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5 mobile games better than their awful console counterparts

Console games are dead, long live mobile

5 mobile games better than their awful console counterparts
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iOS
| Lara Croft GO

I don't know about you, but I'm so sick of console games just being bad spin offs of brilliant, bespoke mobile games.

I mean, look at Call of Duty: Black Ops 3: it's just a carbon copy of the great Glu title Call of Duty: Black Ops Mobile. Uncharted 4? A frankly terrible twist on the classic card game Uncharted: Fight for Fortune.

And I can't believe they ported Tomb Raider 1 over to PS1 from its far more enjoyable – and graphically impressive – App Store origins.

These aren't the only examples of terrible console ports, spin-offs, and casual-focused cash-ins, either. Let's take a look at five mobile games that are better than their console counterparts.

Hitman GO
By Square Enix - buy on iPhone and iPad
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The reason Hitman GO is so awesome is because you can tell its bald headed protagonist to GO anywhere.

GO here, Mr Hitman. Now GO there. That's it! Run along you little scamp.

Hitman GO is closer to a game of chess than to its console brethren. You swipe to move between guards, taking them out if necessary. And this is far better than the predictable dullness of Hitman: Blood Money and its ilk.

Worse, Hitman: Absolution was an unashamed cash-in. The developer clearly sees Agent 47 as nothing more than a money making cash cow – the barcode on his head says it all.

Halo: Spartan Strike
By Microsoft Corporation - buy on iPhone and iPad
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"THIS. IS. SPARTA!", shouts the opening line of this mobile classic.

Well, there's no such speech to be found in the far less exciting console adaptations. Instead they're just about shooting aliens or something? I don't know. I switched off when I heard that, unlike Spartan Strike, they didn't feature any centurion laden Greek-Persian war, nor Master Chief getting a perfect score in 10 pin bowling.

In all seriousness, this twin stick shooter is an excellent mobile addition to the series, with all your favourite Covenant enemies and weapons from the mainline games.

Just no ancient swords or those sweaty, ill-fitting, slippery-as-a-banana-skin-on-ice shoes.

Fallout Shelter
By Bethesda - buy on iPhone and iPad
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Now, I'll be honest here: I don't like the console Fallout series, so Fallout Shelter – which is less open world RPG, more building management sim – is far better suited to my tastes.

But it's also a superior game: instead of bugs, glitches, and character models ripped straight from my year nine art book, you get the best bit of the Fallout games – the Vault Boy art – as well as random events like cockroach infestations, and exciting collectible card packs.

Even better, there are amusing character names like 'Jerry Bush' and 'Preston Gravy'.

(It's actually Preston Garvey, but I love the idea of the most Lancashire man ever being stranded in post-apocalyptic America without his beloved meat sauce.)

Lara Croft GO
By Square Enix - buy on iPhone and iPad
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After the success of Hitman GO, Square Enix decided to give Lara Croft a similar mobile makeover, condensing Tomb Raider down to its very essence, with a puzzle game twist and a beautiful art style to boot.

You'll climb rock faces, stab crocodiles, and get bitten by snakes, and unlike 2013's Tomb Raider console reboot, you'll enjoy it!

Plus, there's no annoying voice acting, no pesky camp fires to light, no Nathan Drake-level good fortune in surviving, and no idiotic moment where Lara turns from downtrodden shipwreck left-behind to vengeful killing machine quicker than I can say 'VIDEOGAMES'.

Instead it's simply nice music and some well thought out puzzles to give your problem-solving brain some practice and your chin-stroking muscles a stretch. Lovely.

Rayman Fiesta Run
By Ubisoft - buy on iPhone and iPad
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One thing you must know about me, dear reader, is that I am unendingly lazy. I mean, I'm not even writing this right now – my monkey servant is typing it for me while I lie on my bed trying to muster the energy and motivation to boot up Fallout Shelter again.

It's for this reason, then, that Rayman Fiesta Run is probably my favourite mobile game.

It's more beautiful than its console cousins Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends – and its platforming is even tighter, but best of all, you only tap when you need to jump.

Naturally, an autorunner is my perfect game: it plays itself, leaving me to fall asleep for the fifth time today, and freeing up Mojo here to go and fetch me more grapes.

Oscar Dayus
Oscar Dayus
Oscar grew up playing games in the 90s, and as such can't help but jump on any sort of moving platform. He hasn't yet perfected the art of double-jumping in real life, though, so has now turned to writing instead.