The free iPhone game Trawler Report: Hop, Overkill, Pilot Winds

Welcome back to Pocket Gamer’s Trawler Report, a weekly roundup of iPhone and iPad apps that have dropped to the best price a gamer can ask for: absolutely nothing.

This week, frugal gamers can treat themselves to a bizarre movie tie-in, an addictive arcade game that pits simians against shinobi, a shooting gallery with more guns than a South African warlord’s basement, and a rip-off that's more than meets the eye.

And, of course, our Crap App of the Week, dedicated to pointing out the truly grotesque wastes of App Store shelf space. Forget free: the developers should pay YOU for wasting your precious, precious time.

Enjoy your free games, and enjoy your weekend.

Doodle Jump Hop - Download
By Lima Sky
Type Full

Just after Angry Birds took a money-filled plane to Dreamworks movie Rio, Lima Sky’s sold out by entangling addictive time-sink Doodle Jump with the Russell Brand flick Hop. What is Hop? Let Uncle IMDB explain.

“The Easter Bunny is accidentally hit by a car, and it's up to the offending driver to save Easter.”

Does that sound familiar to you? Doesn’t that sound exactly like the movie The Santa Clause, where Tim Allen accidentally murders Father Christmas and then has to save Crimbo with his son? Shocking.

Anyway, this is what remains: a tie-in iOS game with 25 unlockable levels, some seriously pissed-off chicks and more Easter Eggs than Sainsbury's in March. It all feels a bit rushed, and doesn’t have quite the same production values as Doodle Jump proper, but you do get to play the uber-popular app for free.

Also, the level-based progression is a pleasant change after the mountain of eternal, endless games like Canabalt and vanilla Doodle Jump. It’s nice to actually win a game, these days, rather than just valiantly avoiding your certain, impending doom. There’s enough of that in real life.

Munky Vs Ninjas - Download
By Superstar Games
Type Full

Following the success of PopCap’s Plants vs Zombie, it now seems like a prerequisite for every other game to pit two (or more) unlikely combatants against each other. Ninjas vs Robots, Dogs vs Aliens, Turtles vs Giraffes and now, Munky vs Ninjas.

But while it might sound like it's come off the same production line as a thousand cookie-cutter games before it, this one’s cute, fun, and addictive. You play a devious, bomb-chucking monkey who’s trying to save his treehouse from jetpack-sporting and tree-climbing ninjas

It’s simple stuff: any ninjas who make it to your primate friend will send his suspended platform closer to the ground. And there are friendly monkeys that you don’t want to bomb, because they’ll give you power-ups and prizes if they make it up safely.

It’s not rocket science, but it’s fun. And free. Give it a try.

Overkill - Download
By Craneballs Studios LLC
Type Freemium

Overkill is a pretty straightforward shooting gallery. A pair of disembodied hands grips on to a floating sub machine gun as it drifts merrily around an arena. You use a traditional dual-analogue style control scheme to point the gun at pop-up baddies, and deadify them.

It might sound a bit lame, but the presentation really makes it worth downloading. These developers are obviously gun-nuts because the massive arsenal of shooters all sound, work, and feel different.

And the numerous accolades, badges, and pop-ups for being quick on the draw or pulling off headshots makes it really addictive.

You don’t necessarily have to cough up real-world cash for the best weapons: you’ll earn currency (called Overkill Medals) as you get better at the game. But paying real money will get you stuff much faster than working for it.

Pick of the Week Pilot Winds - Download
By Two Lives Left
Type Freemium

Pilot Winds might sound like a desperate rip-off of Nintendo’s soaring 3DS launch-title, but this penguin-themed time waster is actually a shameless clone of recent iPhone megahit Tiny Wings.

[UPDATE: Two Lives Left has left a comment on this article reasonably objecting to our description of Pilot Winds as a 'clone'. Read the full objection below.]

While we’d normally steer well clear of brazen copycats, if the execution is right it can sometimes elevate itself above mere mimic. That’s the case with Pilot Winds, where the free, 60 second mode is just about as fun, addictive, and near-impossible to master as Tiny Wings.

You’ll also get features that aren’t included in the iOS original, like native iPad support and achievements through Apple’s own Game Center. There’s even a Training mode to learn all the hidden strategies, spiffy 3D backgrounds, and unlockable characters.

So if you want to find out what all the fuss is about, but don’t want to spend those shiny 59 pennies on Tiny Wings, Pilot Winds is a pretty good choice. If you get really addicted, you can spend extra on new modes.

Crapp of the Week: Chemical Reaction - Download
By Secret Game Lab
Type Full

Does randomly and violently prodding your expensive Apple iDoodad sound like a fun gaming experience to you? Well then you’re in luck, because that’s the only type of gameplay that Chemical Reaction has to offer!

In a embarrassingly-meagre five stages, you’re given a fizzing beaker of unknown science-juice that’s teeming with unstable, bouncy particles. It’s you to you, and your fleshy man finger, to tap them silly in 60 seconds flat.

That’s it. That’s literally it. Well, the game introduces noxious black molecules on level three that annoyingly end the game the second you touch them, but that’s it. It takes about the same amount of time to complete this app as it does to download the thing.

The game is apparently one big advert for 'AppTrainer' - an easy peasy iDevice game making program - because a giant banner for the software pops up between every level. But if this is the sort of quality you can expect to make, I’d stay well away.