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Is mobile gaming just about empty experiences? An unbiased answer from an owner of a Vita, 3DS, and iOS device.

Phone gaming has become synonymous with casual fluff like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. I’m not saying they are bad games. In fact, they are pretty ideal for killing 5 or 10 minutes of time. Launching birds at pigs does have its initial novelty, as does swiping fruit like some kind of crazed, lunatic chef. Also, both games play rather well with the strengths and limitations of any touch screen device. However, there are titles that go beyond being mindless entertainment. Some even rival, and surpass, the innovation found on traditional handheld gaming devices. Most of these gems are usually some kind of puzzler, platformer, or adventure game. The touch screen services these genres rather well. As for big budget shooters and action-adventure titles, I doubt you’ll see anything comparable to Uncharted Golden Abyss or Resident Evil Revelations for a long time…if ever! Those are genres that just work much better with analog sticks and traditional button layouts. Also, iOS or Android gamers won’t shell out $30-$40 for any of these titles…at least not now. Fortunately, I have both a Vita and a 3DS for these kinds of games. I keep my iOS device for those rarities you won’t find on either Sony’s or Nintendo’s portable platforms. Now, the following list isn’t my top 10 of all time. I left out games like Ghost Trick, which is superior to the DS version, and World of Goo (a PC/Wii game) because they are ports. I wanted to focus more on titles only available on mobile devices.

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