The free iPhone game Trawler Report: Surviving High School attends registration while BabyBoom’s not even out of nappies yet

This week’s crop aboard the Trawler Report proves that it’s not always just full freebies that money-conscious iPhone gamers should be looking for.

While we’ve got a few full freebies on offer as usual, it’s perhaps the Lite versions on show that we’d most recommend you give a place on your Home screen. For starters, Defender Chronicles is a great injection of fresh blood for tower defence fans that have played one too many standard TD games.

Then there’s Surviving High School. Provided it grabs enough fans from the off, it could prove the next great episodic title - following on from the prolifically-updated Pocket God. That ‘game’ is on its 28th update, but something tells us that such a gaming behemoth as EA will have prepared for almost as many weekly story episodes as that already.

Still, if you can only be convinced by the real deal - the full game - have a look at the rest of this week’s report.

The best free iPhone games on the App Store

BabyBoom
By SmallBall
Type Full

BabyBoom is a bit of an oddball selection, but stay with us.
It’s a bit like Flight Control except you’re directing babies instead of planes. However, as your average dribbling mini-person doesn’t come with radar attached, you have to tap on the babies to make them turn 90 degrees rather than dragging a line for them to follow.

The various levels move through the house as you’re faced with ever more baby-filled rooms. Each rugrat has to be directed towards the room’s exit without letting them collide at any point. What could result hardly bears thinking about - it could possibly even include tears and wailing.

We recommend playing BabyBoom in private because - let’s face it - tapping babies for fun isn’t really a good look. A fun little freebie, this might be worth the street cred sacrifice though.

Surviving High School Free
By EA
Type Demo

Surviving High School was one of the big hits of mobile gaming, back when the App Store was just a twinkle in the eye of some of the bright bods at Apple. However, if anything the App Store is an even better home for its brand of episodic storytelling.

You play an average high school kid and have to mould what sort of character they become - a sporty type, outsider or bookworm - and watch as the other students react.

EA says it’s going to provide new story episodes every week for you to play, and this free version lets you try out the first one. You enter the school and are faced with the ultra-jock Quarterback who isn’t too happy when he sees you talking to his girlfriend.

What do you do - cower and apologise or stand up to Mr All-brawn-no-brain-sandwich? It’s like having an angsty teen comedy in your pocket.

iFarm
By Playmesh
Type Full

iFarm is one of those online games that effectively plays out in real time, but in iFarm you actually get to decide what you want to grow on each patch of your farm, and till it with a tap of your finger. Once you’ve done this, you have to wait a few hours, or even a day depending on which crops you plant, to harvest your veggies.

To some it’ll be as fun as watching paint dry - or indeed watching vegetables grow - but if you want a chilled out game to come back to every day for a few minutes, iFarm’s one to put on your list.

It’s a tad sluggish on some iPhone types at the moment, but hopefully Playmesh will sort this out with an update. If you want to check out the progress of our farm, look for the ‘pocketgamer’ farm within iFarm, although don’t blame us if it’s a veggie-free wasteland - too many games to play means a short attention span all round.

Burning Bubbles Lab Free
By Tlogc.de
Type Full

The freebie Burning Bubbles Lab may be daubed with the ‘free’ tag that’s generally seen as a like-for-like replacement for ‘Lite’, but it’s actually a full freebie. There are just a couple of ads stuck in.

Burning Bubbles Lab is much like arcade classic Puzzle Bobble - you’re trying to burst bubbles by firing similarly-coloured ones into them. You’ve got a little bubble cannon at the bottom of the screen, which you can aim with smooth movements with your finger and fire with a tap.

This freebie includes 80 levels of bubble-popping fun. It may not be quite as slick as some of the paid-for versions of this style of game, but what lies underneath is still rock solid.

Pick of the Week

Defender Chronicles
By Chillingo
Type Demo

Defender Chronicles is a bit of a hybrid of the tower and castle defence genres. Your castle is at the top of a hill and you’re equipped with a handful of outpost points along that path that leads up this hill, where you can build archer and warrior huts.

Just like any tower defence game, the enemies come in waves and scramble their way up hill unless you put enough force in the way to stop them.

Winning is a case of managing which units to place where, and when to upgrade them. As with any tower or castle defence trial version, you’ll probably be able to get more gameplay out of the freebie version of Defender Chronicles than some full games, even though it only gives you a couple of units and a couple of maps to play with.

Crap Apps Box of Shame Award Pirate Level Free
By Backalley software
Type Full A strange one, this. Pirate Level isn’t so much a game as a themed spirit level.

If your iPhone’s not entirely level, Pirate Level will just laugh at you in a swarthy chuckle. Get it precisely flat and you’ll be graced with a ‘steady as she goes’ sound effect. Bizarre indeed.

There’s even a pirate scene going on in the background, with a ship sailing along the horizon that floats back and forth depending on the angle of your iPhone. Exactly who this app is aimed at remains a mystery, but Pirate Level wins full marks for all-out inexplicable lunacy.