The Best iPhone Games

There's no such thing as a free lunch -- but there is such a thing as a free iPhone game. (OK, so when you take into account the cost of buying the hardware, not to mention the cost of maintaining an AT&T account, these games are anything but free, but that's not the point.) iTunes is home to a bewildering variety of free games for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and here are some of our favorites.

FREE GAMES

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Aurora Feint

If you think free cell phone games lack production value, boy, are you in for a shock. Aurora Feint rejuvenates block-sliding puzzle games by giving them a compelling, RPG-like framework, much like the classic Puzzle Quest did for match-3 Bejeweled clones. It's a touch on the buggy side, but hopefully the developers will address that before long. Even so, it's tremendous value for its (non-existent) price.

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Frotz

Text adventures never die -- they just turn up on the App Store, apparently. Frotz brings classic text adventures like Zork to your iPhone, and backs them up with a huge catalog of free "interactive fiction" tales, yours for the taking. As a side benefit, after half an hour with it you'll have developed mad iPhone typing skillz. If you're up for discovering a long-forgotten style of video game storytelling, and you possess the asking price of $0.00, don't miss it.

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Sol Free Solitaire

If all you want out of a Solitaire game is classic deal-one or deal-three Klondike, you're actually better off with this free version than with the paid one above, thanks to its crystal clear and unflashy visuals. Sol Free offers a couple of additional Solitaire styles, but nothing like the variety of Solitaire Forever. Hey, that's what you get for free.

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CannonGame

Yup, it's a game with cannons. Call it Scorched Earth, call it Worms, call it what you like, but the classic turn-based combat game where you shoot by choosing elevation and shot power is timeless. This version is simple, but well presented and easy to control.

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Hanoi

Looking for something to exercise your mind? Hanoi is a simple, elegant retelling of the classic Towers of Hanoi puzzle -- you know, the one with the three vertical columns and a stack of decreasing-radius discs you need to move from one column to the next. You've probably played it a thousand times, so why not play it a thousand more?

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1337pwn XBOX Live Friends Application

This unwieldy title hides a very simple app - it displays the online status of any Xbox Live player together with their gamerscore. Add your friends, and you'll be able to see when they're playing without needing to be in front of a console or a computer. Simple, free, slick -- a must for any Xbox owner.

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Morocco

This clean implementation of the classic board game Go (also called Othello) is a gem. The controls couldn't be easier, the learning curve is non-existent, and - hooray - if you get a call or are distracted midway through a game, Morocco automatically saves the game's state so you can pick it up again later. Although the AI is more than good enough to clobber our novice Go-playing butts, we suspect it'd give considerably more skilled players a workout, too.

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