Tiny Wings: Charming game soars up App Store chart
iTunes has another hit game starring a bird, but this one isn’t so angry. Check out ‘Tiny Wings,’ a 99-cent game for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad.
The No. 1 paid app is now Tiny Wings, a charming game about a feathered friend who vows to soar to new islands before bedtime.
Amazingly, while the arcade game is quite challenging and very gratifying, it’s all controlled with one finger press, anywhere on the screen.
Tiny Wings tells of a young bird with wee wings, making it difficult to fly long distances. Because you need to visit a number of islands before the sun sets causing the little birdie to fall asleep you must take advantage of the rolling hills on the ground to propel you into the sky. That is, by pressing on the screen at the correct time, which closes your bird’s wings, you can swoosh down and gain momentum on the back way up.
Perform three successful dips and you’ll enter “fever mode” to collect bonus points, as well as gain more height to perhaps receive a cloud bonus and scoop up more power-ups, or speed bursts, and coins.
It sounds easy, but timing is critical.
Players will get three objectives to each “nest,” such as gain 60,000 points in one day, perform a big slide the moment you touch down on a new island or reach the seventh island before nightfall. One goal is to even play the game by holding the iPad upside down! Once you accomplish these increasingly challenging objectives you’ll get three more on the next nest.
At the end of each day, you’ll see all your stats, including the number of perfect slides and cloud touches, longest “fever mode,” coins collected and what island you reached.
Adding to the charming visuals are “procedurally generated graphics,” therefore the layout of each island changes each time you play. The catchy and jazzy soundtrack also complements the colourful look of the game.
While OpenFeint support adds 27 achievements to unlock, Tiny Wings doesn’t include GameCenter integration, therefore you can’t share game info with friends but it’s coming in a future update, says developer Andreas Illiger.
Easy to pick up but impossible to put down, Tiny Wings is a gaming delight for owners of the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone.
