It's easy to take our interactions with smartphones for granted. Every day we pick up our phones to tap, poke, swipe, and maybe even occasionally press some physical buttons. But I think over time, we've reached a point where we don't think about these interactions anymore, and most of the time, it's become muscle memory. Although we don't think about it much, when we press a power or volume button, we're met with feedback, which can feel satisfying in its own insignificant way. The button travels a short distance until it bottoms out, producing a satisfying tactile response usually accompanied by an audible click. This is extremely difficult to emulate, and we know some of the best companies have tried. HTC made an attempt with the U12 Plus, and Apple also tried with its iPhone 7, which featured a faux home button.

While the previous examples might not have offered the best experiences when compared to real buttons, they did shed light on the unique ways haptics could be implemented. For the most part, smart manufacturers and software developers have taken advantage of these haptics to provide feedback or to help accentuate a user's experience. Android and iOS devices are all a little different, but most smartphones usually offer some haptic responses to our actions. A great example is when you start typing out a message using the onscreen keyboard, as it will usually react with small vibrations letting users know that a letter has been tapped.

While these responses are great, and we've felt them for years, I never really thought they could be taken further. However, recently I experienced a small sample of the potential, and it was in the last place I expected.

Let the games begin

I'm the type of person that uses my smartphone more as a tool for my everyday life. Unlike my colleagues, I rarely do deep dives into all the functions to expose all the small intricacies. That said, about a month ago, I decided to try out Marvel Snap, seeing as there was an overwhelming number of people gushing about it online. I'm not much of a gamer, so I didn't have any expectations hopping in. But I was surprised, both by the gameplay and by how it provides responses to that gameplay.

While Marvel Snap is touted as a collectible card game, it's more of a card battler that encourages you to play to get more cards. What makes it so addicting is that the battles are relatively fast-paced, taking at most three minutes from start to finish. Players can customize their 12-card decks, with most having unique abilities. In the beginning, you'll only have access to a few cards, but the more you play, the more you'll earn. That's where some of the fun lies, trying to add to your collection with some of the Marvel characters you know and love. As you might expect, the game includes fan favorites like Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Thor, while also including more obscure characters like the Infininaut, Swarm, Zabu, and many others.

It's easy to slap a character on a card and call it a day, especially regarding Marvel's popularity, but when you pay close attention to Marvel Snap, you realize that the cards themselves have no character. Yes, there is a physical character on each card, but they're mostly static pieces. So how do you bring excitement and life to these cards?

The execution here is quite smart. Developer Second Dinner features different graphical effects, sounds, and haptics that interact with the card and sometimes the playing field whenever it is played. Superbly crafted sounds are paired with each effect or animation, bolstering the effects and creating a spectacular, dynamic experience. For example, if you decide to throw down Hulk, you get a visceral yell of "Hulk Smash" followed by the card flying into the air before it smashes down on the playing field, obliterating the section and causing cracks and crevices that emit a neon green glow. It's all a bit tough to explain, but you can get a feel for what I'm describing by checking out the short trailer below.

However, the haptics are what truly set the apart from many other mobile experiences. It was nuanced but always present, and I'd only noticed how vital it was once I started really paying attention. I'd press the "Play" button and there'd be a sharp but gentle tap created from the miniature motor in my phone. Then, it would rumble again when I was launching into a game. It would build into an expressive and distinct pop, or there would be a thunderous boom when a card slammed down onto the playing field, or you could feel a blade slicing through a card to eliminate it. Every time there's feedback, you can really feel the weight of each move and how there's purpose behind it. These vibrations were created in order to instill distinct and memorable interactions within the game.

The best example of this kind of moment came when Nakia hurled her Ring Blades for the first time. As they traveled, I could feel the weapon really moving, the ring bursting with energy and pulsating as it passed through each card. When the hurl was complete, the vibrations stopped. Another one is with Killmonger, who unleashes a guttural roar before spear tips fly out, stabbing affected cards on the playing field. You can feel each of these spear tips hit your cards, and before you know it, your cards disappear, exploding into dust.

The haptics execution in Marvel Snap is meticulous

Marvel Snap has taken haptics and created feeling behind actions, giving movement on the screen life and filling every interaction with purpose. While haptics in console games are quite common, it hasn't translated to games on mobile devices too much, despite mobile games being immensely popular. I was intrigued by what Marvel Snap offered and looked for other games that might have this level of feedback. Although I downloaded a dozen or so of the most popular games out on mobile, to my surprise, the haptics were lacking, or for the most part, non-existent.

When playing Clash Royale, moving characters to the playing field felt flat and boring, and I thought racing cars and shifting gears in CSR Racing 2 would feel thrilling, but it didn't feel like much of anything. Even FPS heavyweight Call of Duty Mobile, a game where I'm sure I used to "feel" the recoil of guns when playing, didn't use haptics. I even looked over the settings in some of these games to ensure that haptics wasn't disabled, and for most games that I tested, this wasn't even an option. It shows just how important something like this can be once you've experienced it. If you have suggestions for games that have haptics, let us know in the comments below. I'd love to feel how developers incorporate this into their games.

I never thought I'd experience something so refreshing on mobile after all these years, and surprisingly, it came from a game of all places. It makes me want to discover more of this, whether it's from other mobile games or maybe just native parts of Android and iOS. With the mobile industry having plateaued for quite some time and rumors that some phones might be moving away from physical buttons, it could become the perfect storm for companies to revisit and focus on haptics in an attempt to enhance and elevate the experience.