Fans of popular EA franchise The Sims have never failed to find delights on the App Store. With four different varieties encompassing the original, Ambitions, World Adventures and Medieval, there’s plenty of fun to be had. However, there’s nothing replicating Facebook game The Sims Social. That is until now.

Coming to the App Store next month will be The Sims Freeplay, an entirely new game that bears a lot of similarities to other freemium games. It’ll be the kind of title that players can check in on throughout the day with The Sims world running constantly in the background. Players will get the chance to create up to 16 customized Sims, design their dream homes, care for pets, grow gardens and even find some time for baking too. A goals system which will presumably tie in with the career potentials of the Sims means that there’ll always be something new to do. There will also be the near obligatory in-app purchases we’ve all come to expect from freemium titles.

The Sims Freeplay is set for release next month. For now, check out the screenshots below for a taste of what’s to come.

Create and customize a wildlife reserve. Manage various park minutiae. Upgrade facilities and inhabitants in order to bring in the big bucks. It sounds fairly typical of a good number of freemium park sims, but Fantasy Safari twists it up a bit. By adding fantasy creatures, naturally.

Dragons, frozen wolves, phoenixes and more. It’s a bit of a departure from the usual fare, to say the least. Now, thanks to EA Mobile, we can all try our hand at running our own zoo full of non-existent animals. 40 different non-existent animals, at that. 40 non-existent animals that can learn new abilities (i.e. fire breathing) as savvy players futz with their enclosures.

Anyone looking to try their hand at managing a theme park/zoo with a bit more… “flavor” can do so right now. Fantasy Safari is already on the App Store and, like most (read: all) free-to-play titles it doesn’t require any money to get started.

Granted, there are far more Sims titles available for the PC, but the App Store has certainly seen it’s fair share. It may need a few dozen more releases in order to catch up, but Electronic Arts is definitely doing their part to give the series wings on iOS devices. Their fourth attempt at miniaturizing the drug addiction-like voyeur/god simulator has resulted in a hand-held rendition of The Sims Medieval.

In this newest installment of what will inevitably boil-down to a game of interior decoration murder (we all eventually try to kill them, there’s no shame in admitting it), things have gotten decidedly more fantasy RPG-like. This is primarily because of the inclusion of quests and a legitimate medieval setting, but those aren’t the only reasons. There are new avatar options such as a dungeon keeper or vampire, the ability to create a guild and get help with various quests from sim-friends. There’s even the inclusion of a first for the entire Sims series: combat. That’s right, players can finally collect and use weapons in duels with other sims. And, of course, there’s the always-present home customization.

The Sims Medieval is available right now for $4.99. It’s time to get busy with the questing.

A new developer by the name of Maniac Games is working on their first title, Insane Arcade, set to release later this fall. Following the basic freemium model made popular by games like Farmville, players will be able to fill their arcades with a wide selection of machines in an attempt to attract customers and earn more money, so they can buy more machines and outfit their arcades.

The Minnesota-based group plans to include hundreds of machines that will run the gamut from skeeball to dancing games and beyond. What makes things even more interesting is that players won’t just sit back and watch (and wait) for the money to roll in. They’ll be taking a more active roll in helping customers find the game they want to play by “speaking” to them and then guiding them to the right machine. And, of course, there are social elements that include visiting a friend’s arcade and even playing a few mini-games.

What has me the most excited about Insane Arcade is that it goes beyond running a single venue. Once players have had enough success they can expand and franchise out their arcade, which will allow them to run several of them at the same time. The part of my brain that absolutely adores micro management is positively salivating at the idea.

Anyone looking for a bit more information, or that’s interested in helping these gentlemen finish this promising title, should go ahead and check out their Kickstarter page. Based on the samples provided, I think the $20 pledge that grants a free soundtrack download is the best place to start. Seriously, this game has some great music. Or it will, rather.

Keep an eye out for Insane Arcade later this year.

With our recent review of Empire Builder: Ancient Egypt HD, listing some city builders that we believe are the best of the best on iOS seemed like a good idea. And iPhone owners rejoice, because for once we didn’t include any iPad only games!

SimCity
I grew up playing SimCity games and absolutely love them. The iPhone and iPad versions of SimCity hold true to the original games. Excepting scenario modes, SimCity is a city builder with a great free play mode. It truly is free play more than almost any other iOS city builder. There’s a grid and things to build on that grid completely at the will of the player. SimCity is probably my favorite city builder on iOS.

Civilization Revolution
The Civilization Games aren’t really “city” builders so much as they are war strategy games; but the basic gameplay has similarities enough for me to include this game (with the exception of battling other empires). The Civilization games include building up an empire on a grid. Maintaining that empire and each of its cities are an important part of the games and what makes it similar to maintaining the various parts of an individual city in SimCity. Civilization Revolution isn’t as feature-filled as its desktop equivalent but neither is its price as high. I love Civilization games and I’m hoping that they port an older favorite of mine to iOS eventually as well, Alpha Centauri.


The Settlers
The Settlers is a rare gem. Normally games ported over from consoles or PCs don’t feel quite as good as games made specifically for touch-screen devices. The gameplay for the Settlers has a unique polish that only seems to be possessed by games that were created originally for a touch screen. The game is more focused on gathering resources than many other city builders. Also, unlike many city builders, the player is directing actually people in the city (or village) instead of just building and maintaining. The Settlers is one of the better city builders I’ve played.


Virtual City
I stumbled on Virtual City in the last few days when I was looking around for a new city builder to play (it’s one of my favorite genres). I believe fellow 148apps writer, Jennifer Allen, made a great point about Virtual City in her review, “It’s a much friendlier version of SimCity and one that feels more enjoyable and less spreadsheet management- ish than other behemoth city management games.”