For many years, mobile gaming had an iffy reputation. While some games were particularly well suited to the mobile gaming experience, these tended to be cheap and cheerful puzzlers, quirky indie games or free-to-play titles that promised way more than they could deliver.
Over the last decade, that has changed. Now, most internet access is through mobile devices, with smartphones responsible for a huge chunk of that online audience. The wider gaming and leisure sector has made significant efforts to respond to this demand. Online gambling operators offer everything from sweepstakes casinos to live poker and interactive roulette, all tailored to run smoothly on modern phones, while the rapid expansion of the US sports betting industry has also been powered partly by the use of mobile technology to deliver these platforms.
Above all, it has been the pure gaming sector that has been able to tap into the potential of smartphones, utilizing the latest tech and faster connections to provide games that are the equal of most console or desktop gaming experiences. In fact, you may be surprised at just how many well-known games you can play on your mobile. Here are five of the most notable:
Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto V is the most popular mobile game in the world and reinterprets the open-world genre in many ways. It is modelled on the Grand Theft Auto game of the same name and is among the most well-known mobile games that transport you to the infamous San Andreas.
The story’s three main protagonists, Franklin, Trevor and Michael, are all present, and each of them has unique personality traits that regularly create new obstacles throughout the game. The setting is gorgeous, vast and diverse.
Essentially a large-scale satirical reconstruction of contemporary southern California, with mountains and beaches, upscale boutiques and strip malls, the game takes you from one thrilling event to the next. You may be surprised at how well the original has translated to mobile.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
When Firaxis Games relaunched the XCOM franchise in 2012 with Enemy Unknown, it effectively rebooted the isometric turn-based strategy game. Since making its console debut, the game has been ported to mobile without losing any of its appeal, intricacy or depth.
With its regulated pace and top-down viewpoint, XCOM: Enemy Unknown finds a comfortable home on mobile, operating at a constant frame rate with a responsive user interface that works well even on a tiny screen. Enemy Within is also available on mobile and includes extra levels of systems and concepts to enhance and extend the game’s paranormal-flavored tactical gameplay.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty is one of the most famous gaming franchises of all time and has moved to mobile with huge success. There have been well over 50 million downloads of the mobile version, which offers two main gaming options: Battle Royale against 99 other players, and Multiplayer where you will engage in typical 5v5 team fighting.
The mobile Call of Duty version also includes a variety of new game modes, such as zombie action or sniper vs sniper warfare, as well as a new map.
Mobile players can play as famous characters from the franchise, and the gameplay, while tough to master, is easy to pick up. The mobile gaming experience is unparalleled, thanks to amazing gaming mechanics that emphasize the realism of rifle recoil, augmented reality aiming reticule sight and superb control of drone attacks. The simple controls and superb server stability are icing on the cake that add to its overall appeal, making it one of the very best mobile games available.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed is an iconic gaming franchise. The latest iteration, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, extends the series’ evolution into a full fat open-world RPG, which has translated well to mobile.
In this game, you play as Eivor, a renowned Viking warrior on a search for glory, with a strong mystical element. The game world is vivid and beautiful and is set against the bleak backdrop of England at the time of the Anglo Saxons, when Vikings regularly raided deep into the English countryside.
Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is a massive, audacious and incredibly gorgeous addition to the franchise, finally offering the much-requested Viking period. It treads the narrow line between historical accuracy and mysticism, against the background of a solid, focused narrative.
Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved, among the most popular PC games of its day, combines all of the strengths of games as diverse as Minecraft, PUBG, Rust and Jurassic Park, as it puts you on a dino-infested island and lets you run amok. You can opt to join a tribe of other cave dwellers and wage Jurassic-style warfare against your online foes, construct settlements via the game’s robust crafting mechanism or hunt the world’s fiercest dinosaurs.
Ark: Survival Evolved has been available through mobile technology for a while, and although it is unavoidably a slightly reduced take on the PC and console blockbuster, there is nothing substantial missing from the experience. The game is also free to play unlike the original.
