With the removal of Flappy Bird, the App Store (or as Ouriel Ohayon points out, the “Flapp" Store) is a crazy place right now. Anything that’s appearing in a search for Flappy Bird is flying up the charts resulting in the top four free games being Flappy Bird-likes. It really makes you wonder how many more downloads Flappy Bird would’ve seen if it was still on the App Store, as it seems reasonable to assume that these downloads are being driven by people looking for their next Flappy fix.
Nguyen’s Super Ball Juggling (Free) and Shuriken Block (Free) are still charting well, but it’s nothing compared to anything Flappy. It’s easy to assume these are all terrible games, but I wouldn’t be so quick to judge, particularly if you even vaguely found yourself enjoying Flappy Bird.
So, let’s go through the top four games on the App Store and figure out what’s worth checking out and what you should totally skip:
Fly Birdie - One touch branch jump, Free - The top of the App Store charts currently is dominated by the game with the weakest mechanics of the other flappers. The framerate is shockingly low, the interface is crazy (The button to tweet is a upside down Facebook “F"?) and the challenge of the game seems to come from fighting against the buggy game mechanics than actually playing the game itself.
For instance, you have three lives, but get a game over when you’ve got one life left. The spaces between the pipes you fly through are huge, but the collision detection is even worse than Flappy Bird pre-update. Oddly enough, it also has some seriously out of place background music. Ads are fairly obnoxious, but don’t seem to get in the way of gameplay.
Ironpants, Free - Number two is actually a pretty decent Flapp-like, and was already charting before the removal of Flappy Bird. In Ironpants, you play as a masked super hero of sorts. Instead of tapping to fly up, you hold your finger down on the screen and the hero flies up. I feel like Ironpants caught on as well as Flappy Bird because this control method is equally tricky, as the rate that your dude shoots up doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and takes loads of practice to master.
Instead of flying through pipes, you’re flying through stacks of boxes. Scoring works the same, and because of the difficulty it’s often pretty difficult to get more than a few points. Ironpants has some seriously obnoxious ads, not necessarily in regards to frequency, but rather, their placement. These games lend themselves to retrying over and over, and the clever developers behind Ironpants have the ad pop up what feels like only a few milliseconds after the retry button comes up, in the center of the screen. Playing Ironpants will truly test your patience in regards to accidental ad clicks.
Splashy Fish - Adventure of Flappy Tiny Bird Fish, Free - I like this game quite a bit, and of all the Flapp-likes I’d say it’s the closest to feeling like Flappy Bird when you play it. It controls very similarly, with you fish feeling ever-so-slightly floatier (I mean, you are underwater.) than Flappy Bird. Difficulty levels seem to be in between pre and post-patch Flappy Bird.
The advertising in Splashy Fish also isn’t terrible. A constantly rotating Google ad banner sits on the bottom of the screen, but it stays there. Even though you’re viewing ads constantly, it doesn’t feel obnoxious at all as it doesn’t get in the way of gameplay and is very easy to tune out.
Flappy Bee : The real Challenge, Free - Easily the worst of the high charting Flapp-likes. First off, it’s stealing its icon directly from Bee Leader ($0.99), and the game isn’t even called Flappy Bee on your device, it’s Happy Bee, making this by far the most transparent of all the developers cashing in on the success and removal of Flappy Bird.
Insane difficulty, which seems to be the core component of what makes a Flapp-like a Flapp-like is curiously absent. Instead, you just control a bee flying up and down on the screen collecting flowers. It seems the only way you can die is flying off the top or bottom of the screen, both things being very easy to avoid. While Ironpants wins in the obnoxious ad placement category, Flappy Bee dominates it in ad frequency. It seems like everything you do in this game triggers a full screen ad. Starting the game, pausing the game, dying, you name it, you’ve got an ad. Avoid this game.
So, there you have it. The brave new world of the Flapp Store. I’d definitely check out Splashy Fish, particularly if you missed Flappy Bird. It’s the best of the bunch, and it’ll be interesting to see if it stays that way as more Flapp-likes hit the App Store. Right now it’d be easier to list the developers who aren’t making their own Flappy Bird knock-off. So, batten down the hatches if you can’t stand Flappy Bird. We’re going to be in for a wild ride before we reach App Store equilibrium again.
The name EA kills it...
my Aunty Amelia got a new blue Land Rover LR4 only from
working part time off a home computer... helpful hints FiscalPost.ℂom
Yea. Whatever Electronic fArts touch, it turns to shit.
The Tetris app's implementation is pretty good with the. Touch controls. Little to no misdrops. Got used to it and it's great, still a bit confused on high gravity though, but aren't we all always.
It's great. Don't confuse it with Tetris Blitz,the controls of that one suck.
They must be a really stinky company...
EA = Extreme Assholery
I don't get Tetris offered when I open the Apple store app on my iPhone - I get a kids book about valentines day :-/
It'll show up when you touch the 'Stores' section on the bottom of the screen.
Thanks!
I got the kids book as well and don't have tetris when I click stores
Why should somebody download an EA app? 😄
To get great Tetris gameplay.
To get great Tetris gamplay, I dig out my old gameboy.
This one has also nailed touch controls. I feel I did a bit better on my old gameboy, but in this one I'm doing great too! :)
Your old Game Boy version has no colour or backlight, isn't even winnable due to a game-breaking bug, has no lock-delay or hold-queue and in general just doesn't adhere to the new improved Tetris Guidelines the Tetris company has made for official Tetris products, which makes gameplay better across all versions.
The iPad one's touch-controls are spot-on, at least when not using the Tetris Blitz "one-touch" controls (awful) and while not as good as the 3DS version it is still much better than the Game Boy, NES or any of those older ones.
Seems like the old swipe control option remains, and still works well. The one-tap thing is interesting, though.
Wish it was Universal of course...
The one-tap thing is weird and I hate it
I've been curious about this, glad to try it out without spending any money. The one-touch method is a great way to play a quick game and rack up some high scores.
Aw, I paid for that!
EA is Cancer...Why do you promote them apple? :(
How much did they pay you..?
Wow! You really do hate EA with a white hot passion.
Well that's about the most ignorant comment I've read today.
Oh, and EA never gave the NSA access to its customers private emails and browser history, unlike Apple.
So when Someone posts EA is cancer on the "Dungeon Keeper" Post, everyone agrees and hates but the minuet someone says it on another one of EA's titles Hate arrives. I hate EA because the almost force you to buy a ridiculous amount of iap and they dont think about the consumer more than themselves.
Sorry this is random but......do you guys know if they will bring battle supremacy to android?.......cheers.
you are right, that was random.
Doesn't seem available via the iPad version of the app, and trying to use the iPhone version on the iPad only gets you a message to us the iPad version.
I got a message recommending the iPad app, but it still worked fine on my iPad 3.
What do you mean "still worked on my ipad 3?" You were able to find the freebie deal through the ipad app, or you were able to bypass the "use the ipad version" message on the iphone app? Because as far as I can tell, neither is possible.
Do you have an older version of the apple store app, perhaps?
It's not FREE, you need to buy "coins". Why TA continue to promote EA $h!t apps is beyond me.
Not for iPad, only iPhone ;/
can't access from ipad, got no iphone near me right now, sigh.
Thank god I grabbed one of the older versions which got removed because there was too less monetization in it.
I don't even have the Apple Store App. Anyone know if this will work in Mexico? (I'm Mexican) I can't seem to even find the Apple Store App. :( Kill me please. lol
Not available in Thailand too, seem like it's not available in many countries.
Works in Australia, thanks.
Weird its not free if you go to Appstore on your .computer
Thanks for the heads up Eli :)
Why it shows the Find My iPhone app when I click on the Apple Store app link? Seems like a scam.
Your comment shows you posted on Saturday, this deal was for valentines day only. Try actually reading the article before calling it a "scam".
The apple's apple App Store? That made me laugh :)
Judging by the comments about it on the App Store it's not free but makes you pay through iap.