I remember back in 2009 I jumped on the 3GS and I was so excited for mobile gaming. I got really into it for a few months and then I dropped off because the software just wasn't there. I've played the odd game here or there on my phone, but most of the good stuff is just ports from other platforms that I've played already. I look at my phone and tablet, I've got Hearthstone installed, I tried FF7 but it sucks on mobile, Miitomo was a load of crap and meh... We seem to have the Gameloft's, who rip off the ideas of the consoles and PC, deliver crap that doesn't compare at all to the quality stuff from proper AAA developers. Why waste my time playing crap clones? Especially on a touch screen, they just don't work at all. Am I going to play Modern Combat on my phone or am I just going to play something good like CS:GO on my PC? The same with games like Vainglory, what is the point? Dota 2 is better, I'll play it on my PC thanx. Then we have the games that are built for touch screens in mind like Angry Birds, Hitman Go or Monument Valley. These are fun, but they're so few a far between, it seems like we only have one or two of these per year. The problem is you play them, they have very little impact, they're just 5 min at a time games and... it's just hard to justify paying 600+ to play them. You have the great ports like FTL or Papers Please or Hearthstone, these are great, but again they're ports, I can play them elsewhere. Then you have the disgusting part which is like 90% of apps on IOS today, the F2P games. The games like Candy Crush or Clash of Clans, they're barely games, they're more about clicking and waiting and if you don't want to wait you can pay craploads of money to bypass it to just wait some more. These are the bane of IOS, I want Apple to ban them, I want the government to see how bad they are for society. You have people wasting hundreds and hundreds of their money on crap, just because they're designed to be addictive and milk you. We're harsh on gambling, but these apps are still allowed... The problem is now, people for whatever reason refuse to pay money for good apps, however they're get suckered in by a "free" app and they feed it loads of money. So the quality of the content has gone down, it's all mostly crap now and no one wants to make anything but. The developers making good content, they cannot afford to be on IOS any more, their games do not make money. Imagine a AAA developer like Naughty Dog making some 100 million dollar IOS game... it wont happen because no one will pay the $40 it would cost. Yet consoles and PC everyone is paying those prices for quality content. This has been a real big bummer for me, I look at my phone and my tablet, I barely use them for apps, I don't touch my tablet at all really. I'm always on my Laptop because there is where the quality is and it isn't just games either. We've been waiting for the iPad to go Pro for years, but the apps aren't coming to it, you cannot seriously use your iPad as a Laptop replacement because there is nothing for it. You see reviews all the time trying to justify the iPad... they cannot and it is why sales are in major decline. If I was Apple I'd ban the once called F2P, but now called Freemium model. At the very least I'd set a cap so you have to have a full retail price and then players who choose the F2P version, they cannot ever spend more than that one off retail price. I'd ban all the exploitive apps that are simply there for you to waste money on consumables, it's just disgusting how these Clash of Clan developers can make so much money from so little.
Hearthstone is not really a port. It is the exact same game as on PC/MAC and is better played on a touchscreen (preferably tablet). And why play Vainglory? Well not everyone has a PC powerful enough to run games like DOTA 2 or LOL. My PC is like 6 years old now and definitely would have problems as it had problems running WOW, D3, SWTOR, etc. Angry Birds is the farthest thing from fun that I can think of. As you get older and get married and have kids and a full time job you can't always escape to play your PC/console games whenever you want. Heck can't even play on my iPad whenever I want. So a lot of has to do with priorities and time available. I have a PS3 with tons of games. Just got our family a WiiU for Chritmas this past year with basically every good game available for it. I don't even want to play those. I'd rather play Vainglory any day of the week than anything in either of those systems.
I think you're sort of answering your own question as to why you can't find any decent games on iOS: you're not really that into it anyway. If you were, you wouldn't have to dig very hard to find whatever you're looking for. Clearly you don't see any value in ports, which is fine. Arguably some of the Square Enix ports are better than playing them on the original hardware (not the case in FFVII admittedly), but I get that this scene is not for you. Is your idea of a good mobile game something like Angry Birds then? In which case, there are still tons of really good casual games on iOS, from Alto's Adventure to Looty Dungeon to PKTBALL. For original and deeper games, there are still tons of iOS options. This year alone, we've had Crashlands, which is unbelievably good, Lost Socks and Warbits, while Implosion is a terrific action game from last year. I'm guessing your problem with iOS is that you're searching the charts for things to play - and they are really not a great indicator of iOS gaming, being full of F2P and pay-to-win rubbish. You need to dig a little deeper into gaming sites and forums (like this one) to find the good stuff - but you don't have to dig very deep. If you still can't find anything that floats your boat among the thousands of apps, then maybe this platform isn't for you. I love the iOS scene because the convenience of phones and tablets is ideal for someone with a full-time job and two small children. However, I also don't feel that I'm missing out on gaming quality in any way. You don't need a PC to enjoy This War of Mine - I'd rather play it lying on the couch or on the train. There's gold in them thar App Store hills...
Why even try? Just abandon the mobile platform. It clearly isnt for you. Should prevent a few headaches for you.
This IOS gaming is so good, don't know where to start, it's better than all consoles combined ever released.
I know, huh?! # Just don't bother with it at all if you don't dig it! Solves that problem right away!! #
Well just as I say it, and I mean it, I played 50 great console games in 30 years, but I played also 200 great IOS games in 7 years, take it with a smile and not so seriously.
Gotta love the OP's "let's ban something that's extremely popular but I don't like it" attitude. In other news, Epic has gone free-to-play for all future games.
Scaramoosh- name sounds familiar, a shaman on an old mmorpg? I don't have any opinion, still love it as gaming platform, just want a touch screen suitable mmorpg and that will be great.
Have to agree with all the others here I'm afraid scaramoosh. Personally, I'm quite enjoying the mobile platform and haven't played my Xbox for a good few years now. Though why I can also understand your point of view is because I can tell you're into the blockbuster shoot em ups (you said CS), and MMORPG. Now we all know shoot em ups are really always going to be sub par on a touch screen. Nothing can be done about that, except for using controllers which then just basically makes the mobile device a screen only. So shooters just aren't a great match on mobile, yet that's what you're critiquing here. If however you are in to board games and strategy, well then I'm afraid that mobile has arguably nudged ahead of the pack. Consistently we are getting great board games and strategy games on IOS every year and I hope they keep it up. It's just a great match, because most such games suite a touch screen better than they do for a mouse and keyboard or even more so better than a controller. Try pressing on one side of a screen for a card and then immediately pressing on the other side of the screen to pick up another card on say an Xbox.....that means hitting the back button and then left thumb sticking across the screen to get to the other side, meanwhile the IOS user that uses tap gestures has done that and is on to their next turn. Some things are just better suited to mobile now, and developers have found that and are making headway, while others such as shooters just have a barrier that will always be there. If you're looking at shooters then you're looking in the wrong genre, and let's not even get started on looking at angry birds.
So true. And iOS is great for RPGs too - well, turn-based ones in particular. Tapping through menus makes so much more sense than using a D-pad. There are also loads of puzzle games that work brilliantly, and often better, with touchscreens, like Prune or old point and click games like Grim Fandango. Action/arcade games are tougher, but iOS has still got loads of truly good touchscreen-only ones, like HoPiKo. As you say, it's really just FPS games where the touchscreen really doesn't work.
I wouldn't say they suck, there's an impressive amount of really clever and great games on mobile that just wouldn't work on any other platform like DEVICE 6, Year Walk, Hitman GO, Five Card Quest, Clash Of Clans (as much as I dislike it) or Lifeline. Mobile is a very odd platform for games and a lot of people haven't really tapped into the REAL potential for creating more close and interesting experiences instead of trying to do AAA like games on mobile, those are usually fun but more often than not are constrained by the lack of physical controlers or relatively weak hardware. But I think that it's biggest problem is that mobile ISN'T a dedicated gaming platform, I know that PC isn't supposedly either, but PC doesn't have to deal with weak hardware or tiny price tags. What I'm trying to say it's that as a gaming platform, mobile is underdeveloped and hasn't had too much true mobile games but a lot of cashgrabs and poorly executed games that try to emulate a 'console experience'.
Mobile gaming is here to stay. Only problem for me are the F2P games that are also P2W. There are AAA games in this platform but they aren't as common as in like the PC for example, but they do exist.
Like others have said, there's plenty of games that only would shine on a mobile device, due to touch controls, accessibility, quick play sessions, etc. Would like to add to the repertoire: Framed, all of the Simogo games, The Nighmare Cooperative, Fearless Fantasy, Blueprint 3D, Helsing's Fire, Skullduggery!, Shadowmatic, Super Hexagon, Threes!, Eliss Infinity, Blek, ; The social/word games (alphabear, Scrabble, Capitals...), most of tower defense games, also the point and click titles (THE ROOM trilogy), the choose-your-own-adventure games like Out There, 80 days, the Sorcery! Trilogy. And what about the manager games (Top Eleven, Motosport manager, idk not a fan). The tilted based games could also be really cool when used properly (Tilt to live 1,2,3; Perloo, Dark Nebula, Ridiculous Fishing). I can't think about a better platform to experience sound-based games than on mobile with a good pair of headphones. And finally ports on mobile that are far better than its counterparts: FTL, Door Kickers, Hearthstone, Papers please, Botanicula, some of Telltale games, This war of mine. Maybe we don't have any of the big titles but I prefer having an awesome indie scene on the AppStore and discover new ways of play games.
noteatino, most big titles are just old games recycled, because devs can't afford to risk and lose sales, since the costs are through the roof. Indies are producing the most interesting games, at the moment, in my opinion. And we have a great deal of awesome games, even if we have 100x more trash. In fact, I have more interesting games than I can play of my lifetime.
I gotta agree with the original poster... for a while I was gung ho about mobile gaming I love Zenonia,kemco rpgs (alphadia) the odd action title... but slowly i'm just losing faith In Mobile... The last straw was The Aralon Sequel... i was so excited about it... told everyone about it... and was crushed at how bad it was... Lately I've barely kept up with new releases... i'm sure there's 50 new crossy roads... swipe sword clones.. and endless runners... but i dont care anymore If you still love Mobile good for you.. i used to feel the same.. but I'm gonna pass on Mobile for REAL games... the kinds I used to play. I'm Endlessly greatful that classics like Super Mario, Zelda, Metal Gear, and Mega Man werent f2p garbage that mobile offers today. Until your energy bars refil...
What is "real" game anyway? If you look into hot new games you are going to see that not all are f2p, if that's the problem.
You're right in that Super Mario, Zelda, Metal Gear etc were all great games. They really were, but let's not pretend that there were more than four or five games in that class every year. There were loads of good games, even more that were average or worse, but only a handful of truly great titles. Perhaps there are only a handful of truly great games a year for iOS too - but there are a hell of lot more good or very good ones. Let's take off those rose-tinted spectacles.
