Who doesn't like getting something for nothing? Free-to-play games may have garnered something of a bad reputation for themselves in their formative days – fleecing families out of their pensions thanks to tap-happy kids buying in-app purchases in their bedrooms – but, in 2016, most have got their act together.
It is possible to make money from a free release without forcing players to pay an arm and a leg to progress. What's more, scores of free-to-play games are (whisper it under your breath) actually quite fun. Here are some of the best.
1. DISNEY CROSSY ROAD
What do you do if you're one of the most successful media behemoths on the planet and you spot a game on the App Store that would be the perfect fit for your brand? Well, if you're Disney, you pay the studio that made the original to make a new one featuring your cast of characters.
As such, Disney Crossy Road does exactly what it says on the tin, charging you with making your way across a series of busy highways without getting squished, but this time rewarding you with the ability to unlock scores of Disney characters for your efforts. Hardly reinventing the wheel, then, but a worthy time waster nevertheless.
2. CLASH ROYALE
Have you ever heard of Supercell? Yes, we thought you might. The Finnish giant is the studio behind the likes of Clash of Clans and Boom Beach, which means it wasn't exactly a surprise when its latest release - Clash Royale - jumped straight to the top of the charts and amassed positive reviews to boot.
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The idea? You take part in tussles set in the Clash of Clans universe, taking on real-world players in contests that are part-card battlers, part-tower defense. What's more, with no energy system holding you back, you can play when you want and for as long as you want.
3. UNFORGIVING
Unforgiving, as its name suggests, is the kind of game where even making it through the tutorial is an achievement in itself. A fast-paced 2D platformer stripped down to its bare elements, you run, ramp and wall-hang your way through simple levels littered with hazards designed to take you out. Any contact with said hazards sends you right back to the start, with the idea being to finish each stage in 10 seconds or less to pick up a medal. The chances of you finishing full stop – let alone in a quick time – are remote, however. One for the sadomasochists out there.
4. 1000M ZOMBIE ESCAPE!
If trying to escape a horde of zombies looking to gorge on your brains weren't a terrifying enough prospect, can you imagine doing it when you've lost the ability to walk in a reasonable fashion? 1,000m Zombie Escape intentionally hampers your movement so that escaping the encroaching army is not just a case of legging it. You can only move one leg at a time, with each tap of the screen swinging them around so you walk as if hobbling back from the toilet with your trousers wrapped around your ankles. And who hasn't done that?
5. MARVEL AVENGERS ALLIANCE 2
Given the original Marvel: Avengers Alliance garnered mixed reviews when it was released a few years back, fans weren't expecting all too much when a sequel appeared on the radar. Its refined take on turned-based PvP battles (naturally featuring Avengers' cast of mutants and their associates) has won many fans, however. Likewise, the Pokemon-style approach taken to collecting and teaming up with characters for the battles is a draw in itself.
As the old saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, pay attention to your player analytics and make the necessary improvements in the sequel.
6. TOTAL WAR BATTLES: KINGDOM
Time was, the majority of the battles games by SEGA revolved around using a blue hedgehog to repeatedly smashing into a deranged scientist who had a penchant for turning small animals into robots.
Now, thanks to the Total War Battles franchise on mobile, the publisher also pumps out epic adventures where commanding and expanding your own empire is the order of the day. The latest edition, Kingdom, focuses as much on management as it does combat, charging you with governing the ins and outs of your domain as you push its borders ever outward.
7. ROPE RACERS
Unless you ever featured in the now-defunct TV series Gladiators - and a hearty "awoooooga" to all of you out there who did - chances are you've never really swung from a rope. Rope Racers tasks you with doing exactly that, over and over, as you race a clutch of other runners.
Tapping the screen fires out your rope, attaching it to the nearest surface at a 45-degree angle, before you then swing and release, firing you - hopefully - ahead of the competition.
What's more, the folks you're racing are real people, with ghosts from the best players all around the globe dropped directly into your device.
8. TOP ELEVEN
With Jose Mourinho looking ever more likely to become the next manager of Manchester United, you have to wonder whether the Top Eleven frontman is currently playing a season or two of Nordeus' football management sim to brush up his skills.
There would certainly be worse ways to do it, with Top Eleven 2016 - a singular app that updates to the latest release each season - offering a lighter, more entertaining take on the art of running a football club than the likes of Football Manager and Championship Manager. Don't expect an easy ride, however; with games against your Facebook friends a common fixture, Top Eleven 2016 is as competitive as it is engaging.
9. DOOMSDAY CLICKER
Ever wanted to destroy the world, force the remaining population to work underground as your minions and bring about the end of civilisation as we know it? Stupid question, right? Doomsday Clicker is an addictive 'incremental game' in the Cookie Clicker mold, only instead of fashioning sweet treats by tapping away at the screen, here you're using your evil genius to turn doomsday survivors into your slaves, growing and expanding your underground empire and profiting from it as the money rolls in from your exploits.
Limited in turns of interaction, Doomsday Clicker is nevertheless as compelling a concept as any of its tap-happy genre mates.
10. SPACE BANG
In the world of TV, movies and video games, space is a bit of a violent place. This is very much the case in Space Bang where, after your gravity beams are stolen by an evil overlord looking to rule the galaxy, you take to your ship to give chase, shooting down comets as you go to clear the path ahead. A shoot-'em-up for the more casual player, Space Bang's cartoon-like visuals and accommodating controls make it the perfect maiden flight for all you wannabe space explorers out there.
