Review – Tiny Wings iPhone

I don’t know about you, but whenever I see an app featuring cartoon birds I start thinking about Angry Birds, and that’s what I thought when I first saw Tiny Wings in the App Store.

But this is no Angry Birds, and I mean that in a positive way – it’s a completely different kind of game. In the developer’s (Andreas Illiger) own words – “You have always dreamed of flying – but your wings are tiny”.

So how do you fly? You use hills – if you tap the screen your wings fold in, and that’s what you need to do when sliding down hills. As you slide down you pick up speed, and building up enough speed allows you to launch yourself into the air – you just need to lift your finger off the screen to make your wings flap.

Games don’t come much simpler than Tiny Wings, it’s literally a case of touching and lifting your finger on and off the screen at the right time. Each level starts at sunrise and you have to fly as far as you can until night falls. Providing you build up enough speed and don’t run out of time, you can soar high in the sky and fly to the the next island.

I really like the visual style of Tiny Wings, it’s cartoony but with a hand drawn/painted feel. The music and sound effects are also great, and add to what could be described as a relaxing game – it does require skill and it is challenging to complete each level, but it won’t leave you frustrated. It’s the perfect game to pick up when you have a few minutes to kill.

Tiny Wings is available for the iPhone and costs just 59p ($0.99), while it’s not quite a must-have app it’s still recommended.