Everything you need to know about Warframe Mobile vs PC and console
- More than enough ways to customise your game
- Automatic options to make mobile gaming easier
- Fully controller friendly
If you have ever played Warframe then you know just how fast the gameplay can be, with robots bouncing off the wall and whipping out flashy skills to dispatch a host of enemies. Porting Warframe onto mobile is a tall order, and one Digital Extremes has pulled off quite well.
Make this a feast for the eyes
For a game like Warframe where there is a heavy emphasis on action, through the fast combat, multiple enemies popping out of nowhere, and all the traversal options, the UI mustn’t get in the way of things, perhaps the second most important aspect of the port. Luckily, Digital Extremes put a lot of effort into this.
For your standard touchscreen UI, the base layout itself is pretty clean, with all the needed buttons and resources like maps and health relegated to the edges, leaving plenty of space in the middle for all the slaying to be seen easily. Of course, we all have our own tastes for how we want our viewing experience to be, so you can take advantage of a pretty in-depth customisation system, allowing you to move almost every element, resize them, and even adjust the transparency if you want a proper cinematic view.
Play it your way
I presume I speak for most of us when I say I don’t always carry a controller on me, so most of my mobile gaming takes place using the touchscreen. Converting Warframes’ control scheme to touch was always going to be a tall order, even more so as this is the single most important thing to nail. No pressure.
Movement is handled by a floating joystick on the left side with aiming on the right, the tried and tested method. All your abilities are laid out at the bottom for click control, which is an advantage over PC and console as you can more easily track cooldowns, and swapping between weapons can also be done at the push of a button. Also helpful is each side of the screen has a button to fire, making it easy to dish out damage no matter the situation.
Explore the world as you travel
Another big part of Warframe is also the ability to, at the flip of a switch, become the ultimate ninja robot, flying through the air and having no limits to where you can explore. This, of course, can lead to the potential for a lot of falling off things and looking terribly uncouth in front of others, but thankfully it's pretty smooth on mobile.
The standard jumps, double jumps, crouches, and slides are done through the two buttons that live in the bottom right of the screen, and for the most part work perfectly well as you launch yourself up walls and slide into foes. I found pulling off a Bullet Jump the usual way was quite tricky, however, you get a special extra button for just this move.
Enough options to shake a stick at
No matter how hard Digital Extremes try, there is no way that they can cater to everyone with their setup, which is why we get a raft of options to tailor the experience. You are able to tinker with all the little pieces you would expect, such as aiming sensitivities and inverting the axes, if you are weird like that.Smarter people than I can get even more technical, by playing around the controller dead zones. Needless to say, if you are set on playing with just the touchscreen, there are a hundred ways you can customise everything to make it exactly what you need. And if you need a bit more of a hand, Warframe has a few aces up its sleeve.
If you are still finding everything a little too difficult to do at the same time, there are three automatic options you can use; run, melee, and fire. They do what you would expect them to, making it so you can enjoy the gameplay even with clumsy hands. It's also possible to mix and match the options, in case you want to run with help, but slow down the bow-play and aim for the head.
Plug in for the portable PC experience
For those who prefer all the creature comforts as they play, Warframe Mobile offers full controller support, turning it into a close approximation of the PC and console versions, but with the added benefit of being able to enjoy it on the go. It comes with the added benefit of making all the diving around a little easier to access, although you do lose the handy ability bar from the bottom of the screen.
You can connect any controller your mobile will allow, including PlayStation and Xbox remotes, and then set up the buttons however you like. As you might expect, you lose a lot of the accessibility options like editing the UI or the auto aids, however you don’t really need them playing in this style. If you enjoyed the original version, you won’t be missing anything.
Finally, a little word on that elephant in the room, performance. Yes, mobile does not pack the technological punch that a PC or console will, however, this port is flawless. I tried on the iPhone 13 Pro, and the budget XR version, and they both played perfectly. The XR suffered a little bit, but I could still flip around the screen like a madman in comfort.
Digital Extremes took on a tough assignment with Warzone Mobile, and they have managed it with commendable success. It is packed to the rafters with gameplay aids and a considerable amount of customizability options so you can tweak your experience to be as perfect as you would like. Controller or not, you will have an excellent time.
