While in Japan recently, I began sampling a few mobile games because of the use of public transit. It wasn’t my intention at first. When you’re waiting or riding a train, if I wasn’t on Google Maps, I was playing something on my phone. I’m back in Canada, but I’m still playing these games. It also doesn’t help that ads are encouraging me to download other games to try.
Puzzle Games
The games that appeal to me most on mobile are the puzzle variety. Sure, I do get ads for RPG-like games. But when you’re looking for short-burst games, they don’t always suit the transit lifestyle. While I was in Japan, even with my growing interest in One Piece, I didn’t bother playing Bounty Rush. It didn’t fit the time constraints since matches last a few minutes, and it is an online game.
What I like about puzzle games is that they don’t have the same time restrictions. I can pause when necessary, so I never have to worry about a solid mobile connection. Yet, I did notice that games are becoming dependent on an online connection. It’s not because the game needs to connect to a server. That’s not the case. Instead, they want to make sure you can access the latest ads. It’s annoying, and I’ll talk about that more later.
I’m going to try avoiding mentioning games by name. It’s not that I don’t remember them. The problem is that a lot of puzzle games are clones of other games. I can’t tell if I’m playing the first of a particular game or a knockoff clone. The games feel like they already exist. Or, at the very least, a variation of that kind of game is already playable.
Work the brain
I like puzzle games because they do make you pay attention. Those thought-invoking games always appeal to me. Funny enough, the algorithm never suggested strategy-type games when showing me ads. Yes, I got tons of puzzle games and even a few city-management games. But I never saw an ad for a game that you would classify as real-time or turn-based strategy.
Looking back, the closest I got was those games that make you run a business. They are the ones where you begin by slaughtering the cattle, then cooking the meat before serving it. As you earn money, you can hire staff and automate the process. For me, those fall into the idle-games category with limited strategy.
I did get a few ads for tower-defense type games. Unfortunately, I’ve lost interest in that style of game. The cartoony style, often mimicking the art direction of Clash of Clans, doesn’t do enough to interest me. For me to appeal to Tower Defense, it has to have an interesting IP connection. At the very least, nothing close to resembling a cartoon fantastical world.
So many ads
All the games I’ve played were free-to-play. Every one of them has microtransactions as a way to get revenue. But with puzzle games, you don’t need those ‘perks’. They are nice to have but unnecessary. Because of that, they litter them with ads. It’s so frequent that it ends up ruining the gameplay experience.
They want you to buy the game. The ads are so intrusive, and in most situations, they don’t apply to me. Recently, I was getting ads for Sephora. I have no idea why my algorithm would think I am interested in women’s beauty products. Some ads finish with a “Are you interested in this app?” notification. But even when I click “not interested,” I will still see them again.
On top of that, the frequency is rather annoying. I don’t mind an ad every 10-15 minutes. But in one game, I was getting ad breaks every 2-5 minutes. It’s insane. Another game gives me ads between levels, so that’s expected. But if a level is short, that means you’re seeing a pop-up every couple of minutes.
I don’t mind paying for games if it makes sense. But for most of these clone puzzle games, the asking price is high. None of the games the puzzle games is worth the 8-15 dollars to remove the ads. As I mentioned earlier, there are so many clones that the quick dev cycle doesn’t justify the asking price. At the same time, I don’t see much reason to keep them on my phone for too long. They have fun, short appeal, but all lack the depth and variety to keep me playing. Also, with the launch of Pokémon Pokopia a few days ago, that’s it has taken my focus from those puzzle games. Expect to see something around that game on this blog in the very near future.
Until the next one
So, this week’s blog was a bit different from my usual posts. I have plenty of games on my ‘want to play’ list, so I should be back to regular posts in the coming weeks. Also, considering I work from home, I don’t know how many more mobile games I will play. Of course, if something notable comes out, I’ll give it a try.
