MobileRated is a multiplatform mobile game distributor “dedicated to the concept of free mobile phone games and entertainment services,” and today they announced their top 10 most-downloaded games. At the top of the list (to the surprise of no one) is Tetris clone, Jamtris.
As Allen Varney points out in this week’s issue of The Escapist, the reason older, more “dated” games seem to do so well on the mobile platform is precisely the same reason dead politicians occasionally win elections: name recognition.
When you’ve only got 16 characters to make a good first impression, you’re going to score more points with something people know, and Tetris is about as well known as it gets.
Also well known is sudoku, Bomberman, Doom, poker and Street Fighter, and to the delight of all, MobileRated has versions of all of those games, as well as a clone of the cult classic Dope Wars, a drug dealing simulator that will tax not only your knowledge of drug paraphernalia, but also your grasp of supply-side economics.
It can be said that MobileRated is the dollar store of mobile games, but with a version of almost every popular game imaginable game for almost every phone model in existence, all for the low, low price of free, one could easily counter that argument with: “Who cares?”
The site features a staggering number of original games and clones of some of the most recognizable ghosts of gaming’s past, and after only a few brief minutes browsing it’s online catalog I found at least five games I would download and play if I … you know, actually did that.
In the short attention span world of mobile gaming, an easily-downloaded, inexpensive game with recognizable characters and an intuitive control scheme is going to take the cake, and until the the inspirations for MobileRated’s long list of knock-offs are as readily (and cheaply) available, we’ll take what we can get.
1. Jamtris
2. M-SuDoKu
3. Doom 3D
4. 3D Attack Chopper
5. vPoker
6. Bomber
7. Fighters
8. Mobile Cobra Strike
9. Dope Wars ZX
10. 5ud0ku
