5 iOS Games Worth Buying an MFi Controller For.
Mobile gaming has certainly improved by leaps and bounds over the years. Even mid-range phones are powerful enough to run games that in the past would have been tied exclusively to consoles. There are also tons of great console ports on both Android and iOS.
In games on mobile devices, everything is very good, except for the controls. Since smartphones and tablets don’t have physical buttons, the only interface is the touchscreen.
This is perfectly normal for games designed for touch or in a genre that works well with touch. Infinity Blade and Civilization VI (now, unfortunately, gone) are good examples of this.
However, there are many great games on mobile that are simply awkward to play with touch controls. This is where iOS really shines with Apple’s “MFi†or Made for iOS standard. This is a set of minimum requirements published by Apple for iOS gamepad manufacturers.
If the game and controller support the MFi standard, it will work fine. On Android, controller support is much more fragmented, with some games supporting one brand or standard, while other games supporting something else.
So which iOS games are good enough to justify buying an MFi controller? We’ve picked five great games that benefit so much from using a controller you’ll never want to come back to them.
Of course, there are games like KOTOR which are great games and support the MFi controller. However, their touch controls are so good that you get nothing from using a controller. For this reason, we have not included these games on this list.
GRID Autosport
GRID Autosport is an important mobile game for several reasons. The most striking is the graphic design of the game. This is pretty much the same game we played on consoles and PC.
While the graphical fidelity should certainly have been lowered a bit, the game definitely looks as good or better than the previous generation of home consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. An incredible feat considering it runs on a passively cooled phone or tablet …
However, playing the touch control game is a real chore. It is completely impossible to achieve the precise driving required for progress. Switch to a gamepad, however, and suddenly you’re in the right place.
While GRID can be a little pricey, it is absolutely packed with content. With 100 cars and 100 tracks, you will definitely get value for money, but without a gamepad, we don’t recommend spending money.
Get it here.
Rush Rally 3
Our second game is also a racing game, but it’s not the kind of graphical luck that GRID offers. That being said, the RR3 looks pretty awesome considering how small the developer is, and it’s probably the best rally experience on Android or iOS.
While rally racing is more technical and unforgiving than track racing in general, the RR3’s touch controls are pretty well tuned, especially with the reduced difficulty. Which means it’s a really good way to kill a few minutes on the phone while waiting at the DMV or doctor’s offices.
However, if you want to tackle some messy entertainment, an MFi controller is absolutely essential. RR3 is almost a different game, completely free from the limitations of touch controls. There are a few things that can be fun, like sliding around a corner at such a speed that you can’t believe the car won’t hit a tree anymore.
The game is also much more accessible than GRID, so you really have no excuse. Its predecessor, Rush Rally 2, is also still selling for just a dollar or two, and was also the previous king of rally on mobile. Take both with the MFi controller of your choice and you’ll be as happy as a pig in the mud. A lot, a lot of dirt.
Get it here.
Oceanhorn
The stable of classic Nintendo franchises has delighted gamers for decades. From Mario to Zelda and everything else, there is a kind of magic in the Nintendo family of games. Many developers who create games for non-Nintendo hardware have tried to copy some of these games, trying to capture what makes them special.
Oceanhorn is a shameless take on classic top-down Zelda games like A Link to the Past . It’s pretty sacred ground, but it turns out that the creators of Oceanhorn know how to do justice by creating something great in and of itself.
The game also features real industry talents such as the legendary Nobuo Uematsu. Probably best known for making much of Final Fantasy’s music. The game looks great, the gameplay is responsive and dynamic, with a beautifully working story of a boy looking for his missing father on several islands.
Oceanhorn’s touch controls are fine, but in a fantasy action game like this, you often find yourself devouring boss damage or losing your heart for just one reason other than lack of precision and feedback.
Using an MFi controller will turn you into a pro wizard and save you all the frustrations of playing this wonderful little game. This game is now also (ironically) available on Nintendo Switch, so that should tell you a thing or two about its quality.
Get it here.
Fortnite
Should Fortnite be introduced at all? Following up on the pioneer of Player Unknown’s Battleground Battle Royale, Fortnite has taken this new formula and brought a unique gameplay experience to it.
In the most popular Battle Royal mode, 100 players fall from the sky without equipment or weapons. You must find the goodies as quickly as possible, the last survivor wins! Fortnite is free to play, but it made a whopping $ 2.4 billion in 2018. These are LOTS of weapon skins.
Things really started to improve when Fortnite arrived on mobile. Predictably, the move caused major disruptions to schools as battle-hungry children struggled to survive when they should have studied history and algebra.
Having Fortnite on mobile is great, but the touch controls really leave a lot to be desired when compared to the console versions. It’s all too easy to feel expelled because of poor management and not because of lack of skill.
In early 2019, MFi controller support finally arrived in Fortnite, and now you can no longer blame the controls. There is really no other way to play other than physical control.
Get it here.
Sonic CD Classic
Even people who are not gamers are probably aware of Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega’s main mascot in the 90s, while the competition between him and Nintendo was intense. The first Sonic game on Megadrive / Genesis was a huge hit and is still a very retro-worthy experience to this day.
However, the Sonic CD that worked with the Sega CD app is quite possibly the best Sonic game ever made. With the extra space provided by CDs, the music is better, there are more diverse resources and better sound effects. It is also a great Sonic game from a purely playable point of view.
The iOS port of the game gives you a lot more options. One of the most important features is the inclusion of the original animation videos from which the lo-fi versions of the Sega CD were made.
You will also get American and Japanese soundtracks and of course, improved graphics.
If you don’t have an MFi controller, things go bad quickly. Sonic CD is a game that demands precision, and you can’t take your eyes off the screen for a second.
It’s a pretty bad formula for touch controls, and to be honest, the game loses all its fun when using touch controls. Switch to a controller, however, and you’ll be moving through time and space before you notice it.
Get it here.
A Whole New World of Games
These are just five games, lists of MFi-enabled games can be found all over the internet. Some people are better with MFi, but they work great without it. Others don’t have MFi support, but they still have it, and there are games that do require a controller to function properly.
Whatever happens to a given game, buying an MFi controller will undoubtedly open up a whole new world of gaming on the go with your smartphone or tablet, and you will never want to play games!
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5 iOS Games Worth Buying an MFi Controller For
5 iOS Games Worth Buying an MFi Controller For