I finally purchased an iPad 4 last week. I haven't spent a whole lot of time playing games on it yet, but I am quite pleased with my purchase so far. I am looking to add some more apps (read: games) to my library though, so I am asking you duders to recommend some good ones! I already have the following, so don't worry about these:

• SuperBrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
• Infinity Blade I & II
• Scribblenauts Remix
• Curiosity
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

I'm looking for some games that make good use of the retina display. Genre isn't really important, but I don't like games that use virtual joystick control. I'm also not a big fan of social games or games that would be described as purely mobile games; such as Game Dev Story, Flight Control, Doodle God/Devil, etc.

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions.

Eufloria HD. There's a QL of the PC version, and it controls very well on the iPad. I really liked The Room. I have a hard time recommending it because it's short and a reductionist could describe it as a pixel hunt, but it looks great and I found some of the puzzles really satisfying. Continuity 2. It's been a while since I played it, but it's a nice puzzle platformer that was made for touch. Waking Mars is worth researching. It's not my kind of iPad game, but it seemed interesting early on.

My three favourite iPad games have to be Splice, which is a great (and gorgeous) puzzle game, McPixel, which is a funny fast-paced adventure game (both of these have QLs) and Super Hexagon, which is a hardcore arcade reflex game. I've heard great things about the iPad version of World of Goo as well. I really enjoyed that on PC, so if you haven't played it that might be worth picking up.

Definitely GTA Chinatown Wars, III, and Vice City when it comes out. They all control very well, considering the types of games they are.

The Room - Creepy atmosphere and a pretty good puzzle game

PunchQuest - Cool side scrolling game with scoring and upgrades

Beat Sneak - Fun music rhythm stealth game which looks great on ipad

Gasketball - Fun easy to play futuristic basketball challenge game

Rayman Jungle Run - Probably the best platformer on ios and looks almost as good as the console game

Also all the previous suggestions are great on Ipad

Cut the Rope

Plants vs Zombies HD is gorgeous.

Most of my faves have been mentioned but there is one GLARING omission, JETPACK JOYRIDE!!!!

...plus it's free so it's a no-brainer :)

Get Bastion...NOW!

If you haven't played it before, the 2001 Sid Meier's Pirates! port is really good.

Kingdom Rush. Buy it, play it, love it.

Where's My Water? is the best straight puzzle game on iOS.

Also get Dungeon Raid, if there's an iPad version of that. I wouldn't know.

I see Army of Darkness Defense is for iPad. That's a fun one if you like games like Orcs Must Die or Sanctum (though it's much more unit-based than those games)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Keep them coming!

I should also mention that I'm not a big fan of adventure games, and I have played many of the games suggested at one point or another on iPhone, and I'm not really the kind of person that goes back and re-plays games.

@PoisonJam7 said:

but I don't like games that use virtual joystick control. I'm also not a big fan of social games or games that would be described as purely mobile games; such as Game Dev Story, Flight Control, Doodle God/Devil,

You just ruled out most games out there, the ones that use virtual joysticks are usually painful to control and all the others are designed for touch screen only, so purely mobile.

I would keep a close eye on the upcoming Baldur's Gate, also tower defense!

Minecraft and Bad Piggies.

Edit: Sorry, minecraft uses a "joy stick."

Bejeweled HD.  Just Diamond Mine mode, nothing else. That's all I use that game for. Diamond Mine is the most addicting Popcap invention ever. MUST DIG DEEPER. 
 
The port of Sid Meier's Pirates! on iPad is actually really good. I have played it a ton. 
 
Kingdom Rush is amazingly fun. 
Ticket To Ride 
Whale Trail 
Battleheart 
Sentinel III (amazing Tower Defense) 
Puzzlejuice 
 
If you have not played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, this is probably the cheapest legal way to play it. It may be an iPhone app but it works great on iPad. It is an experience you shouldn't miss. I just bought it out of curiousity and now I own all of the DS Ace Attorney games. Yeah, it's that good.

Puzzle Agent is an incredible game and you should play it!

Wait, wait, iPad 4?! That's ridiculous...

Alex liked Jetpack Joyride a lot, so maybe that?

I like "Save Yourself".

You take the iPad and throw it out. Entirely free for now but I think Apple was trying to sue for the rights to make it a paid app.

Spider: the secret of bryce manor HD

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spider-secret-bryce-manor/id380867886?mt=8

Zen Bound 2

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zen-bound-2-universal/id363308208?mt=8

Cargo-Bot

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cargo-bot/id519690804?mt=8

Max Payne

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/max-payne-mobile/id512142109?mt=8

Knights of Pen & Paper.

Not sure if it supports a Retina screen, though.

I enjoyed Waking Mars a lot. Jetpack Joyride and Tiny Wings are also great. The Asphalt series and Race Illegal are great racing games that look beautiful on iPad. MotoHeroz is a game from the Trials team that is essentially a moblile version of Trials. Incoboto is an iPad only game that is a bit hard to control but very interesting. Finally, Dark Meadow is a fun Infinity Blade style game just with a insane asylum setting.

Cut the Rope, Where's My Water, Drop 7, Triple Town, Bike Baron, Run Roo Run, Jetpack Joyride

10000000

Ascension

Jack Lumber

Puzzle Juice

Whale Trail

Tiny Wings HD

Jetpack Joyride

Game Dev Story

Bean's Quest

ASYNC Corp.

Edge

These are the games that, save for Jack Lumber since I didn't finish it yet and Bean's Quest to a point, are absolutely some of the best the platform has to offer in my opinion. 10000000 is a game Jeff said he really liked if you needed the extra incentive. Personally Ascension is the game that has eaten so many hours, the perfect instance of a really good deck building game translated exceptionally to the iPad.

Here's my obligatory info-dump of games that have stood the test of time and are still on my iPad:

• 10000000
• 1-bit Ninja
• Aquaria
• Battle for Wesnoth
• Beat Sneak Bandit
• Civilization Revolution
• Containment
• Continuity 2
• Fieldrunners 2
• Magic DotP 2013
• McPixel
• Penny-Arcade OtRSPoD 3
• Pinball Arcade
• Plague Inc
• Punch Quest
• Puzzle Craft
• Plants vs. Zombies
• Shibuya
• Spell Tower
• Splice
• Super Hexagon
• Super Mega Worm
• Tower Defense: Lost Earth

@Ben_H: @Ben_H said:

If you have not played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, this is probably the cheapest legal way to play it. It may be an iPhone app but it works great on iPad. It is an experience you shouldn't miss. I just bought it out of curiousity and now I own all of the DS Ace Attorney games. Yeah, it's that good.

I know, right? Unfortunately, I have played the first PW game so I'd already know what to do, but I loved it. That's actually how I ended up getting an iPad, in some sort of convoluted way. Originally I wanted to play the other PW games, but after seeing how expensive they were for DS I gave up and thought I'd hold out for an iOS release of the other games. I'm still waiting on that...

Care to loan me your copy of Trials and Tribulations? lol

@Sooty said:

@PoisonJam7 said:

but I don't like games that use virtual joystick control. I'm also not a big fan of social games or games that would be described as purely mobile games; such as Game Dev Story, Flight Control, Doodle God/Devil,

You just ruled out most games out there, the ones that use virtual joysticks are usually painful to control and all the others are designed for touch screen only, so purely mobile.

I know...it's a shame more developers aren't making good looking iPad games like Infinity Blade using the Unreal Engine. Or even more ports of DS games like Ghost Trick, TWEWY and Phoenix Wright.

I'll second Punch Quest, Where's My Water, AOD Defense, and Jetpack Joyride.

If you like the game, Carcassonne on the iPad is an amazing experience, about as perfect a board game port as you'll find. Ascension is also awesome.

Squids and Squids: The Wild West are also both damned fine games. S:tWW is free right now, so it's worth grabbing if you're even kind of interested. THe original Squids is $2 and completely worth it (and since there's actually a storyline, you might want to start there anyway).

Check out Autumn Dynasty. That is one heck of a strategy game.

10,000,000, Bastion, Nihilumbra and Groove Coaster are some of the best games I've played on any platform

Osmos, Plants vs. Zombies, and Bejeweled!

The World Ends With You. It's on itunes for $19.99 and it's totally worth it.

Plague Inc, It's kind of a time management game...ish? You control a virus and try to destroy humanity by developing the virus. It's hard and quite rewarding

There are some really great shmups available on iOS, like Bug Princess 1 & 2 (ports of Mushihimesama and Mushihimesama Futari), Espgaluda II, DoDonPachi Maximum, and Dariusburst: Second Prologue.

Instead of making a new topic, I'll just revive this.
I got an iPad earlier this year, and have had a lot of fun with it. Plague Inc, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, The Room, Infinity Blade. I got them all, and they are great. But there is one itch I really wish I could scratch, and that is the city-builder type of game. I haven't managed to find one proper game like this, only the "Facebookgame"-kind. I just want a SimCity, a Settlers (which I have seen when I think about it, just haven't tried it) or even a more focused building game like Theme Hospital.

I also miss anything resembling Harvest Moon, without the "you got X amount of actions you can take, now do you want to buy more energy?". I feel that is a perfect hand-held game, so why not something like it for the iPad?
Anyone know of some (good) games like this?