I almost don’t believe that Thursday’s already here. As is always the case, there are too many video games to play and never enough time to play them all. Despite my frequent negativity towards the massive amount of bloating in the iTunes app store, I’m starting to notice developers testing the boundaries and incorporating new mechanics into games that might otherwise be passed off as clones. The result is games that are familiar, yet still fun to play. This week I have a collection of games that will be immediately familiar to play but with some entertaining twists.

Minicars Touch

Minicars Touch is a cool twist on your typical cartoon racer. Instead of using a gyroscope, accelerometer, or virtual tumbstick to control your race car, your index finger is used to guide the car around the track. The result is constant drifting around corners and an entertaining control scheme. The game isn’t perfect, but I found its positives outweighed its minor negatives.

The only issue I found with the game was the jarring way in which your car would collide with walls and obstacles. Every now and then when I hit a wall or divider, my car seemed to get stuck momentarily, but I could usually recover and make up for lost time. My finger would obscure the race car on some track’s turns, but because I knew the car would follow my finger I was able to compensate. Minicars Touch has all the appeal of racing games from when I was younger. To me, that makes it a great addition to my mobile gaming collection.

Alien: Doodle UFO

Doodle this, doodle that, every other app seems to have the word “doodle” in its name. If you can get passed the obvious marketing reasons for using “doodle” in an app name – there are some very successful doodle-named apps – you’ll find some worthwhile titles. Alien: Doodle UFO is a game that features hand-drawn styled graphics and a mix of mechanics from some of the app stores most popular titles. These features combine to form a game that, even with a lack of clear instructions, is easy to begin and figure out.

Alien: Doodle UFO is all about using a firing mechanism to launch objects at incoming waves of aliens. At first you’re given a basic wooden slingshot with rock ammo, but as you progress you can upgrade the ammo and your launcher. The types of aliens will change between levels and will increase in difficulty in the form of increased health (requiring multiple hits) and multi-directional movement (making them harder to hit). If you’re looking for a fun casual game, check out Alien: Doodle UFO.