Even though we spend £5-6 on a cinema ticket or £10 pre-ordering a CD we've not heard before, buying that 59p app always seems like such a financial risk. But 'Tiny Wings' is well worth the money.The game - like so many on the Apple App Store at the moment - is very simple. Touch the screen to gather speed by folding your wings, and let go of the screen to flap your wings and fly. While it does sound basic, usually the games that require the least amount of brainpower are also the most popular (at the time of writing, 'Tiny Wing's is number 1 on the UK App Store 'Top Paid' list).
In 'Tiny Wings', the main goal of the game is to fly as far as you can, going from island to island, before night-time catches up with you. There are various power-ups to help you out - golden coins give you extra points and blue coins boost your speed. By sliding down hills perfectly you can also enter 'frenzy mode', where you'll go faster and earn more points in the process. There's not much else to it and, while it sounds a little complicated, you'll have mastered the controls before you've even finished your first game.
'Tiny Wings' also has objectives you can complete as you go along, adding more to the game to slow down how quickly you'll eventually getting bored of it. These appear in groups of three and completing each group allows you to upgrade your birds nest. The better your birds nest, the more points you earn ingame. The objectives are also quite varied for such a simple game, with challenges like 'Reach the 4th island without any 'great slides'' or 'Touch the clouds 5 times on the 5th island'.
However, it's not just the app's gameplay that draws you in - 'Tiny Wings' is full of charm. The game's hand-drawn-style graphics look great on the iDevice 4th gen's Retina screen. Even the little things like the way the bird disappears into the clouds are amazing to look at. The squawks and chirps the bird makes as it flies through the air are also great. Even though you don't know why it's flying so far (or the fact that it's only a character in a game), you'll probably find yourself rooting for the bird to get as far as it can.
Overall, 'Tiny Wings' is a great game. The controls are very easy to get the hang of and the way the game draws you in means that you'll be going back for "just one more game" many, many times.
You can see 'Tiny Wings' on the App Store by clicking here.
James Wyllie
@itsjazzfest