Gaming
Games
The Candy Crush Rivals That Won't Break The Bank
Who said free to play was really free? These are the games that don’t keep asking you to cough up.
The addictive runner game, Canabalt
© Red Bull UK
A growing number of games on Facebook and mobile are raking in millions from in-app purchases - and soon that number could reach billions - pioneering a new business model that’s keeping the likes of Sony and Microsoftup at night. They’re puzzle or action games that are free to install, and hook you in with addictive gameplay, before asking for money to let you take a shortcut, grab extra lives or progress further.
They're the modern day equivalent of the arcade machine that you need to feed to play, in other words. Unless, that is, you try out these alternatives, which will only charge you once, or genuinely are free to play. Got a crippling Candy Crush habit or can’t stop working on your crops in Hay Day? These rivals will give just as much fun or more, all on the cheap.
Candy Crush Saga? Try Bejeweled Blitz
Colourful puzzle game Candy Crush Saga has crushed the competition, on both Facebook and mobile. It boasts a staggering 15.4 million daily average users on the social network alone, and it’s a hit on both iPhone and Android too. The simple concept, swap the candies around until three line up and disappear, is nothing new, but gamers can’t seem to get enough: they’ve bought so many boosters and special candies to help them through levels that creator King is reportedly now planning to float on the stock market.
Can’t get enough of the candy swapping, but fancy forking out less in the long run? Try Bejeweled Blitz. Popcap’s puzzler uses an almost identical concept, just a different business model. It’s completely free, so you can play all you want, without any tempting shortcuts or barriers.
Clash Of Clans? Try Age of Empires
Clash Of Clans is another great example of an old concept becoming wildly popular through the power of free-to-play. The isometric strategy game sees you raising your villagers and training them up, before waging war against other gamers and civilisations online. Developer Supercellrakes in almost $2.5 million (£1.64m) per day from fans eager to purchase extra items that might give them a winning edge, and there are even hardcore players out there willing to drop more than $5,000 (£3,200) to make sure they do.
If you want to make sure you don’t end up paying out the same, you could try the game that inspired it instead, the legendary Age Of Empires, which boasts more intrigue than a boxset of Game Of Thrones. Age Of Empires Online is available to download on Steam right now if you’ve got a PC, while tablet owners will be relieved to know it’s reportedly in the works for iOS and Android too. It’s free to play, but there’s only one in-app expansion pack you can buy - that’s it.
Hay Day? You want Harvest Moon
Another Supercell success, cutesy iPhone agriculture sim Hay Day has become the new Farmville when it comes to gobbling up people’s time. Thankfully it lacks the endless Facebook notifications of Zynga’s original, but it’s still heavy on the micro-transactions, and if you want to make sure your crop doesn’t fail, you could rack up a big bill on iTunes nonetheless.
If you’ve got a Nintendo 3DS to hand though, you’d be much better off losing yourself in the latest in the long-running Harvest Moon series, Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns. Developer Marvelous Entertainment’s been turning farming into something that’s actually somehow fun to play for longer than anyone else, and at only £15.99 upfront, with precisely no in-app purchases, it could save you a lot more a few seasons down the line.
Puzzles & Dragons? Puzzle Quest’s superior
It’s half parts Bejeweled, and half parts Pokemon: Puzzles & Dragons has proved a sensation on iPhone and Android with its combination of colourful puzzle solving and anime monster bashing. It boasts more than 15 million users, and in April alone pulled in $113 million (£74m) from in-app purchases, but it didn’t pioneer the strange hybrid genre. That honour goes to Puzzle Quest creators Infinite Interactive, who are no doubt watching on with envy.
The game plays out like Tetris-slash-Chess against monsters straight out of an Iron Maiden T-shirt, and it’s every bit as fun as Puzzles & Dragons, not to mention available on just about every platform, from mobile to Xbox Live, PlayStation 3 and your mobile. At £2.49, Puzzle Quest 2 for iPhone could save you a lot of money in the long run.
Sonic Dash? Give Canabalt a go
Games like Temple Runner and the more recent Sonic Dash have turned the endless runner - a platformer where you must simply survive while hurtling forward for as long as possible - into a mainstream genre. They can burn through your spare change though: Sonic Dash in particular nudges you to buy revive tokens if you fail.
The game that started it all however won’t cost you anything more than the £1.99 download fee, ever. Canabalt, a startlingly bleak and addictive endless runner, sees you legging it from an unknown terror as the robot apocalypse kicks off in the background and the buildings collaps all around you. Though it was one of the first breakout hits on the iPhone, it’s still not showing any signs of age, and has even just been re-released on the Ouyaconsole. Now you’ll just be left wondering where all your free time went, not your dosh.
