The thread called: Do you play mobile games?

[Smashbox]

Rockpapershotgunitizens:

You all like to play games quite a bit, and by-and-large have great taste. Of all the places online where people talk about games, this one generally seems to value the things I value most. And so I ask you:

Do you play mobile (let's say smartphone and tablet) games?

What mobile games are actually good?

There are a lot of sites out there that write about mobile games, but they mostly have a generalist tone. Not that that kind of thing isn't important in sorting the (small amount of wheat) from the chaff. I ask here (on a PC forum, gasp) because I believe you lot have a deeper understanding of the medium and a greater games vocabulary than many games 'news' outlets, especially those specializing in mobile.

Okay, enough flattery. Tell me wot mobile games are the best mobile games.

Also, the degree to which the game is suited to the platform is key in my mind. E.g. Megaman 2 is a fantastic game, one I still like to play, but you would have to be out of your mind to think it would be fun on a phone.

[Smashbox]

Getting the ball rolling:

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions was pretty good. The interface updated sufficiently and performance was great. It's an acclaimed strategy/tactics game and I can see the pedigree, but I bounced off of it eventually, probably due to JRPG fatigue.

Game Dev Story is a charming management game, and pretty fun to play, though the quality of its port is somewhat lacking.

Cardinal Quest is a simple Rogue-like game with a decent amount of variety and replayability. Might be slightly lacking in originality in my opinion.

Trainyard stands out to me as an elegant puzzle game perfectly suited to the platform. Simple, but very well designed. Overall very lovely. I recommend it.

[Faldrath]

The only one I play with any regularity is New Star Soccer, even though the last update broke the game a bit and the author has gone rather quiet. I did buy King of Dragon Pass but have never found the time to actually learn it - shame on me, I know.

There are some decent roguelikes (Sword of Fargoal comes to mind), and you can also download Frotz and play tons of interactive fiction.

[Vandelay]

I've recently been playing The Walking Dead on my iPad and it is pretty excellent. My only problem is that I can't find an option to disable the notes feature (the "Kenny will remember that" messages.) Makes it a bit obvious where the forks in your decisions are and pulls you out of the game a fair bit.

[mashakos]

I love playing bite sized tower defense / strategy games on my phone, like Anomoly Warzone Earth.
I would love it if proper adventure / puzzle games were released on ios/android. Basically anything from the Amiga era that worked with just a mouse would be amazing on a phone: Lemmings, Darkseed, SCUMMVM games etc.

[DaftPunk]

I've recently been playing The Walking Dead on my iPad and it is pretty excellent. My only problem is that I can't find an option to disable the notes feature (the "Kenny will remember that" messages.) Makes it a bit obvious where the forks in your decisions are and pulls you out of the game a fair bit.

Are they the same version as console/pc or entierly new for ipad ?

[Finicky]

I used to play snake on my nokia 3310. Otherwise, no, never.

[Vandelay]

Are they the same version as console/pc or entierly new for ipad ?

As far as I am aware (not played any other version,) it is identical, except for the lack of the option I mentioned, as well as one that removes the "hotspots".

[Patrick Swayze]

10000000.

It's like a match em up crossed with a dungeon crawler. Tad grindy but its great.

[eRa]

Magic 2013 for the iPad is awesome. It's a little restrictive in terms of deck construction compared to the actual card game, but good fun nonetheless. It also looks gorgeous.

If you like MtG, you'll like this app.

[bad guy]

PSP It is cheap, has great buttons and lots of games.

GTA Liberty City Stories, GTA Vice City Stories, Gran Turismo PSP, Pilot Academy
psp-minis: Pinball Dreams, 4x4 Jam, Drums Challenge, Golf Mania, Blast Off, (PS1) Destruction Derby

[vinraith]

I have no real use for a smartphone or tablet, and don't buy gadgets as style accessories. That said, I do still have my old DS, and nothing kills the time on a plane flight or in a waiting room like the Etrian Odyssey series.

[fuzzy logic]

The one I've played the most by far is Bike Baron. You must navigate zany obstacle courses on a dirt bike. The game has a physics engine north of Excite Bike but south of Trials 2. It's also a lot like Trials 2, except easier to acclimate to. The game has leaderboards and becomes incredibly difficult. Like "I will never beat this game in my lifetime" difficult. The later levels seem impossible to me, especially doing them without falling once.

Gem Keeper is a good, free tower defense game. Has a nice little gimmick of having the ability to move your towers during a wave by pressing and dragging the screen--to keep you awake :). It also has the vital speed-up button, endless mode and difficulty settings. Unfortunately, the game becomes incredibly hard, and a few level have large difficultly spikes out of nowhere. I believe they balanced it this way intentionally to encourage people to buy bombs. They're a limited quantity explosive that one shots creeps in a massive area. In fact, I've wondered if some of the levels are impossible unless you build the one and only solution to them that doesn't require bombs--or perhaps there isn't one. The tower AI can be infuriatingly dumb, but there is a focus fire option (just tap an enemy) to help that out a bit. The game is a fun, challenging tower defense overall.

Other mobile games fun enough to play outside of the toilet and waiting in lines queues: Plants vs Zombies, Squids and maybe, sometimes Raid Leader (the 3/4 view makes it better than Battleheart, imho).

[mashakos]

PSP It is cheap, has great buttons and lots of games.

GTA Liberty City Stories, GTA Vice City Stories, Gran Turismo PSP, Pilot Academy
psp-minis: Pinball Dreams, 4x4 Jam, Drums Challenge, Golf Mania, Blast Off, (PS1) Destruction Derby

while the PSP undoubtedly has an impressive software lineup, I just can't fit it in my life style. I'm waiting to see what Sony does with their mobile division. If they expand on their PS1 lineup and drive PSP devs to port their titles over, my next mobile phone will be an android. My icontrolpad is ready.

[bad guy]

I have alot of looong train rides, but I also play PSP in bed and on the couch sometimes.

[Smashbox]

My icontrolpad is ready.

How's that thing? And how's support for it?

[mashakos]

How's that thing? And how's support for it?

fantastic battery life + blutrol makes it a great accessory. Blutrol maps touch controls on any ios game to the physical buttons, so any game that has an on-screen dpad and buttons works perfectly. Finally, Driver Rayman and Earthworm Jim are playable! Emulator support for icontrolpad is native so neo geo and snes games are fully playable. Fighting games like Soul Calibur and Street Fighter 4 are also finally playable using the icontrolpad. It's a shame that no ios game supports it natively, GTA 3 with analogue controls would have been great.

[mashakos]

I have alot of looong train rides, but I also play PSP in bed and on the couch sometimes.

where do you keep it, in a pouch? Or do you carry a bag/backpack normally?

[bad guy]

It have a PSP-pouch for it. And yes I normaly travel with a bag (truth alert!).
But it also fits in my pocket (with pouch) because my trousers tend to be baggy.

[siegarettes]

I second Game Dev Story, and add to it Pocket League story. Just be warned that they are highly addictive. World of Goo, Infinity Blade, DoDoPachi and the other CAVE games, Avadon: The Black Fortress and also Frozen Synapse if you have an iPad.

The ones personally cluttering up my iDevice are Canabalt, Eliss, 100 Rogues, sworcery, Jetpack Joyride, Karoshi, Super Crate Box, Scribblenauts, Today I Die, Zookeeper, Ziggurat, Tiny Wings, Fruit Ninja, Solipskier, Sunny Day Sky, and Winterbells.

Of those Karoshi, Sunny Day Sky, Winterbells, and Ziggurat get the most play.

There's also all of those games that appeared in the Humble Android Bundles.