Playman 3 is the best mobile game of 2008, so far...
We've already published our PG.biz Quality Index publisher rankings for Q2 2008, but we're also breaking out individual games, to see which proved to be the hits and misses with reviewers.
We're doing it slightly differently this time though as the chart below covers review scores for both the first and second quarters of this year, to avoid penalising games which may have straddled the two. In that sense, it's an ongoing chart for the whole of 2008.
Anyway, RealArcade's Playman Summer Games 3 has stormed to top spot, with a super 8.97 average. It's followed by Q1's chart topper, HandyGames' Townsmen 5, and Exozet Games' recent Catan game.
The full list is below, but first I'll pull out some trends.
The first is that contrary to expectation, casual games DO seem to get a fair hearing: check out the high positions for titles like Block Breaker Deluxe 2, Abracadaball, Monopoly Here & Now, and 5 Card Slingo.
Second - and this may sound rather self-congratulatory from an industry perspective - it's good to note that there are a helluva lot of good games out there.
Thirdly however, there are clearly ongoing issues with games based on movie licenses. Such games take up the bottom four positions in this list. Jamdat's Lord Of The Rings game was famously slammed as "crap", but it seems it may have a rival with Iron Man.
So, remember, the table below covers review scores for the whole of the first half of this year, NOT just Q2...
Pos | Game | Publisher | Revs | Avg Score |
1 | Playman Summer Games 3 | RealArcade | 3 | 8.97 |
2 | Townsmen 5 | HandyGames | 3 | 8.83 |
3 | Catan | Exozet Games | 3 | 8.67 |
4 | Block Breaker Deluxe 2 | Gameloft | 4 | 8.55 |
=5 | Abracadaball | Gameloft | 3 | 8.53 |
=5 | Puzzle Quest | THQ Wireless | 4 | 8.53 |
7 | Powerboat Challenge | Fishlabs | 4 | 8.50 |
8 | Orcs & Elves II | EA Mobile | 3 | 8.47 |
9 | Nowhere | In-Fusio | 4 | 8.43 |
=10 | Monopoly Here & Now | EA Mobile | 3 | 8.33 |
=10 | New York Nights 2 | Gameloft | 4 | 8.33 |
12 | Worms 2008 | THQ Wireless | 5 | 8.26 |
13 | Brothers In Arms: Art Of War | Gameloft | 4 | 8.25 |
14 | CrossPix | Glu Mobile | 3 | 8.23 |
=15 | Lego Bionicle Defenders | Disney Mobile | 4 | 8.20 |
=15 | Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Dash! | Glu Mobile | 3 | 8.20 |
=15 | Sushi Mania | Hands-On | 3 | 8.20 |
18 | 5 Card Slingo | I-play | 4 | 8.15 |
=19 | Grey's Anatomy | Gameloft | 3 | 8.10 |
=19 | Metal Gear Acid Mobile | Glu Mobile | 3 | 8.10 |
And here's the bottom ten titles:
Pos | Game | Publisher | Revs | Avg Score |
63 | FIFA Manager 08 | EA Mobile | 3 | 6.70 |
64 | Happy Tree Friends: Blood Money | Twistbox | 3 | 6.63 |
65 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Vivendi Games Mobile | 4 | 6.33 |
66 | Double Dragon II | Elite Systems | 3 | 6.13 |
67 | Tetris Blockout | EA Mobile | 3 | 6.07 |
68 | Park Or Die | HandyGames | 3 | 5.90 |
69 | The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian | Disney Mobile | 3 | 5.83 |
70 | Rambo Forever | In-Fusio | 3 | 5.50 |
71 | The Incredible Hulk | Hands-On | 3 | 5.43 |
72 | Iron Man | Hands-On | 3 | 4.13 |