Starker on 5/11/2017 at 01:20
Since I lack the time to play longer games these days, I thought I'd pick up something for my phone, but it looks like mobile gaming is a bit of a mess right now. Are there any mobile games worth playing out there? Basically I'm looking for games that would be mobile-exclusive or offer a better experience than on any other platform.
Already tried:
Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon -- the game from our LGS alumnus Randy Smith
Waking Mars -- another Randy Smith game
Threes!
Fallout Shelter
10000000
You Must Build a Boat
Cut the Rope
Downwell
Sorcery!
demagogue on 5/11/2017 at 02:18
I'll tell you the games I keep playing.
I tend to go with RPG & strategy because they're replayable without being arcadey.
So I won't pretend my preferences are very representative of what most people will like.
(
http://pixeldungeon.wikia.com/wiki/Mod-Shattered_Pixel_Dungeon) Shattered PD, which is a mod of Pixel Dungeon. Classic Dungeon-crawl Rogue-like, but it's so well balanced and perfectly crafted. (The mod has more bells and whistles than the original. Both are fun.)
Little Stars 2. simple little 4X. Planets make ships; ships take over planets.
Strategy & Tactics: WW2. Like a mission-based Axis & Allies.
2048. The number-adding one.
The other things I play a lot are classic games on emulators (Atari, Nintendos, Genesis, C64) and all of the top-ranked interactive fiction games over the last 30 years on Text Fiction (or Hunky Punk if the IF has its own layout).
I used to have a lot of games on my phone. But over time I keep purging them for space, and keep coming back to a few, which are these.
Starker on 5/11/2017 at 02:57
Hmm... I didn't really even think of emulation, but I wonder how well the more arcadey games that were meant to be played with a controller on a TV screen translate over to mobile. Maybe it's worth to check out handhelds, though?
Starker on 5/11/2017 at 03:07
Quote Posted by demagogue
2048. The number-adding one.
This looks really similar to Threes. Like identical twins kind of similar. Any reason to prefer this one?
demagogue on 5/11/2017 at 03:09
Quote Posted by Starker
Hmm... I didn't really even think of emulation, but I wonder how well the more arcadey games that were meant to be played with a controller on a TV screen translate over to mobile. Maybe it's worth to check out handhelds, though?
The graphics are simplified, so visually it's a good fit for mobile gaming.
The issue are the controllers. They're overlaid on the touch screen.
The really good ones have relative controls (or would have it if they existed), so if you swipe up anywhere on the lefthand side, it'll always be registered as "up" (and so forth), and if you press anywhere around the top left and right corners, you'll press A & B buttons.
But most of them just overlay the control on the screen so you have to be a little more careful and can miss in the heat of the moment. But even these work fine after you've had a little practice.
Edit:
Quote Posted by Starker
This looks really similar to Threes. Like identical twins kind of similar. Any reason to prefer this one?
I don't know what Threes is. 2048 is just the one I saw was highly ranked, I downloaded and started playing. I had the idea it was the only one, or anyway the original, of its kind; but I didn't research it or anything so may be wrong about that. It's anyway the one everyone on the train in Tokyo plays that I've seen.
Ok, I watched a video of Threes. They're similar but the mechanics are still different. In 2048, all the chips fall completely to the end of one direction, not just one space, and a new number, a 2 or 4, appears randomly on any square and already starts the "only combines with the same number". They're obvious clones; and since I don't even know which came first, I don't know which is a clone of which.
Just going by the video, 2048 feels slicker. It feels like the pieces move faster, as they're whizzing across the entire board. They have different aesthetics, but I grant that's entirely just a matter of personal preference.
It's also probably just a matter of which one you started playing first is the one you'll be familiar with. I couldn't easily just switch to Threes now because the mechanics are different enough that everything I picked up in 2048 wouldn't really translate except towards the endgame.
Al_B on 5/11/2017 at 10:32
Data Wing is worth checking out. You play a ship that must navigate levels to do the bidding of an AI. It has a nice sense of humour and each level is short enough to pick up and play when out and about.
Little inferno is not android exclusive but suits the touch platform perfectly.
henke on 5/11/2017 at 11:57
Most played games on my Android phone:
(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147390) Desert Golfing - You hit the ball. Ball goes into hole. Screen scroll to the right to reveal the next hole. Repeat 15779 times until you get to hole 15780 which I
swear is impossible.
Hoplite - wonderful minimalist turn-based strategy.
Super Stickman Golf/Flappy Golf series - in case you finish Desert Golfing but still yearn for more 2D golf.
(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141853) The Organ Trail - somewhat FTL-ish permadeath roguelite survival thing that plays very well on a phone.