As the nights begin to roll in later every evening, get your head ready for summertime with these six mobile games packed with idyllic scenes and blue skies. Whether you’re killing time in the shade waiting for it to cool down or soaking up the sun beside the pool or other body of water, these mobile games offer some of the best ways to spend your summer days. And the best part is most of them are free.
Horizon Chase
This unashamed love letter to classic arcade racers is like the dazzling offspring of Out Run and Top Gear, as you blaze along twisty roads in gorgeous retro-infused landscapes. Although ‘weather’ does appear from time to time, you’ll mostly gawp at the perfect blue skies… right up until the moment you stupidly smash into a tree, thereby relinquishing any hope of taking the chequered flag.
Super Cat Tales 2
Since the days of Super Mario and Sonic, it’s been gaming law that platform games start in beautiful sunny locations suspiciously full of deadly foes. Super Cat Tales 2 has all that and adds a two-thumb control system that’s ideal for mobile. It also occasionally has your moggy obliterate its enemies by way of massive shooty tanks. That sound you hear is Mario’s cap exploding with envy.
PowerHover: Cruise
Truthfully, the original Power Hover was sunnier, being set in a futuristic desert where a surfboarding robot scythed across the sand grabbing bling from a dying world. But Cruise does have some levels bathed in sun. Sadly for the robot, one of them is an endless road filled with droid-carving lasers, and another takes place on an airborne snake-like track packed with deadly obstacles.
Free (IAP) / iOS
The Witness
You know when people bang on about desperately wanting to get away to a desert island for a holiday break? They probably don’t mean the one in The Witness, which contains hundreds of mind-smashing interlinked puzzles. Still, the scenery is stunning, and you can always blame the virtual sun for frying your brain when you hopelessly flap around failing to solve yet another arcane puzzle.
R178 / iOS
Sky: Children Of The Light
Like in the PS3 classic Journey, Sky players spend a lot of time sliding down hillsides on their heels. Only here the world is shared, as you solve puzzles alongside dozens of other players. Initial location Daylight Prairie is a beautiful land of rolling hills and blazing sun; follow-up Hidden Forest is… very damp. But even when it rains in Sky, it’s beautiful.
Touchgrind Scooter
If you like being ‘rad’, partaking in death-defying leapy feats on a bike, skateboard or scooter, the Touchgrind games have you covered in gloomier times. Scooter is especially vibrant, a virtual sun shining when the real one refuses to. Immersive controls have you using two fingers to direct your transport to perform strings of show-off stunts. Just don’t then smash your face into the ground.