this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
307 points (96.7% liked)

Games

39905 readers
1950 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
307
Are almost all mobile games bad? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
223 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

There are good mobile games out there. World of Goo, Little Inferno, Angry Birds, The Room, What the Golf?, Plants vs. Zombies, FTL, Genshin Impact, Jetpack Joyride, are good examples. There are also some ported games that are fantastic, like Minecraft, Papers Please, Roblox, and I'm sure countless others.

However, mobile devices don't have enough resources for many triple-A PC/Console games, they also don't have the ergonomics of a controller, and the screen is inherently too small for some games. Even if the technical issues could be mitigated, would you want to play something like Elden Ring on a phone? Likewise, would you want to play Angry Birds on your television? I think the best compromise is when mobile games are specifically tailored for the platform they are on. FTL and Plants vs. Zombies come to mind as great implementations. But if those type of games aren't something you like, then you're out of luck.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Wait FTL is on mobile? That sounds amazing..... dang it looks like it is ios only.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

damn!! That was my reaction too. Well.. probably good thing it's ios only or I'd suddenly have a lot of time sitting in the bathroom.....

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Afaik its for iPads only. Into the breach, however, is on mobile.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

However, mobile devices don’t have enough resources for many triple-A PC/Console games

I don't think this is ever an obstacle when one of the most popular games out there is Stardew Valley, which can run on mobile without even straining it. There is a whole ecosystem of indie games that could be run on mobile just fine, but even indie developers are more likely to target PC as the primary platform.

As for ergonomics, that's pretty much a circular problem from games not being made for mobile in the first place. Games designed around touch controls, like Monument Valley, can have pretty good ergonomics. Those trying to emulate buttons and analog sticks, not so much.

Unfortunately, more than anything I believe the real obstacle is the culture created around apps, where users are driven away if they have to pay anything at all, and even a $20 price point is nigh unthinkable. So mobile games all lean towards microtransactions, which often makes the monetization of those games downright predatory, at expense of the fun. They look "free" until they trick the player into spending $100+

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Most of your examples are not 'mobile games', they are actual games that are also available on mobile devices. That is a big difference in my opinion.