February 26, 2011

Here I am reviewing a new super-hit iPhone game “Tiny Wings” (merely $0.99). Also my vegan hen-loving pal from New Zealand drops by to contribute his take on this game.

The game is very simple and one finger is enough – you just have to touch the screen in any place at appropriate time, particularly then when little birdie is going downwards – which accelerates it:

The game time is “from sunrise to sunset” so at the beginning you start at sunrise:

While playing you gather food and other items:

… and since you are little birdie with tiny wings (Tiny Wings = name of the game) you can’t fly on your own but only if you accelerate on hills:

When you complete one level, then you jump to the next island:

All in all it’s a nice and simple game:

It is worth noting that levels are not designed “in stone” but are fluid and changing each time you play again – it’s kind of procedural environment.

Below another take on Tiny Wings game from my vegan pal from New Zealand!

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Tiny Wings really shows the potential of modern Smartphone games, its simple, very high quality, and fun to play. A single button is all that’s needed, anything else would be superfluous. What would  a SECOND button even do? So many of these “side scrolling games” have taken iOS gaming by storm, all are interchangeable, you jump with this button, you “shoot” with that button. Robot Unicorn Attack, Monster Dash, Hell Kid, I’m talking about you!

The weirdest part is that I really do care about the character. A bird (“she”, I assume, looks like a gentle Hen), who wants to fly, yet cannot due to having, as the title suggests, “Tiny Wings.” You help “her” tuck her wings in tight to gather speed, to be “heavy”, and release to be “light”, to soar over hills. It’s simple, cute and FUN.

Perhaps what I like best is that there’s actually no violence involved. There are no spikes, no fire pits, no walls, no zombies, nobody dies. You “lose” when it’s night time, bed time for this little “Hen!”

If I had anything negative to say about Tiny Wings, it’s that the main character must surely be lonely. She dreams of flying all her life, and spends each and every day sliding down and flying up from hills, from island to island, before instantly falling asleep on her nest come nightfall?

Perhaps rather than a “nest” being upgraded, she could be offered friends, perhaps other birds and insects who are quite capable of flight. Then she would be the one friend with “Tiny Wings”, who wants to fly alongside her friends. They’d fly at the top of the screen, and as you gained achievements, there’d soon be a small flock, who each gave a particular bonus.

Perhaps this is the screenplay for a future Pixar movie!?

I would suggest reading/listening to an audio version of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull to anyone who enjoys Tiny Wings, it was one of Michael Jackson’s favourite books, it’s one of mine, and it shares the spirit of adventure with Tiny Wings, a great game, with a heart warming tale, a flightless bird who’d like to fly!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull

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To get this game for super-cheap $0.99, tap here: Tiny Wings for iPhone.

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