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Earlier, I spent a couple hundred words complaining about the state of mobile gaming and probably coming off like some sort of horrible combination of a whiny baby and an old man shaking his fist at the youngsters congregating on his lawn. I fear, more than anything, that a post that is composed of paragraph after paragraph of complaints and warnings and doomsaying makes me sound like I’m down on mobile gaming…because I’m not. At all! I love mobile gaming! I’m just a little picky. I would say “Maybe you should be a little picky too since it would help you find and enjoy better games,” but that sounds really snobby and elitist and I actually want you to keep reading as I endorse some of my favorite mobile games and encourage you to throw money at them.

So, without further ado, here are a few games that I’ve sunk more money into than I have most others…and I don’t feel bad about it at all.

More after the JUMP…

The App: Ascension

The Device: iPhone 4

The Price: Free…for now! Expansion packs cost a few bucks.

The Basics: An adaptation of the card game of the same name, Ascension is a deck building game with a fantasy theme. Up to four players compete to build their armies, scooping up various heroes, magical items and technology and do battle with monsters and demons, earning points for collecting unique cards and killing enemies. Anyone familiar with Magic: The Gathering or similar games will be able to dive in and understand much of it immediately, but Ascension is actually one of the simpler deck building games out there and could be a great introduction to the genre for newbies (especially since it’s currently free in the App Store).

The Review: I’ve never played the physical version of Ascension, but I can give the app the highest praise I can give any tabletop-to-mobile adaptation — it makes me want to go out and buy the actual box.

More after the JUMP…