Top 10 free games for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

We love the App Store here at Pocket Gamer Towers. Mainly because we can snap up excellent titles like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 3 for just a few pounds.

But, what's better than extremely cheap games?

Games that cost absolutely nada, of course, and Apple's digital shop has plenty of those.

If you've just unwrapped a shiny iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch for Christmas, there's no better way to test out your Retina display, accelerometer, and newly created Game Center account than with a free title.

So, carry on reading to find out the top ten free games you should download straight away. Oh, and happy Christmas.

Excellent Silver Award-nabbing Android platformer Cordy finally made its way to the iPhone and iPad back in July as a Universal free-to-play title. Basically, you can play the game's first four levels completely free of charge, and unlock an additional 23 levels through in-app purchase should that small taster hook you.

Cordy stars a small robot called, well, Cordy, who sets out to "power up" his world. This involves plenty of normal platforming practices, such as running, jumping, pushing, pulling, and lifting.

Gun Bros may have been on the App Store for over a year, but the freemium twin-stick shoot-'em-up has been updated with nifty new features numerous times throughout its life. A recent upgrade, for example, introduced the ability to duke it out with your buddies online in a bro-on-bro deathmatch.

If you take a particular liking to Gun Bros or you just want to speed up your progress, you can purchase big guns, powerful armours, and a range of other goodies for real-world cash. Fear not, though, as you can also complete the shooter without putting your hand in your pocket once.

The premise of Tiny Tower is simple: build a high rise; pack it full of pixellated citizens; open up some restaurants, spas, clubs, and other attractions; and put its inhabitants to work making you cash.

It's your job to ensure that your range of outlets is constantly kept stocked, your "bitizens" have their dream jobs, your tower's elevator is upgraded, and that VIPs are taken care of. No, not in a mafia way.

Even the youngest gamers among you should have heard of EA's immensely popular The Sims franchise, which allows you to create your own character, and complete a selection of real-world tasks in a digital universe. This free bite-sized effort follows that well-established tradition.

Your daily routine sees you with find your Sim a job, look after pets, spend tons of in-game cash (Simoleons) on household items to spruce up your abode, and complete other similar domestic chores.

Words With Friends Free (iPhone and iPad)
By Zynga, download on iPhone and iPod touch. Download on iPad

Zynga's Words With Friends isn't unlike popular boardgame Scrabble. What do we mean by that? Well, the social giant's word game tasks you with outscoring your opponent by constructing the biggest and best word from a string of randomly generated letters.

This free ad-supported version of the game allows you to simultaneously challenge up to 20 of your Facebook, iPhone-, iPad-, iPod touch-, and Android-toting buddies. If you don't have any friends, however, you can also thrash complete strangers.

Beeline Interactive's Smurfs' Village has had a lot of bad press due to several toddlers and children using their parents' credit cards to purchase in-game currency with copious amounts of real-world cash. Still, this colourful freemium title is pretty darn good.

Naturally, it features all of your favourite fictional blue characters, such as Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Lazy Smurf, and Baby Smurf. Smurfs' Village is regularly updated with new items, levels, and seasonal content, so there's always something new to do.

Gameloft is currently experimenting heavily with the freemium payment model, which means you can grab titles such as Real Football 2012 completely free of charge. That's handy. What's on offer here, then, gaffer?

Well, the French publisher has managed to nab the FIFPro licence, which means you can get your goalie gloves on thousands of real-world players, 350 proper teams (and Everton), and 14 league championships from around the world. You can even lead a side of your choice to fortune and glory as a manager - providing you have the required skills.

Gamevil's Zenonia 3 is an action-RPG in the same vein as the classic Zelda games from Nintendo. If that - and the absence of a price tag - doesn't get you interested, we don't know what will.

Anyway, much like the aforementioned Zelda, you're tasked with exploring a fantasy world, slaying enemies, collecting items, and unlocking new skills for your protagonist. There are four different character classes - Sword Knight, Shadow Hunter, Mechanic Launcher, and Nature Shaman - to choose from, and 48 Game Center achievements to unlock.

The second Gameloft entry to make it onto our list today is GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+: a freemium racer that allows you to spend real cash (should you want to) on packs of non-real cash, which can be splashed on new vehicles and upgrades.

There are currently around 119 licensed cars to jump behind the wheel of, including the Aston Martin DBS-Volante and the BMW Z4, but the French publisher regularly adds new mechanical beasts in updates.

To-Fu: The Trials of Chi is a serious contender for the crown of the App Store's toughest game. This rock-solid puzzle-platformer sees you pinging your meatless soy product around more than 150 arenas, each packed to the rafters with spikes, rotating platforms, and other hazards.

If mere survival wasn't tricky enough, you also have to grab collectibles and reach the exit in as few moves as possible. Don't expect to find this one easy.