How does Augmented Reality Improve the Play Experience in Current Augmented Reality Enhanced Smartphone Games?

This paper investigates the current state of handheld augmented reality (AR) gaming apps available on the App Store (iOS) and the Play Store (Android). To be able to directly compare the differences between games played with and without AR, only games in which the AR mode can be switched on/off were investigated. Because the main scope of this paper is on the evaluation of the experience provided by AR, parts of the game experience questionnaire (GEQ) have been included in the empirical study. It showed that AR has big potential to improve immersion or flow in the game-play. This paper also identifies differences in the implementation of AR features and investigates how and what parameter in the GEQ can be positively influenced.