Today, it is mobile games that dominate the market (however, this does not say anything about their quality). It’s a pity, it is dominated by tower defenses and puzzles with an endless stream of donations. It seems that mobile ports of classic computer games should have been a breath of fresh air in such conditions. But in fact, they turned out to be far from being the most suitable for smartphones and tablets, because they were originally developed for completely different hardware conditions. No, any modern gadget that fits in your pocket can be more powerful than a 10-year-old computer, but this is not enough to enjoy some “adult” game of that time.
No physical controls – no fun
It seems that everyone has long been accustomed to managing applications and games using the touch screen. However, when it comes to mobile ports of classic games, it is important to understand that they will use virtual analogues of real controls – they will take up a large part of the already small screen. However, even if the developers who worked on the port had enough imagination to come up with an alternative, it still will not be more convenient than a physical keyboard or gamepad. Yes, touch screens have a lot of strengths, but gaming in any form is definitely not one of them. They simply don’t have tactile feedback, and you won’t be able to find the necessary buttons with your fingers either. Plus, the ergonomics of smartphones by themselves are not very suitable for playing for hours.
Smartphones have small screens, but games have resolution
The transfer of computer games from the past to mobile screens is quite common. On smartphones, you can play Knights of the Old Republic, a couple of parts of Baldur’s Gate, Planescape: Torment – all this is a classic of the genre. All of these entertainments do not suffer from inconvenience with control, because they do not differ in high dynamics. However, they have another “disadvantage”. We are talking about a large number of text dialogues – in some cases, such games can be completed without battles at all, only with the help of oratory skills. Large text fragments on relatively small screens are very difficult to read – the font is too small. Plus, the graphics, as well as all the controls and other elements, were created for large screens with a low resolution, which is why they look so-so and do not differ in ease of use.
Mobile battery life is a problem
There is a feeling that earlier games were created with the expectation that they would spend as much time as possible. Yes, according to medical recommendations, it is important to take breaks between sessions at least once every few hours. However, it always worked in a completely different way – when passing through something really interesting, it was almost impossible to stop. This is not possible on mobile devices. No matter how autonomous modern smartphones would be, during the passage of games they rarely stretch more than three or four hours of real time. If you constantly keep your gadget near the outlet, then there will be very little pleasure from such a use case – this will only worsen the already not the best ergonomics.
Multiplayer on mobile devices is implemented so-so
Of course, single games also have the right to life. However, the same is true for multiplayer. One of the first such projects was arcade entertainment called Pong, and one of the most popular is Mortal Kombat, on which many killed tens and hundreds of sleepless nights. This is not surprising, because stopping the battle when someone nearby has just tore out the spine of your favorite character is a sign of bad taste. Implementing something similar on mobile devices is almost impossible. Connecting a pair of gamepads to one smartphone will work, but not all games will allow you to use them. And squinting with friends at a tiny screen is still a pleasure. Plus, local multiplayer on two smartphones does not always work correctly and is generally implemented by developers.
The cost of all such games is usually also their big minus.
Ports of classic computer games, as for mobile platforms, are sold quite expensively. For Knights of the Old Republic, for example, they ask for about $ 10 (≈600 rubles) – separately for each part. A similar story with Baldur’s Gates and its expansions, Neverwinter Nights, Planescape: Torment and so on. If you collect a collection of all these games, its total cost may exceed the price of not the most expensive smartphone on which all this is planned to be played. Although spending on games that exceed the cost of the console is not a new phenomenon, the smartphone still does not pull in this role. He has much more diverse opportunities, and such entertainment is only a small part of them. Therefore, spending so much money on them is not the best idea.
Ports of classic games aren’t always well done.
Despite the extremely high cost, ports of classic games do not always match it. It happens that you pay for your favorite game from your youth in the hope of experiencing the same experience, but instead you get only disappointment. There is no single standard in bringing entertainment from the past to mobile devices. In the same Baldur’s Gate II, there are plenty of bugs that are in no hurry to fix. And adaptation for a different screen size is most often missing. Many of the misunderstandings described in the previous paragraphs of the article could well be corrected, but the developers simply do not need it. Fans will still buy the game just to try it. Even if they are disappointed, they will already be glad that their favorite adventure from the past is in their pocket.
It makes no sense to port games – you need to create something new
Mobile games, in general, are going through a rather difficult period. For every really good Angry Birds or Among Us, there are thousands of pointless copies, copies of copies and copies of copies of copies, which are only intended to extract a few hundred rubles from the user. Actually, therefore, it is not surprising that developers from time to time transfer their classic entertainment from the past to mobile platforms. Let them do it not always well. High-quality projects tailored for mobile gadgets sometimes still appear (a vivid example is the role-playing game Exiled Kingdoms). Too bad it doesn’t happen very often. However, supply depends on demand. If no one spends money on all this, no one will deal with all this obscenity.
Source: ReviewGeek.
Source: Trash Box
Johanna Foster is an expert opinion writer with over 7 years of experience. She has a reputation for delivering insightful and thought-provoking articles on a variety of subjects. Her work can be found on some of the top online news websites, and she is currently lending her voice to the world stock market.
