Favorite iOS games right now

The flood of iOS apps and games continues at the iTunes App Store and this week has been particularly big for new releases.While I usually try to incorporate a theme into these iOS app collections, this week I wanted to let you know what I'm playing right now. These games are all high quality, from three different genres, are all new to iOS, and have captured my attention all week.This week's collection of apps are games I'm playing right now. The first is a one-of-a-kind tennis game that has a unique control style along with a comic book story line. The second is a remade Mac game with an extraordinary amount of content and a beautiful setting. The last is a sequel to a popular FPS franchise and might be the best yet.Flick Tennis: College Wars ($1.99 iPhone, $3.99 iPad) does away with onscreen joypads and buttons, and lets you play tennis by drawing lines on the screen. It also offers a fun single-player story mode in comic book format that tells the story of a young tennis prodigy and his experiences coming up through the college ranks.You start out playing easy opponents to give you time to get used to the controls. Serving or returning the ball is as a simple as drawing a line on the screen upward where you want it to go. You can also perform a slice using a two-finger upward swipe, a lob with a two-finger downward swipe, and a drop shot with a one-finger downward swipe. The line-drawing method is surprisingly effective and forces you to think about hitting shots just right to get the perfect angle for a winner.As you progress through 35 comic book pages of storyline divided up into 11 episodes, you'll face challengers with varied strengths and weaknesses that require different strategies to beat. The game comes with 11 courts, with earlier beginner courts at schools and rec centers, and--once you've advanced through your career--higher prestige courts like country clubs and stadiums. You'll also play on clay, grass, and synthetic surfaces to add to the challenge.While the single-player story is the main attraction in Flick Tennis, you have the ability to play singles and doubles exhibition matches (Doubles only once you've passed Episode 4). You also can play head to head with a friend on the same device, where the game uses a top-down view and each draws lines for strokes on his or her half of the screen. We tried it here in the office and initially thought it was too awkward, but with a little practice, the head-to-head mode became a lot more fun.Overall, Flick Tennis offers a unique line-drawing tennis game with great-looking 3D graphics and surprisingly challenging gameplay. If you like tennis games and are open to trying a new way to play the game, Flick Tennis has a lot of content to offer.If you're not sure you want to spend the money and have an iPad, search for the free iPad version at the iTunes App Store to test out the game before buying.Aquaria ($4.99--iPad only) was formerly a Mac-only game from Ambrosia Software that has now made its way to the iPad, and the underwater fantasy adventure translates very well to the larger touch screen.