We know you're all very busy folks, dear readers, and that for many of you, playing iPhone and iPod touch games is but a small fraction of your overall gaming consumption. So rather than inundate you with lengthy reviews of teeny-tiny apps, we'll keep it brief: once a month, we'll tally up the 10 top recent games we've been enjoying on Apple's pocket-sized devices, and tell you why they're worth checking out. All of these games are fun and in most cases reasonably inexpensive, so take a shot on something new! We'll have another list of notable iPhone picks come next month.

US: $0.99 / UK: £0.69
Platform: Universal

Activision's iOS reboot of the iconic Pitfall! franchise owes an obvious debt to Temple Run--the smash hit freemium, behind-the-back runner--in nearly every regard, but despite the clear "inspiration," we kept coming back. Why? Humor. Personality. Variety. Hell, even the visuals have a great punch to them. Much as the key mechanics are the same, it just didn't feel like we were playing a lazy clone.

Pitfall Harry has a couple tricks of his own, such as cracking his whip at large foes in his path, riding mine carts, and speeding along on a motorcycle, plus the viewpoint shifts keep things interesting. One point of contention, however, is the heavy focus on in-game purchases, which come off a bit muddled and confusing in parts--but the core game proves to be solid fun on its own merits.

US: $1.99 / UK: £1.39
Platform: Universal

Bad Hotel manages to find the unexpected middle ground between oddly charming and utterly bewildering, which surprisingly isn't a terrible place to be. It's a tower defense game in the sense that you have a tower and you're defending it, but rather than place little turrets around a map, you'll build rooms atop the structure while little creatures and bombs and whatnot aim to cut down the property you're managing.

All the while, the old nut that owns the joint spouts ultra-conservative rants about the "creeping spectre of socialism" and so on, and even tries to destroy the building for insurance money. Oh, and each room you add to the structure helps create the slick background music. Also, the game turns brutally tough with little warning, but somewhere between the attractive style, odd premise, and unique approach, Bad Hotel clicks.

US: $0.99 / UK: £0.69
Platform: iPhone

Breakout-style games are a dime a dozen on the App Store, with many of them worth a buck or two, but we've got a pair of unique takes this month that warrant a look. First up is Draw Breaker, which makes its key alteration in the controls department. Rather than following the paddle with your finger or using a virtual d-pad, you'll actually draw it wherever you'd like, whether it's straight across or at an angle.

As you might expect, it's a monumental shift in design, but the rest of the game also manages to feel different than your garden-variety facsimile. The large square blocks keep things moving at a rapid pace--plus, the bricks themselves all have odd qualities, such as randomly moving around the screen or blasting a laser shot once destroyed. Draw Breaker is light and fluffy, but really held our interest for a while.

US: $2.99 / UK: £1.99
Platform: Universal

As for the other stellar brick-breaker from August, we're keen on the recent iOS release of Wizorb, which originally gained buzz as an Xbox Live Indie and later PC and Mac release. Wizorb plays by more conventional rules in its core approach, with a horizontally scrolling paddle and a ball that decimates tiny bricks, but does so under the guise of a role-playing adventure.

What that means is that when you’re not plowing through stages, you'll travel between cities and help revive destroyed buildings. The actual levels feature moving enemies and things like health potions and magic, as well as large bosses to topple. It's all wrapped up in a charming retro aesthetic, and while the virtual controls aren't quite on par with using a controller, Wizorb proves an engaging mobile take on the genre.

US: $1.99 / UK: £1.39
Platform: Universal

Continuing this month's trend of RPG-infused iOS experiences is 10000000, an awkwardly named original affair that blends match-three puzzles with role-playing mechanics. Much as that may just sound like Puzzle Quest, 10000000 deviates by having the top portion of the screen serve as an active side-scrolling affair, which means the icons you'll match on the bottom are used to attack enemies, unlock doors, and more.

What results is absolute mayhem, with the average play session lasting about a minute or two at most. Once you're off and running, it's a mad dash to connect the right icons to trigger what you need, and between missions, you can unlock doors and use materials to enhance your skills. It's a grind, no doubt, but one that's hard to turn away from.

US: $2.99 / UK: £1.99
Platform: iPhone

It's probably tough to believe that a real-time strategy game would ever be considered "soothing," but that's exactly the case with Eufloria, a past PlayStation Network and PC favorite that sports pastel stages and floral colonies. Across the lengthy campaign, you'll aim to colonize nearby asteroids by sending off little fliers, which can battle it out against rivals and ultimately take root once they land.

US: $0.99 / UK: £0.69
Platform: Universal

Adult Swim has been consistently building a reputation of late for colorful and breezily fun original iOS games (oftentimes with a bit of edge to 'em), and Super Mole Escape only continues that winning trend. It's an endless runner in design and pulls some inspiration from Jetpack Joyride, no doubt, but instead of vaulting to the right, you're digging downwards as a jail-breaking mole.

US: $6.99 / UK: £4.99
Platform: Universal

Seeing Horn's publisher, Zynga, might give you pause; but what matters much more here is the developer: Phosphor Games, the creator of last year's surprising The Dark Meadow for iOS. Horn marks the first Zynga Partners release, which aims to serve up more core-targeted releases, and the result is a game that uses the basics of Infinity Blade's combat as a starting point (much like Dark Meadow), but then varies greatly with freely explorable terrain and a great sense of whimsy.

Horn spotlights a young blacksmith's apprentice who finds his town invaded by large robots and beasts--only they're actually his friends and neighbors transformed into myriad foes. You'll battle and free them across the journey, which spans a variety of gorgeous terrain and offers entertaining dialogue, plus the combat adds some nice tweaks on the Infinity Blade formula. Movement is clumsy, though, and the game will heat up and drain your iPhone battery in a pinch, but it remains an engaging slice of console-inspired action on the go.

US: $1.99 / UK: £1.39
Platform: Universal

Like most folks, we're guessing Jack Lumber didn't grow up imagining he'd one day hate trees with a fiery passion (he's fictional, we know--bear with us here). But when a tree falls on his beloved grandma and flashes a knowing smirk, all bets are off. Jack Lumber feels a bit like Fruit Ninja in slow motion, except instead of slashing at fruit, you're tracing various types of logs in midair with your virtual axe as you whip through several waves of them in a row.

As the logs spin speedily through the air, you'll touch the screen to slow everything to a crawl--and that’s when the bark violence begins. You'll need to slice through as many logs as possible before time runs out, all without lifting your finger, with the prey including exploding logs, criss-crossed ones, and even logs that must be cut a certain way to clear them from the screen. It's hilarious and expertly styled, and remains engaging through the myriad missions.

US: $17.99 / UK: £12.99
Platform: iPhone

It's fair to be rubbed the wrong way by the price or even the countdown timer that ultimately yielded a port; and it's downright ludicrous that an app of this scale and stature should have separate iPhone and iPad releases. But when you get right down to it, The World Ends with You: Solo Remix is a fantastic port of the beloved Nintendo DS original--one that adapts the 2008 RPG for much newer and high-resolution devices while maintaining the brilliant style that made it such a hit in the first place.

Be sure to consult our full review of the Nintendo DS version for a critique of the game itself--but as an iPhone port, Solo Remix is easily Square's best yet by a wide margin. The redrawn artwork shines on the Retina display, the full soundtrack remains intact, and the revised single-screen approach works, allowing Tetsuya Nomura's ode to Shibuya and Japanese youth culture to live on and potentially reach a much wider audience. And if that proves the case, maybe that countdown won't have been in vain after all.

That's it for August, but be sure to swing back around late in September to see what new, awesome iOS games have been released. Who knows? The next Fruit Ninja or Hero Academy could be right around the corner.

If you'd like to see the best games from last month, or even the best the platform has to offer, check out the best iPhone games of July 2012 and the 10 best iPhone games of all time.