Rarely does a game come along that leaves me totally addicted on my iPhone. While anxiously waiting for new levels on Angry Birds, another bird game caught my eye and now is ruling all of my spare time. Word of warning, if you are not interested in being completely addicted and enthralled with a game, do not purchase Tiny Wings. If you are interested in a super fun and crazy way to pass the time, read on and purchase immediately.
You have always dreamed of flying – but your wings are tiny. Luckily the world is full of beautiful hills. Use the hills as jumps – slide down, flap your wings and fly! At least for a moment – until this annoying gravity brings you back down to earth. But the next hill is waiting for you already. Watch out for the night and fly as fast as you can. Otherwise flying will only be a dream once again.
As you can see in the screen shots, this poor bird’s wings are just tiny and are not strong enough to lift his little body and fly. To fulfill the dream of flying it is the player’s job to use the hills to launch the bird into the air. The controls are simple. Touch the screen and the bird folds his tiny wings and will fall to the earth. The bird will also slide quickly down a hill gaining speed to launch up the next hill. Do not be fooled by the simplicity of the controls as timing will be essential to get the bird into the clouds.
Your bird can only fly while the sun is up and the day begins as the sun rises. Help the bird fly and visit new islands. Each island will present a more difficult landscape of hills to stay air born. As your bird flies, you must time the jumps by folding his wings and sliding on the downside of the hills and lift your finger to launch up the other side. The game reminds me of playing a motocross game, where ultimate speed is built up when the rider accelerates down to gain height to avoid others. Bonuses are earned by collecting suns along the way, entering into the clouds, perfect launches and entering fever mode. When a hill is timed just right, the bird will look to explode and will pick up speed and height. There are also blue speed balls along the way that will shoot he bird quickly up the next hill and can save you when your timing gets off.
Speed is the answer for the bird flying from island to island since the night is quickly approaching. If night falls, your bird will instantly go to sleep and the game will be over. On the bottom left of the screen is a dial that shows the remaining amount of sunlight. The faster you go, the longer the moon will be held off thus meaning a much higher score. To make the game even more interesting, three tasks are assigned that result in leveling up the bird nest and raising the score multiplier. The tasks keep the game from being monotonous and varies the game play. For example, one level players reach the 5th island while playing the game upside down. It was actually quite challenging. I have included my latest high score which was achieved this morning in the screen shot below.
I have had a week of sheer enjoyment with Tiny Wings. It is refreshing to see a game with cute, but simple graphics and one touch controls be so enjoyable. For now, I am totally hooked as are some of my athletes and students at school. Luckily, I am the king of the mountain for both nest level ups and high scores so far. If you want to be addicted to a cute little bird who just wants to fly, check out Tiny Wings here in the app store for $.99.
What I like: Simple controls, yet truly addicting. I love this game!
What could be improved: GameCenter!!! Come on, I want to compare my scores to everyone else!