Just today I installed Smash Hit and found out that it's pretty much useless if you don't shell out some money, you have to start over and over from the beginning because checkpoints are a premium feature. I hope this change will put an end to this behaviour but I fear developers are always gonna come up with new ways to trick users.
Smash Hit isn't really that bad - basically the free version is a trial, and you pay one price for the full version.
I think this Google move is more targeted at the sort of games that don't fall into the trial/paid category, rather the sort that constantly try to bill you for microtransations.
Yeah, I believe the free trial and full version were 2 different apps before. Now, you don't have to download a new app to upgrade and can keep game data from the trial. This seems like a better solution, though the price may be misleading due to how "free" games are displayed in the store. The new play store change should solve this.
Basically, there should be a Free Trial system forced or at least strongly encouraged like Microsoft Xbox does for some titles. That way, for a great game like Smash Hit, you don't feel tricked for not getting the full game for free.
