FF: Tiny Wings Rules The Roost

I take pride in the fact that I stayed away from the virtual crack that is Angry Birds. Don't get me wrong: I took a hit from the Rovio Mobile crackpipe. But the game never did its thing for me like it did 50 million other people. Now I see the damned shirts & plushies in Hot Topic, hear talk of it getting its own TV show, and Mattel is working on making a board game version of it. Did you read that? A board game version of an iPhone app.

Last week, though, a little bird told me that there was a new feathered friend on the App Store. Tiny Wings is a story of a little bird who has always dreamed of flying, but has tiny wings (Titular Line!) that prevent him from doing so. But on the islands this unnamed dreamer wanders on, there are beautiful and colorful hills you can use to help the little guy "fly", or as a famous Space Ranger would say "...Falling with style".

The game is ridiculously easy, but addictive like all good apps. You simply touch the screen to bring in your wings and let go to flap. The objective is to slide down hills to build up speed, and flap as you go up and over them, all while racing the setting sun. As soon as night falls, your bird gets sleepy and knocks out after a vigorous day of gliding. That's it. There's no YOU SUCK screen to make you feel stupid, which just adds to the games light tone. The game features procedural generated graphics, so every time you fire up the game, it looks different every time. It runs at a smooth 60fps, even on older iDevices. The islands are gorgeous and are rendered to look watercolor-esque. The music is really great too. With all this, it's really easy to lose yourself in the kinetic motion of your flyer.

There's a small objectives and rewards system. The rewards aren't huge, but they're enough to keep you invested in the game. The objectives aren't nightmarish either. Small little milestones that inch you closer to a new nest. The more goals accomplished, the bigger your score multiplier, and the more "extravagant" you nest is.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to anyone's iPhone Games folder. For 99c, you get hours of endless gameplay. Go download it now!

Still not convinced? I'm gifting one copy of Small Wings to a random commenter below. Just comment using a registered Blogger or Google account (sorry Anon), and you'll automatically be entered. Winner will be announced here on 3/5/11 at noon. Good luck!