Tiny Wings: Pure Animated Magic in a 99 Cent Game

Normally, I keep my app reviews on my other blog, but Tiny Wings--a simple, unpretentious iPhone game--is something special. It's a terrific, charming little work of art. And I do believe a video game qualifies as art when all its elements come together to create an emotional response to a created world.

Still images don't do it justice. Even the video I've linked to above doesn't completely convey its charm.

It begins with a flightless bird in a nest. As the sun rises, he leaps to the sky fluttering his tiny wings, only to drop earthward toward the rolling hills that make up his island home. When you touch the screen, he folds his wings. If he's airborne at the time, he'll dive faster. If grounded, on the downhill slope of a valley, he'll slide and pick up speed in an attempt to catapult himself off the crest of the next hill. You need to remove your finger from the screen on the upslopes to allow him to flap his wings.

The goal is simple: try to hit the downhill slopes just right, pick up speed for launch, and stay in the air for as long as possible, to traverse as many islands as you can before night falls.

Two things make this simple idea soar (sorry):

1) You get thrills and a big, goofy grin on your face as you chain "perfect slides" together and keep the bird airborne for longer and longer flights. The physics are believable and the sense of flight really tickles your imagination. Plus...

2) The presentation is perfect--Simple, sharp, and totally charming. From the Yellow Submarine-ish landscape to the catchy, joyful music score to the bird's joyful cries, this game presents a little animated world that is instantly likeable and memorable. The camera zooms in and out to keep the bird in frame, the landscape colors change each day you play, day turns to night and the combined sense of freedom and urgency keeps the momentum rolling.

And, when night inevitably catches up with the hero, he curls up and falls asleep for the most soothing game-over moment in iPhone history.

There are a lot of fun games in the iPhone App Store, but very few combine solid gameplay with a real sense of style, wonder and charm. Tiny Wings is a rare, perfectly-executed little gem, and its creator, Andreas Illiger, deserves congratulations and much success.