Top Ten Mobile Sports Games Worth Checking Out

With the consolidation of professional league licenses and the rising cost of game development, each year it seems like console gamers have fewer options when it comes to sports games. While this high-profile market is stagnating, the mobile and tablet spaces are bursting with new concepts. The wealth of diversity reminds me of the NES era, which offered sports fans dozens of options, from the cartoony arcade fun of Baseball Stars to the more sim-based offerings like Bases Loaded and Tecmo Super Bowl. Not every segment of the sports game market on iOS has abundant options (I couldn't find one hockey game worth recommending), but in testing out more than 30 games I came across several titles that should appeal to sports fans. These 10 are the cream of the crop.

10. NFL Quarterback 13

Platfom: iOS, Android
Developer: Full Fat
Price: $0.99

Football fans looking to kill a few minutes during commercial breaks should check out this swipe-focused quarterback game. After you pick your favorite NFL team and name your quarterback, you start tossing touchdowns to fake players. The objective is to string together positive pass plays, which increases your point multiplier. Throw an incomplete pass or interception and you burn one of the three lives you start with and lose the multiplier. If you start delivering laser strikes like a Pro Bowler, the game starts throwing new challenges at you like increased wind or blitzes. As you rack up points, you can spend it on new equipment, power-ups, or stadium upgrades. If you like this style of game, Full Fat also offers decent flick golf, tennis, soccer, and rugby games.

9. Michael Vick: Game Time

Platform: iOS
Developer: KBJ Football Productions
Price: $0.99

Another unconventional football game, Game Time essentially replicates the skeleton passing drills NFL teams frequently perform in practice. With no defensive line, offensive line, running backs, or linebackers, your quarterback and a generic receiver corps face off against a defensive secondary. Your team starts down on the scoreboard. As long as you are losing, gaining first downs and touchdowns add time to the clock. You only have a few plays to choose from at first, but you can use the cash earned by stringing together wins to unlock new plays or upgrade your players. Getting nickeled and dimed to unlock new plays is irksome, since you would much rather pump that cash into player upgrades. The Dreamcast-era graphics won't wow you, but the simple controls and strong sense of progression make Game Time a decent option for football fans.

8. NBA Jam

Platform: iOS, Android
Developer: EA Sports
Price: $4.99

EA Sports resurrected this popular Midway arcade basketball game a few years back, and it's available for iPads as well. NBA Jam uses a virtual analog stick control scheme, which isn't nearly as responsive as a traditional controller, but gets the job done. The rosters are old (Brandon Roy and Greg Oden are still playing for the Portland Trailblazers), and the game is choppy on my iPad 2, but the basic formula that made this game such a hit at arcades is still intact.

7. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12

Platform: iOS, Android
Developer: EA Sports
$4.99

The simplistic swing-based controls make Tiger Woods an ideal iOS game. After creating a golfer, you can jump right into the PGA schedule, or kill some time playing through Tiger Challenges, Closest To The Pin Challenges or taking on a friend in local multiplayer. The game features eight licensed golf courses, and you can earn cash across all the modes that can be spent to upgrade your golfer. Though Tiger Woods PGA Tour has a robust offering of game options, I ran into some performance issues. The golf ball frequently glitches through the greens, and the game crashed a couple times.

6. Baseball Superstars 2013

Platform: iOS, Android
Developer: Gamevil 
Price: Free

Baseball Superstars' cute anime style recalls the quirkiness of NES-era sports games. The game puts you in control of a pitcher and batter of a fictitious team and challenges you to become a superstar. Instead of controlling the entire team you only tackle the plate or mound appearances of your player. Performing well earns the admiration of your coach and teammates, and earns you valuable XP (which can also be purchased via micro-transaction, but is hardly necessary). In between games you can visit various training facilities to improve your skills and interact with your coaches, teammates, and a nurse. This pervy story about your player's obsession with the sexy team nurse is an unfortunate sideshow, but the real detractor in the otherwise fun Baseball Superstars is the clunky menu system.

5. iOOTP Baseball 13

Platform: iOS
Developer: Out of the Park Developments 
Price: $4.99

Not satisfied with your favorite MLB team's performance? Take the reigns in this robust management simulator. A clever play-by-play broadcast-style stream keeps you engaged in game sims like you are reading a game live feed or listening to the radio, informing you about player streaks and even interesting social side-stories like if your first baseman just became an uncle. While you can perform the usual wheeling and dealing at trade deadline and sign free agents to aid in your quest for a pennant, iOOTP Baseball lacks some of the deeper functionality that games like this should have. The lack of player scouting is one of the biggest strikes, as are the limited contract negotiation options, clumsy menus, and finicky touch interface. Despite these issues, if you fancy yourself an up-and-coming Theo Epstein this game is worth a look.

4. NBA 2K13

Platform: iOS, Android
Developer: 2K Sports 
Price: $7.99

The most popular basketball game on the planet is also available on iPad. Not all of the modes found on the console version make the transition to tablet, but you can still play multiplayer, guide your team through a stripped-down franchise mode, or relive history by playing the greatest games of players like Michael Jordan, Shaq, and Allen Iverson. The virtual controls lack the responsiveness to play shutdown D or pull off ankle-breaking moves, but it's still the preferred option over the simplistic one-touch controls. The minimalist commentary and awkward-looking player models don't live up to the high quality bar of the console versions, either, but if you're looking to spend some time on the hardcourt this is still your best option on iPad.

3. Football Manager Handheld 2013

Platform: iOS, Android
Developer: Sega 
Price: $9.99

This third-generation version of Sega's popular management sim gives you the keys of a professional soccer club from one of 14 countries. Whether you are saving a team like Wigan from relegation or steering a juggernaut like Barcelona FC towards a Champions League cup, you must make savvy personnel moves, tinker with lineup combinations, and juggle the personalities on your team. The easy-to-navigate menus aid you in finding that ideal transfer target, and though the game-day presentations are super-basic, I still had fun watching my team compete and making shrewd substitution decisions. Managers looking for a more difficult experience can tackle the challenge scenarios, and if you are having trouble guiding your team to victory a few in-app purchases can make the game much easier.

2. New Star Soccer

Platform: iOS, Android
Developer: New Star Games 
Price: Free

Don't let the ugly, top-down look fool you. New Star Soccer's bare-bones interface hides a highly addictive sporting experience. Instead of guiding a created player through every minute of a soccer match, gameplay consists entirely of key moments in matches. Your performance under pressure earns you the accolades you need to advance to more prestigious leagues. Good match performances lead to pay days, and you can use your earnings to improve your performance on the pitch with upgraded skills or spend that money to raise your public profile. Off the pitch, you must juggle the demands that come with the life of a footy star. Spend too much time training and your girlfriend may leave you. Forsake your sponsors for a team dinner and you may lose that extra money it was generating.

1. FIFA 13

Platform: iOS
Developer: EA Sports
Price: $6.99

The best sports game on consoles also earns the accolade as our favorite iOS sports game. FIFA 13 is an earnest attempt to bring the champion of console footy games to tablets. The game features the popular collectible card-based Ultimate Team mode, a career mode, tournaments, and even online quick matches. All of the team and players licenses come along for the port as well, and the game looks fantastic. The controls try to mimic that of a standard gamepad, with a virtual analog stick on the left and buttons on the right. Overall, the controls are precise enough to offer a fun experience, though stringing together skill moves is much tougher than it is on traditional consoles, and I was thankful for the automated tackle assist in those sticky situations where you make one split-second error.