What makes a bad iOS game?

I've been playing a lot of iOS games lately. I've finally got my hands on my own shiny toy to play them on so I'm not constantly stealing the iStuffs off the other half, and have been cheerfully downloading plenty of games. Some I've paid for because I've played them before and already love them, others I've downloaded because they were free and looked interesting enough to invest some time in. I've had an awful lot of fun with it so far.

But obviously, as much fun as I've had, there have been a lot of moments of real frustration. Not a 1:1 ratio, but if I hadn't already grabbed a few games I knew I liked and was starting from scratch, it probably would be close to that, if not worse. It got me thinking about what made the good games different from the other ones, and what things I thought made the games worse and less likely to be played.

First of all, internet connection. I know you need an internet connection to buy and download apps, and that's completely logical. However, you should not need an internet connection to play a game you have already bought and/or downloaded. For example, Theme Park (EA) has this requirement. You can't even load the game up unless you are connected to the internet somehow. However, even in this day and age, people are not always going to be able to connect. This is especially true if you're travelling and don't have wi-fi or 3G access. It seems to me that forcing this - in my opinion - unnecessary element of the app will only alienate people who just want to play whenever they want.

Another thing is paying real money for additional content. Before I get anyone's back up, I have no problem with this being an extra option in a game - however, it should be exactly that. Extra option. As in, it is there if you want it, but is not required to complete portions of the game. Theme Park, I'm still looking at you. It is stated that certain things can be bought with real money if you choose. The problem, though, is that the game gives you a great number of tasks to complete - a good number of which require things that can only be readily acquired by spending your money on the "additional content". Yes, it is possible to eventually finish the tasks without doing so - but it will take hours, days, maybe weeks to accomplish something that could otherwise be done in seconds. I don't appreciate games that constantly shove their sales pitch in my face just to play basic functions in the game. (This is probably why Facebook games and I don't get along very well.)

Next: friends. This is common in Facebook games, and I've gotten used to it now (by just not playing Facebook games any more). In a game that's designed for social media, this is the norm. However, on an iOS game, where people are just as likely to be playing by themselves, this seems odd. I know I'm picking on Theme Park a lot in this post, but it bugs me that what could be a really good, fun game is ruined by these irritating problems. Theme Park also has tasks which instruct you to visit your friends' parks. Of course, these friends have to be registered with Origin, and you can invite them to join here! *Grrr* This really gets my back up. I should be able to play a game without having to nag everybody in my address book.

Moving on to my final point, which focuses on a different kind of game: RPGs. The whole point of an RPG, in my opinion, is to tell a story. It's not just about action, or puzzles, or combat. It's about the story, and how all the other elements of gameplay contribute to that. So if I start an RPG and the first three lines of dialogue have errors, or text speak, or are just plain badly written, I'm immediately jerked out of the flow of things. This may be a nitpick, but if you're making a game where the writing is going to be such an important element, please. Get. An. Editor. All the time and effort put into the rest of it will be wasted if nobody can stand to read the text.

Reading this back, it seems like a very negative post. I didn't mean to rant about the bad stuff, so I will make it up by writing a post on what makes a good iOS game. At some point. Soon-ish.