I wanted to take some opportunity to jot down my thoughts on mobile games before I get stuck in so here goes.
I have had iPhone’s for as long as I can remember so most games I play/ have played are on IOS. I tend to not really use Android devices and plus, they usually have adverts which is annoying!
Generally speaking, mobile games are something I pick up and put down. I go through phases of playing incessantly and then I’ll stop and not look at any games for months. Because of this, those games currently on my iPhone vary vastly.
I have everything from the incredibly frustrating flappy bird to classics like Scrabble, the game of life and monopoly. I also have newer games such as plants Vs zombies, best fiends and candy crush. I even have a game for my dog to play.
I am very influenced by popular culture when it comes to game choices. Generally, if somebody makes a recommendation I will check it out. I usually decide pretty quickly if I like or dislike it but I like to make sure that I give it a chance. This can become incredibly frustrating though if games are paid for and I then find that I hate them!
Pokemon Go is one such game that influenced me. When it exploded onto the scene in 2016, I was one of those strange people who went to the trouble of changing all of my iPhone settings to American so that I could download the game before anybody else.
I have some requirements with mobile games, I’ve discovered.
- As I usually want to be able to pick it up and just play, it needs to not take too long to open up. Anything with a long opening sequence is very frustrating.
- I like them to be simple to master. If something is too frustrating or complex or has a long-term storyline, I don’t want that on my mobile phone. That’s for computer play, when I have time to really pay attention.
- They need to grab my attention and suck me in immediately. For this reason, I find that I play games like scrabble and monopoly less often than the likes of angry birds where you can complete one level and put it down. I like to know that I’ve at least come to a pause, endpoint or finish line.
- If a mobile game has a long story it completely turns me off!
Rachelle O'Brien 