Interestingly, since I switched to Android, I barely play games on my phone.
Whereas, thanks to stuff like the Humble Mobile Bundles, I’m getting far more use out of my current Android phone than any other phone I’ve used in the past. It’s definitely highly genre-dependent, though. Anything that relies on on-screen buttons or precise swipes to try and do stuff in real-time is more trouble than it’s worth, but games that are mouse-driven and turn-based (strategy games, RPGs, puzzles, board/card games, point-and-click adventures) translate right over to the touch format without losing much. Sure, I’ll generally opt for my computer when at home, or the Vita when I anticipate a half-hour or more in a waiting room or flight or something, but the phone has a solid niche as the system that’s always in my pocket, five seconds from being in a game.
Which? There are things that more or less work (as Thraeg says, turn-based or at least non-urgent point-and-click-ish stuff suffers relatively little in translation), but I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered something that benefited from the tactile experience of touch controls more than it suffered from their imprecision and finickiness, and while I occasionally feel that DS or Vita games benefit from having touch interfaces available, it’s as a complement to their hardware controls, not by itself. The DS/3DS do have the advantage of using a stylus, which I much prefer to trying to use my fingers in any sort of accurate way. Unfortunately, that’s not something most phones or tablets are designed to do anymore.
Off the top of my head, Fieldrunners and its sequel. It works well with touch control and gets a lot more room to breathe on an ipad or a Galaxy Tab.
Any game designed around multitouch. :P
I think I may have misunderstood what you were saying. I don’t disagree that some genres of game work with touch controls, I just would consistently rather play those games on something that has either physical controls as well or better yet on PC. I thought you were asserting that some of them work best with touch controls, and I would need examples of that because that has literally never been my experience.
It’s definitely the exception rather than the rule, since there are a lot of little touches (no pun intended) necessary for a nice touch implementation but that a basic functional one won’t bother with. Playdek is the gold standard here – the tactile nature of acquiring a card in Ascension by dragging it to your pile feels better than doing the same thing with a mouse.
I’d also say that games where you only have two directional inputs work better on touch, where each thumb can touch anywhere on its side of the screen, and it’s fractionally more immediate to trigger than depressing a button or key would be, as well as more intuitive. Examples of this would be Super Hexagon, Zen Pinball, and Kona’s Crate.
Really, though, a standard of “If a PC and a phone were sitting next to each other, each running a tailored, optimized version of game X, I’d choose to play it on the phone” is unrealistic and pointless. The phone’s omnipresence and one-handability is enough of an edge to carve out a place in my gaming life.
Or in other words, when I’m standing in a long line at the store, holding a shopping basket in one hand and using the other to play Banner Saga / King of Dragon Pass / XCOM / Qvadriga / Skulls of the Shogun / Gemini Rue / SpaceChem / Shadowrun Returns / etc., it’s true that the PC version of that game would provide a better overall experience. But it’s also irrelevant, because my PC isn’t there in line with me, and if I were at home with free time to game, I’d probably be playing Age of Wonders 3 or Bloodborne or Witcher 3 or something rather than getting around to those games anyway.
None of those games you listed was a port. They were all original titles for the Vita in those franchises. And I frequently rebuy indie games I have on PC for Vita because I prefer to play them there.
I think that’s what he was saying. Those three are “cool” because they’re not ports.
Ah, must have misread.
I don’t agree that Ascension or Zen Pinball (/ Pinball FX 2) play better with touch controls. But I guess it’s conceivable that something where immediacy of input is more important than accuracy of input miiight work better with touch.
And the thing is, it’s not “do I play the optimal version of this game or the one I have with me/have the spare hand to play”. It’s “do I play the optimal version of this game, play the one I have with me, or do something that’s not compromised by the circumstances I find myself in”. I don’t have any interest in playing a compromised version of a game I could enjoy more fully in some other circumstance when I could, for example, read a book instead. And of course, it’s not just “is this better on PC or better on mobile”, because frankly, it’s all better on PC. The original comparison was between playing games on a smartphone and playing games on a handheld with dedicated gaming functionality and controls. I still maintain that if you are out and about, it is far easier and more rewarding to just carry about two devices than to try to game on a smartphone.
Have you actually given a fair shot to pinball in particular? I used to enjoy it on the PC, but after trying it on my SHIELD Tablet I just couldn’t go back. Looking down at a portrait-oriented screen in front of you with your hands clutching either side of a rectangular object feels so much more like actual pinball than looking up at a landscape screen while holding a gamepad.
In a world of rainbows and unicorns where I had no backlog and every day included three hours of bonus uninterrupted gaming free time, I’d feel the same way. In the real world, between a full-time job, two small kids, and graduate school, I’m lucky to have three solid hours a week where I can sit down for dedicated gaming. So for games that I’m interested in, but that haven’t quite pushed their way to the top of the queue for that very limited time, it’s a boon to be able to play a version with relatively minor compromises (having to cancel the occasional mis-tapped button or whatever isn’t that big of a deal, nor is a lower degree of eye-candy and framerate in a turn-based game) rather than let them languish without ever getting around to them because those “other circumstances” never present themselves. And I do read books on the phone as well, of course, but it depends on what I’m in the mood for.
Sure, a dedicated handheld is a nice midpoint on the spectrum of input/graphical fidelity vs. convenience that has PCs and smartphones at opposite ends. I do like the Vita a lot, and get a good amount of use out of it. But it’s also bulky enough not to easily fit in pockets, and requires two free hands to use, so I don’t carry it everywhere. And the sorts of precise action games that really maximize its control advantage over a phone are also the sorts of things that I don’t generally want to play unless I can give them my full uninterrupted attention (and preferably put on headphones as well).
I guess my takeaway from all that is that being a responsible adult and family man really nukes one’s ability to get in quality gaming time, and you’d rather have compromised gaming in the one form that you can fit into spare moments than only an occasional dip into the good stuff, whereas I’d rather do something else entirely than compromise. I can understand that, I suppose. I’m not sure that makes it any easier for me to understand actively choosing phone gaming over a handheld, which doesn’t seem to be your situation.
It’s not about ‘compromising’ the gaming experience. It’s flat ludicrous to claim that Ascension or Star Realms, or Neuroshima Hex, or Heathstone, or hundreds of other games played on a 1440x2560 phone is compromised from a theoretical vita version on the 960×544 screen. You might not like those games, but the reality is that there are a ton of games that are perfectly well suited to the phone. And a lot of great asynch games creating a lot of threads and tournaments on this very board that take advantage of the built in internet in everyone’s smart phones.
So the question becomes, are there enough games that I enjoy on my phone where spending $200 for another mobile console makes sense? Or $250 for another console + $10/month or whatever for a second data plan.
It isn’t a question of having a family forcing you to ‘compromise’, I have a family and a vita. I am the only person I know in real life who has a vita and I know a lot of single employed video gamers. The thing is you start with a first mobile gaming console with a smart phone so the vita becomes a second mobile console. Not a lot of people buy second consoles.
Do you buy every high end video card when it comes out? Do you own a ps4, xbox one, wii u, vita, and 3ds? Do you own both AMD and Nvidia cards so you can play the titles that perform better on one on that system?
The reality is everyone makes cost/value calculations.
Jeeze, that’s quite the “takeaway”. Way to stick it to those responsible adults and family men.
-Tom
I hope that didn’t come off as me “sticking it” to anyone. I think it’s absolutely the right set of priorities. I just find that I’d ultimately rather read a book than sneak five minutes of gaming on a phone. Perhaps I’d feel differently if I only had time to sit down at my computer and game once a week.
My sense is that gaming on phones presents such an insurmountable obstacle to you that not only can you not imagine doing it yourself you are struggling to realize how many of us enjoy it on a routine basis.
-Todd
I don’t have a Vita. But if the price drop is true, I’ll get one to play Spelunky on the go if nothing else. And then I’ll dive into the rest of the library. It’s always been an appealing system to me, but I couldn’t justify the price with the amount of time I spend on “mobile” gaming.
I have a Vita. I have a cubic buttload of games for it, thanks to PS+ and the games I bought like Jeanne D’Arc.
But what I don’t have is a use case for it. If I’m at home, I’m usually on the big screen. If I’m travelling, phone games have gotten so good that, after packing the Surface Pro 3 and the iPhone, I look at the Vita and decide not to add to the jumble by adding yet another electronic device and charging cable.
I’m impressed by the hardware. But the stuff I used to do on my PSP, my phone does so well, that my Vita’s gathering dust. :(
I have the same use case issue with my Vita. I rarely find myself in a circumstance where the Vita is my platform of choice for entertainment. If I’m home I would rather just use a console. For me travel generally means “driving my car somewhere” which, though I have yet to prove the theory, I suspect is not conducive to Vita use.
On the rare instances that I am traveling far enough to need a plane the Vita is a great way to pass the time…but so is a book.
As much as I like my Vita it just doesn’t really seem to have a place in my life anywhere.