Why are there no decent games for Android?

[Morbus]

And by decent I mean mobile-friendly games that see or saw on PC.

Here are a few examples:
- Neighbors from Hell
- Theme Hospital
- Spore (although Spore sucks)
- Legend of Grimrock (and other dungeon crawlers)
- Heroes of Might and Magic (and other turn based strategy games)
- Fallout (the real one) (and other turn based point and click games)

I've been searching for a proper game since forever, and it's weird. It makes me think I'm just not looking properly. Back in the Java days on my old LG 500, I had games like Pyramid Blocks, Doom, and other stuff that was pretty fun and challenging. With Android it's all either UNPLAYABLE virtual joysticks or stupid MMOs with blatant pay-to-win baits...

Any suggestions? Or is it really true?

 

[Oyeve]

You must be kidding. There are a lot of real games. I'll just name one. Ff3.

 

[Morbus]

You must be kidding. There are a lot of real games. I'll just name one. Ff3.

I am not kidding, but thanks for the suggestion.

It's pricey, but if it's good, you know... I'll check it out.

Anyway, keep the suggestions coming?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Stuff that was also on the PC/consoles?

-A few Grand Theft Autos. The Original third one, Vice City, San Andreas.

-Soul Calibur

-MANY JRPGs. Secret of Mana, almost every pre-ff7 Final Fantasy, many of the Dragon Quest games, Chrono trigger. It's heaven.

-Sonic 1,2, CD, Dash, etc.

-Jet set radio and crazy taxi

-Carmageddon

-Metal Slug series

-King of Fighters

-And finally, great emulators for almost any console up to the PS2 and even PC stuff like ScummVM, VCMI or Dosbox. There is even an app called Winulator that is an old Windows emulator.

 

[kyrax12]

My galaxy s4 heats up when I played the GTA games.

 

[Remobz]

My galaxy s4 heats up when I played the GTA games.

Why would you even bother playing a game on a crappy small screen phone?

I would rather have a 15 inch laptop and 24inch IPS monitor for games.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Why would you even bother playing a game on a crappy small screen phone?

I would rather have a 15 inch laptop and 24inch IPS monitor for games.

Mhl cable and Bluetooth remote and its like a portable console.

 

[Red Storm]

Shadowrun Returns, Baldur's Gate, Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us.

 

[sweenish]

OP looked at one top list, didn't google crap, and started complaining on a forum. Sounds like the Internet is operating normally today.

 

[RossMAN]

http://www.vectorunit.com/games-folder/

Beach Buggy Blitz and Beach Buggy Racing

 

[Morbus]

OP looked at one top list, didn't google crap, and started complaining on a forum. Sounds like the Internet is operating normally today.

no

 

[npaladin-2000]

Shadow Strike (Drone combat sim)
Strike Wing (Flight sim)
Cordy and Cordy 2 (Platformers)
Modern Combat 4 and 5 (First person shooters)
The Conduit (FPS)
Deux Ex: The Fall (Hybrid FPS/RPG)
Dead Effect (FPS)
Dead Trigger 1 and 2 (FPS)
Final Fantasy 1 through 6 (CRPG)
Final Fantasy Dimensions (CRPG)
Chrono Trigger (CRPG)
Warhammer Carnage (Platformer)
Expendable Rearmed (Combat platformer)
Swordigo (Platformer)
Madden Mobile (Football)
Beach Buggy Racing (Kart racing)
Battle World Kronos (Turn-based strategy)
AntiSquad (Turn-based strategy)
Great Little War Game (Turn-based strategy)
Great Big War Game (Turn-based strategy)
Arma Tactics (Turn-based strategy)
Galaxy On Fire 2 (Flight sim)
Star Command (Strategy)
Trine 2 (Platformer)
X-Com ((Turn-based strategy)
X-Com Enemy Within (Turn-based strategy)
Reaper (Platformer)
Chaos Rings (RPG)
Penny Arcade On The Rain Slick Precipice Of Darkness 3 (Farcical RPG)

I'd go on but I'm suddenly inspired to do some gaming.

 

[Raduque]

You need to look at games from decent devs that can properly code for mobile devices.
Games like:
Anomaly Warzone Earth (reverse tower defense)
Anomaly Korea (reverse tower defense)
Anomaly 2 (reverse tower defence
Leo's Fortune (physics-based platformer)
Out There (Rogue-like space survival game)
Sky Force 2014 (vertical scrolling shmup)
Epoch (arcade shooters with unique swipe and tap controls)
Epoch 2

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

OP looked at one top list, didn't google crap, and started complaining on a forum. Sounds like the Internet is operating normally today.

sounds about right

 

[Morbus]

While I do appreciate the suggestions, to me it's like I didn't even write anything in the OP.
Half of the games you guys are suggesting have virtual joysticks, which are unplayable for all means and purposes...

Still, thank you for the effort. I'm glad there are people that find games they like for Android. Apparently I don't.

P.S.: Having checked out FF3, I'm interested, but I'm not sure I wouldn't be better served buying the game for PC and playing it there, when I have time for it... 15 bucks is a lot of money to part with for a mobile game, I think...

sounds about right

no

 

[npaladin-2000]

While I do appreciate the suggestions, to me it's like I didn't even write anything in the OP.
Half of the games you guys are suggesting have virtual joysticks, which are unplayable for all means and purposes...

Still, thank you for the effort. I'm glad there are people that find games they like for Android. Apparently I don't.

P.S.: Having checked out FF3, I'm interested, but I'm not sure I wouldn't be better served buying the game for PC and playing it there, when I have time for it... 15 bucks is a lot of money to part with for a mobile game, I think...


no

Most of the games I listed have HID or MOGA controller support, if not both. So I'd really suggest you do your research.

And the ones with virtual-only controls (such as Swordigo) are pretty good, you just haven't tried them or have an unreasonable bias towards touch controls (whereas I try them before declaring them bad, making my bias reasonable).

 

[sweenish]

The simple fact is that there are plenty of great Android games, many of them actually optimized for touch screens.

On my phone:
10000000 - match 3 rpg-lite
bloons td 5 - tower defense
M&M Clash of Heroes - puzzle rpg, currently broke on Lollipop, however
Castle Doombad - also defense
Faif - chance based rpg-lite
fieldrunners 2 - tower defense (can you tell i like this genre, especially on mobile)
kingdom rush
kingdom rush frontiers - both tower defense
Plague inc. - strategy
quell memento+ - puzzle
quizup - social trivia
rayman jungle run - runner/platformer
ridiculous fishing - like it sounds
ski safari - runner
terra battle - rpg
threes - puzzle

My tablet has a few others like Shadowrun Returns, Monument Valley, swords & sworcery, The Room, Broken Sword, etc.

There are good gaming experiences on Android. You have to temper your expectations to the platform and pull your head out of the sand. You're also free to take a guess at how many of those games have virtual joysticks.

Not to mention classics like World of Goo and Osmos.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Half of the games you guys are suggesting have virtual joysticks, which are unplayable for all means and purposes...

For many, like the GTAs or emulators, you can turn that off and use a real game pad.

 

[ControlD]

There are some pretty good roguelikes on Android as well. Since they are usually turn based I find the genre to work pretty well on touch screen devices.

A few I like (although I find myself not playing games on my phone much these days):

- Pixel Dungeon
- Legends Of Yore
- Bit Dungeon

 

[cronos]

The reality is just that you haven't looked around, OP.

My contribution to this thread is the emulator for Star Wars Jedi Knight series (Jedi Academy, Jedi Outcast) which provides you with excellent touch control for the games.

Edit: Oh and since you mentioned Doom, there's an emulator for that as well from the same developer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beloko.doom&hl=en

 

[cbrunny]

Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest 2
Dragon Quest 4
Dragon Quest 8

Dragon Quest 3, 5, 6, and 7 are coming. They'll be good too.

 

[Raduque]

Half of the games you guys are suggesting have virtual joysticks, which are unplayable for all means and purposes...

Did you even look at the games on my list? The amount of them that use virtual gamepads is exactly zero, and touch sticks aren't universally unplayable anyway.

 

[sm625]

I've gone through so many games on my phone, and by god its true they do tend to suck, badly. I have to be honest and say that my most played phone game of all time is... chess. What a sad state of affairs. I did enjoy Dragon Fly and Osmos HD. Most games are just... meh. It must be something about the form factor.

 

[Morbus]

Most of the games I listed have HID or MOGA controller support, if not both. So I'd really suggest you do your research.

Don't patronize me.

Thanks.

The simple fact is that there are plenty of great Android games, many of them actually optimized for touch screens.

On my phone:
10000000 - match 3 rpg-lite
bloons td 5 - tower defense
M&M Clash of Heroes - puzzle rpg, currently broke on Lollipop, however
Castle Doombad - also defense
Faif - chance based rpg-lite
fieldrunners 2 - tower defense (can you tell i like this genre, especially on mobile)
kingdom rush
kingdom rush frontiers - both tower defense
Plague inc. - strategy
quell memento+ - puzzle
quizup - social trivia
rayman jungle run - runner/platformer
ridiculous fishing - like it sounds
ski safari - runner
terra battle - rpg
threes - puzzle

My tablet has a few others like Shadowrun Returns, Monument Valley, swords & sworcery, The Room, Broken Sword, etc.

There are good gaming experiences on Android. You have to temper your expectations to the platform and pull your head out of the sand. You're also free to take a guess at how many of those games have virtual joysticks.

Not to mention classics like World of Goo and Osmos.

Thank you so much for the suggestion! Much promise in there, will check them out for sure!

 

[npaladin-2000]

Don't patronize me.

Thanks.


Thank you so much for the suggestion! Much promise in there, will check them out for sure!

I wasn't patronizing. I was flat out calling you out for being misinformed and not bothering to do research.