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GameStore review: A Netflix-style service for Android gamers

GameStore is a new subscription service which serves up over 400 Android games, all available to download and enjoy ad-free. We tested out the service and here’s our full GameStore review.

If you spend a lot of time gaming on your Android smartphone, chances are you rack up quite a big Google Play bill every month. Mobile games may only cost a couple of quid on average, but that soon adds up if you’re buying new titles every other day.

Which is where the freshly launched GameStore service comes in. For a small monthly fee, subscribers can download as many of the 400+ games as they like, to enjoy on their Android device. There are no ads and no in-app purchases. Plus, a wide variety of genres are catered for, including a decent selection of titles for kids.

GameStore review: How do I join and is there a free trial?

To join GameStore, just head to www.gamestoreapp.com and sign up. You can enjoy a 30-day free trial when you first register, although you’ll still need to enter payment details to get started. Thankfully this is a Netflix-style service, so you can cancel at any point, no strings attached.

Next, you’ll need to download the GameStore apk file. This is like the Google Play app, offering front-end access to the full catalogue of titles. Make sure you allow the installation of apps from unknown sources in your phone’s security settings first, to get this working.

Overall the setup is swift and simple. So far, so good.

GameStore review: Is the games selection any good?

With the GameStore app installed, you can browse and download over 400 titles in all. You can download most of them for offline gaming, with no restrictions on how many you grab at once. Best of all, they come free of adverts and pesky IAPs.

The store is a streamlined affair, with a very intuitive setup. From the homepage you can check out recommended and recently released titles, or you can skip straight to specific genres. The likes of action, adventure and sports titles are quite well stocked considering GameStore has only just launched, although the adventure category in particular contains quite a jumble of stuff. You get quite a few hidden object games, while the rest are more arcadey action titles.

Still, we liked how GameStore offers a ‘less than 10MB’ round-up. That’s very handy if you’re on mobile data rather than WiFi and looking for smaller games to download, without killing your allowance for the month.

Right now you can get plenty of retro-style time-wasters, including the first two Tomb Raiders, R-Type and Double Dragon. Some classic Android games including Cut The Rope and Badlands are also available. With a bit of browsing we found quite a few truly addictive titles in the mix, such as Crimsonland and Deus Ex/Hitman Go, which are well worth playing if you missed them the first time around.

Of course, there’s also a healthy serving of crap on there, which is best avoided. Stuff like Bangalore Metro Train Simulator and Weekend Warriors should never be installed on any phone ever; check out our video review below to see these stinkers in action.

GameStore review: Are there any good alternatives?

One problem is that many of the better games on GameStore are available for free via Amazon’s Underground service. Underground operates in much the same way, except the apps are completely free to download; no monthly fee, no restrictions. And again, you won’t see any ads or IAPs.

Given time and plenty of fresh new titles, GameStore could be a truly great offering for Android gamers. If you’re interested right now, go check out that 30 day trial and see what you think. Otherwise, we’d say wait and see what hits the service later in 2018.

For a look at the selection of games and how easy the whole process is, check out our GameStore hands-on review below. This also shows you the full setup process, in case you’re curious.

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