Can lightening strike twice?
I like mobile platform gaming. I really do. Forget the Xbox 720 or PS4, mobile phone/tablet gaming is the future.
Games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, have seen core gaming rejuvenated and given a new lease of life.
However, Grand Theft Auto III single handedly brings this into question.
I can appreciate it was a great game that changed the landscape of console gaming 10 years ago, but whether or not it was released on the mobile platform in the hope it might boost mobile gaming into a new era, or is nothing more than just a cynical attempt to squeeze more money out of punters is up for debate.
The game is an excellent port; it looks like the original, sounds like the original, but it handles like a dog trying to use a PS2 pad. By the time my fat thumbs cover the screen my actual visibility of the game is reduced to a 2inch screen from a 4 inch screen.
So I am only left with one emotion – frustration. God knows what iPhone users must think with the 3.5 inch screen they are presented with.
I would review the game in more detail, but everyone knows what lies in store with GTAIII and so here, in mobile form, I feel it presents us with a bigger question: Is the mobile gaming market going to see more of these ports?
PS2/Xbox games were great for the technology provided, however, was GTA III built with a touch screen in mind? Was GTA invented to utilise the functions of a mobile phone/tablet? Was GTA invented to utilise mobile internet connection speeds?
The answer is, of course, a resounding no.
So if GTA III hasn’t been built round the technology provided, (and it is a direct port), then you can’t help but feel it’s been done for financial benefit in the hope your nostalgia will cause you to contribute another £3 to a franchise.
With Max Payne out, along with Virtual Tennis and other such gems from yesteryear, be prepared to be overwhelmed with games that were great when they came out on their original systems, but who now don’t sit comfortably on a mobile platform.
If you thought Spielberg and Lucas knew how to milk a franchise, you really haven’t seen anything yet.
Would it be worth getting for my 5.3″ screen Galaxy Note?
Good man, I have the same phone. It works ok, but its the touch controls which are highly frustrating. I have tried it on a HTC Sensation, Samsung Galaxy Nexus S and a Galaxy Note. Galaxy Note is by far the best of the bunch!
I’ve got the Note too. Top phone. I don’t use it for games though. phones aren’t designed for games it’s just something that’s been shoe-horned into them to leech money.
Saying that though, I do have one game on my Note; Espgaluda 2
It’s a lazy iphone port (complete with iphone pictures in its conroller layout) but its good. Shooters are one of the few genres that work well with a touch screen.
If anyone wants Espgaluda 2, it’s not on the Google Play store. You have to go into the pre-installed (horrible) Samsung Apps thingy and search for it.
The demo is free and you can unlock the full version via Paypal. I think it was a fiver-ish.
I think games can work on a phone (currently they don’t, as you stated). They just need to look at how people use a phone and utilise the technology, rather than thinking its another opportunity to milk the shit out of a franchise. The adaptation of controls by these companies is lazy and until they sort that side of things out, it will never be truly successful.
I too also tried out he game on my phone (HTC Desire HD (running ICS 4.0.4 and a 4.3 inch screen). It looked and sounded great, until I started to moved my character.
Then it just turned in to a big mess. Slow and clunky is the way I would describe the gameplay and the physics. Unresponsive and very hit and miss with the controls.
I could not see most of the game, as my screen got nicely smeared by my own fingerprints trying to play it, also it was just too slow and jerky to even get some experience of what the overall game was supposed to be.
It was fine on the old PSP as GTA Chinatown Wars (as a hand held type of game). It was Just not made for mobile phones, or they should have stated the requires specs for the mobile, in order to have the required enjoyable gaming experience.
This type of game (heavy 3D graphics based) will only now work on the new type of mobile phones, with there high powered dual core or even the beasts that are quad core phones (namely Samsung SG3 and HTC ONE X).
Along, if the game was brought from the Google Play (Store,Shop etc) you only have 15 minutes to try out the game, if you want your monies back also look out for the 450MB download (better do that over wifi).
So overall not a fun game playing experience for me. On the plus side I did manage to get my money back :)
Unfortunately I’m stuck with mine! Trying Shadowgun at the moment. Again the touch controls are starting to become frustrating.