Tiny Wings HD Review – This un-tiny version of a beloved game soars with sheer delight

By
On August 2, 2012

App Type: Uncategorized

Tiny Wings HD Review – This un-tiny version of a beloved game soars with sheer delight

Our rating:

By: Andreas Illiger

Version #: 2.0.1

Date Released: 2012-07-30

Developer: Andreas Illiger

Price: 2.99

User Rating:
12345
Loading...

At long last, an iPad version of Tiny Wings has been released. Since its launch in February last year, the immensely popular iOS bird game that doesn’t have Angry Birds in its title has been compatible with iPhone and iPod touch only. Until a couple of weeks ago, that is.

A couple of weeks ago, Tiny Wings developer Andreas Illiger debuted the much-anticipated version 2.0 of his best-selling game. Along with Tiny Wings 2.0 for iPhone, the long-overdue iPad version of the game was also released. But rather than making the original game universal in order to support the iPad, Illiger opted to release the iPad-only Tiny Wings HD.

Tiny Wings HD is basically a scaled up reproduction of Tiny Wings 2.0 … and then some.

To start with, Tiny Wings HD for iPad, like Tiny Wings 2.0 for iPhone, features a new game mode called Flight School, with the original mode now referred to as Day Trip. In Flight School, you play as any one of four tiny birds on a race toward the finish line of each of the mode’s various islands. As it happens, at the finish line is their mother, waiting to regurgitate their food upon their arrival, with the first one getting the biggest fish and the last one getting a mere worm. Poor guy. Don’t let that guy be your bird, all right?

Also common between the two new Tiny Wings versions are Retina graphics (Finally! And yes, they look gorgeous on the third-generation iPad.) and iCloud support for syncing games between devices.

What’s unique to Tiny Wings HD is the iPad-only two-player mode called Hill Party. Hill Party offers real-time hill-hopping matches by splitting the iPad’s display into two playing screens, one for each player. There are two sub-modes in Hill Party: Island King and Five-Course Meal. In the former sub-mode, the player who earns 10,000 points on an island wins the match, while in the latter, the player who earns the highest score after flying across five islands triumphs. Both sub-modes support manual or automatic handicap (take-off delay) for players who are particularly good at making birds with tiny wings fly.

Of course, Tiny Wings HD features the same flight mechanic, the same scoring system, the same (but now Retina-optimized) watercolor graphics, and the same buoyant music we’ve come to know and love in the original Tiny Wings. The main difference is that we don’t have to play Tiny Wings for iPhone at 2x magnification on the iPad. Now, we have the real, high-flying deal: Tiny Wings HD for the iPad’s un-tiny screen.

Quick Take

Value:Very high

Would I Buy Again:Definitely

Learning Curve:Low to medium

Who Is It For:Fans of the original Tiny Wings as well as potential converts

What I Like:New Flight School and Hill Party modes, Retina graphics

What I Don't Like:Nothing

Final Statement:Tiny Wings HD is anything but a tiny success in independent game development.

Read the Developer's Notes:
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.

Tiny Wings was chosen as the iPhone Game of the Year in App Store Rewind 2011 in Europe and many other countries.?Thank you Apple and a big thank you to all Tiny Wings fans!

Highlights:?
• Multiplayer: Play against your friends on a single iPad!
• simple but skillfull "one button" (ok... maybe "one tap") arcade game about the dream of flying
?• the world is changing every day - so it does in this game! Procedural generated graphics will make "tiny wings" look different every day you play
• upgrade your nest by fulfilling tasks
?• Three game modes: "Day Trip," "Flight School," and "Hill Party"
• Play as the mama bird or one of her four children
• 15 hand-designed levels in the new "Flight School" mode
• iCloud support (even syncs your game between the iPhone & iPad versions)

Article By

aldrin has written 128 awesome app reviews.