Saw a game on Google Play that had great reviews (4.6k AVG with 77k reviews) so downloaded it thinking I finally might have found a good mobile game only to find it was trash like almost every mobile game I’ve ever tried.
Is it me, am I the problem, or are virtually all mobile games terrible?
Edit
Thanks for everyone’s feedback and suggestions, I’ve been trying out some of your recommendations as well as trying out Steam Link to play my steam PC games
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My hard and fast rule is, “Don’t play freemium games.” The second I see stars, coins, tickets, tokens, I’m out. I exclusively play what are mostly ports from console. Trials of Mana, The Alliance Alive HD Remastered, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, Danganronpa, Spiritfarer, Oxenfree, Stardew Valley, Minecraft etc. I also have Apple Arcade from my Verizon package, and I play the Netflix games. Avoid freemium / gacha / IAP-riddled games, and some of the ports are at least decent.
Absolutely agree on the freemium bullshit. Haven’t seen a single one that was worth playing.
I’ll also add on a handful of suggestions if anyone enjoys puzzle games: The Room series (4 games in the series), and The House of Da Vinci (3 games in the series, heavily inspired by The Room).
Personally don’t mind freemium games, I don’t care about wait times and shit, just play the game at my own pace.
What I do hate is FOMO, I’m an all-or-nothin’ kinda gamer. If i feel pressured to play because I might miss an exclusive item, I’m out.
Actually, if you have Netflix, there’s a decent number of good mobile games through that
huh I had no idea! thanks
Monument 1 and 2 are great puzzle games well worth the purchase price.
there are good games. but they most of the time do not get promoted. you need other websites or like reddit or lemmy with lists from actual players to find them. in store only the moneygrabs get promoted.
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IMO, smartphones had the chance to revolutionize the gaming industry, but ended up wasting almost all of that potential on skinner boxes riddled with ads and microtransactions. Most of the best mobile games are ports from other systems, like the mobile edition of Minecraft and whatnot.
I think Pokémon Go was possibly the closest any major publisher has come to actually realizing the full potential of mobile games as a format, but it still fell painfully short with massively dumbed down mechanics and an absolute grindfest of a progression system.
There are still a few good indie projects out there (I like Soul Knight) but generally the mobile gaming market is so full of absolute dreck that I usually just don’t bother.
Or did it revolutionize the industry to it’s endpoint, that we just don’t want to admit was the natural conclusion of capitalistic society video games?
It’s the common denominator phenomena of all systems though. Mobile is literally the easiest point of entry to games and content in the entire world and it’s not even close with all other platforms combined. The ENTIRE spectrum of intelligence and discipline have phones (“do you all not have phones?” -blizzard DI launch). It’s in your pocket, it has all your information, access to your funds, and the majority of people probably get interrupted too frequently to scrutinize the quality of game design. It’s a cigarette hit waiting for the bus kind of vice that the rest of the majority know that the game is garbage but just don’t care- they need that dopamine hit.
Avoid Freeium games. If you known what to look for, it’s pretty easy. Combat Master is a pretty good CoD clone. Galaxy on Fire II is worth a shot as well.
There are good games, but usually they don’t have the advertisement budget of these crapware companies that oversaturate the market. Best advice would be to look for good mobile games using other media, then get them on the store; not looking at the store’s suggestion.
Well… I have GTA: San Andreas on mobile and that shit is damn near as good as console or PC
There are a few hidden gems (I enjoy Plague inc. and Rebel inc. on occasion, for example), but for the most part, the majority of mobile games are mtx-laden cash grabs. So the actual quality is commensurately low because the devs figured out they don’t have to put in real effort to implement gambling and hook addicts.
Generally, the games that have a larger up-front price are good. Bonus points, if they were ported from PC or consoles and don’t track you.
Exactly this. Every non-shit mobile game I ever found turned out to be a port from either PC or console.
I’m a big fan of BuriedBornes. Great little old school rpg to pick up and play. Lots of in depth mechanics and replayability.
It’s tough to find one that hooks you in but not all mobile games are bad…right I’m playing harry Potter magic awakened and it has me hooked
These are my picks.
Infinitode 2: Pretty good standard Tower Defence.
Gravity Box: Very simple platformer where your only movement is rocket jumps. People say it has occasional ads but I’ve never seen any.
God Field: fun tacky card battle game. Quick games. Can play bots, private lobbies, casual or ranked. Anywhere from 1v1 to 9ffa. I would look up a guide online to find out how to play, as it doesn’t have a tutorial (just a glossary).
Arknights: DISCLAIMER - Gacha game, I play f2p though just fine. You’re only allowed a certain number of missions per day. Unique Tower defense game with levelable Pokemon for towers, except it’s waifus instead of pokemons. Has lots of story (though you’ll get through slowly).
Emulation very possible (though I dislike touch controls):
- Dolphin (wii/gc)
- Citra (3ds)
- RetroArch (any older system)
I’ve seen these mentioned in other comments:
- Mindustry
- Slay the Spire
After trying bunch of Android games I found Nintendo DS games that can be entirely played with a stylus have been the best games to emulate and play on mobile.
Edit: Kirby Mass Attack is great and felt like a native experience.
Some others that might be worth trying.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/925329-nintendo-ds/65539209
If you want good mobile games, look out for paid ports of PC indies, like:
- Door Kickers: Action Squad
- Baba Is You
- Bad North
- Bridge Constructor Portal
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- Crypt of the Necromancer
- Dead Cells
- Don’t Starve
- Don’t Starve: Shipwrecked
- Downwell
- Forager
- GRIS
- Retro City Rampage DX
- Reventure
- ScourgeBringer
- Sparklite
- Teslagrad
- This War of Mine
- Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Meh, whole they’re undoubtedly great games, the experience on mobile just isn’t.
