The free iPhone game Trawler Report: Ravensword, Mikado Defenders and Babylonian Twins

By the time next week's Trawler Report hits Pocket Gamer, the UK pre-orders for the iPad should be live. We still don't know how much they'll cost, or exactly which models we'll be able to get hold of at launch, but we can't wait to find out.

This week's report shows that iPad gaming is still way off attaining synchronicity with its older cousin however.

Only our pick of the week has a dedicated iPad version, but it doesn't have its own freebie Lite edition yet.

This leads us to wonder - will iPad gaming always be a different beast to iPhone gaming?

Or will they hook up like carriages connected to the same train once the iPad has had a chance to establish itself across the world?

To an extent, it'll depend on you, and whether you make iPad gaming as much a success as it is on iPhone. Until then, let's enjoy the freebies

Pick of the Week

Babylonian Twins
By Cosmos Interactive
Type Demo

Babylonian Twins is a game with a troubled past. Originally developed for the Amiga platform many moons ago, its release was stymied by economic collapse in Iraq. Almost 20 years down the line, it has been released for iPhone. And guess what - it's good.

It's loaded with old school gameplay dynamics, but the quality of execution means it still stands up against its genre rivals.

Babylonian Twins is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer where you switch between two siblings. As you play as one character, the other turns into a stone statue, which you can use to reach high-up areas. Despite its age, this is one of the best platformers on iPhone.

Ravensword Lite
By Chillingo
Type Demo

Before Ravensword was released, we expected it would be the iPhone's answer to Oblivion, the huge open-world role playing PC and console game. It ended up more of a conventional adventure game than a sprawling sandbox, but we enjoyed it nevertheless.

Although made by a small team, it looks great with a full 3D world to poke around.

If you haven't yet checked it out, this new demo version is worth a download. It lets you try out the first few quests in the game, after you awaken in a strange town with no memory of how you got there or what you're meant to be doing. The standard role playing introduction, then...

Stickbound Lite
By Gamenauts
Type Demo

While some Olympic events can double up as hobbies, the pole vault jump isn't one of them.

Carrying around a 30ft pole just isn't convenient enough to click into most peoples' everyday lives. Stickbound looks towards a glorious future where these poles can fit into your pocket, but so far into the future is this dream that Stickbound is set in space.

Tap on the screen and your character fires out his magic, extending pole towards the ground. This being space, you're left leaping between asteroids rather than over solid ground, so your aim is not to fall off into the gaps. With space's low gravity working its wonders, keeping your character afloat isn't as easy as it seems at first.

Perfect Balance: Paradise Lite
By ttursas
Type Demo

Paradise is the third full instalment of the Perfect Balance series, following on from Inferno and the original Harmony. In each level, you have to balance a series of shapes within an arrangement of obstacles, some of which move.

Part of Perfect Balance is down to patience, part is down to sheer brain power. The full version is comprised of 240 levels, and this Lite edition serves up 15 on a chilled plate.

Unlike its direct predecessor Inferno, the chill-out tunes are back in Paradise, and we're glad. Just sit back, relax, and drop some shapes.

Mikado Defenders Lite
By Taito
Type Demo

Bringing a feudal Japan flavour to the tower defence buffet, Mikado Defenders gives you a selection of spots in each level where you can place your warriors. These are set along a pre-defined path, along which invaders enemies trot.

This demo is a bit brief for our liking, and only gives you a few waves to sample Mikado Defenders's style.

If you've already turned away from the tower defence genre, you might as well ignore this release, but TD fans should jump on-board today.

Crap apps box of shame Doodle Burp Free
By Mike Tsao
Type Full

Whenever a big success story pops up, you can be sure that it'll spawn a gang of imitators. Doodle Burp is a double imitator. Not only is it trying to cash-in on the old burp soundboard trend, it's riding on Doodle Jump's coat tails too. Is it any good though?

Sadly not. You draw a shape on the screen and Doodle Burp claims to turn it into a burp. What this amounts to is that if your shape is very small, the burp's quick, and if it's big, the burp tends to be a bit longer. If there was a smidge of creativity in its design, we'd have given Doodle Burp a half-hearted thumbs up.

But there isn't, so it gets the raspberry.