The free iPhone game Trawler Report: Knights Onrush and Wild West Guns square up to little chick Toki Tori

Last week valued reader lumothesinner complained that full free games were a bit thin on the ground on the Trawler Report of late, so this week we’ve dug deep to find you two full freebies to complement our usual top quality selection of unmissable Lite versions.

But all good things must come to an end, and these freebies won’t be free forever. You’d better get tapping away onto the App Store soon if you want them on your Home screen. With the App Store’s constantly changing stock of games, it’s easy to miss out on a bargain.

Then again, that’s why we’re here, so be sure to check out the Report’s Pick of the Week for a real freebie bargain.

The best free iPhone games on the App Store

Knights Onrush Lite
By Chillingo
What is it? It’s a castle defender game with lots of gloss
Type Demo

We’ve been casting our critical eyes over iPhone tower defence games for many moons now, but another kind of defender game is starting to make a big noise on the App Store.

The castle defence game sees you getting in on the action more directly by letting you actually flick away the incoming enemies. It may be less cerebral than its tower-based cousin, but it’s great fun to watch an enemy soldier that you’ve just launched into the air go splat on the ground as he falls back down to earth.

The Lite version of this lovely looking attempt at the genre gives you a Survival mode to play through, although it’s actually level based rather than one never-ending fight against the incoming hordes.

There are only three enemies from the full version’s 10+ on show, but if you’ve yet to experience the castle defence genre, Knights Onrush is as good a place as any to start.

Toki Tori Lite
By Chillingo
What is it? It’s an egg-snatching puzzle platformer
Type Demo

Toki Tori only came out on iPhone recently, but it’s been around longer than you might think. Originally made for the Game Boy way back in 2001, it lets you play as a plucky little chicken called Toki Tori who has to retrieve a bunch of eggs in each level.

There’s more to him than meets the eye, though. Although not exactly graceful or acrobatic, he can do things such as create bridges between platforms and transport himself through walls.

These abilities make Toki Tori more of a puzzler than a traditional platformer. Even the way you control him is more strategic than action-oriented. Tap anywhere on the screen and Toki Tori will try to get there, so you don’t move him left and right directly as such. The Lite version of the game features the first few levels from the full version’s 80.

Wild West Guns Lite
By Gameloft
What is it? It’s a sharp-shootin’ western tap-‘em-up
Type Demo

Wild West Guns is what might result if you got the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, locked them in a room filled with booze and face painting kits, and left them to simmer for a few days.

Although it's a gallery shooter through and through, its larger-than-life exuberance and spot-on western sounds and visuals can’t help but convince you that the Gameloft gaming bods watched Clint Eastwood’s entire filmography while making it.

Playing it is a simple case of tapping on the screen to shoot something, but the speed the game moves along at keeps you hooked onto its dusty charms. After the severe disappointments of more famous lightgun-style shooters like Silent Scope, the fact that Wild West Guns turned out really rather well was a pleasant surprise.

Bowman
By Lentrica Software
What is it? It’s archery will the safety regulations removed
Type Full

If you make your visuals a bit stylised or cartoony, you can get away with representing all sorts of horrible violence. Bowman’s a prime example - even though the game’s about two people firing arrows directly at each other, it managed to get past Apple’s thought police.

A game of trajectories, it invites you to tailor the angle and force of your arrow fire to make sure it does some serious damage to your opponent.

Even more fun than this basic mode, in which you can play against an AI opponent or a friend, is the bird hunting mode, where you just have to hit as many passing birds as you can within a time limit.

Bowman’s appeal is distinctly lo-fi, but if you’re not a member of the RSPCA it’s still worth a download. The full version of the game is free until the next update comes out, too.

Pick of the week Ball Fill
By Eye Cog
What is it? It’s a balloon blowing casual game
Type Full

We’ve seen a number of games like Ball Fill appear on the App Store since it opened. One of our favourites was Just Fillin’, but Ball Fill is just about as good and is available to download for free for a short while.

Whenever you put your finger on the screen, a ball will start expanding underneath it. However, there are tiny little other balls bouncing around the screen that’ll pop your balls on contact. Your aim is to fill a certain percentage of the screen with your balls.

A simple conceit, sure, but it works wonderfully on the touchscreen. You can even drag your already-inflated balls around the screen to block the ball-busters in. Although there’s a Lite version of the game available, the full one’s currently free until the next update comes out. We suggest you download it quicksmart.

Crap Apps Box of Shame Award

IBling!
By Rijul Gupta
What is it? It’s about as gangsta as a an old lady’s shopping cart
Type Full

Although we’re all unrelentingly gangsta here at Pocket Gamer, even we have to draw the line somewhere.

IBling! features some of the ugliest excuses for bling seen outside of an Argos catalogue. All it features is a selection of ugly JPEGs of various medallions, upon which some equally ugly little twinkles appear ever now and then. Rijul even has the audacity to ask us to add to his bling collection, trying to get users to send in their own pictures to be added at a later date.

Try to pass this off as true bling to your posse and you’ll get laughed out of KFC before you even get to grab your popcorn chicken. Remember, kids: the key to being a playa is know to know when you’re being played. Peace out. Ahem.