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8 Awesome AirPlay iPad Games to Play on Apple TV

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The Xbox One and Playstation 4 arrived to great fanfare, but one of the best “console” gaming platforms for enjoying games on a TV could come from Apple thanks to AirPlay, Apple TV and an iPad. Many of the games below also work with iPhone or iPod Touch.

We found some fun AirPlay iPad games to play on an iOS device that gamers can stream to a big screen TV via AirPlay.

Setting things up to stream games to an Apple TV is a simple process thanks to recent versions of iOS and AirPlay. To summarize, connect both the Apple TV and an iPad to the same network. In iOS 7 swipe up from the bottom of the screen to show the Control Center and choose AirPlay. Tap on the Apple TV from the list, choose mirroring and it should start showing the iOS device’s screen on the TV. Run one of the games shown below and the game will extend the contents of the game’s display to the TV.

Infinity Blade Airplay

The process results in a gaming system that lets the user control the app on their iPad while looking up at a nice TV with an Apple TV hooked up to it. Unlike the Xbox, we can take the iPad with us after killing enemies or racing sports cars. Even the Apple TV travels well thanks to how small it is and how easy it is to hook up to a TV.

SketchParty TV

sketchparty tv drawing

People who’ve played Pictionary or watched the TV show Win Lose or Draw will get the idea of SketchParty TV ($4.99). Connect via AirPlay to an Apple TV and teams can use the iPad to draw their clues.

Use either a finger or a stylus to draw. It comes with plenty of drawing tools to draw simple doodles on the iPad. Players see the results on the TV so they can guess.

Real Racing

Real Racing 2 Apple iPad Airplay Game

 

We didn’t delineate between Real Racing 2 ($4.99) or Real Racing 3 (Free with lots of in-app purchases) because they’re both great games and both work with AirPlay. However, the newer Real Racing 3 comes free, but includes terrible in-app purchases, diminishing the fun of the game since a player needs to pay for “upgrades.” We prefer Real Racing 2, not hampered by these in-app purchases.

The iPad becomes the gamer’s controller and the TV shows the cars on the track.

N.O.V.A. 3

nova 3

Gamers get to defend the earth from an alien invasion in N.O.V.A. 3 ($6.99) for the iPad. Save humanity while killing the aliens in this fun sci-fi shooter.

Infinity Blade

infinity blade iii

Infinity Blade III ($2.99, normally $6.99) lets gamers play through a vivid world as they fight bad guys with swords. Fight the Worker of Secrets and his minions, the titans. Use the sword or spells and swipe on the screen to fight.

MetalStorm Online

metalstorm online

Play MetalStorm: Online (Free with in-app purchases) via an Apple TV with AirPlay, which shows off the visuals of the jet fighting game, and use the iPad to control the plane. This fun game is what AirPlay games are all about. The system of the iPad controller adds so much to the game and may serve as the best way to handle iPad games over AirPlay. Unfortunately the game gets hampered by in-app purchases, but it’s still a fun AirPlay game.

Rage HD

rage hd

Rage HD ($1.99) gives users a rail first-person shooter, which means the game moves the player through the dark world. This frees up the controls for shooting more than moving and aiming. It gives people like me a chance at excelling since we don’t have to control the character’s movement. Show the game on the screen through AirPlay while moving through the wastelands of the game.

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour

modern combat 4 zero hour

Most Gameloft games, like Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour ($6.99), will play over Apple TV AirPlay. Modern Combat is a first-person shooter and using it with AirPlay frees up the iPad for controls while using the TV for the display.

Risk

risk

The once popular Risk ($6.99) world domination board game came to the iPad awhile back, but now uses AirPlay to display the game board so a group of players can enjoy the game without passing a tablet around. They just watch the TV with an Apple TV hooked up. It works better than setting up the complicated board game with hundreds of tiny pieces that get lost so easily.

Players place armies on a board which resembles a world map. They attack neighboring countries controlled by opponents. Someone will win the game when a single player owns every country on the board. We’d like to see more fun board games use AirPlay.

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