Today we pit two pocket-gaming giants against eachother. These bird-centered titles have collectively been #1 on the iTunes app store for over a year and still remain in the top 5 today. Both priced at $1, which is truly worth your 99 pennies? (*Answer: Both! Stop being cheap!) But we're not here to discuss your penny-pinching, we're here to decide:
WHICH IS BETTER?
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| ANGRY BIRDS |
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| TINY WINGS |
OR
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS
Angry Birds is truly a cultural phenomenon with over 100 million downloads, popular plushes, costumes, a tv show in the works, a spin-off title, and multiple devices supporting it. Seen as the first game to legitimately give pocket gaming giants Sony and Nintendo a run for their money, Angry Birds remains one of the highest grossing games on the App store and nearly a year and a half after it's release, it continues to be downloaded daily.
Tiny Wings recently released and while not the first title to dethrone Angry Birds at number 1, it's the only title that has remained at the top of the Paid apps for weeks. While still being relatively new (only a month old) many have already predicted that Tiny Wings will be the Angry Birds of 2011.
GAMEPLAY
Angry Birds gameplay is simple in concept, but perfect in execution. Similar to the flash title "Crush the Castle," here players slingshot birds at pigs in an attempt to retrieve their stolen eggs. Along the way, new birds with new powers are introduced as well as more difficult level designs. Tiny Wings on the other hand, doesn't really have levels, but has more of a free-flowing feel. Your bird's wings are too small for him to fly on his own, so he must use the momentum of hills to assist his flight. Perfectly timed dives into the curves of hills allow your bird precious seconds in the air as he continues forward until the nightfall comes and he falls asleep. While both games are enjoyable, they each are different in play styles. Angry Birds is more of a luck based game as opposed to Tiny Wings careful precision and timing. Both are easy to pick up and nearly anyone can play either title but I'd have to give Tiny Wings the edge in this category. With Tiny Wings, if something messed up, I didn't have anyone to blame but myself. Often times with Angry Birds, I would grow irritated at getting unlucky bounces or pigs that I thought I should have destroyed, still sit there at the edge, just looking at me with that ****-eating grin.
Winner: Tiny Wings
CONTENT
Tiny Wings has many different islands in the game, but they really feel like palette swaps at best. I'm assuming the developers are working on new skins or possibly bird-modifiers but just like Doodle Jump, there really is only so much you can do with these never-ending games. I'm sure there can be additions like multiplayer added in the future, but for now gamers are only given tasks to accomplish during their runs. Angry Birds has over 240 levels with new content given consistently! Aside from the main objective, there are tons of golden eggs to find, a story (sort of), and multiple birds. There really is no contest here and even though Tiny Wings is still a young property, I don't really think they could have a chance of competing with Angry Birds content based solely on the different gameplay styles.
Winner: Angry Birds
FUN FACTOR
While there's no doubt about Angry Birds popularity, surprisingly I've found a good amount of people that either hate the game or find it downright boring. Some find the game to just be lacking in engagement and while some games can pull off the "Aim, Shoot, Cross Your Fingers and Watch" gameplay (see Peggle), a lot of people can't stand Angry Birds. Tiny Wings is much more engaged and has that addictive quality of other arcade titles like Pac-Man CE. I often found myself saying, "Okay just one more game" more then a few times after playing and sadly the same can't be said about my time with Angry Birds. If you own both titles, what compels you to play Angry Birds more: the fun of the levels, or the need to beat the levels? Most flock towards the latter and this doesn't translate to "fun" in my opinion.
Winner: Tiny Wings
MORE SATISFYING
We all play games for some type of satisfaction and while I've had my share (tomahawking in CoD, getting a pick 6 in Madden, etc) I get an incredibly satisfying feeling when my bird (I call him Beardy) transitions from one island to the next in Tiny Wings. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, rewatch the video above and you'll hear him cry "YAHOOOO" with such joy that you can't help but feel good. However, the satisfaction I get from sticking it to those pigs in Angry Birds is a feeling I'm sure EVERYONE has experienced. The mocking smile they give whenever players fail is downright infuriating, making it all the more satisfying when you do eventually succeed. Similar to the joy gamers get when they've earned an achievement/trophy and they see it pop up on their screen, we often will do mundane tasks just to hear that satisfying ping.
Winner: Angry Birds
SUMMARY
To be honest, I'm not really the biggest fan of Angry Birds and if given the choice between that or Tiny Wings, I'd definitely play Tiny Wings. However, Angry Birds is the perfect title for phone gamers in that you can stop and play at anytime, anywhere. You can launch one bird now, reread my post, and then finish the level up after without ever missing a beat. The same can't be said for Tiny Wings which requires more concentration. I highly recommend getting both titles but you're torn between quantity (Angry Birds) and quality (Tiny Wings) and if you had to twist my arm, I'd have to recommend Angry Birds. There is just too much content here that more then warrants the asking price but hopefully Tiny Wings will insert some new features in future downloads.
WINNER: ANGRY BIRDS!
So what do you think of my new article? Do you agree with my choice or do you feel like I'm a blind fool? Leave me a comment or message and suggest some other games/movies you'd like me to pit against each other! Either way, thanks for reading!
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