Could Tiny Wings be the Angry Birds of 2011?

SMALL TALK…

Tiny Wings by Andreas Illiger

Type: Arcade

Size: 10.5 MB

Price/cost: £0.59

Updated: 25 March 2011

Official Site: www.andreasilliger.com

"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."

BACKGROUND INFORMATION…

As I am in writing (date is 11/03/2011) Tiny Wings 
app is currently sitting first place in most popular top paid app knocking Angry Birds and many other popular apps out of the top nest spot. Also ranked second for top grossing app (just behind Tap Zoo) I decided to give it a download to see what all the fuss was about. I had the misconception (at first) that it was going to be very much similar to that of Angry Birds, and reading several articles beforehand found that there were many more people that had paid admission and were part of this boat. It was only until I glanced quickly through the description page that I found my misconceptions to be stupidly wrong. Blame it on the cartoon bird theme I reckon! But yes, back on topic; at only £0.59 what was the most I could possibly lose, £0.59; so I went ahead and gave Tiny Wings a shot. Could this be another one of those addictive games that you pull out every time you get five minutes spare with nothing to do, could this be the Angry Birds of 2011? Let’s find out!

MY ADVENTURES…

The human race is by far the very best at jumping into just anything without reading the damn instructions; especially the male side of the populace without trying to make too much of a sexist remark. Even though Tiny Wings does offer expert help and a whole tutorial level for beginners, I decided to jump right in the deep end and just play! I was taken to an opening screen where a small bird (which I assume to be Tiny Wings himself*) quietly snores away in his nest waiting for the morning sun to rise. With one godly touch on the screen the sun rises, Tiny Wings awakes feeling all invigorated and I am off! The game mechanics are rather simple and it’s essentially a test of timing which the game is revolved around that will obviously depict whether the player will score high or not. When holding down on the screen, the bird stops flapping his dubiously small wings dropping from the sky like a much larger piece of lead. The secret to ones success in this game is to drop perfectly on the downward slope of each hill (by pressing the screen as mentioned) to gather momentum. Letting go of the screen on the upward slope of each hill propels Tiny Wings into the clouds, space and beyond! This technique is repeated on each hill Tiny Wings encounters; with every accurate drop raking in more points and possibly activating a fever mode which in turn gives the user an increased score multiplier. This technique needs to then be adapted to all sorts of different shaped hills and its quick decisions and expert timing that are going to win the day. Nightfall is your only enemy, as that becomes ever closer with every bad mistake that is made. There are objectives in Tiny Wings which gave me a sense of direction and purpose with nest upgrades (with extra score multipliers) up for grabs as resultant reward for the successor. I am currently on my eighth nest (with a score multiplier of 24) but frustratingly stuck on a hard objective that requires me to ‘Be in fever mode for 34 seconds’. Help!

MY THOUGHTS…

So, what do I think of Tiny Wings… It’s a great arcade app and deserves to be top paid app for such a genius concept! I definitely recommend it for only £0.59, you can't really go wrong at such a cheap price! Countless times has it saved me from the depths of boredom and took me to a more happier, exciting place. It reminds me of the old Mario games where you had to race the screen, in both cases time is your worst enemy. Tiny Wings and Angry Birds are both great apps by their own right, one arcade the other puzzle. Is Tiny Wings the Angry Birds of 2011? No. Angry Birds has so much more to offer in the form of playability and support (hundreds of new levels and themes being added all the time) I still think Angry Birds is top of my charts. If I had to choose only one of the two apps mentioned for a four hour plane journey, Angry Birds would be the one hand down! If I found myself with a couple of minutes to spare on the other-hand, Tiny Wings would definitely be a consideration. 

Score: 4/5

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT…

Do you think Tiny Wings deserves to be a top paid app, do you agree with my personal review of the game? Drop App Advisor a comment, we want to know!

Let EpicWin Put The Adventure Back Into Your Life

SMALL TALK…

EpicWin by Supermono Ltd

Type: Utility

Size: 22.9 MB

Price/cost: £1.79 (two unique and limited edition characters can be brought for 59p each if the user desires)

Updated: 7 January 2011

Official Site: www.Epicwinapp.com

“EpicWin is an iPhone app that puts the adventure back into your life. It's a streamlined to-do list, to note down all your everyday tasks, but with a role-playing spin. Rather than just mentally ticking off your chores, completing each one improves and develops your character in an on-going quest to level-up, gain riches, and develop skills.”

INTRODUCTION…

A survey I found on my ventures estimates that more than 75% of people will break their New Year's resolutions within three months of making them, and nearly 1/3 of people will break them just one month into their new regime. I can't say that the rest of the year has such a bright horizon either, with approximately 90% of all people failing their goals as a consequence of either poor management, poor motivation and not knowing how to go about achieving such goal. It might be a health goal that you're trying to achieve such as losing weight. Or it could be that you want to stop smoking cigarettes; not only improving your health and well-being but saving a considerable amount of money as a result, hitting two birds with one stone. It could be a relationship objective, such as increase the quality time you spend with your other half, children, family and friends. Whatever your goal might be, careful management and great motivational help will give you the best possibly chance of completing your goal. Are you in the 75% that is currently lacking motivation, or in the 90% that is considering quitting or maybe putting off your goal for the time being (“I will start my healthy regime tomorrow, I will I promise” you procrastinator). The producers and developers at Supermono Ltd have definitely given a great shot at solving this problem with a utility to-do app called EpicWin.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION…

Browsing through the App Store (as you do when your bored) I was very intrigued to find a utility to-do app that claimed “Make being organised as much fun as gaming with EpicWin the to-do list app with an RPG setting.” Now, I am a geek; so much so that I have a designated section for all my beloved RPG game such as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and my favourite Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. At only £1.79 I was really interested in seeing what the app was capable of achieving not only for myself but you, my readers. Let App Advisor do all the wasted buying and downloading so you don't have to.

MY ADVENTURES…

I am welcomed initially with the typical character selection screen named Birth of a New Adventurer. As of the latest patch 1.3, there is currently a total of five different characters a user is able to choose, two of which are special addition Warrior and Treeman Berzerker that have an extra price tag each of 59p; some extra options that might become too appetising for your demise. I am greeted next with several introductory goals that give the user, in this case me, an idea on the possibilities and capabilities of what this particular to-do app is able to achieve. More than anything I think an effective way of showing all the nooks, crannies and extra settings EpicWin has on offer; a dummies help guide of what to do. I was guided in creating my first goal; “Create first review for App Advisor, it's about time!” and set my point's marker to 300. The point's system is rather self explanatory allowing the user to set a value as low as 50 and as high as 300 depending on the epicness, importance and difficulty of that goal. When a goal is completed, these points are converted into experience (allowing you to level up your character RPG-esque style) and progress along a path where you can collect gold and rare loot which you can actually boast on the likes of Twitter and Facebook after acquirement if you so wish to do so. My first piece of loot was Face Cream of Vitality; “the only face-cream on the market to contain Vitalglobulons ™”. I have been left wondering what my next goal might be so that I can use the to-do app EpicWin as a means of motivating me to achieve it (and gain levels and extra loot), watch this space.

          

In somewhat more of a nutshell; “Rather than just mentally ticking off your chores, completing each one improves and develops your character in an ongoing quest to level-up, gain riches, and develop skills. Doing the laundry is an epic feat of stamina so why not get stamina points for it?! 

The more you do, the further you will journey and the further you go, the more loot you will uncover and the more your character will level-up in skills and stature. And unlike traditional video-games you'll then benefit from a tidier home, a more organised working day or succeeding in whatever other life goals you wish to achieve.”

MY THOUGHTS…

It's absolutely brilliant, an exciting to-do app but with a RPG-esque twist! EpicWin is a great way to organise goals in a fun environment where achieving even the smallest of tasks feels somewhat better and more rewarding than ‘ah well, at least the hoovering is done now'. A tad silly and extreme I admit, but I have actually started going out of my way to find goals now that I wouldn't usually think of partaking in. Just the other day actually I fixed a dodgy toilet roll holder in my bathroom which reluctantly should've been done months before; I obtained an extra 100 points and travelled an extra 7 miles nearer to acquiring my next piece of rare loot, exciting times! £1.79 is a small price to pay for a to-do app that only reaps you benefits; becoming more popular with the other half and getting things done. If you want to add fun to your boring and monotonous to-do lists or want a playful way of organising your goals, EpicWin is definitely an app the Advisor recommends.

     Score: 4.5/5

                                                                   

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT…

Did EpicWin help you achieve your goals, maybe vote and tell us your story?