Gallery: 10 Portable Games to Get You Through the Holidays
01warioware-d-i-y
Aren't the holidays great? You get to eat lots of delicious food, take off work to hang out with friends/family, and play drunken dreidel for cash. Best of all, there's plenty of time for videogames. But whether you're going home to visit relatives or escaping to Hawaii for a nice warm sojourn, it's pretty impractical to lug around your game consoles and TV. So the Game|Life staff has put together a list of great portable games that will help get you through those long flights and boring photo slideshows. Just don't forget your battery charger. __Above:__ WarioWare: D.I.Y. ----------------- *Nintendo DS, $40* I used to get bored on six-hour plane rides. Now they fly by, because of my patented WarioWare: D.I.Y. In-Flight Game Design Challenge. The object is simple: Use this game-making software from the wizards at Nintendo to design a portable game from scratch, creating the design, programming, graphics and music in the hours between when the pilot says it's OK to use electronic devices and the beginning of the plane's descent. The great thing is that with D.I.Y., it's entirely possible to make something fun in this short window of time. Need someone to play-test your creation? Try your seat buddy. *—Chris Kohler*
02ash
Ash --- *iPhone/iPad, $5* This traditional RPG offers a far deeper experience than most iPhone/iPad games. Not only does it last 15 to 20 hours, it's crammed full of entertaining dialog and all sorts of other fantastical goodies — interactive items, collectible weapons/armor and your standard gamut of random battles. Ash serves as homage to the old-school SNES RPGs that many of us still love and cherish, such as Final Fantasy IV and [Secret of Mana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_Mana). It's a nice chunk o' quest to sink your teeth into over the holidays, especially if somebody just bought you an iPhone or iPad. *—Jason Schreier*
03plants-vs-zombies
Plants vs. Zombies ------------------ *iPhone $3, iPad $10* Ever since StarCraft and [Warcraft III](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft_III:_Reign_of_Chaos) mapmakers refined their craft a decade ago, the tower-defense genre has spawned a bazillion clones. And why wouldn't it? The concept is brilliant — it's always a blast to strategically establish a defense structure and hope it can hold up against a marauding army of enemies. Plants vs. Zombies is especially great at capturing the potency of the genre, forcing you to defend your house from zombies by using an array of different plants. Plants that shoot seeds. It might seem like a silly concept, but Plants vs. Zombies makes it work. The graphical depictions are charming without feeling too childish, and the gameplay is addictive enough to keep you hooked through at least an entire train ride. *—Jason Schreier*
04game-dev-story-8
Game Dev Story -------------- *iPhone/iPad, $4* Of all the addictive games that fill the iPhone's library, Game Dev Story might be the hardest habit to kick. In this adorable simulator, inspired by the likes of Theme Hospital and Lemonade Stand, you get to create and maintain your own game-development studio. Grinding out new fake videogames is both challenging and satisfying, requiring you to balance your budget and choose appropriate combinations of genre, type and direction to make sure each product is top-notch. You'll attend gaming conferences, receive awards, read game magazines and watch as asshole game critics tear apart your hard work. Not only does Game Dev Story serve up a satirically simplistic look at the game-making process, it does it with humor and charm. You can even hire a bear. (Besides, you know it's a good game when [Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert plays it](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/2010/12/game-dev-story/)). *—Jason Schreier*
05professor-layton-and-the-unwound-future
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future --------------------------------------- *Nintendo DS, $30* The third installment of this groundbreaking series of games, which blend logic puzzles with intriguing mysteries set in topsy-turvy turn-of-the-century London, is the most feature-packed yet. Besides all the many story puzzles you'll wrack your brain solving along with Professor Layton and his assistant Luke, Unwound Future has some of the series' best extra modes, like a series of mini-games where you have to plot out the path that a toy car takes through a maze without getting lost or running out of gas. I sunk hours and hours into these side missions alone, and you will too. *—Chris Kohler*
06persona-3-portable
Persona 3 Portable ------------------ *PSP, $40* [Persona 3 Portable](http://www.atlus.com/p3p/) is the perfect handheld RPG. Persona 3 was one of the best role-playing games on the PlayStation 2 but the series' addictive gameplay, which places you in the role of a high-school student who must study for tests and talk to girls by day and fight demonic entities by night, is far more suited to the handheld than the big screen. That's because Persona 3 Portable doesn't require you to play for a long period of time in order to progress. Even just a few minutes a day is enough to strengthen your social circle — which gives bonuses when fighting monsters — or plow through several more in-game days. The game is long, too. It's not uncommon for players to rack up more than 100 hours. Plus, Persona 3 Portable has an exclusive mode where you can play as a female, which can easily double that 100-hour figure. *—John Mix Meyer*
07patchwork-heroes
Patchwork Heroes ---------------- *PSP, $10* Patchwork Heroes makes you chop airships into small pieces to defend your village from attack. The catch is that your character and his allies are on board the ship, and slicing off the wrong junction can send friend and foe alike falling to the ground. Part puzzle game, part 2-D action game, the distinctive art style and peppy soundtrack won me over instantly. Four difficulty levels and an extremely challenging set of bonus levels had me playing and replaying the same stages trying to find shortcuts and deal maximum damage in the shortest time possible. *—Daniel Feit*
08pixeljunk-monsters-deluxe
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe ------------------------- *PSP, $10* Last fall, Q-Games ported its cute yet challenging tower-defense game PixelJunk Monsters to the PSP with an extra island to defend. It was well-suited for portable gaming, as the urge to complete each stage without making any mistakes proved addictive. I could spend an entire commute trying to perfect a single level. However, [PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe](http://pixeljunk.jp/library/MonstersDeluxe/) is more than just a transfer to a smaller screen — it's an overhaul of the entire game. New monsters appear throughout, not just in the fresh levels, forcing you to view familiar areas in a new light. And unlockable items now carry across all islands. These renovations, plus the addition of online co-op play, make PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe arguably the best incarnation of the game available, whether you own it on PlayStation 3 or not. *—Daniel Feit*
09pokemon-heartgold-and-soulsilver
Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver ---------------------------------------- *Nintendo DS, $40 each* Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the latest DS entries in the successful critter-catching series, will likely last you well into next year's holidays. Just playing through the story will keep most players busy for a good 40 to 60 hours. Chances are high that by then, you'll be totally hooked on the series' signature formula: Catch new monsters, train your old ones and become the best. Since the games allow you to go online and battle other players from around the world, "the best" actually means something this time around. Just be careful you don't look too far down the competitive-Pokémon rabbit hole or you'll become like me and wonder what else you could have been doing the last five years. *—John Mix Meyer*
10super-scribblenauts
Super Scribblenauts ------------------- *Nintendo DS, $30* Super Scribblenauts makes its own gravy. This puzzle game asks you to get through a wide variety of situations by typing in the objects you want. Need to reach an object in a tall tree? Type "ladder," although you could also use a lasso, ride an elephant or give yourself magical wings instead. The game is filled with puzzles that will last you several lengthy plane rides, but you'll probably just get caught up experimenting to see how many different solutions you can come up with for each puzzle. Whether you race through the game or spend hours dabbling in word wizardry, Super Scribblenauts will last a while. *—Chris Kohler*
