ARK Survival Evolved may be one of the greatest survival games the gaming world has conceived. After all, I’m willing to bet that you can’t name any other game where you can ride dinosaurs, lead an army of other dinosaurs, and charge into battle with your friends and your personal pack of Allosaurus!
Fortunately, you can now bring the wonders of ARK survival evolved to mobile. Well, at least to powerful mobile devices.
What Makes ARK Survival Evolved Different Across Platforms
Unfortunately, ARK Survival Evolved mobile is not a cross-platform of the original. It’s not even a direct port, so don’t expect that you can tame DLC monsters real soon. Yep. As frustrating as it sounds, you can’t roam the oceans atop a Megachelon for now.
On the bright side, ARK Survival evolved is entirely free to download and play. As long as your phone is powerful enough, you can play ARK on the go and enjoy grinding, foraging, and building your base. Unexpectedly, this format of gameplay works well on mobile because you can grind at your leisure.
Different Control Schemes
Of course, the controls have to be tweaked A LOT in order to make it fit into the limited space of your mobile screen. Thus, you no longer have to master an entire book of hotkeys to enjoy the game. The downside is you’ll get a semi-clunky mobile UI, but it is nevertheless a functional UI for a game with so many functionalities.
Unfortunately, some of the control functionalities can get quirky at times. For instance, you’ll often find yourself wrestling with the building snapping system. It can get frustratingly tough to build structures exactly the way you want them.
Different Gaming Cultures, Mechanics, and Tames
Because the mobile edition of ARK is free to download and play, it is not surprising that it has tons of IAPs and pay-to-win aspects. Specifically, the Eerie Turret is an annoying premium ARKetype with unlimited bullets. It effectively removes the need to grind resources as long as you purchase the turret.
The game also has tons of casual players who jump straight into the multiplayer servers of the game without even going through the single-player mode. Hence, we suggest that you steer clear of the game if you are one of those toxic players who badmouth newbies.
Review of ARK mobile and the ARK on PC and console:
• Similar taming mechanics – the taming mechanics still works the same with saddle, torpor, and other stuff. However, early game taming can be easier in the mobile version, thanks to the fact that some predators will ignore you if you’re standing on a rock. Somehow, the predators in the mobile version are less aggressive, so it’s relatively easy to avoid fights even if you are not riding a flyer.
• No Mods on the mobile version
• Diminished render distance – phones can only handle so much load. Thus, the render distance in Ark has been severely reduced. Though you can still see mountains and distinct terrain features from far away, don’t expect that you can take panoramic photos in the mobile version anytime soon.
• The mobile version is capped at 30 FPS
• As of this writing, you can’t see the lineage of your tames. If you want to min-max your tames, prepare for your head to ache.
• Some tame skills are not on mobile. For instance, the Doedicurus is missing the roll charge ability.
• No DLC Creatures – at the time of writing, you can only explore the Island. Thus, you can only tame and interact with the base game creatures.
• No heavy turrets – there are no heavy turrets on mobile, but the normal turrets are more powerful.
• No TEK Engrams
The Doedicurus is missing its roll charge ability on mobile, making it less viable for combat uses.
In a nutshell, ARK mobile is still ARK. It has the same dynamics. It has the same gameplay. It almost the same mechanics. Unfortunately, it is also a metric used for the bugginess of a game, just like its PC counterpart. That being said, it is not equally fun as the original ARK, but you can play it on mobile no matter where you are. It’s a perfect way to have a glimpse of how ARK works without shelling out some cash. You can also take advantage of the ARK Mobile Unblocked version to play the mobile edition directly on your PC.
