Just get a new iPad? You’re going to love playing these amazing games

Need more fun in your life? Check out these great iPad games.

Gaming on your iPad couldn't be sweeter. It's small enough to take with you everywhere, but with a big enough screen to allow for more precision with your taps, and it's that deadly combination that makes me reach for my iPad to play my favorite mobile games over and over.

Whether you're new to iPad gaming or are just looking for your next game to download, here are my top picks for iPad games.

• Alto's Odyssey
• Ticket to Ride
• Final Fantasy Tactics: War of Lions
• Leo's Fortune
• Invisible Inc.
• Minecraft: Pocket Edition
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery
• Stranger Things: The Game
• Mini Metro
• Red's Kingdom
• The Witness

Alto's Odyssey

Alto's Odyssey trades in the bright, snowy, and colorful palette of the first game for a much warmer, darker environment. The desert — while stunningly gorgeous — feels harsher and less forgiving than the slopes Alto's used to and the new landscape provides a plethora of new challenges for players to discover.

Read my full review of Alto's Odyssey

The very core mechanics of the game haven't changed. You're still controlling a cast of offbeat characters who explore a terrain-heavy endless runner while attempting an array of board-based tricks across a beautiful, ever-changing landscape. Collecting coins, dodging obstacles, and completing goals will allow you to level up and purchase power-ups for the in-game store. As you may have guessed, it all flows extremely smoothly and is just as addictive as the first incarnation. Alto's Odyssey continues to build on that well-defined core and throws awesome new challenges at players in almost every run.

If you liked Alto's Adventure, then downloading Alto's Odyssey is a no-brainer. You're getting everything you loved about the first game in a more robust and polished package.

• $4.99 - Download Now

Ticket To Ride

One of my favorite things about mobile gaming is being able to bring my favorite board games everywhere I go. Leave the boxes, the game pieces, and the cards at home, and enjoy classic board games on your iPad! Ticket to Ride is a personal favorite of mine. I have the board game to play with my family and friends, and I love the iOS version to take on the road.

The object of the game is for players to build sprawling railways by gathering colored cars to connect cities across the map. Every turn, a player gets to either pick two cars, claim a line by spending cars, or take on a new ticket (this challenges players to connect two cities before the first player runs out of cars). The longer the railway between two cities is, the more victory points they're worth.

Ticket to Ride is a great balance between competition, strategy, and construction, making it a great party game.

• $8.99 - Download Now

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of Lions

From the legendary developers Square Enix, comes this iPad port of the classic PlayStation game Final Fantasy Tactics: War of Lions. Full disclosure, I am absolutely in love with this game, I played the original countless times, and the iPad version is a perfect copy.

Everything to love about Final Fantasy Tactics is included, the wonderful story full of drama and plot twists, the robust job system with dozens of unique characters, and the classic graphics are all mixed together to make this the perfect blend of nostalgia and entertainment come to life.

When I rave about how good of a port this game is, I mean it. There were no sacrifices in bringing this classic console game to your fingertips. In fact, the touch controls are incredibly intuitive and make me wonder how I ever played this game with a gamepad tethered to a tv.

If you loved the original game this is an absolute must-have on your iPad.

• $13.99 - Download Now

Leo's Fortune

Leo's Fortune is a cute platforming game for the iPad that features finely crafted stages with beautiful graphics and clever puzzles. The story is whimsical, but the little-mustachioed fluff ball takes it in stride.

What stands out to me about Leo's Fortune is the gameplay physics. Making Leo float or sink to reach the precious gold coins is a nice break from the old side to side movement in a lot of platformers.

• $4.99 - Download Now

Invisible Inc.

Invisible Inc. was a game that took me by complete surprise. Considering this game relies on being sneaky, I suppose that means the jokes on me.

This turn-based stealth game randomly generates levels that you need to make your way through to complete objectives and avoid enemies. You can control ten unique characters through the perilous missions, and each of them have loads of customization options, making sure characters never get stale.

The gameplay is complex, and it does take awhile to get used to the in-and-outs, but once you do I promise you hours of fun await.

• $4.99 - Download Now

Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Minecraft is a force that just won't quit, the game's original release on PC back in 2011 has spawned versions on every single console and platform you can think of, and the iPad was no exception.

Endless exploring, mining, and crafting await you in the 3D pixelated world, which offers almost limitless possibilities for what you can create. It's this reason that makes Minecraft: Pocket Edition amazingly fun to play for hours and hours. Just don't forget to eat, drink water, or — y'know — breathe.

• $6.99 - Download Now

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery

Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery is an adventure game with a spooky story and a unique, rather intoxicating soundtrack.

It's hard to go into too much detail without spoiling the experience, but here's what I can tell you: Its 140-character story snippets are easy to toss on Twitter for co-op play. You can ask for help and lead your friends into the mystery of the Megatome and the Trigon Trifecta.

The pixel-art and stick figure sprites work well to add to the atmosphere the game creates, because everything is supposed to be unclear.

• $3.99 - Download Now

Stranger Things: The Game

As a huge fan of both the Netflix Original series and retro gaming, Stranger Things: The Game was like a match made in heaven.

Travel through Hawkins with your favorite characters from the series and use their unique weapons to battle enemies, complete quests, and solve the latest supernatural mystery in everyone's favorite 80s town.

The 8-bit graphics harken back to a time when arcades were the coolest place to be and since the show is set in the 80s, it's a perfect call back to an era of fun 8-bit dungeon crawlers. The gameplay is super smooth and with each character being unique, the gameplay doesn't ever get stale. Although the game is a little on the short side, the developers have already released new content based on the second season of the show, hopefully this trend continues as the show progresses!

• Free - Download Now

Mini Metro

Do you ever look at you city's public transportation and think you could design it better? Well, Mini Metro will let you try to create your own subway system.

Minimalist in design but complex in its mind-boggling puzzles, Mini Metro provides hours of fun — even if for some of those hours you will be scratching your head.

• $4.99 -Download Now

Red's Kingdom

Red's Kingdom is a perfectly crafted adventure puzzle game that has a lot of depth. The goofy but heartwarming story with its colorful characters is bound to grab your attention, and the incredibly fun gameplay never seems to go stale as the game layers in plenty of elements to surprise you at every turn.

Read my full review of Red's Kingdom

Red's Kingdom opens the doors to its world and allows you to take non-linear paths giving you the opportunity to explore different areas and find alternate routes to hidden treasures. Although it's a puzzle game at its core, the game feels more like an action-adventure game than anything else. I can't recommend Red's Kingdom highly enough!

• $2.99 - Download Now

The Witness

If you're looking for a challenging and beautifully designed open world game, The Witness is a solid choice for any gamer.

You wake up on a mysterious island with no idea where you are or even who you are. Your only option is to explore the island around you and uncover clues to the real reason you find yourself stranded.

With more than 500 puzzles to find and solve and a vast island to explore, The Witness will keep you enthralled for hours on end.

• $9.99 - Download Now

Ticket to Earth

Ticket to Earth is an incredible game and is a must-download for gamers everywhere, and I can't recommend it highly enough!

The story is littered with surprising plot twists, impactful characters, and a well-written narrative that will keep you invested in the rich world of New Providence and the people who populate the planet.

Beautifully designed graphics that blend the manga/comic book style artwork with brightly colored backgrounds and landscape make Ticket to Earth pop off the screen in a delightful burst of colors, which never gets old.

An original battle system that breathes new life into the strategy RPG genre, the Movement system offers an incredibly deep and complex combat experience that never goes stale, as there is always new powers and abilities to acquire. It's refreshing to see a strategy RPG that heavily relies on the strategy part of its genre. Ticket to Earth will kill you if you're not careful, you must examine the map carefully and choose your action wisely, or you'll be doomed to repeat the same mission over and over again. It can be mildly frustrating as you're still learning the game, but it's wildly entertaining the whole time.

Plus, since the birth of ARKit, the developers have added a beautiful AR mode that lets you play all the story missions and a bunch of new original missions in AR.

$4.99 - Download Now

What do you think are the best iPad games?

Games are subjective and I tried to pick a selection of games from different genres, but I'm sure I missed some great games that you love. Leave a comment below or shoot me a Tweet and tell me what iPad games you think are the best of the best!

Updated November 2018: Did some fine tuning of the list and added amazing games like The Witness,and Ticket to Earth!