Sizzlin' summer games for iPhone, iPad

• %27Kingdom Rush%3A Frontiers%27 follows the popular %27Kingdom Rush%27
• Stop a culprit in his tracks on %27Scurvy Scallywags%27
• The protagonist of %27Star Wars%27 game is %27chosen%27 by a party of characters

Whether you're spending a lot of time on the go this summer or patiently awaiting the arrival of new consoles this fall, you're likely downloading a few mobile games for your smartphone or tablet.

The good news? There are many great games available — and they're much cheaper than console and PC games.

A few weeks back we looked at some Android offerings, so this week's column will focus on three new — and newsworthy — Apple iOS games from the App Store.

From head-scratching puzzlers to action-heavy "tower-defense" games to sci-fi role-playing adventures, there's something for all tastes. Here's a quick look at three stellar options.

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers (Ironhide Game Studio; for ages 9+; $2.99 or $4.99 for iPad; ironhidegames.com; 3.5 stars out of 4)

Build up your defenses to protect your kingdom in Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, a sequel to the popular Kingdom Rush strategy game.

While not too different than its predecessor, this download is perfect for those who like a little brains with their brawn.

Your goal is to erect a number of towers to prevent enemy forces from entering your kingdom. You'll place one of four main tower types along the map's winding path: archers (which fling arrows), barracks (producing foot soldiers), bombers (tossing explosives) and mages (which zap magic attacks toward nearby baddies).

Each of the four towers only works within a certain radius, but they all can be upgraded to become more powerful — if you have enough gold to support it. You can also unleash special attacks — such as a flaming meteor strike — that need some time to replenish before using them again.

It's game over if you let too many enemies into your kingdom. Otherwise, you advance to the next map, which might introduce new special attacks, enemies and weapons.

This sequel has added eight new towers (now housing assassins and earthquake machines), bonus environments (including dense jungles), nine new heroes and a slew of enemy types (including killer gorillas, no less).

Scurvy Scallywags (Beep Games; for ages 9+; 99 cents; beepgames.com; 3.0 stars out of 4)

What do you get when you cross a low-budget theatrical production, pirates and a match-3 puzzle game, like Bejeweled, Puzzle Quest or Candy Crush?

The answer is Scurvy Scallywags, a fun independent game from Ron Gilbert (best known for the Monkey Island series) and Clayton Kauzlaric (of Voodoo Vince fame).

Someone is desperately trying to sabotage opening night of a play, Scurvy Scallywags and The Voyage to Discover the Ultimate Sea Shanty, and so it's up to you to stop the culprit in his tracks — all while starring in the lead role.

Your goal is to swap two adjacent tiles on a game board, so that at least three identical ones are aligned vertically or horizontally. This causes the matching tiles to disappear and allows others to cascade down the board. When you've made your pirate strong enough to fight — by swapping the purple sword tiles — you can line yourself up against one of the enemies to engage in combat.

As you make it through various stages with unique pirate pieces, you'll amass gold to purchase new items, unlock apparel to personalize the look of your male or female pirate, take on side quests and eventually make it across all four mysterious lands to find the hidden verses of a long-lost sea shanty. On a related note, the music in this game is as enjoyable as the challenging gameplay and humor.

For those who enjoy these match-3 games, Scurvy Scallywags is a treasure worth discovering at the App Store.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Aspyr Media; for ages 12+; $9.99; aspyr.com; 3.5 stars out of 4)

One of the most beloved games on the Xbox is now playable on the iPad.

BioWare's decade-old Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a third-person role-playing game (RPG) with a strong emphasis on story, character interaction and combat.

The game takes place roughly 4,000 years before the events of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It's a turbulent time in the galaxy because of an ongoing war between the plentiful Jedi and the malevolent Sith. The player begins this epic adventure by creating a character from scratch (or selecting a randomly generated one) and depending on their actions throughout the game, will become an upstanding citizen or a heartless, evil one; missions and storylines will be altered depending on whether or not the player falls to the dark side.

Like many RPGs, the protagonist is accompanied by a chosen "party" of characters (human, alien or droid), each, presumably, with their own set of unique skills to complement the whole.

Gameplay involves exploring 10 huge worlds, solving puzzles, interacting with characters and fighting those who stand in your way; the battle system is in "real-time, but the action can be paused to assign orders, swap weapons, select Force powers and heal party members.

The game works on a touch-screen as opposed to a controller, but be aware this download is a hefty one at just under 2 gigabytes — likely due to the thousands of lines of spoken dialogue.

Contact Saltzman at techcomments@usatoday.com.