The Mobile Games Thread

[Firuthi Dragovic]

So here's the thread for mobile games.

Or at least any mobile game that doesn't have enough content to get its own thread. There are so many match-3 mobile games it's not really worth giving each one its own thread, is it?

And that last comment doesn't even cover 1% of the mobile games out there. It might cover 0.1% though, match-3s are ridiculously common.

Also use this for some of the ridiculous deceptions involved in mobile game advertising. Seriously, the way some of these games present in ads and the way they actually play are so disparate...


......I'm actually trying to pare down the list of mobile games I play and how I play them down to something much more manageable, but I'll discuss that story after work.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Alright, so I'll start off this.

I got way too deep into mobile games over the past few months, to the point where I have a whopping ten to deal with. I'm paring that down over the next week.

Here are the eleven, and maybe some of you also play these so maybe you can add your own stories.


PLEASE NOTE: I view mobile game monetization in a similar light to how many people view movie tickets, so I'm way less harsh on it than I probably should be.

Spoiler: JKM 3

A game based around popping as many critters as you can in order to use the energy to slay demon gods. Normally goes by the name "Just Kill Me 3".
Verdict: Probably going to ditch this one in the coming days. Fairly dull gameplay loop built on way too many resets, costs way too much to remove the ads (over $200 if you want every last advertisement gone), and if I want the story segments I can hunt them down on YouTube. Also, literally can't run this one on Bluestacks as it crashes on the opening cutscene every time.

Spoiler: Puzzle & Dragons

A game based around sliding orbs around a field to make as many matches as possible. Also, lots of dragons and lots of crossovers!
Verdict: I'd like this game more, but it is 100% an 'active' game meaning it is entirely unsuited for use on Bluestacks IMO. The monetization isn't one of the worst though. Alas, this one has to stay on my computer for now as you can only transfer between devices once a MONTH.

Spoiler: Defender 3

A game about tower defense, where you're using a crossbow and towers to stop ever-increasing hordes.
Verdict: I like this game, but it's the most crash-prone on Bluestacks by far. Fairly low monetization. The gameplay loop is simple, but it gets frantic unlike JKM 3 so I like this one more. I just found out you can transfer data, so I may actually transfer this one to the phone because it's another 100% 'active' game.

Spoiler: Toon Blast

Block-matching game with a cartoon aesthetic.
Verdict: If I didn't have a lot of other games I'd probably keep this one, but there's only so much fun you can have with block-matching. Monetization is... pretty much only there for really really BAD players - if you're half-competent you'll build up more boosts than you know how to use just by playing normally.

Spoiler: PickCrafter

Clicker game made around pickaxes. Practically lifts its aesthetic straight from Minecraft.
Verdict: This is almost guaranteed to get chopped. Clicker games tend to go real slow unless you buy in.

Spoiler: Merge Dragons

Merge objects to clear territory, create dragons, upgrade dragons, etc....
Verdict: I'm only sticking around on this one until the whole camp island is clear. I just want to see that once. Transferring data requires either Facebook/Meta or some hacking, and since I'd rather not do either I will not be taking this off the computer until the goal's clear.

Spoiler: Dokkan Battle

Yes, there is a DBZ gacha game. Lots of little story maps, challenges, separated growth... gameplay loop is about selecting columns of matching orbs to power up your characters in-battle, then sacrificing a lot of items and a location card to power up fighters between levels.
Verdict: The fact that you can auto-play levels you've cleared before - and the fact that auto-playing the map portion and battle portion are separate - already makes this a candidate for me playing this on Bluestacks instead of a phone. You can get pretty powerful pretty quickly without buying in to the monetization. And when you want to actually play, it feels like an honest-to-goodness game. I'm keeping it.

Spoiler: TerraGenesis

Been a very long time since I touched this one. It's about terraforming planets.
Verdict: Oh I so badly want to go back to this one... this is actually why I'm assessing my mobile game habits, so I can make room for this.

Spoiler: SMT Dx2

Shin Megami Tensei's (non-Persona) gacha game. And actually its base game loop plays like an SMT game (the ones that rely on press turns at least) too. Story seems to be best compared to Devil Survivor rather than 'mainline' SMT.
Verdict: Thanks to a certain charioteering dick (yes, they're really in this one), I quite literally can't risk having this one on my phone. That said, its auto-play feature is a step up from Dokkan Battle as you can completely go hands-free for a time if you need to grind - even auto-starting levels and selecting allies, one automation that Dokkan Battle doesn't have. Plus you can get reasonable amounts of power fairly quickly without spending a dime. And when you want to actually play? It has somewhat similar levels of tactics as an SMT game's battle system. Definite keeper.

Spoiler: Idle Heroes

An idle game about teams of battling heroes.
Verdict: Let's be honest, I only picked this one up again because I'd bought into it to VIP 5 level a very long time ago. The monetization in this game is far and away some of the absolute worst I've ever seen - you basically can't complete the timed events without sinking hundreds of dollars into the game at a time, and the trickle of powerups without breaching the paywall is slow. That said, even without the monetization a lot of the game plays itself - you can automate a lot of tasks so you can focus on the more complex parts of the game on your own time. Still, I don't recommend this unless you've got a trust fund just lying around.

Spoiler: The Battle Cats

A tower attacking game with lots of hand-drawn cats - and some characters that aren't cats.
Verdict: A combination of just a tad too much monetization and a bit too involved of a gameplay loop conspire against me playing this one at present. Unlike some others on this list though, I'm not ready to throw this one out. I've actually built up quite a bit on this one.

See why I need to get my gaming habits in order? This is just too many to keep up on.

 

[Firuthi Dragovic]

Might as well update here.

I dropped JKM 3, Toon Blast, and PickCrafter like I said. Defender 3 went to the phone and it hasn't crashed yet there.

Sadly... I think I'm going to have to scrap Puzzle & Dragons entirely. SMT Dx2 and Dokkan Battle are just too much together.

I'm also likely moving Battle Cats to my phone in that event, as well. That's one where I'd made enough progress not to ditch it entirely but I want to disconnect it from the Bluestacks computer.

Merge Dragons? I've seen some images of the camp island, and it makes me wonder if I should throw this one out as well. Progress is just too slow to justify this one.

.....lesson learned, people: No more than two mobile games at a time!

 

[Katara the Sergal]

Oh yeah, this thread! I was going to post something days ago, and totally forgot. On a mobile game binge, I see? Right now the only mobile game I have on this phone is Zombieville USA 2 - a childhood classic, actually, from...2007? 2009? Something like that. Either way, a game I played a LOT of during my early to mid teens, have repeatedly downloaded across a handful of phones over the years, and still to this day play once in a while. It's not really the world's most exciting game, frankly it's a grindfest, and it does get pretty fucking repetitive, but it's zombies, and it's something I distinctly remember. I'm in the top 100 in the world ranks at the Endless Mode (though that actually wasn't hard to achieve with the right weapons and perks all set up).