While the game release season is finally cooling down on the PC and console side of things, iOS gaming isn’t even stopping for gas. There are so many great games on this platform that every month of the year is full of amazing releases. You don’t need to look further than this week’s games (Lunar Racer, The Sims FreePlay, and Batman Arkham City Lockdown) for proof.

Bejeweled Gets Revamped, Bejeweled Blitz now Freemium on iOS

Bejeweled is one of the most successful games ever made, boasting more than 40 million units sold worldwide. But PopCap isn’t resting on that alone. They’re looking to the future and have announced that the game has just been revamped and updated with new modes and modern trappings, including retina display graphics. What’s more, Bejeweled Blitz is now free-to-play on iOS. Players can unlock content through playing the game, or alternately buy it via in-app-purchase options. The new Bejeweled and Bejeweled Blitz will be the only two Bejeweled games on the App Store going forward.

Grand Theft Auto III Release Date Announced, Works on Single-Core Devices

Rockstar announced this week that its blockbuster open-world action hit, Grand Theft Auto III, will be released as a universal iPhone and iPad app on December 15. So the first bit of good news is that it’s coming in under a week. The second is that the game will in fact work on single-core iOS devices, and not just the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. However, now that we’ve seen some screenshots of the game we’re a bit concerned, as the screen is flooded with virtual buttons that could make the play experience very cumbersome. We’ll wait to pass judgment, but right now we're wondering if GTA3 is too complex a game to be played on a touch screen.

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Upcoming iOS Games You Should Keep an Eye On

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  Lunar Racer

  Noodlecake Studios’ masterpiece Super Stickman Golf is one of the best iOS games of the year, and anyone who touched that game knows how talented the developer is. So we’re very excited to hear news about its new project, Lunar Racer.

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  It’s a departure for the studio, but it’s still based on the same physics-based theme. Whereas Super Stickman Golf turned golfing into a competitive race, Lunar Racer focuses even more on the racing aspect: it’s a combat racer in lunar gravity. Given the developer’s pedigree, we're rather anxious to give it a whirl.

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  The Sims FreePlay

  Be careful with The Sims FreePlay. We haven’t played it yet, but can nearly guarantee that it has the power to end you (and your bank account). This F2P social game takes the Farmville-style format and replaces crops and cattle with friends and social interactions.

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  The best part is that the series has not forgotten its roots. It’s not merely aping the Farmville formula, but adding to it by including its patented character creator and house-building elements. And best of all, it’s entirely free. We don’t have details yet on the in-app purchases, but as long as they’re reasonably priced, we’ll be plugging countless hours into this game.

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  Batman Arkham City Lockdown

  OK, so we’re cheating a little with this one. The game just came out today, but since Warner Bros. stealth-launched this title, we didn’t get a chance to prepare ourselves! Arkham City Lockdown is a tie-in to the blockbuster console experience that released in October.

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  The game plays quite a bit like Infinity Blade, spotlighting one-on-one combat encounters. The controls are a bit different, but it’s impossible to ignore the design influence of that iOS smash. However, given that Infinity Blade and its sequel are two of our all-time favorite iOS games... we’re pretty OK with that.

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