Mobile Games / Apps?

[kjub03]

Sooo whats some good mobile apps?

I played Dragon & Sword for about 5 months strait it was addictive but I hit lvl 100 and its still challenging as all get out but I've just kind of lost interest. Its kind of a mix between a card collecting and a puzzle game. Upgrade your cards and stuff. Free to play option to buy crystals but there is no pvp so it doesn't ruin the game and I got along fine with our purchasing any.

I played a couple fun tower defense apps but one of them got to be almost impossible to loose cause it was an open map to start so you build a long circle and get them to run and then sell 1 tower and build another at the far end so they'd have to turn around, repeat process for ever lol then I got a new phone...

 

[Tek7]

I'm not proud of it, but most of my mobile gaming time lately has been spent on Tetris Monsters (iOS, Japan only) and Puzzle & Dragons (iOS). I cleared quest #28 in Tetris Monsters, but didn't get nearly as far in Puzzle & Dragons before deciding to shelf both games for the time being.

I can't read Japanese, so the fact that I stuck with Tetris Monsters as long as I did suggests my <3 of Tetris borders on the irrational. I figured out most of the mechanics, but I'm sure there's much that I remain clueless about because of the language barrier.

The gameplay in Puzzle & Dragons is more enjoyable than I expected, but accruing coins takes too long and fusing monsters costs too much, so I started losing interest very quickly.

EDIT: On a related note, if GungHo localized Puzzle & Dragons Z for the 3DS for North America, I would seriously consider buying it (on sale, of course).

I play Wordfeud (Android) with Elihu. I don't think anyone can destroy a virtual Scrabble board quite like he and I can.

I never had anyone take up my offer to throw down on Bookworm Heroes (iOS), so I quit that game, too. It just wasn't that interesting playing against strangers.

I'll probably start playing Puyo Puyo Quest (iOS, Japan only) again. Maybe. Eventually. PPQ is essentially Puzzle & Dragons with Puyo Puyo gameplay (more specifically, the Excavation mode found in some Puyo Puyo games).

If I could read Japanese, I'd probably be much more interested in Rise of Mana (iOS, Japan only).

I played a lot (A LOT) of Ruzzle (Android) with my wife, but eventually burned out on that, too. I've been thinking I'm about ready to pick it back up, though.

I'm burned out on Angry Birds games, so I've quit them all. After Rovio tacked on Location permissions for the Android version, I uninstalled it and requested (and received) a refund from the Google Play store.

Money Witches (iOS) is a surprisingly well done Money Idol Exchanger/Magical Drop clone ruined by a free-to-play model. If the game had cost $0.99 or $1.99 but had all characters and abilities unlocked at purchase, I wouldn't have hesitated to buy it. Instead, I quit it, too, after getting fed up with the abysmal coin accrual rate.

I spent a fair amount of time with Fairway Solitaire, but the Android version lags on my Galaxy Nexus and, until recently, lacked the daily puzzle that was featured in the iOS version for so long. The gameplay wears thing after a while, too.

Rayman Jungle Run and Rayman Fiesta Run are both so much fun that I find myself exasperated that they were published by Ubisoft (which is one of the most consumer-unfriendly companies in gaming). Ubisoft might be a horrible company (look no further than Uplay DRM), but the Rayman mobile games are fantastic.

Got bored with Plants vs. Zombies 2 after a while. Good design, but just couldn't stay interested.

Got bored with Where's My Water?, Where's My Perry?, Cut the Rope, Cut the Rope Time Travel HD, Toy Story Smash It!, and others. All great games and I would still recommend them given the price point ($0.99 for all of them if memory serves), but my interest in mobile games plummeted when I got my 3DS. Mobile games just can't compare with titles like Pokemon X, Super Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart 7.

Of all the games listed, Wordfeud is probably the only one I'll be playing consistently a year from now. Most (almost all?) mobile games just don't have the staying power of games designed for dedicated gaming devices. I think it's time for all the folks that said that mobile would kill the 3DS can hush up now and take their doomsaying elsewhere.

 

[kjub03]

I know there are Japanese to English emulations for other things, which from my experience work some of the time, maybe they have one for that?

 

[Tek7@Work]

You're probably thinking of fan translations and I don't believe there is such a thing for mobile games. Fan translations for games like Mother 3 or Soma Bringer are massive undertakings for fan projects and most mobile games just don't have the depth or narrative to bother.

Also, there doesn't seem to be much interest in Tetris Monsters even among the tiny group of English-speaking folks with Japan territory iOS accounts. I've yet to see an English language guide for Tetris Monsters yet.

I also doubt it's possible to modify the contents of a game like Tetris Monsters, which is so heavily dependent on a network connection and likely employs some sort of anti-cheat mechanism if only to prevent users from circumventing the in-app purchase system, without getting banned or booted from the game.

So it's a cool idea; I just don't think it's feasible in this particular situation.

The more likely scenario is that EA will localize the game for a US release. Tetris is a popular franchise in the US so I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. The most time-consuming part, aside from translating the text from Japanese to English, would be drafting new legal documents to ensure that they don't get sued for implementing the "kompu gacha" system (which I had thought was ruled illegal in Japan) featured so prominently in the game.

EA is one of the most disreputable companies in the gaming industry, so it doesn't surprise me that they would be the ones to find a way to narrowly skirt the law while still clinging to some form of gambling in a game directed at a younger audience.

 

[Tek7]

I keep thinking I'm going to quit Puzzle & Dragons any day now.

And then I find myself playing again.

I think (hope) I'll be able to quit the Android version for good once the 3DS version releases in the US and I buy it.

 

[Logos]

Any recent good rpg/puzzlers come out lately on iOS? I can't help it I am addicted to RPGs. I already have an rpg athon for this year in my console/handheld area.

 

[Tek7]

Any recent good rpg/puzzlers come out lately on iOS? I can't help it I am addicted to RPGs. I already have an rpg athon for this year in my console/handheld area.

Threes is solid. 2048 is a clone of 1024, which is a clone of Threes.

I enjoy the gameplay of Tetris Monsters (requires Japanese iOS account) and Puzzle & Dragons both, but both feature monetization models that boil down to gambling for chances to progress. I recommend skipping both but watching trailers for Puzzle & Dragons Z for the 3DS when a North America release date is announced to see if it's something that might interest you.

Fairway Solitaire is a great game to play for a while, but it will probably wear thin after a while for you like it did for me.

Money Witches features fantastic Japanese-style puzzle twitch gameplay (a rarity these days, unfortunately) in the vein of Magical Drop but very well adapted for touchscreen interfaces. Unfortunately, the free-to-play pay model ruins an otherwise excellent game.

Got Cow? is a rather good physics puzzler. If you've already grown weary of Angry Birds and other physics puzzlers, it may not hold much appeal, but it's a great game in its own right.

Skip Juice Cubes, Papa Pear Saga, Jelly Splash, and Candy Blast Mania for the same reasons as Tetris Monsters, Puzzle & Dragons, and Money Witches (i.e. free-to-play game design ruins otherwise fun gameplay).

TL;DR: Check out Threes and Got Cow? for sure. Take a look at Fairway Solitaire if you like solitaire games. Most otherwise excellent free-to-play mobile puzzle games are ruined by their monetization model.