The best mobile games in 2008...

Gameloft made the best mobile games in 2008, says PocketGamer.biz analysis.

Top 10 Mobile Games...
Top 10 Mobile Publishers...
Top 10 Worst Games...

Top 10 Mobile Games for 2008 (with publisher and average rating)

1 Rally Master Pro Fishlabs 9.43
2 Playman Summer Games 3 RealArcade 8.97
3 Snowboard Hero Fishlabs 8.83
3 Townsmen 5 Disney Mobile 8.83
5 Tetris Pop EA Mobile 8.77
6 Far Cry 2 Gameloft 8.67
6 Peggle PopCap Games 8.67
8 Soul of Darkness Gameloft 8.65
9 Castle of Magic Gameloft 8.62
10 Tower Bloxx Deluxe Digital Chocolate 8.60

Top 10 Mobile Games Publishers for 2008 (with average rating)

1 Gameloft 7.95
2 EA Mobile 7.68
3 RealArcade 7.63
4 Digital Chocolate 7.60
5 I-play 7.52
6 Player One 7.47
7 Glu Mobile 7.43
8 HandyGames 7.41
9 Disney Mobile 7.40
10 Vivendi Games Mobile 7.17

Bottom Mobile Games for 2008 (with publisher and average rating)

186 The Chronicles of Narnia Disney Mobile 5.83
187 Wanted I-play 5.70
188 The Incredible Hulk Hands-On Mobile 5.53
189 Rambo Forever In-Fusio 5.50
190 Iron Man Hands-On Mobile 4.13

Gameloft has emerged as the best mobile games publisher in 2008 in terms of game quality, according to research conducted by industry website PocketGamer.biz.

Its PocketGamer.biz Quality Index tracks review scores across the most popular mobile games websites, and found that Gameloft scored an average of 7.95 out of 10 from 145 reviews of its titles. EA Mobile took second place with an average of 7.68 from 102 reviews, with RealArcade, Digital Chocolate and I-play making up the rest of the top five publishers.

The Quality Index also tracked the best and worst mobile games of 2008 using the same data. The best game of the year was Rally Master Pro by Fishlabs, which scored an average of 9.43 out of 10 in reviews.

Other top titles included Playman Summer Games 3 by RealArcade, Snowboard Hero by Fishlabs, Townsmen 5 by Disney Mobile, and Tetris Pop by EA Mobile. The top publisher and games charts are in full at the bottom of this press release

“Mobile games have received a bad press for their quality, but our research shows there were plenty of excellent titles available in 2008,” says Stuart Dredge, editor of PocketGamer.biz. “Gameloft’s high average score shows the company’s commitment to quality, but it’s just as encouraging to see the high average ratings of other publishers too. Anyone who’s cynical about mobile games should give some of the top titles in our chart a try – they might just change their minds!”

However, the mobile games industry continues to suffer from poor-quality branded titles, with the bottom five games in the Quality Index for 2008 all being movie licences.

“Many mobile users are cautious about paying for games, because they worry they’ll be wasting their money,” says Dredge. “It’s a shame that publishers are still making poor-quality branded games, and that operators are still promoting them. The industry needs more repeat purchases from consumers, and disappointing games won’t help.”

The PocketGamer.biz Quality Index tracks reviews of Java and BREW mobile games only – it doesn’t cover iPhone, N-Gage or Android titles. Sites tracked include Pocket Gamer, IGN Wireless, AirGamer, Mobile Game FAQs, Handy-Player, JeuxPo and MobileXP.