War Thunder Mobile – the sounds of microtransactions (Picture: Gaijin Entertainment)

GameCentral takes a look at the month’s best smartphone games, including new portable versions of both War Thunder and Samba De Amigo.

After a long summer it’s finally back to school. Whether or not you’re celebrating probably depends on whether you’re a parent or pupil, but in either case it’s good to know there are plenty of mobile distractions to help shore up your mood. From the peculiar charms of Vampire Survivor-alike Pizza Hero to the unexpectedly wonderful City Gridlock, or the completely free pixel art RTS Tiny Pharaoh: Pixel Strategy, there’s a lot to enjoy on touchscreens this month.

Darkrise – Pixel Action RPG

iOS & Android, Free (Roika)

Playing as a mage, warrior, archer or rogue, this 2D side-scrolling hack ‘n’ slash has you exploring its cute, pixellated landscapes in search of monsters to slay and loot to ratchet up your gear score.

Combat is basic, involving holding down the attack button, running away, then repeating – inserting special moves when you can; a description that could equally well apply to Diablo 4.

It’s a pain having to compare each individual looted weapon or piece of equipment with what’s in your inventory, and the action’s a bit mindless, but the gradual expansion of the map and drip feed of new powers is just as compelling as you’d expect.

Score: 6/10

City Gridlock

iOS & Android, £2.99 (Short Story Games)

City Gridlock is a game of traffic management. Starting with an empty road network, your job is to look at the most frequent routes taken by drivers and use signs and traffic lights to make their journeys as efficient as possible.

To complicate matters you’ll also need to direct cars past shopping areas and bear in mind what lane cars are in. It’s incredible and counter-intuitive how large a difference seemingly minimal changes to signage or traffic light sequences can make.

It’s fascinatingly complex, and even though its music is a bit hectic and its interface a little unrefined, it’s a dream for enthusiasts of cautious trial and error, which can deliver staggering and unexpected breakthroughs.

Score: 8/10

Samba De Amigo: Party-to-Go – Sega is really doubling down on Samba at the moment (Picture: Sega)

Samba De Amigo: Party-to-Go

iOS, included with Apple Arcade subscription (Sega)

Based on the much-loved arcade and Dreamcast classic, this looks and sounds just like Samba De Amigo, but rather than clutching a pair of comedy plastic maracas, you’ll be tapping circles on a screen.

As well as virtually shaking your maracas, you’ll need to slide your thumbs across the screen, and press and hold to strike poses as each song demands, it’s insane generosity with ‘perfect’ ratings making that accolade very easy to come by.

The iPad’s screen size makes the interface a bit awkward, but it works well on iPhone, even if it doesn’t come close to recapturing the joyous silliness of the 1990s original.

Score: 6/10

Pizza Hero

iOS, Free (Astrohound Studios)

The easiest way to describe Pizza Hero is that it’s essentially Vampire Survivor but instead of being a vampire hunter, you’re a slice of pizza with a friendly Labrador assistant that occasionally gathers collectibles on your behalf.

Like its inspiration, your job is to avoid waves of incoming enemies, your slice of pizza auto-aiming at nearby groups and stragglers, while you artfully duck back through the crowd to collect the goodies they posthumously drop.

Monetisation is a touch more forceful than you’ll be used to from Vampire Survivor, but it’s still a well-balanced and involving game.

Score: 7/10

War Thunder Mobile

iOS & Android, Free (Gaijin Distribution)

War Thunder, the free-to-play console and PC war game, has enjoyed a decade of success, making it all but inevitable that its publisher would bring its clanking, military delights to mobile.

You can play either tank driver or ship’s captain in games of relatively quickfire 5 vs 5 rounds. We say relatively because driving a tank or sailing a hulking destroyer is a ponderous task, that involves plenty of forward planning in terms of where you expect the enemy to be heading.

It’s fun in an oddly slow-mo way, but the constant entreaties to spend money and the fact that after a few hours you end up as cannon fodder for players that have, means you quickly end up being priced out of the fun.

Score: 6/10

Tiny Pharaoh: Pixel Strategy

iOS & Android, Free + no microtransactions (Richard Andrysek)

Tiny Pharaoh casts you as a master builder in Ancient Egypt, commanding your people to raise structures, fish, farm, and praise the gods at religious shrines and pyramids.

There’s no military component, letting you concentrate fully on real-time resource gathering, which has unexpected depth thanks to building interdependencies and interactions with various geographical features. Think The Settlers but in the desert.

There are online leaderboards for each level and natural disasters to recover from, and it’s absolutely free with no in-app purchases or advertising to spoil your fun. It’s worth remembering that sleeper hit Polytopia arrived with a similar lack of fanfare.

Score: 8/10

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GameCentral takes a look at the month’s best smartphone games, including new portable versions of both War Thunder and Samba De Amigo.