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

  • jedibob5@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    IMO, smartphones had the chance to revolutionize the gaming industry, but ended up wasting almost all of that potential on skinner boxes riddled with ads and microtransactions. Most of the best mobile games are ports from other systems, like the mobile edition of Minecraft and whatnot.

    I think Pokémon Go was possibly the closest any major publisher has come to actually realizing the full potential of mobile games as a format, but it still fell painfully short with massively dumbed down mechanics and an absolute grindfest of a progression system.

    There are still a few good indie projects out there (I like Soul Knight) but generally the mobile gaming market is so full of absolute dreck that I usually just don’t bother.

    • Donjuanme@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Or did it revolutionize the industry to it’s endpoint, that we just don’t want to admit was the natural conclusion of capitalistic society video games?

  • Koordinator O@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    there are good games. but they most of the time do not get promoted. you need other websites or like reddit or lemmy with lists from actual players to find them. in store only the moneygrabs get promoted.

  • Glowing Lantern@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Generally, the games that have a larger up-front price are good. Bonus points, if they were ported from PC or consoles and don’t track you.

  • tekchic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My hard and fast rule is, “Don’t play freemium games.” The second I see stars, coins, tickets, tokens, I’m out. I exclusively play what are mostly ports from console. Trials of Mana, The Alliance Alive HD Remastered, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy, Danganronpa, Spiritfarer, Oxenfree, Stardew Valley, Minecraft etc. I also have Apple Arcade from my Verizon package, and I play the Netflix games. Avoid freemium / gacha / IAP-riddled games, and some of the ports are at least decent.

  • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There are a few hidden gems (I enjoy Plague inc. and Rebel inc. on occasion, for example), but for the most part, the majority of mobile games are mtx-laden cash grabs. So the actual quality is commensurately low because the devs figured out they don’t have to put in real effort to implement gambling and hook addicts.

  • Hypersapien@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s an Android app called “minireview” which has tons of reviews of games on Google Play and helps filter out the garbage.

  • FangedWyvern42@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Avoid Freeium games. If you known what to look for, it’s pretty easy. Combat Master is a pretty good CoD clone. Galaxy on Fire II is worth a shot as well.

  • sparr@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Almost all mobile-only games from mobile-only game developers and advertised in mobile-only environments are trash. Look for mobile games related to other gaming environments or advertising channels. Android games through Humble Bundle are great (although they don’t do mobile-only bundles any more?). Android ports of PC or Switch games tend to be pretty good. Open source Android games run the gamut of quality, but the ways they are bad are the same ways open source PC games are bad, not the very different set of ways that mobile games are bad (microtransactions, ads, etc).

  • uymai@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Actually, if you have Netflix, there’s a decent number of good mobile games through that

  • Ashenparty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Pretty much. Unless you’re an anime/gacha fan there really isn’t any ‘good’ mobile games since the entire world decided that premium mobile games aren’t worth it. Which pretty much fed back into itself. So the only thing approaching good will be either emulation/ports of games from console, the your mileage may vary genres (incrementals/idlers, and gacha) and the occasional diamond in the rough.

  • ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Mobile games aren’t games, or at least not what I’d consider a game. Mobile “games” are simple puzzles, swipe action fighters and click-and-wait builders. They are built around the concept of microtransactions and are in place to make developers money and to be a time-suck for the end players.

  • LiquorFan@pathfinder.social
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    1 year ago

    Just download a SNES/Genesis/GBA emulator, no need to waste time sifting through the piles of shit that is mobile gaming.