The free iPhone game Trawler Report: Highborn, Stick Golf, MagniFusion

At the end of a week of slogging your guts out just so you can pay for the essentials of life, what better than a bunch of free non-essentials? The answer I think you’re looking for is, ‘nothing, sir.’

This week sees a triumphant hat-trick for the FreeAppADay initiative. Usually one sneaks in – two on a particularly good week – but this time it’s three out of the four. Bravo.

We’ve got another gem from Disney (which, again, doesn’t feature any mice), a quirky take on golf, and an epic strategy game.

The best free iPhone games on the App Store

Blackout
By Disney
Type Full

Following the FreeAppADay offer of Breakspin a couple of weeks ago comes another Disney offering, Blackout.

I had the privilege of reviewing the game back in April, and found it to be an accomplished match-three puzzler with a sufficiently neat twist to make it stand out. Here you must link lines of detonators and coloured gems in order to open up tunnels for light to pour through.

Each level is a sprawling affair, making Blackout a game of gentle exploration as much as matching up blocks. While it’s not among the best games in the genre on iPhone, it’s fun enough (and free enough) to warrant some time in the spotlight.

Stick Golf
By Jordan Schidlowsky
Type Full

Stick Golf sits at the opposite end of Let’s Golf in most respects. Its visuals are extremely simple, in an artfully minimalistic kind of way, and there’s none of the advanced club or character selection of Gameloft’s superb effort.

And yet the the two games share a very similar philosophy – to simplify the game of golf and make it fun for all. Stick Golf does that with an almost Worms-like approach – you set the trajectory of your swing, taking into account the wind and the exaggerated lay of the land, then set your power with a typical meter.

It’s extremely straightforward, but extremely well executed at the same time. It’s another FreeAppADay offering that’s set to end soon, so get it quick.

MagniFusion: Push, Combine, Swap and Pop
By Toco Games
Type Full

This gently absorbing physics-based puzzler feels very fresh, despite containing a number of recognisable elements. The aim is to shove coloured bubbles around the screen, with the speed they ping off at determined by the proximity of your finger. When they touch another bubble of the same colour and size, they merge and expand, making it trickier to fit them through gaps but easier to avoid holes. There’s also a time limit to consider and gems to collect – usually positioned precariously near holes and other obstacles. All in all, MagniFusion is an oddly calming experience that should be picked up before the “launch day promotion” ends.

Pick of the week

Highborn
By Jet Set Games
Type Full

Highborn is a turn-based strategy game set in a high-fantasy world, with one notable difference: It has a sense of humour.

Eschewing the usually po-faced dialogue found in ghosts and goblins fare, the game embraces whimsy and parody. It’s also a very solid game, with fine 3D battle animations, an innovative unit requisition system, and an excellent multiplayer mode.

Speaking of which, today sees the game updated to included OpenFeint support, so you’ll no longer need to go through Facebook Connect to get your competitive kicks. Thanks to FreeAppADay, it’s free, too.

Crap apps

Drunk-Meter Prank
By Jaime Sotomayor
Type Full

Hur hur. This app, right, is well funny. You get your mates to breathe into your iPhone, right, and it makes them think that they’re, like, totally wasted! Like a real breathalyser! Except it’s not!

Of course, the only way anyone with a modicum of sense would fall for such a ‘hilarious’ trick would be if they were utterly inebriated. Which kind of destroys the whole point of the app.

In fact, the app strays from the realm of stupidity and into the realm of irresponsibility. You see, you could play this trick on said inebriated friend and fix the result to tell them they’re in reasonable shape, and thus fit to drive.

That might sound a bit far-fetched, such is the app’s shoddiness, but anyone who a) downloads this app and b) whips it out in public is highly unlikely to be the sort that mixes with professors.