Review: Tiny Wings vs. Canabalt
Oh yeah, I'm going there: reviewing the #1 game on the App Store. Last Friday, during a company-wide meeting, one of my co-workers asked innocently, "So, has anyone played this 'Tiny Wings' game?" Only the entire internets, my friend. Only the entire internets. You've obviously played Tiny Wings, so this review is irrelevant as to whether or not you purchase the game. However, I figured I'd deconstruct it a little bit and try to explain (to myself, mostly) why it's so much more fun than similar games such as Canabalt.
Canabalt inspired a number of other games, and has probably created its' own "runner" genre. In Canabalt, you control a running man, and have to run as far as you can before you inevitably meet a grisly demise. The man runs forward constantly; the only way you can control him is by making him jump from platform to platform. As he runs farther, he also runs faster. The strategy behind a high score in the game is to run into debris that litters the platforms — they'll cause the man to stumble and slow down, which means that you have more time to react to upcoming platforms.
The problem with Canabalt, though, is that it is very unforgiving. Make a mistake, and you have to start all over again from the beginning. Tiny Wings has you controlling a bird that flies between hills. To progress faster through the game, you tap the screen to cause the bird to fall. Move your finger away to allow him to jump off the hills, then tap again to drop into a valley and jump even higher. It's a very satisfying movement mechanic — similar to the old-school Sonic series, in that the game character moves agonizingly slowly if he loses momentum. However, if you miss a jump, you don't instantly lose... you get to climb to the next hill and keep moving. This means that you can still progress in the game without being "perfect," and that a mistake early on won't ruin the whole play session.
Canabalt is also notable for having entirely procedurally-generated content. While this means that you never play the same game twice, it also ensures that the game is very "twitchy;" you never know what's coming ahead, and so fast reflexes are required for getting a high score. The levels in Tiny Wings aren't random, so by playing through a few times you'll be able to figure out the best way to fly faster or collect the most items. It also means that you won't get randomly screwed by the level-generating algorithm.
Tiny Wings has "achievements" — rewards for completing arbitrary goals in the game. Even if you aren't skilled enough to reach the final level, the achievements provide mini-goals that are able to be completed even by beginners. These provide a reason to come back to the game even when the initial fun of the core mechanic has been exhausted. In Canabalt, once you tire of endless jumping, the game is effectively over for you.
My final observation might be somewhat silly, but I think it makes a difference in the overall appeal of the two games. Canabalt has a bleak outlook, enhanced by the monochromatic graphics. No matter how well you play, your character always dies in the end. The bird in Tiny Wings falls asleep if night catches up with him. In my mind, part of the appeal of video games is that you can forget about the real world for a while. I don't need games reminding me about the futility of life and inevitability of death. +1 for Tiny Wings.
Comments
amsoell wrote on :
I *love* Tiny Wings. I mean, this isn't big news, considering the entirety of App Store users seem to love it, but this is one of the few mainstream popular games that I've really gotten into. I never understood the appeal of Angry Birds, but Tiny Wings has hooked me. I think part of it is the draw of beating increasingly difficult challenges, but another big draw is the fact that you can play it with a single finger.