While I’m a big fan of console games, even the best mobile games so far had too many bottlenecks for me. Today I picked up the OnePlus 10T, a review unit from OnePlus, and committed to Call of Duty.
I’ve played a lot of shooters and although I’m not that good at online multiplayer games, I can always score a few kills. In comparison, before today I had never enjoyed gaming on a mobile device as much as this; it helped that I just crushed it too.
I have three major issues with console-style FPS titles on a mobile device, and judging by my current competition, I think a lot of people have the same issues.
Games on phones have control issues
The first is control. Console controllers can be clunky, but they also manage to put two dozen buttons conveniently within reach, letting you perform a plethora of actions without looking.
Mobile games depend on the screen – you know, the place you have to look to see what’s happening in the game. Mobile games expect you to block your view of everything and perform tasks just like you would with a handheld controller. You have to dance your fingers over virtual buttons, some clear and some obscure, as the game rushes at you – usually at 60 fps (frames per second) or faster.
Despite being the accepted way FPS titles are played on mobile, it never sat well with me, so the first thing I did was pair my Xbox controller with my OnePlus 10T. Today, modern Android phones and iPhones can easily recognize an Xbox or PlayStation controller, making playing with a gamepad on your phone much more accessible than ever. Many games are also built with the correct button mapping preloaded.
The OnePlus 10T responded perfectly with the Xbox sticks. I played for a few hours straight and never noticed a significant heat increase. I also got the Glacier Mat case – reportedly for good heat dissipation – and I never even felt uncomfortably warm while holding the OnePlus 10T after a long gaming session.
Call of Duty has a great gaming phone
Mine second problem is with graphics quality. Sure, console games don’t look as good as a PC game on high-end hardware, but I don’t have a great PC, so console games have always been my first choice. Based on memory, the current generation of mobile games offers what appears to be comparable visual fidelity to a PlayStation 2 or Nintendo’s GameCube.
Thank the maker for gaming phones (and check out our list of the best gaming phones money can buy). Now that gaming phones have earned a place in the market, developers have started incorporating the same graphics tuning options we’ve found on PC games for a long time. You can adjust the quality in general or tweak specific settings such as texture fidelity and drawing spacing to best suit your device’s capability.
With the OnePlus 10T, I pushed every setting to the max and played the smoothest Call of Duty Mobile games I’ve ever played, without a trace of stuttering or stumbling. Images set to Very High; frame rate set to Max. All possible checkboxes checked.
This makes a huge difference when gaming on mobile. I was able to land hits from much further away because I had a sharp, clear view of enemies in the distance. I was able to move quickly through buildings, checking corners and blind spots, thanks to the superior framerate capabilities and dual-stick controls of my Xbox controller.
Playing with the OnePlus 10T felt like real gaming
In other words, I was able to play and enjoy the game as I would on a console. I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing my fast and intuitive controls or my immersive graphics.
However, there was one last piece that really helped me win; between the cutting-edge Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, the 16GB RAM and the super-fast FiOS connection I was connected to via Wi-Fi, I just couldn’t stop the OnePlus 10T from stuttering, and that was a real confidence boost in every match.
You can see when playing Call of Duty Mobile who is playing with a competent rig and who is playing on a broken old LG phone. I would take on a small squad of fighters and patiently pick them up, aiming carefully to save ammunition, while avatars stuttered and waved in front of me. Whatever phones those people were using, they obviously couldn’t keep up and I took advantage of it.
Not only did I win at Call of Duty, I destroyed
This happened again and again. Not only did I win at Call of Duty, I destroyed the competition. I won the MVP title every time I played a ranked match. I scored 20 or more points higher than any other player. My teams always won, and usually by a huge margin of scoring.
The only times I lost, my opponents wore custom gear that was color-matched to their weapons. These were clearly experienced players and the OnePlus couldn’t give me enough technical advantage to beat them without practice.
So the OnePlus 10T does not do miracles. Despite all the benefits and differences that the custom hardware and control configuration offered, it felt just like on console when I was schooled by a more experienced player on mobile.
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