By Lily Asis
As technology has further allowed us to have better gaming experiences in the palm of our hands, the demand for mobile games has increased exponentially. Research has shown that 15% of the time we spend on our mobile devices is devoted to gaming, with social media the only things to surpass it in popularity. Given how popular and life-consuming social media is in the current day, it’s no surprise that it leads the way by a good margin, but the analytics also show just how popular the gaming market is. It equates to over a billion hours a month.
Accessibility is a major factor in these. Almost everybody has a device with the capacity to play games of some description. Brands like Apple continue to hone their stores in order to make purchasing them easier on every level. The quality and longevity of the games available is also a key factor too, gone are the days of “snake’ that could give you minutes of fun.Today’s offerings can provide hours, even days, on hardware that has much higher capacity.
There are genres of games that remain consistently popular. Puzzles, action, strategy and RPG all have their share of the spoils, though it is the brain and matching puzzle games that dominate. Now, app developers know which formula works, they have also decided to devise hybrids – games that mix two or more genres to come up with innovative gameplay that still feels familiar. These have rocketed in popularity on the App Store. Consumers have been eagerly playing the mixed-genre crossovers, and here we take a look at some of the frontrunners in an ever-expanding market.
MONSTER STRIKE
With a revenue of $1.3 billion, not only was this a popular hybrid, it was also the highest grossing mobile game of 2016. When you consider its reach outside of Japan was so limited that it has since decided to shut down the English version, those figures are even more amazing.
The game fuses strategy, RPG, puzzles and physics to be an unprecedented hit, comparable to elements of Pokemon, Angry Birds, and Puzzles & Dragons. In essence, you use your monsters to strike your enemies en route to victory, but you can acquire your own stable and progress as the game goes on.
The desire to constantly level up keeps you interested, and if that bores you, then there are hours worth of fun using the multi-player tasks that are also offered.
BATTLEJACK
The idea of “levelling up” and collecting characters is a popular mechanic, and Grand Cru’s Battlejack game includes that feature, alongside the familiar casino game Blackjack, allowing you to win games and progress with a combination of cards and skills.
Most people are already familiar with the blackjack game – deciding whether to stand or hit at 16 , but in essence you beat your opponent by being the closest to 21 – which is called then called blackjack – without going over. The simplicity of the card game’s rules blends well with the RPG element of Battlejack. Essentially, you’re battling through a mythical world and engaging in battles would be even more arduous with something more complicated. The choices you make are strategy/RPG, but attacking the enemy means playing a few hands of blackjack per battle. Creator Markus Pasula said that was a conscious choice, as “blackjack is universally understood by people around the world.”
PUZZLE QUEST
Despite the increased power of the hardware and new operating systems offered by Apple, sometimes less is more. It doesn’t need all the graphics, expansive layouts or bells and whistles. Infinite Interactive’s Puzzle Quest is a basic match-3 puzzle game with RPG elements.
Campaigning through the Warlords gaming universe, battles are fought with a Bejeweled-style game, only you take turns against the game to try and make rows or columns to remove the tiles. There’s plenty of customization, some side-games, and an end goal, but really the combat element of tile-smashing is a simple one and the main focus of the game.
WHY SO POPULAR?
We no longer leave home without our phones, and no journey is complete without some kind of entertainment in the palm of our hands. Puzzles in particular help to keep us engaged, and we see the hybrid RPG elements built into that to give players a sense of purpose.
While we want to be engaged, we don’t need to have too much going on when the screen is so tiny. That’s why these simple crossovers have been such big hits, yet on larger screens of PCs and consoles with the greater amount of technology they can provide, the more expansive offerings rule.
