When we think of mobile games now, we usually regard them as either simple time-killers at best or egregious cash-grabs at worst, and the latter is more likely. It’s just not a respected platform. Many of the worst business practices in the AAA industry are like micro-transactions, which include loot-boxes, originally came from mobile games, hence the sour impressions. But the mobile gaming market (smart-phones, to be more specific), didn’t start out the way it is now.
Back then, game companies were still experimenting with the platform. They wanted to emulate the AAA experience as much as possible, while making the most out of the limited touch-controls. The result? Some of the best mobile games, if not the best games, I’ve ever played. But unfortunately, you’ll probably never get to play them. The games that I’m gonna talk about here were taken down from the App Store and are incompatible with the newer iOSs (I’d imagine the same applies for Android users), and therefore pretty much no longer available. Sad, right?
The first one might be familiar to many of you, that is “Dead Space,” published by EA in 2011. Yes, “Dead Space” on mobile. It’s not a port of the original game, but a completely new installment set in a doomed mining space station. You play as Vandal, sent by the Church of Unitology and tricked into unleashing the necromorphs onto the space station, beginning an onslaught of terrifying space zombies. The developers did an amazing job translating the action-horror experience to mobile. The controls were highly intuitive and fun to use: just swipe down when prompted to use your chainsaw on the damn necromorph! Need to switch from vertical shots to horizontal shots for your plasma gun? Just one shake of the phone and it’s done! While the graphics can’t really compare to the console or PC counterparts, it was still one of the best looking mobile games of its time. And the atmosphere and sound design were straight up perfect. Combined with well-executed scares, the game effectively injected a sense of paranoia around what might lurk above the ceiling and the next corner.
This mobile rendition of “Dead Space” remains the best horror game ever released on mobile, even to this day, in my opinion. I couldn’t finish it then because I was too stressed out and scared. What a shame!
The game, along with “Mass Effect: Infiltrator,” (another awesome mobile entry from a big franchise), was taken off the App Store by EA in September, 2015, probably because it wasn’t financially viable for them to update the game to be compatible with the latest versions of iOS.
The next entry in this graveyard of good games is a series that some of you might have heard about, that is the “Infinity Blade” series, developed by Epic and first released in 2010. The first “IB” was a highly addictive action RPG that showed the world how much fun you can get out of constantly swiping the phone screen, and it pushed the graphical capabilities of the smartphone to its limits with stunning Unreal Engine graphics (And I don’t use the word stunning lightly). Who could’ve expected that a mere phone could produce graphics that can rival those of consoles?
You play as an armored knight who raids the palace of the “God King”–the story is not important. On your quest you engage with different types of humanoid enemies like ogres and knights in one-on-one, sword and board combat. To over-simplify, the core game mechanic is kind of like “Fruit Ninja” on medieval high-fantasy steroids: You attack enemies by swiping on the screen, and you can make combos depending on the directions of your swipe. You also learn to block, dodge, and parry your opponent’s attacks, all of which challenges you to learn the enemies movesets and timings, similar to “Dark Souls.” As you defeat enemies, you level up your character and earn gold to buy better equipment-standard RPG stuff-to be able to face up against the mighty “God King.” If you win, you’ll start over but the boss will be 50 levels higher. If you die, you’ll simply start over. In either case, your gold, levels and equipment will carry over. It’s an engaging and addicting gameplay loop, and the two other installments all follow this progression system.
The “Infinity Blade” series is another all-time classic. But alas, all good things must come to an end. The series was pulled off the App Store by Epic in late 2018, citing a lack of resources to support it.
The third and last one is another series that you probably don’t know about, that is the “Chaos Rings” games, published by Square Enix. It’s a JRPG style series with turn-based combat. You might hate games like that, but the “Rings” games were designed so that everybody can easily pick them up. The annoying things that you normally see in JRPG’s are streamlined to speed up the games pacing: random encounters can be disabled, you automatically heal back to full after a fight and you only need to manage two characters in your team. But all of these don’t mean that the series is watered-down or cheaply made.
The production value is apparent with fully-voiced characters, an epic soundtrack, amazing storylines featuring multiple playable characters and probably 20 hours worth of replayability in the first “CR” and way more for the sequels. The story is particularly noteworthy. It’s an onion that gradually peels off layers and layers as you finish each playthrough as different characters. Anticipation builds and you just have to keep playing to know how it all resolves.
While the series doesn’t take advantage of touch controls in any significant way, it was already a breath of fresh air for the arcade-centric mobile market with its accessible turn-based gameplay and well-crafted story. Most of the series was taken down on May 2016, also probably because Square Enix didn’t feel like updating the games was worth it. The latest entry, “Chaos Rings 3,” is still on the App Store but it is a game over-stuffed with mechanics, seemingly foregoing previous design philosophies, and quickly overwhelmed me. I do not recommend it.
It’s a shame to see these games disappear and be forgotten by everyone. They are great games, beyond the context of the mobile platform, that should be experienced by everyone, though probably never will, and I certainly won’t tell you that you can still get them with APKs. But if you are interested in these games, here are some other similar games to scratch the itch: “White Day,” a mobile port of the titular original, a classic horror game set in a Korean highschool (not exactly like “Dead Space,” but I feel like this is the best horror game on mobile at the moment), “Severed,” an atmospheric, first person swipe-to-slash style game, “Chrono Trigger,” a port of an old JRPG turn-based classic that is still one of the best RPGs ever made, and “Another Eden,” a very new and free JRPG that shares same the writer and composer of “Chrono Trigger.” Have fun and happy gaming!
