Mobile entertainment that is well worth your cash
While free-to-play games seem to dominate the Play Store, premium games haven’t gone away. As always, paying a few bucks from the start will typically get you a richer gameplay experience free of ads and without (or with less of) the aggressive monetization tactics found in most of today’s free downloads.
Paying for a game doesn’t automatically ensure that it will be awesome, but you can’t go wrong with the 10 games collected here. For just $2 to $5 a pop, these games provide engrossing fun, polished gameplay, and some of the most inventive experiences we’ve played on smartphones all year. Here’s a look at 2016’s best premium Android games.
paid android games 2016 downwellSee larger image
Downwell
Downwell arrives in stark contrast to the heaps of casual games available on the Play Store. Despite being streamlined enough to work well on a small touchscreen, Downwell is seriously intense and clearly aimed towards hardcore players and fans of old-school arcade shooters—in case the mostly-monochromatic, lo-fi look didn’t give that away.
Here, you’ll vault your hero straight down a well (get it?), with only his bullet-blasting gunboots to help slow his descent… as well as chew through any enemies found immediately below. You’ll need to react quickly to keep making progress, and take advantage of the various power-ups you encounter along the way. What lies beneath the surface? Pixelated fun, apparently!
paid android games 2016 chameleonrunSee larger image
Chameleon Run
Like the great Rayman mobile games, Chameleon Run ditches the endless platform-hopping approach in favor of tightly-constructed and increasingly difficult stages to conquer. And it’s likewise pretty brilliant in the way it continually throws you for a loop, despite never making the controls any more complicated than tapping on either side of the screen.
Chameleon Run’s unique hook is that its hero can change between yellow and pink with a tap, and you can only land on platforms of the same color. Getting to the end of each level not only means dodging obstacles, but also ensuring that you switch colors—all while contending with new play mechanics and twists that pop up along the way. As far as Super Mario-esque side-scrolling games go, Chameleon Run is one of the absolute best on Android.
Chameleon Run ($2)
Mini Metro
Building an effective subway system in real life requires extensive planning, but in Mini Metro, you’ll have to think fast to satisfy all of the riders pouring into your rapidly-growing transit lines. This super-minimal puzzler takes inspiration from subway maps and may not look like much at a glance, but there’s a lot more to it than drawing lines between shapes.
As new stations emerge on the map, you’ll need to create transit lines to ensure that passengers can get to their destinations in a timely manner. You’ll need to make do with meager resources to try and keep your system up and running for as long as possible, and then use the lessons learned from your mistakes to try and last longer the next time.
Mini Metro ($4.99)
While free-to-play games seem to dominate the Play Store, premium games haven’t gone away. As always, paying a few bucks from the start will typically get you a richer gameplay experience free of ads and without (or with less of) the aggressive monetization tactics found in most of today’s free downloads.
Paying for a game doesn’t automatically ensure that it will be awesome, but you can’t go wrong with the 10 games collected here. For just $2 to $5 a pop, these games provide engrossing fun, polished gameplay, and some of the most inventive experiences we’ve played on smartphones all year. Here’s a look at 2016’s best premium Android games.
paid android games 2016 downwellSee larger image
Downwell
Downwell arrives in stark contrast to the heaps of casual games available on the Play Store. Despite being streamlined enough to work well on a small touchscreen, Downwell is seriously intense and clearly aimed towards hardcore players and fans of old-school arcade shooters—in case the mostly-monochromatic, lo-fi look didn’t give that away.
Here, you’ll vault your hero straight down a well (get it?), with only his bullet-blasting gunboots to help slow his descent… as well as chew through any enemies found immediately below. You’ll need to react quickly to keep making progress, and take advantage of the various power-ups you encounter along the way. What lies beneath the surface? Pixelated fun, apparently!
paid android games 2016 chameleonrunSee larger image
Chameleon Run
Like the great Rayman mobile games, Chameleon Run ditches the endless platform-hopping approach in favor of tightly-constructed and increasingly difficult stages to conquer. And it’s likewise pretty brilliant in the way it continually throws you for a loop, despite never making the controls any more complicated than tapping on either side of the screen.
Chameleon Run’s unique hook is that its hero can change between yellow and pink with a tap, and you can only land on platforms of the same color. Getting to the end of each level not only means dodging obstacles, but also ensuring that you switch colors—all while contending with new play mechanics and twists that pop up along the way. As far as Super Mario-esque side-scrolling games go, Chameleon Run is one of the absolute best on Android.
Chameleon Run ($2)
Mini Metro
Building an effective subway system in real life requires extensive planning, but in Mini Metro, you’ll have to think fast to satisfy all of the riders pouring into your rapidly-growing transit lines. This super-minimal puzzler takes inspiration from subway maps and may not look like much at a glance, but there’s a lot more to it than drawing lines between shapes.
As new stations emerge on the map, you’ll need to create transit lines to ensure that passengers can get to their destinations in a timely manner. You’ll need to make do with meager resources to try and keep your system up and running for as long as possible, and then use the lessons learned from your mistakes to try and last longer the next time.
Mini Metro ($4.99)
