Tiny Wings ($1.99) is an amazing game. Not a terribly controversial statement, but I’ve always found it kind of surprising that more games didn’t take the idea and run with it. Sure, there are lots of games on the App Store that use a similar mechanic (my favorite, by far, is Kumobius’s Time Surfer ($0.99)), but it’s not nearly as many as I’d expect. I mean, think about how many Threes ($5.99), Flappy Bird, and Clash of Clans (Free) clones there are compared to Tiny Wings. Of course, every now and then a TW-like game will still randomly appear, and the latest I’ve seen is Mountain Biker (Free) by Escape Velocity.
It’s definitely not a clone, though; rather, it uses the same “tap to dive down a hill and release to fly up” mechanic merely as a jumping off point. From there the game adds a swipe-based trick system and a bike racing theme. It actually winds up feeling quite a bit different from Tiny Wings, despite having a very similar “gimmick” when you strip all the fluff away.
At the beginning of the game you have a single bike and barely any moves beyond going up and going down. Each level gives you a main goal and two bonus goals to shoot for, and from there you unlock more tracks to play. The goals are usually score, trick, or time based, and for the most part they don’t leave much room for error (after the first handful, anyway). The further into the game you get, newer tricks will become unlocked which usually amount to swipes in different directions. You can combine these tricks with others by doing several in a row before hitting the ground, and pulling off as many as you can string together in time is essential for getting passing scores.
Obviously none of this would work if the controls were terrible, and luckily they do a pretty good job. Beyond the tapping and swiping I’ve already mentioned, you can also tilt your device to line your wheels up for a perfect landing and a small boost. Some of the level goals involve getting a certain number of perfect landings, too, so the quicker you get used to balancing all the screen poking and device spinning the better. One slight issue I had with the tilting is that the game slows the action down when you’re about to land so you can line up your wheels easier, but unfortunately it also seems to make the bike react slower and almost makes it even more difficult. Still, it works, and you get used to it.
Progression-wise, the game is all about slowly climbing three mountains by unlocking new tracks that snake their way ever higher toward their peaks. You don’t simply unlock new tracks, tricks, and bikes from progression alone, though, as you do have to pay for them. Luckily most things in the game tend to be fairly cheap at first, but after the first mountain the costs start going up while the amount you earn stays fairly low. You can always replay earlier races, of course, but it’s still frustrating that you have to pay for literally everything as you try to progress through the game.
The game’s presentation is kind of hit or miss as well. The art in the game is colorful and fun, and almost comic book-like in style. There are real life BMX pros in the game that are represented in this kinda realistic, kinda cartoony style, but I don’t follow that scene so I can’t really say how faithful they are. The bikes themselves look great for the most part, but look slightly wonky when doing tricks. For example, when a bike tilts to one side or the other the frame might look like a 3D model and the wheels look like 2D circles getting stretched or flattened. It’s kind of awkward, but that’s probably just me getting nit picky.
Mountain Biker does a lot of things pretty well, and I’m always on the lookout for something that attempts to evolve (however slightly) on the Tiny Wings up/down hill mechanics. Unfortunately, despite having an interesting tap-and-tilt control scheme and a fitting theme, the game never fully grabbed me. There are better examples on the App Store of nearly every idea the game throws into the mix, and when put together the final product is sometimes fun, but kind of awkward just as often. I think there’s definitely an audience for it, though, particularly if you enjoy any of the riders or brands featured in the game. For everyone else, there are probably worse things you could throw a few bucks at. Actually, scratch that–it’s free now. So there you go.
I'm the guy who keeps buying and being disappointed by assassins creed games, I enjoy them to an extent, but always feel as though they missed the mark somehow. Maybe if this is more of a straightforward experience I'll enjoy it more, I wanted to originally post that I'm interested but I'll have to wait and see what people, outside of the soft launch, think of the final product. Hopefully assassins creed 2 inspired more than just the locale.
If the finished product remotely resembles the soft launch versions, I believe you will be miles from disappointed.
With Internet connection required, no thank you
Internet requirement actually helps the game.
But still it's strange that they put a restriction on a mobile game that it is only playable with a wifi connection,in what way helps the wifi the game?
The biggest problem that I have with de Assasins Creed games are the fighting mechanics I played only the first one I played the later installments but not finish them the gameplay was and is very repetitive but they did recreate a real living city that looks great and was for that time very special but however good it looks the gameplay was in all the other AC games the same.
Played so many. AC2 was so fresh and I loved it. AC3 was like my brother I hated and he hated me back more. Black Flag was the best Sid Meier's Pirates game ever! But since then I've paid for the games on sale and they've been pretty poor..........this is another that I want....but will hold fire......
The firsf one was amazing lore but the gameplay was terreble, i wanted play like prince of persia, but failed...
The second arc history is amazing!
A the third was so boring... and the main character is so much uninspired!
But Black Flag is not AC is a Pirate simulator!
And Unity is so broken...
i dont know abou Syndicate...
syndicate is fantastic. total traditional ac playstyle, no blackflag playstyle present.
I'm so hesitant to put the money down on that one....waiting for a sale.
worth full price, seriously. if you are looking for a black flag experience, don't get syndicate. but if your looking for the magic of the earlier ac titles, unity done right plus new fun side mechanics. get syndicate.
by the way... its on sale right now 40% off. think its the lunar holiday thing.
Terrible advise. Syndicate is awful and there's no sugar coating it. There is nothing traditional about Syndicate.
your opinion :)
mine? i highly enjoyed every damn minute of it. and why're you reviving a 4 month old comment thread on a 4 month old article?
Because I happen to see it 4 months later dumb ass, completely besides the point. I'm not suprised you enjoyed it, there are plenty of stupid people in this world that find joy mediocre in games, it's understandable (go nuts over it). Just know that the rest of the collective gaming community with standards doesn't feel the same way. While I do not put much stock in game review sites, IGN manages to capture the general consensus with quotes like "
Syndicate is just not that interested in exploring forgotten tombs in search of dusty relics"
and here is another one
"
It feels like you’re chipping away at the enemy, clawing back parts of the city."
Yup, my thoughts exactly.
Likely the biggest knock on Syndicate is, it's as if UbiSoft forgot what made combat so compelling in past versions where the lethality of sword play translated into satisfying fight sequences, cinematics, and flowing mechanics without coming off too easy all the while remaining challenging. This pitter patter and face raking and clawing that Syndicate does is retarded, reminiscent of grade school children scratching, biting and pulling hair.
By all means Taeles, and anyone else for that matter, go nuts. In other words, your opinion sucks simpleton.
My three favorites : Black Flag, Syndicate, Rogue. 1 thru 3 weren't mainstream and I never encountered them. Unity was a train wreck. I loved black flags mix of AC genre and sid meier pirates. Rogue is Blackflag on the north east coastline. Syndicate is just flat out the best traditional ac title modernized in every way.
So excited that it'll be premium. I really hope there aren't IAP that will eventually drive this to a F2P model exactly like Assassin's Creed Pirates. I paid $7 for that, and then it went free. But this looks very promising.
Looks good
I want to know if it will have MFI support
Yes, it will support MFI controllers. It was in one of the videos.