Thursday, April 05, 2012

Tiny Wings (iOS)

When I first wrote about getting an iPad 3, Scott Gould sent me this note about "Tiny Wings":
It is the shining pinnacle of mobile game design.

As it turns out, he was right.

First, here's a screenshot (thanks, Technabob):


Gameplay is extraordinarily simple. You gain momentum by pressing the screen when your little bird is going down, but you must time it so that you slide down the hills smoothly--otherwise, your momentum is broken and you lose most of your speed.

It feels like surfing or skiing, to a degree. And the sensation of speed is quite exhilarating.

The game begins at sunrise, and lasts until the sun sets. Every time you clear an island (when I say "clear an island", Dragon Naturally Speaking keeps thinking I'm saying "Nuclear Nylund"), the clock turns back just a bit.

The visuals are extraordinarily charming, the music sounds like an inspired mash-up of Orisinal and Vince Guaraldi, and it's just tremendously fun. I play every day for at least a few minutes, and Eli plays as well.

There's no iPad-specific version, but it looks just fine at 2X, so if you have any iOS-capable device, I'd highly recommend checking it out.

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