Great games not gone, just hard to find

Getting games on your phone is common place, but picking the best from the thousands available can be very difficult.  In the old days, it was easy, plop down $50-$60 on the newest great PlayStation game and play for weeks or hopefully months on end.  Final Fantasy, Madden and Metal Gear Solid were all staples.  Now as an adult I don’t have time to spend countless hours (not actually countless, some games like Final Fantasy proudly display the amount of time you have poured into it).

Games on phones are different.  They are able to be enjoyed in quick bursts and are much smaller in scale.  They are easy to distribute but hard to make anyone actually purchase.  This problem has been "solved" by the freemium model.  A game costs nothing to start, but as you progress you are hit with stumbling blocks that either make you wait long periods of time to advance or fork over some money.  Some games are completely unplayable to play for free after some time.

Not all games are made this way.  You can still find the classic, pay up front games as well, but now you will have to work to find one worth the time and money.

One great example is Crashlands.  This is an old school action/adventure RPG, where you continually collect components to build new weapons and items to advance through the game.  It only cost $4.99, but is a great game that can be played in 5 minute spurts or can very enjoyably kill an hour or more.  The problem is, I only tried it because of its amazing reviews (5/5 touch arcade, 4/5 game rant, 4.5/5 metacritic) and I mean amazing reviews.  Most games that cost money I will not give a single look.  I am sure there are plenty of fantastic $5 games, but without the freemium model to gouge consumers out of hundreds of dollars, these games will never have giant ad campaigns (Game of War: Fire Age is absolutely terrible, but made tons of money).  I wish there was a way an inexpensive game could easily get recognized, but in the current marketplace, even a truly special game has trouble rising above the noise.

This does not mean I hate all freemium games.  One solid entry is Plants vs. Zombies 2.  I played and defeated this game without ever spending a dime.  I did watch ads in between missions but for the amount of fun the different puzzles in the game provided, the small distraction of ads was certainly worth it.  However, I will say this is more the exception rather than the rule.  Even well made, popular freemium games such as Clash of Clans are guilty of becoming sub-par experiences after awhile.  I quit once upgrading a piece of equipment took either a week or a decent amount of real money.  It became pointless to play (even spending money would have been a very short term solution since the next upgrade would be equally as long or expensive).

My best advice is to read reviews of games before purchasing and make sure that a freemium game is playable without having to pay.  The aforementioned Plants vs. Zombies had a few plants available for a few dollars that I would not blame a person who loved that particular plant for buying.  A fun enjoyable game should be able to get a few extra dollars from fans for a bonus that can be unlocked.

In the end, do research to find what you love.  Don’t just get the most advertised and popular games. Oh and get Crashlands, on top of being a great game, the group that made it has a great story that I only learned about after completing the game (check it out).  If you have any suggestions of fun games to try, send them over.