Early Bird – Android Game Review
Overview
There are a lot of “Bird” games in the Android market these days. You’ve got Angry Birds, Tired Birds, Bubble Birds, and Crazy Birds just to name a few. The newest Bird game on the market is Early Bird from Booyah Inc, makers of DJ Rivals. Early Bird has something the other bird games don’t, and that’s a new type of control scheme. Guess what else it has? Lots of levels, cute graphics and very addictive gameplay…
Gameplay
You won’t be flinging your bird around in Early Birds, you’ll be flying this time and it’s definitely a different (and fun) approach to the game. You’ll fly the bird by swiping, and you’ll only get so many swipes per level. Swipe up you’re going up, swipe left and you’ll go left; you can also swipe up and then in another direction to keep your bird in the air for an extended period of time. You only travel a limited distance on each swipe, so you’ll want to keep that in mind before thinking you can just zip across a level. You will get some assistance from your environment though in the form of bouncing flowers and flower fans. Your goal is to reach the taunting little worm that sits in a bulls-eye at the end of each level, but you’ll have to land in the target to get the worm. Your score is calculated by the number of swipes you’ve taken as well as the number of bugs along the way.
Features
Like levels? Me too and Early Bird has a lot of them with 96 levels spanning 4 different areas. You’ll fly across Meadows, Mesas, Bayou’s and Mountain Peaks. Each area has 24 levels and runs on the popular 3-star setup where you can earn up to 3 stars per level. You’ll need a certain amount of stars to progress to unlock the next area with the final area Blue Bayou needed 90. The goals aren’t hard to meet if you just want to advance, but getting 3 stars on each level is a bit more difficult. Early Bird also uses the OpenFeint scoring system so you can keep track of your high scores and achievements. There are quite a few achievements to shoot for as well; the single swipe ones are pretty difficult to get.
Verdict
Early Bird is a great new take on the whole bird flinging genre, and it’s been a blast to play. There are more than enough levels to keep you entertained for awhile, and the Booyah says that more are on the way. The graphics are vibrant and cartoonish; but more in a quirky Ren & Stimpy kind of way than a childish one. Really liked the graphics in this one and the background music & sound effects were great as well. It’s definitely a game worth checking out, and you can grab it in the Android market for .99 cents.
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