My favorite games always have centered around solving mysteries and figuring out puzzles. These have ranged from Nintendo's Professor Layton franchise to the classic game) where you play with a deck of cards.

Ramses II is a twist on the card game. The basics are the same: Items are placed under pyramids in a sumptuous Egyptian setting and a deck of cards is to the side. When a card is revealed, tap a pyramid to see if the match is underneath it. If not, you'll either get a hallway leading to other cards, or the wrong item which means the card on the top of the deck goes out of play and your turn ends.

The game tosses in extra challenges on top of this. In solo-player mode, sandstorms are your enemy. Draw one in the deck, and the board spins around. In multiplayer mode, there are scorpions that force you to give a card to your opponent and superpowers that let you move multiple blocks and other options.

The game is good for either pass-and-play with family or friends, or playing alone. You can have the computer stand in for extra players if you're by yourself, allowing the other options such as superpowers, scorpions and merciless duel to be unlocked. I preferred this mode rather than the regular solo mode as it made the game a lot more interesting and last longer.

Ramses II is available for the iPhone, but the iPad is where it shines with gorgeous graphics and a nice soundtrack that isn't intrusive. An in-game list summarizes the different cards that can possibly come up. The one thing I couldn't quite figure out was when you create a computer character what the slider in the middle is for. I'm guessing that it's to toggle how difficult the AI is.

Ramses II is a great memory game and the iPad version is US$2.99 on the App Store.