[ascagnel_]

You can't compare most mobile games to "action"-y portable games like that, because a phone largely doesn't control the same way. Strategy and turn-based games tend to work better.

As far as good mobile games that provide more than a bathroom break or subway ride's worth of gameplay, off the top of my head:

* Carcassonne

* XCOM: Enemy Unknown and it's expandalone, Enemy Within

* Hearthstone

* Tomb Raider GO and Hitman GO

* Pinball Arcade

[PhasmaFelis]

It's telling that three of those five were developed for other platforms first, and ported to mobile after they became successful. In my experience, the majority of mobile games that are both decent and professional work like that: they're only ported once they've proven to be big sellers. Developing a good game specifically for mobile is a huge risk.

[robterrell]

Tomb Raider Go is a mobile-first title. It's Tomb Raider meets Monument Valley.

[PhasmaFelis]

I meant Carcassonne, XCOM, and Hearthstone. (One could make an argument for Pinball Arcade, since it uses classic tables, but I feel like the game experience is probably different enough to call it more than a straight port.)

[ascagnel_]

I would say the only one that wasn't developed mobile-first was XCOM (and it shows -- tap targets are smaller, and there's lots of scrolling text and wasted screen space). Hearthstone was developed simultaneously for iPad and PC (they share an interface; the iPhone version is somewhat cramped); Carcassonne is a board game but the iOS version [0] is an excellent rendition of the game that makes great use of the touchscreen while adding a good one-player mode.

[0]: https://carcassonneapp.com