Early Bird is a Challenging, Cute & Fun Physics Game!
by Toni McQuilken
Dec 9, 2011 10:42 AM –
Install
Help the Early Bird catch the worm! But be careful, challenges await as you flutter through 96 amazing levels. Discover beautiful landscapes, earn achievements & top the leaderboard as you swipe your way to success in this incredible action puzzle game.
Price: Free
Tested on: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- It’s a cute physics game with good graphics!
- Gameplay is similar to other physics-type games, so it’s not hard to pick up!
Cons
- Being another physics game, it does feel a bit redundant after a few levels.
Features:
Early Bird is the latest offering in the physics game category, where the goal is to judge angle and speed to, in this case, hit the target. Rather than having the player knock down anything, the twist this one brings is that you’re a bird trying to get the worm, and to get it, you need to hit the target. You get bonus points for getting it dead-on, but as long as you hit it, you clear the level.
Like other games in this genre, you get several tries per level, and there is a three-star rating system based on how many points you score on each level. One interesting thing is that rather than several types of birds, you can tap the screen to get the bird to “flap” and go up a bit, which makes for minor course adjustments. In fact, this is required on many levels to get over obstacles to hit the target. You don’t shoot multiple birds per level either, but instead you get a few turns to try and get your one bird to the target.
Another thing that was both frustrating and added to the challenge of the game is that getting close isn’t enough here. In other offerings, gravity might do your work for you if you got close and lucky. With Early Bird, however, I found that if I didn’t hit the target, I had to take another turn to try and adjust to get it over there, even if I was close. This is where having the one bird comes into play, along with the trajectory adjustments. I found, even in the first intro levels, that it took me all my tries, and sometimes a few replays of each round, to pass the level. I like the challenge, but I wish it would have built up to it a bit more, and had a bit more of a tutorial-type section. You don’t really get too much in the way of instruction, so it’s a lot of trial and error at first, which, when you just want to try out a game, can lead to frustration fast. I’d personally rather have the first 5 or so levels be tutorials with easy game play to really let you learn how to play, then have the challenge gradually increase, rather than jumping right in. On the other side though, for anyone who plays a lot of these types of games, having something with some challenge is probably going to be a good thing.
One other thing worth noting – this used to be a paid game, but the developer decided to go to a free, ad-supported version only.
Watch on Mobile
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Early Bird Gameplay
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Early Bird Flight
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Early Bird MultiTap
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Early Bird Challenging
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Early Bird Levels
Fun Factor:
It is a fun game, like all physics games, with a combination of cute graphics and challenging gameplay that will keep you coming back. The rating systems also gives you a reason to go back and replay old levels, to try and get a perfect score.
Addictive:
If you enjoy a good challenge and a good physics game, then this is going to be an addictive game for you. It’s fun, cute and has a level of difficulty that will appeal to anyone who likes these types of games.
Graphics:
While very cute, on the tablet at least, I did find that the resolution wasn’t fantastic. It’s not unplayable by any means, but it’s not as crisp as I’d like. However, on the smaller phone screen, it looks great, so keep that in mind when you buy it.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
Again, the sounds are very cute to go with the graphics, and the game doesn’t use any vibration or acceleration; you swipe to control – it’s a straight up physics game.