Feature

Gameloft's iPhone games scoring well with critics

Our Q3 iPhone Game Quality Index tracks review scores

Gameloft's iPhone games scoring well with critics
For the last two quarters, we've published the PG.biz Quality Index, tracking review scores of mobile games, and then analysing them by publisher. We're at work right now on the Q3 edition, so expect it in the coming days.

However, we've also been tracking a new area – iPhone game reviews – which we've separated out from mobile. This means a new set of sites to track.

Besides Pocket Gamer and IGN Wireless, the iPhone Game Quality Index currently includes Slide To Play, Macworld, Mac|Life and iPhone Games Network (we would have included the excellent Touch Arcade too, but they don't give scores in their reviews).

Every review published by these sites in July, August and September has been tracked, with scores converted to a rating out of 10 for those sites using alternative score formats.

For publishers, we've boiled down the list to companies who've had more than five reviews on these sites during the period, covering more than one game. The chart runs thus:

 































































Publisher Reviews Avg Score
Gameloft 24 8.00
Ambrosia Software 5 7.40
Pangea Software 10 7.15
Publisher X 9 7.09
Hudson Soft 9 6.99
I-play 5 6.98
EA Mobile 12 6.92
THQ Wireless 8 6.71
Freeverse 12 6.08
Namco Bandai Networks 9 5.43
Astraware 5 5.38

 

Gameloft is clearly bolstering its reputation for high-quality games so far –with its impressive average score all the more notable from coming from 24 different reviews.

Mac publisher Ambrosia Software is also doing well, albeit mainly from high scores for its Mondo Solitaire game. Another firm with its roots in the Mac sphere, Pangea Software, has scored well across its games, including Enigmo, Cro-Mag Rally and Billy Frontier.

EA Mobile's mid-table position is due to the mixed reviews the publisher has received, with some games (for example Spore Origins and Tetris) dividing critics.

Near the bottom of this chart, Namco Bandai Networks has received poor reviews for its retro games Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man and Pole Position Remix.

Astraware is perhaps unlucky to be occupying last slot in this chart, given that four of its five reviews were for one game, GTS World Racing.

So what about individual games? 36 games have been reviewed by more than three of the websites being tracked for the iPhone Game Quality Index.

Gameloft is well represented, but interestingly, developer Igloo Games tops the chart with Dizzy Bee, while fellow indies Demiforce and IUGO also nestle inside the Top 10. The full chart follows:

 

































































































































































































































Game Publisher Revs Avg. Score
Dizzy Bee Igloo Games 3 8.67
Asphalt 4 Elite Racing Gameloft 6 8.58
Texas Hold'em Apple 4 8.5
Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D Vivendi 3 8.27
Trism Demiforce 4 8.25
Real Football 2009 Gameloft 4 8.13
Mondo Solitaire Ambrosia Software 3 8.00
Toy Bot Diaries IUGO 5 7.98
Brain Challenge Gameloft 3 7.97
Critter Crunch Publisher X 3 7.83
Space Monkey Glu Mobile 4 7.75
Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster Publisher X 3 7.67
Diner Dash PlayFirst 3 7.33
Super Monkey Ball Sega 5 7.3
Spore Origins EA Mobile 4 7.25
Diamond Twister Gameloft 3 7.17
SolarQuest Neon Surge 3 7.17
Cro-Mag Rally Pangea Software 4 7.00
De Blob THQ Wireless 4 7.00
EA Sudoku EA Mobile 3 7.00
Big Bang Sudoku Freeverse 3 6.67
Funky Punch Solus Games 3 6.67
Space Invasion StarByte 3 6.67
X-Plane 9 Laminar Research 3 6.67
Jewel Quest II I-play 3 6.47
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed THQ Wireless 4 6.4
Aqua Forest Hudson Soft 3 6.33
Bomberman Touch Hudson Soft 3 6.33
Tetris EA Mobile 3 6.33
Vay SoMoGa 4 6.25
Moto Chaser Freeverse 5 6.2
Bejeweled 2 PopCap 3 6
Flick Bowling Freeverse 3 6
GTS World Racing Astraware 4 5.98
Pac-Man Namco 4 5.5
Cybersaurus 3D Darxun Games 3 3.17



Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)