In the same way that public game companies announce their financial sales numbers every three months, the Quality Index (Qi) publishes its own quarterly figures.
But instead of assaulting your ears and eyes with talk of operating profit, ROI, and monetisation (brrrr), this here Quality Index quarterly round-up ranks the top 20 best-reviewed iOS and Android games that were released during the period July 1st - September 30th, 2013.
Simple as that.
As for the reviews themselves, the iPhone, iPad, and Android Quality Indexes boast over 650,000 (in total) of them from the world's leading online sources, including 148Apps, Slide To Play, Pocket Gamer, and AppSpy.
In Limbo
During the third quarter of 2013, iPhone gamers saw another strong spread of original IP, console conversions, and much-anticipated sequels.
There was also a bit of a trend for accomplished 2D platformers, making the notion that the genre doesn't 'work' on buttonless formats look a little ridiculous.
Limbo was the strongest performer in this particular category, sitting moodily at #4 with its monchrome survival-horror-meets-Mario gameplay.
A little further down the list, BeaverTap's Mikey Hooks marked the swift return for the hero of Mikey Shorts. This follow-up is another slick speedrun game, though this time there's an interesting swing mechanic to hook (pun intended) you in.
Finally, we have Junk Jack X, the most ambitious of the three. Here, the 2D platformer mechanics are merely the foundation for a sprawling free-roaming construction game. It's safe to say that it out-Terraria's Terraria, which also debuted on iOS in Q3.
Qi's Top 20 iPhone games of Q3 2013
As is usually the case with these quarterly reviews, the Q3 2013 iPad Qi chart looked pretty similar to the iPhone one, albeit with a couple of noteworthy exceptions.
First up is the usual selection of iPad exclusives. You know, those games that have been deemed unsuitable for the iPhone's teeny-tiny screen. Yes, even for the all-powerful iPhone 5S's.
Most noteworthy of these is Wizards of the Coast's Magic 2014 at #7. Here, the Washington-based publisher successfully followed up the highly Qi rated Magic 2013 with yet more card-collecting fantasy magic.
Another top-drawer Q3 iPad exclusive is Gentlemen! Put simply, this, err, simply wouldn't have worked on iPhone. In Lucky Frame's arcade romp, two players compete against each other in one-on-one action on a single iPad.
Qi's Top 20 iPad games of Q3 2013
The Google Play Store is home to plenty of strangely beautiful little gaming oddities. And we were witness to plenty of them over the past three months...
Hexage is the unofficial king of such Android curios, and it produced another in Reaper. What appears to be a surprisingly conventional action-RPG at first soon turns out to be a unique bite-sized arena brawler with a fresh swipe-based combat system.
Above that in second spot, however, is an even-stranger title from Aaron Steed. Ending has been beguiling Android and iOS gamers alike with its mish-mash of roguelike RPG, turn-based strategy, and abstract puzzler elements.
Down at #8, meanwhile, is rymdkapsel. This is a real-time strategy game that's been stripped back to its very essence, complete with sparse retro visuals and a rigid isometric perspective.
Qi's Top 20 Android games of Q3 2013
Methodology #1
To qualify for a Quality Index rating, a game must have received three or more reviews from the 75+ sites that feed into the Quality Indexes's databases.
Methodology #2
In the event of a 'tie', titles are separated in the first instance by number of reviews - the higher the total, the better.
Should the number of reviews also be identical, the Quality Index rating comes back into play. For while we only display the average score to one decimal place, the list is generated to further significant figures.
You can always keep up to date with the hottest-reviewed iOS and Android games at the iPhone Quality Index, iPad Quality Index, and the Android Quality Index.
