mobile games post-2016: are they good do they do good things let's find out

King of Posters
22

Those Zenonia games are kinda fun Korean trash Zelda things you can have fun with and Terra Battle is pretty cool.

1 Like
23

is there a decent phone version of Texas Hold-Em Poker? the game i play the most on my phone these days is Poker Night at the Inventory 2 With Volume Muted and i’m looking for something different

24

Yeah Reigns: Her Majesty is really good

1 Like
25

Gorogoa is now the zenith of puzzleroom but I cannot resist this series

26

My phone is too much of a potato to run it but apparently Aka To Blue is an STG made by ex-CAVE devs and is pretty good.

2 Likes
27

I should note before I begin that due to reasons (including my distaste for touch as an input method when strict timing or accuracy is a factor, as well as other things), this list will be light on certain kinds of games. Don’t expect to see a lot of action-focused games, platformers, or racers. Also since I’m just straight up bad at strategy, RTS games and the like are right out. I’ll also be leaving out anything that’s just a port of a well-known title (Final Fantasy ports, Baldur’s Gate, etc) unless there’s a good reason for its inclusion. Also due to Tastes, expect the puzzle category to dominate most of this list. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Also, I don’t have an iOS device, so Your Availability May Vary. Links have been provided for android app store. Apple users, you’re ON YOUR OWN

Arcade

  • One More Line: I’m honestly not even sure how to encapsulate this game’s concept, but whatever it is, it’s good enough that I bought it on Android, Windows 10 Store, AND Steam. Basically this is another iteration of the “How X can you Y?” genre popularized by Flappy Bird and Crossy Road and its ilk, except this time it’s actually good. You’re a set of concentric circles with a rainbow meteor-stream tail, and your goal is to go up as far as you can without crashing into randomly-placed obstacles. You have no direct control over your movement, your only method of maneuvering is by attaching a tether to the nearest obstacle and orbiting around it, then releasing at the right time to alter your trajectory. That’s basically all there is to it, but it’s executed so well that you never feel like you want more. It wears its entire identity on its sleeve and never tries to manipulate you. You keep playing because you want to swing around obstacles some more, not because you’re THIS CLOSE TO THE NEXT UNLOCK/loot crate/whatever (not that there are no unlocks, but they’re purely cosmetic, limited to ship shapes and streamer/stage color palettes, and the game isn’t pushy about them, and at least in my opinion, the defaults are already the best, so there’s really no point in resenting them).

  • Nanaca Crash: I know, I was surprised too. Just try and get that music out of your head ever again. I know I won’t.

  • PinOut: Endless pinball, TRON edition. Just an infinitely-tall pinball table.

Adventure

  • The Witch’s Isle: I honestly don’t know what do say about this game, because it’s one of those sorts of things where almost anything I could say about it would be a spoiler. There is a certain kind of person who by their very nature is already hooked by that sentence. I am one of these people, and if you are too, I think you’ll appreciate this game.

Puzzle

Foreword: I have opinions on puzzle games. These are as follows: Match 3 is not a puzzle. Trial and error is not a puzzle. The Swapper was not a puzzle game. Math homework is not a puzzle game (looking at you, Professor Layton)

What ARE puzzle games, then? If you have to think about something and come up with a solution, then it’s a puzzle. Crosswords, picross, and other newspaper/nikoli-type are a subset, but generally what I look for in a puzzle game is to be tested on logic and lateral thinking. My favorite Zelda dungeon was the Ocarina of Time Water Palace, don’t @ me.

  • The Room (series): you’d be forgiven for thinking these were just glorified “escape room” games, but they’re actually mechanically more along the lines of a series of puzzle boxes. You’re presented with a set of increasibly-complex mechanical contraptions that hide buttons and switches and levers and whatnot in their construction and decorations, and you have to figure out how to open them. There’s some kind of 1800’s-ey Victorio-lovecraftian backstory about otherworldly dimensions and mysterious artifacts and THE VEIL going on that’s all told through found diaries and letters, but if you’re not into that you can ignore them and focus on the amazing wonder world of the boxes themselves and you’ll still have a good time, because the sheer creativity, physicality, and mind-bending Alien-Geometry nature of the actual puzzle devices you’re faced with are at LEAST half the draw of these games, in my opinion.

  • Honeycomb Hotel: Not winning any awards for visuals or presentation anytime soon, but heck if this ain’t the game I just might have spent the most time on out of anything on this list. A hex-cell variant of the classic “Einstein’s puzzle” (a.k.a. Zebra puzzle), with pictographic clues and plenty enough stages, difficulties, and board sizes to last you dozens of hours, and that’s just in the free version. (Classic square-cell version here.)

  • The Sequence: Basically Opus Magnum: SpaceChem Edition: The Revengeancing, this game is Zachtronics as hell.

  • Euclidea: I am a goddamn nerd, so this game, about constructing various geometrical shapes and mathematical concepts with nothing but a compass and a straightedge (JUST LIKE ARCHIMEDES-SENPAI), rams a freight train straight up my alley.

  • Pythagorea: A lot like Euclidea (and made by the same developer), but instead of compass-and-straightedge construction, this one has you using graph paper to make your constructions. Sounds like they wouldn’t really be all that different, but the change in environment genuinely does give a completely different feel (to the point where I actually really don’t enjoy the triangular grid version.)

  • CoinCross: Okay buckle up for this one, because it doesn’t make a lot of sense at first, but it’s a heck of a time. Crossword puzzles, but with coins instead of words. I know. But it works. You’re given amounts at the top and side of each board, and you have to arrange that amount in coins so that all clues are satisfied. I’m not doing a good job of explaining it but check out some screens and it should make sense. BONUS: it has regional settings for different coin types, so even when you finish all the levels for one country’s coins, you can switch the region settings, and because different countries have different denominations, the puzzles are actually different!

  • The Guides: As I said above, in another post, “pretty good and come with my personal recommendation if you’re into mysterious, vaguely-paranormally-themed cryptology puzzles that invoke the mystique of MK Ultra and Enigma-machiney, cipher-warsey, government black project stuff.” If you’re not familiar with classical cryptology (Caesar ciphers, ROT13, etc), you will be by the time you’re done with these games. (See also: The sequel, The Guides: Axiom)

RPGs

  • Inflation RPG: The best way I can describe this game is “Half-Minute Hero: the Rogue-lite”. You start in the center of a map and you have a big timer counting down quickly at the top of the screen. The map is divided up into “zones” with level recommendations. Your task is to run around these zones in whatever order/fashion you please, grinding out levels as efficiently as possible so you can get as far as you can before the timer runs out. Then you buy gear from the shop between rounds which gives you stat bonuses, allowing you to get further and further before the time runs out, to the point where eventually you can start out a round by diving head-first into a level 300 zone as soon as you spawn. It’s super quick and candy-like, and while it’s not super deep and you won’t be pouring hour after hour into it, it’s a great little pick-up/put-down, lightning-fast grind-'em-up to play for a minute or three here and there.

  • Wandroid: Literally a clone of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. Like, literally. The map is identical, the UI is (nearly) identical, everything is the same, it’s Wizardry on your phone, go get it.

Music/Rhythm

Note: there won’t be a lot of these simply because I tend to prefer to keep my phone sound muted and don’t often carry headphones with me, so if I miss any good ones, TOUGH.

  • Cytus: I’m actually not a big fan of these newfangled sweeping-bar rhythm games, but the reason I like this one is the variety in the music. They got yamajet! (Now with 30% more sequels!)

  • Dancing Line:

    • Pros:
      • no accuracy needed, input revolves around tapping anywhere on the screen
      • You don’t need to be perfectly frame-accurate with your beat timing, and the game even occasionally encourages and rewards going “off the beat” (you still want to be within the rhythm of the song, but there are paths that take alternative interpretations of the song’s rhythm)
    • Cons:
      • The music isn’t very good

More later maybe? (no promises)

12 Likes
29

Oh my god, I’ve been praising Hidden Game By Mom to everybody I’ve met, but I didn’t
even know about My Brother Ate My Pudding.
Thanks.

These are the most wholesome goofy japanese games

1 Like
30

Mikado’s twitter account never shuts up about this thing, it fucking better be good

1 Like
31

yoooooo hoooowwww did I not know about this

32

Game rules.

1 Like
33

Picross 2 on a GBC emulator

Once you beat it just throw your phone in the ocean

2 Likes
34

I paired a Bluetooth controller with my phone and played a bit of Mark of the Wolves on my iPhone a year or two ago. That was probably the most fun I’ve had (perhaps ever).

The Steven Universe RPG was surprisingly solid, and I only have a passing knowledge of the show.

I wasted a ton of time on the KoF clicky game last year. I eventually hit a plateau where the combat felt more grindy than strategic and it lost most of the draw. It felt more involved and legit gamey than Frontierville or whatever.

1 Like
35

I’m reviving this thread to say that I played Command and Conquer: Rivals. The gameplay is actually really fun. Like, I can’t stop playing it. And that’s bad because it’s pay to win drivel. ama I guess

1 Like