Sara Is Missing and Keepy Ducky: this week’s top mobile games

Welcome to Gearburn’s Mobile Game Picks of the Week, a weekly series in which Hadlee takes a look at the latest, most entertaining, or time-consuming mobile games on portable screens.

It’s time for another look at the world of mobile games, featuring a little something for everyone as usual.

Our standout picks? Well, you should check out Sara Is Missing and Galaga Wars, but the rest are decent as well.

Galaga Wars (free – Android, iOS)

We’ve seen a couple of retro or retro-inspired franchises in recent weeks, and now it’s Galaga’s turn.

The classic arcade shooter franchise has you taking out waves of enemies — and the latest game is no different. But the twist is that enemies will be coming from all sides now, while the graphics have also been spruced up.

Galaga Wars also offers several powerups and ship upgrades, giving you some incentive to collect the in-game coins.

Football Manager Touch 2017 (paid – Android, iOS)

The Football Manager franchise has a loyal, cult-like following, owing to its in-depth focus on the beautiful game.

The latest game has hit mobile devices too, offering a better 3D match engine, over 130 leagues, an in-game social media platform and the ability to instantly simulate a match result.

Football Manager Touch 2017 is available for a steep R290 on Android and R300 on iOS.

SIM – Sara Is Missing (free – Android)

Think of this puzzle/investigation game as Her Story with a smartphone (instead of a PC) and you’ve got a good idea of what to expect.

You’ll need to investigate the disappearance of the titular character by sifting through her smartphone, going through her messages, notes, photos and more to solve the mystery.

SIM – Sara is Missing also offers multiple endings to encourage replayability.

Keepy Ducky (free – Android, iOS)

Heavily inspired by a minigame created in Minecraft, Keepy Ducky has you trying to keep ducks in the air.

To do so, you’ll need to simply throw snowballs at said ducks. But things will get tough as more and more birds are introduced. It’s super simple stuff, but it makes for a pleasant two minute distraction anyway.

That’s really all there is to the game, so people looking for a deep experience will want to look elsewhere.

Asphalt Extreme (free – Android, iOS, Windows Phone)

What do you call an Asphalt game that doesn’t take place on asphalt? Well, it appears that it’s still called Asphalt…

Anyway, the Asphalt racing franchise goes off-road for the first time, offering buggies, rally cars and SUVs to play with. Throw in some varied environments (dunes, jungles, cities, glaciers etc) and you’ve got a rather lush-looking title.

Asphalt Extreme is free to play but expect the usual in-app purchase shenanigans.