Given the App Store launched almost three year ago, the fact review aggregator Metacritic has only started listing iPhone and iPad games on its site suggests it wasn't all too confident about the market's longterm prospects.

Nonetheless, from a developer's perspective, 'better late than never' seems the appropriate response, with sites such as Wired, Slide to Play, 148Apps and, of course, Pocket Gamer swept up in Metacritic's proprietary Metascore system.

Score draw

Of the games listed so far, 2D Boy's World of Goo is currently the best rated, with a score of 96 out of 100. Second is Firemint's Real Racing 2 on 94, with Gameloft's N.O.V.A 2 taking third on 91.

This compares with Real Racing 2 (9.6), Zen Bound (9.5) and Tap Tap Revenge 2.6 (9.4) on rival aggregation site Quality Index, although that only covers iPhone games. 

In total, more than 70 games are currently on Metacritic's roster, with Chillingo's Painkiller Purgatory taking the unfortunate honour of being the lowest rated game listed so far, with a score of 31.