Journalists: Take the Mobile Game Challenge

Written by Justin Davis on Thursday, August 2, 2007

We read the gaming blogs and message boards. We know what you all think about mobile games. Over the last two years Modojo has reviewed over 200 of them, so we think it's safe to consider ourselves experts on the subject. And the fact is, nearly all of you are wrong.

Mobile games don't suck, and we can prove it.

I'm calling you out, game journalists. I know many of you personally. For the most part everyone that writes about games is reasonable, intelligent, and friendly. You love giving great, underexposed games their due and bringing them to the attention of your readers. For the most part, game journalists are a progressive bunch.

So, it's time to give mobile a fair shot. A real shot.

Things have been moving in the right direction for a while, but as a press collective, we just aren't there yet. Joystiq's Alexander Sliwinski expressed shock that God of War: Betrayal was actually... fun. Destructoid's Nick Chester expressed similar surprise. Sliwinski also seemed pretty surprised that mobile games weren't just "Tetris clones," despite the fact that only about one in eight mobile games reviewed by us, IGN Wireless, or any other mobile games site is a puzzle title.

Kotaku's Mike Fahey seems to have a somewhat more enlightened view towards mobile's potential as a gaming medium, but still expresses a little more doubt than is probably fair.

On the flipside, Wired's Chris Kohler and MTV's Stephen Totilo seem to have a more healthy opinion - they're skeptical, but open-minded.

We totally get everyone's attitude towards mobile. We felt the same way (that the games weren't worth our time/money), until we were forced to start covering them here at Modojo. It was only when we went hands-on with some of mobile's AAA titles that we realized that mobile games were more fun than we ever believed they could be.

So, here's the deal. We're requesting (nicely!) that all the game journos outlined above download a couple of the mobile games listed below and give them a fair shot. Any other publication that doesn't pay much attention to mobile (1up, GameSpot, Game Informer...) you're welcome to join in as well, of course. Play through them like you would any other handheld, keeping in mind that mobile games are designed around being fun for short bursts of downtime, are designed to be interruptible, and are (usually) designed to by fully playable with just one thumb.

And then simply report on your observations. If you still find the experience lacking, Modojo will reprint your negative opinion in full in a follow-up article, and we promise to pay for your downloads (or buy you a few rounds) at the next gaming show or the next time we see you. If, on the flipside, you find the games to be as enjoyable and addicting as we at Modojo do... we won't rub it in. We didn't think mobile games were worth anything until we gave them a lengthy look either.

So really, you have nothing to lose. At worst you'll spend a few hours and a few dollars on something only marginally enjoyable, and at best you'll come away a more well-rounded gamer, with some new upcoming games to get excited about.

All we ask is that you go into the experience open-minded, without any kind of determination to "prove us wrong."

*This challenge carries with it just ONE caveat: The games must be played on a decent phone. It doesn't need to be cutting-edge - the RAZR can play most all high-end Java games, and it was launched in 2005. If you or your publication has no access to any decent phone launched in the last 24 months, feel free to reach out to us, or the game publisher directly, to get a loaner handset.

The Games:
This list does not represent the absolute "best of the best" in mobile games. We don't feel equipped to make those kinds of judgements, at this point. What this list does contain are four great, addicting, replayable mobile titles. We didn't overthink it - we just chose four games that we love.

Super KO Boxing (Glu Mobile)

5/5 - WGWorld
5/5 - Modojo
9.1/10 - IGN

It's a lot like Super Punch-Out, only it isn't, you know, like 15 years old. Lots of enemies, lots of challenges, and silky-smooth control make this one of the best mobile games ever released.

Available On:
Alltell, Bell, Boost, Cingular, Cricket, Fido, Helio, Kajeet, Metro PCS, Midwest, Motricity, Nextel, PlayPhone, Rogers, Southern LINC, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon, Virgin, Western Wireless.

Super Boom Boom (Gamevil)
8.5/10 - IGN
Modojo review: None yet, but we've played it and we dig it

It's all about timing. You must pitch a bomb upwards into a series of moving baskets, to reach the top of the stage. It starts out as just baskets, but before long pulleys, birds, poles and all kinds of other obstacles enter the mix. The game induces a zen-like feeling of rhythm. Plus, Super Boom Boom has a sweet Wind Waker-ish cartoon pirate theme. The would would be a better place if it had more cartoon pirates in it...

Available On:
AT&T and Helio, two more major carriers shortly.

Tetris Multiplayer (EA Mobile)

9/10 - IGN

We know that Tetris Multiplayer's inclusion on this short list doesn't do much to further the case that mobile isn't just "Tetris clones," but we included it anyway because, honestly, it proves how playable Tetris remains to this day. It takes about 15 seconds to forget you're playing "on a phone," and after that it's just you and the blocks.

Available On:
AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, and some regional carriers

Pyramid Bloxx (Digital Chocolate)

8.9/10 - IGN
9/10 - PocketGamer

Pyramid Bloxx is really two games. You're tasked with building three great pyramids, strategically placing one block at a time, in order to maximize their grandeur. The "hook" is that each of these blocks you actually fashion yourself, in the game's action/rhythm segment. The farther your workers can hoist it up the mine shaft, the more valuable the block becomes when it comes time to place it.

Available On:
AT&T, with Verizon, Sprint, Boost, & VMU soon.

Also Consider:
Orcs & Elves (EA Mobile)
Skipping Stone (I-Play)
Transformers (Glu Mobile)
Ghost Recon 2 (Gameloft)

...so there you have it. The challenge has been issued. The gauntlet... thrown down. What say you, game writers?

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1 Comments Available - Add/View

1 Comments Available

submitted by dmgice
posted 11 months ago

Well, I signed up just to comment on this one. Personally, from experience playing mobile games since I first bought a cell phone back in 1998 and having tried and spent a lot of time and money trying to find good ones, I can say that the mobile game market is a mess. Are there a few good games? Yes; but they would be better suited on handheld units. Games like Deep Labyrinth, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Metal Slug, Rayman, Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, et cetra are better in their handheld incarnations than in their mobile incarnations. It is really no fault of the games themselves; but of the medium they are played upon.

Mobile phones have various issues that are just inherit to their design. Those issues are such as these:

1. Availability is not as widespread across the board as it should be. How many of the games mentioned above are playable on TRACFONES? Tracfones are the cell phones with the most market saturation in America; but game support across the board for them is spotty at best. Then there are exclusivity contracts, and user base. I work with people who still have BLACK AND WHITE phones. In the handheld world, there are really only two competitors who have the same standard across the board. With some cell phone games, the title will not be available in the area where you are located.

2. Static storage in cell phones is a bit of a gamble. I actually ran out of space on an older cell phone because of downloading games. It defeats the purpose of gaming if you have to continually delete games you like to make way for new ones with no assurance that -when you want to play that old bowling game again- you will be able to FIND it. I have also lost games from the memory of my phone DIRECTLY. I could not find my charger for a few days and my phones battery died. I finally bought a new charger and then discovered that -while my numbers were fine- my game data for Rayman had become corrupted and would not start. I would have to pay $5 to redownload it. At that point, it did not feel worth it to download again. There is something safer about non-static mobile gaming. Holding a UMD, Game Pak, or DS Game Card is your insurance that you will be able to return to that game at a later day and be perfectly fine.

3. Battery life in a cell phone is also an issue with many of the more complex mobile phone games, and a phone is primarily used used for making important phone calls and text messages that drain the battery even faster.

4. Subscription gaming sucks, especially when some companies forget that I bought a full version and keep charging each month for that copy of Metal Slug that I no longer even have on the phone despite calling and yelling at their customer service over it.

5. Form factor is another big deal for me in cell phone games. Phones are made with calling people in mind and are designed as such. A lot of companies choose to ignore the ability to play games on a cell phone for a reason further down the list. So, I do not see this problem being fixed anytime soon. It is uncomfortable to play games on a good deal of phones unless the games are created with one or two button control in mind.

6. Phones are built with planned obsolescence in mind and thus they are not built with lasting components. Shoddy button build, unresponsive keys, and bad placement plague phone from every carrier.

7. Ringtones and pictures are the biggest seller on mobile phones at this moment. The evolution of phones in the next few years will see more and more design styles that mimic digital audio players, and cameras. Some phones are even eschewing button inputs altogether. This leaves most game design elements on cell phones.. up sh!t creek without a paddle. The industry itsself does not take mobile gaming seriously, despite the apparently huge market for mobile games in Europe, and Japan. So, the future looks dimmer and dimmer for the market unless some sort of radical change can be applied to the market.

8. Entry price on a better phone makes it less than worthwhile to invest in mobile phone games in the long run. I may update to a phone that can play 3D Metal Gear; but then be unable to play a round of a favorite solitaire game. Carrying around multiple phones would just be stupid, and expensive.

9. I have a bunch of others I could go into; but those are my main beefs with the mobile phone market. Items like screen resolution, game design, and game depth are subjective and since I believe the best handheld game ever devised would be FIRE for the Game & Watch... I think you can guess that graphics, and game depth mean little to me. If a game is badly designed, I just do not play it.

No, mobile phone games do not suck. Mobile phones suck. it presents to me the same problem I have with PSP games. I like a lot of them; but I hate the D-Pad, Slide Stick, unresponsive buttons, cheap L & R buttons, and crappy screen.

If I were to do a games debate on your choices, I would do this.

Wade Huxton's Counter Punch > Super KO Boxing
Super Boom Boom is rather unique to cell phones and thus it stands alone.
Tetris DS > Tetris Multi-Player
Simcity DS > Pyramid Bloxx (Although this is definately pushing it.)

That would be very silly though, as the games do not suck, they just require dealing with a lot of problems that stem from what you play them on.

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