to play CoD: Mobile, and there’s easily enough power to do so at max detail settings. It can automatically save the last 30 seconds of footage, a bit like the PS4’s Share button; and with 256GB of storage, you’ll be able to clip a lot of highlights before you run out of room. £1199 / sony.co.uk

LENOVO LEGION PHONE DUEL 2

For its sequel to the Legion phone, Lenovo has gone fully ‘kitchen sink’. This bulky blower is as unsubtle as handsets come, with its RGB lighting and twin fans. But the 6.92in FHD+ AMOLED display has a 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch-sampling rate; the whole device is covered in virtual triggers; and you also get haptic feedback if devs build it into their games. Chuck in 90W charging and up to 16GB of RAM, and really it’s a handheld console that also makes calls. from £699 / lenovo.com

●BEST OF APPLE ARCADE

Clap Hanz Golf

No matter how boring you find the real-life sport of golf, its simplicity has always made it a great fit for video games. And this is a very good golf game. From the makers of cult PlayStation series Everybody’s Golf, Clap Hanz Golf features the same cheerful aesthetic, likeably dorky characters and deceptively deep gameplay as the titles that came before it, but this one is designed for mobile. The touchscreen controls are surprisingly accurate, but you also get controller support if you’re struggling with the swipey gestures.

Fantasian

Thought mobile games were all about quickfire stuff you can play for five minutes on the bus? Well, that’s not what Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi had in mind when he made Fantasian an Apple Arcade exclusive. This sprawling JRPG, which combines exploration with dungeon-crawling and old-school turn-based battles (though you can opt out of the latter), will take you up to 90hrs to complete. And when you’ve seen some of the 160 real-life handcrafted dioramas that form its visual style, you may want to stick around for most of that.

The Pathless

A shiny PS5 launch title that dropped on Apple Arcade at the same time, The Pathless is a one-of-a-kind action-adventure game. Unlike countless other open-world affairs that litter their maps with waypoints, this one (clue’s in the name) doesn’t even have one, instead trusting you to learn to read environmental cues as you solve its puzzles. Movement is a huge part of the game, with the protagonist able to use a companion eagle to soar across the world collecting upgrade crystals. Played with a controller, this is an indie gem.

Grindstone

Among the very first Apple Arcade games and still one of the best the service has to offer, Grindstone is a beautifully straightforward and wildly moreish puzzle-battler that will eat up as much of your free time as you allow it to. You play as a bloodthirsty Viking type, and your objective is to slay as many monsters of the same colour as you can in each turn. Collecting the titular grindstones during a turn lets you change the colour of ‘creep’ you’re targeting, letting you chain together huge and gory combos. Mobile games don’t get much more fun than this.