OK, Mobile Gaming isn't THAT bad

Mobile gaming is always something that I've completely disregarded as a load of complete crap but since coming to Japan and not having a stable internet connection as well as being busy setting up a new place and whatnot, I've not really had the chance to sit down and play proper games for an extended period.

So of course, to keep myself from going insane, I've been making do with what I can with my iPhone and I'm actually pleasantly surprised with some of the things that I've been finding hidden deep within the app store.

So I'm sat here trying to beat my high score on Super Monsters Ate My Condo thinking that all the games I've been playing are pretty fun and with the exception of one title, don't try and go out of the way to try and squeeze money out of you in the form of micro transactions.  Not only that but a quick glance round the paid section of the App Store I've found all sorts of interesting looking things including full on RPGs made by Square Enix as well as all sorts of funky looking beat your high score time sinks, which is great for this kind of system.  So taking all that into consideration, why does mobile gaming have such a bad rep from people like me who player "proper" games.

Well I think I figured it out.

Angry Birds is pretty much entirely at fault for giving mobile gaming the horrible reputation that it's built up over the years.  I've played Angry Birds a little bit on my old Android phone, and it was fine, it made for a good distraction while I was ignoring my university teachers during my 3 month stint of depression in Paris, but it wasn't anything special, it was just a shitty little phone game I used to whittle away the time until I got to my PC at home.

But then you look around you and Angry Birds has this unreal amount of popularity.  There isn't just one game, there's like 5 or 6 of the damn things, all exactly the same but just themed a little differently.  Then you walk into shops and see Angry Birds merchandise clogging up the shelf like headphones or shoes or whatever.

So then people like me go and try it out, discover that it's nothing more than a mildly entertaining little puzzle game, get frustrated at the amount of hype people steep on it and then just blanket label all of mobile gaming as the same brain dead bullshit as a result.

Well luckily I've discovered not everything on the App Store is as shit as Angry Birds or whatever crappy social game is topping the lists, you just have to dig around for them.  Things like Mahjong Mobile, Punch Girl, Zenonia and other half way entertaining games are buried under the crap, so you really have to dig deep to find stuff like that. 

Although the other problem is that why would you do that when you can just fire up steam or your nearby games system and play something WAY, WAYYY better?  Still, the point is that my opinion of mobile gaming has been changed and now I just have 1 more thing to enjoy on boring train rides in case my DS or PSP/Vita batteries die.