Yes, they are not within the power of every device.
Gone are the days when the most impressive achievement of a mobile phone was the launch of the Snake. Today’s powerful smartphones are capable of outperforming the humble desktop and can handle – albeit with varying success – highly demanding games.
But what does the current “upper bar” of graphics look like in mobile games? We decided to make a selection of projects that could become the same test for smartphone hardware as once Crysis for PC. Please note that the order of the games in the text is random, and within the framework of this topic, we do not pay much attention to gameplay, monetization, and other important aspects. We are only interested in one thing: how does it look?
Call of Duty: Mobile
When switching to mobile platforms, one of the most famous and well-deserved military shooters of our time could not help but suffer: picture Call of Duty: Mobile noticeably different from the “older” brothers. At the same time, you can recognize Call of Duty in it at a glance: all interface features, icons, fonts, maps and models are reproduced with maximum accuracy. Also, the game is successfully adapted for touch control and even – in theory – can support gamepads, although this feature is disabled due to an obvious imbalance in efficiency.
Out of sympathy for the owners of outdated iPhones and not the most powerful Android devices, the graphics of Call of Duty: Mobile can be switched between three modes: from “economical” to “realistic”. If you choose the latter and tinker with the anti-aliasing, depth of field and shadow settings in real time, the picture will come out surprisingly good. But, of course, you will have to pay for beauty with “brakes” and overheating of the smartphone.
Need for Speed No Limits
Need for Speed No Limits – another representative of the legendary gaming series, which has successfully moved to mobile phones and if it has lost something, it is only in comparison with the fresh parts. But early NFS and even some remasters of the first releases, the portable No Limits can also give a head start: here there is a system of reflections, and weather effects, and depth of field, and convincing headlights.
Of course, the developers are recklessly cunning: the vicinity of the tracks is covered with fog, and the blur smooths out other roughness. But at full speed, you still don’t pay attention to the details of time. But even not the most powerful smartphone is capable of launching the game – and if something spoils the impression of city races, then certainly not their appearance.
Shadowgun legends
Shadowgun and Shadowgun deadzoneissued by Madfinger Games, brought the studio a lot of awards and accolades. So it didn’t surprise anyone that a few years after their release, the developers presented Shadowgun legends Is a mobile sequel to the famous first-person shooters.
In Shadowgun Legends, players can go through a storyline campaign of two hundred missions and take part in all major game modes, including duels, arenas, and dungeons. You can dress your hero in the obtained equipment, and if you don’t like its appearance, then cosmetic suits and weapon skins will help.
In 2019, Shadowgun Legends won the award Google Play Awards as the most beautiful game. Well deserved.
Asphalt 9: Legends
Series Asphalt Is one of the oldest mobile races. The first one, Asphalt Urban GT, came out back in 2004 and worked in Java and Symbian, if anyone remembers what it is. So we can safely say that in the field of graphics for mobile phones of the company Gameloft experience, and she proves it over and over again. Although the main advantages of the most recent part of the series, “Asphalt 9: Legends“, Refer to the gameplay, it looks quite modern and even – in some places – luxurious.
The secret is simple: the developers go beyond the usual city tracks, sending players to the brightest and most exotic places, full of rich colors and impressive visual effects. And if you pay more attention not to natural beauty, but to cars, then you will not be disappointed either: they are all licensed and executed with the utmost care.
Unkilled
Zombie shooter Unkilled does not stand out either by the plot (it is banal and boring), or by the requirements for tactical thinking, or by humane monetization (the hero runs out of energy, and that says it all). But its creators, a Czech studio Madfinger Games, they assure that this is the most beautiful game about zombies – and, if we take only mobile projects, they are not so disingenuous, because they have become very adept at Dead trigger and Shadowgun…
Unkilled is not particularly demanding on hardware, and the reasons for this are easy to see in nondescript interiors, awkward animations and bold use of blur. But the city views look great, and this is complemented by skillful lighting and good special effects.
Black desert mobile
Black desert may reasonably be considered the most beautiful MMORPG on the PC – and its main advantages have migrated to the mobile version, including an incredibly advanced character editor that allows you to create both fabulous beauties and fantastic freaks.
Designers Black desert mobile made a bet on realism, but this applies, of course, mainly to Mediterranean-style locations and some non-player characters: merchants and peasants look very authentic. But all this “truth of life” is diluted with the most blatant Korean fiction – which, however, adds an exotic brightness to the dull medieval routine.
For beauty, however, you have to pay: players with weak smartphones have nothing to think about Black Desert.
Vainglory
Story Vainglory turned out to be difficult: its premiere took place back in 2014, and the game once became the first eSports discipline for smartphones. In 2019, the studio Super Evil Megacorp transferred the rights to the game to the publisher Rogue Games… However, less than a year later, she decided to refuse to support the project: she had to spend too much on the maintenance of servers, and the announcement Vainglory All Stars, games of the daughter studio Bazooka Tango, frightened by unexpected competition.
Super Evil Megacorp thus became the developer and publisher of its old title again. And at first she reacted to the issue with all conscientiousness: she promised to restore all functions lost due to the closure of servers, improve the graphics, add private servers and give the game a long life. During the rework, the developers even disabled all microtransactions: they considered it unfair to take money for an unfinished game.
Within a few months it became clear that the planned volume of the studio’s work was beyond its capacity. And they decided to mothball the project: Vainglory is still available on iOS and Android, but no updates, fixes or additions threaten it. The team switched to a new MOBA, Vainglory All Stars, although it looks much simpler than its unfortunate predecessor.
Mortal kombat x
In 2011 the company NetherRealm Studios decided to restart the cult series Mortal kombat… And in 2015, she made another revolution: the newest Mortal kombat x came out not only on traditional platforms, but also on mobile devices. The “portable” version, of course, differs from the usual fighting games: it has strong role-playing elements, battles are held in 3×3 format, the controls are simplified to the limit, and at first mostly “beginners” were available from the roster of fighters. But over time, the game continued to evolve – until after the release Mortal kombat 11 her characters were added to Mortal Kombat Mobile.
Mortal Kombat Mobile currently has over 130 well-rendered characters fighting in superbly executed arenas. The game can be launched on relatively weak devices, but a powerful smartphone allows you to see it in all its glory: at maximum settings, it is not much inferior to the same console versions, and spectacular fatalities are impressive even in a “pocket” format.
Darkness rises
Darkness risesreleased in 2018 by NEXONhas been called the best mobile online RPG on the market by some players and critics. Others, however, are much more skeptical, noting bugs, crashes, imbalances, obsessive monetization, and other delights of free mobile titles. But they both agree on the main thing: this is one of the most beautiful projects on iOS and Android.
The game begins to amaze with its graphic achievements already at the stage of character creation. The editor, of course, does not compare with what Black Desert offers, but the ability to construct a hero from scratch, choosing colors from a palette, is not so common even on “large” platforms. And a recent special event showed that characters look quite organic in the game world. For Honor – of course, with a discount on the fact that the game can be played by rather modest smartphones.
Genshin impact
And, of course, how could it be without Genshin impact – the “freshest”, the most popular and profitable at the moment and, what is already there, the most “voracious”. Although at first glance it may seem that there is nothing special to strain all kinds of pieces of iron: the world, although open, is decorated in a stylized cartoon style, and the characters do not seek to change their clothes at every step. Yes, the variety of elemental effects is impressive, as is the entire combat system with instant character change, but can’t they alone be the reason that not every novelty on the mobile market will cope with the game?
You can, of course, blame Genshin Impact for the lack of optimization – especially since its “large” versions do not fly far either. But this may well change over time. In the meantime, we have to admit that there are practically no other games of this kind on mobile devices. After all, where else can you admire the lights of fireflies on an endless field, jump with a glider from the highest tower, looking at the roads and camps flashing under your wing, run along the old city pavement, climb into fantastic dungeons – and all this is not alone, but with friends !
Of course, a beautiful picture is not at all a guarantee of the success of the game, and the very concept of beauty for many is different. Take at least Into the Dead 2, which many consider beautiful, although it leaves mainly due to the atmosphere. Or The walking deadwhich relies on comic book styling. Or The silent age, which is completely two-dimensional – they are all ranked among the best in the field of graphics.
But games that flaunt all the virtues of a traditional three-dimensional picture with a bias towards realism are no less important. After all, who, if not them, will serve as an excuse for buying a powerful smartphone – at least in front of yourself?
