What puts me off angry birds is that you have to pass a level to move on. If you get stuck, nothing can help you.
I just wanted to say that sales aren't everything. I agree with your stance in this post. There is no possible way to determine the "best" game, so this whole debate is pointless. John Tesla was an inventor. He invented AC power, the modern day electromagnetic motor (don't know the technical name, but that motor is everywhere) and a lot of other important things. But he didn't make as much money as Lil Wayne, so the logic that money earned determines worth (however you define it) would be flawed in this case.
Don't worry. A lot of games have passed Angry Birds for an hour or a day. So far, none have been able to keep ahead for long.
Good point actually, I kind of skipped over that. Angry Birds plays to the iPhone's strengths perfectly: small download size, easy to play in bursts, simple to learn, difficult to master, touch controls highlight exactly what the iPhone is known for. Games like Modern Combat are good in that they push the technology to the limit, they want to see what they can get away with, but the problem with constantly pushing the technology is you're always riding the line on what's acceptable. The frame rate is just good enough, the controls are manageable. Angry Birds doesn't push anything, it sits comfortably in the middle of the iPhone's capabilities and has no problems with performance, low textures, jagged edges... because it's not trying too hard and doesn't take any chances.
Except the app is slow, the levels not clever in the least bit, the pieces poorly layed out, and the game just not interesting. I actually loathe this game after playing the far superior Gerbil Physics on the Xbox.
For what it's worth, I too refused to DL this forever and finally loaded up the demo, determined not to like it. It's alright - but I don't feel the need to finish the demo. much less settle in and buy the whole game. At any rate, despite the disparity in quality of presentation I much prefer crush the castle (maybe it's just more gratifying morbidly crushing all the medieval people!) I loaded the flash game up a couple of years ago, I am not even one to play flash games - ever - but I couldn't put this one down until I 100%'d it. Replaying it on iPhone has been a lot of fun!
It might have seemed like you weren't just blindly hating on what's popular if it weren't for that first remark. The performance is fine.
Not on my 4G iTouch. After I make a shot, it sits there for far too long, then pans back to the slingshot. I don't like manually flicking back everytime; it's annoying. Plus, some of the levels are horribly designed and there are plenty of times when the green pig things should have popped, but don't. It's a novelty game that's rough around the edges and, like I said, stuff like Gerbil Physics (no iPhone sadly) is leaps and bounds better.
I haven't encoountered many times when a pig should have popped but didn't. The littlest ones pop at a light touch, the bigger ones take a bit more damage and the helmet ones can sustain a severe beating before popping. Occasionally a pig will survive what might seem like enough damage to pop it but to me that only adds to the suspense of gameplay...there should be some element of chance involved afaic. I also haven't experienced major performance issues of any sort.
I agree with the OP. Not much to add to the discussion, but it's quite clear that popular games have a sales momentum which is sustained more by hype and visibility than by merit. BTW, I do not find cut the rope any more rewarding. It seems to suffer from some of the same drawbacks of many physics puzzlers.
All of you take psychology I don't take top lists seriously. If you are a semi-hardcore gamer (like games like Halo, COD, etc) then you will not find angry birds or doodle jump or Bryce manor all that interesting. Remember that these games cater to the non-FPS/action crowd. Almost all 5-year olds like SesameStreet, but most adults find it annoying. These are "chick games" that cater to those who have boobies. Not to mention that a lot of iPhone users just check the top25 and never delve deeper into the market.
I'm sure you are right. I bet the 3879 people who gave it 5 stars in the last week just did it because they want to be part of the In-crowd. I'll bet the 278710 people who gave it an average of 5 stars overall are just all a bunch of lemmings responding to the hype. I know that's why I gave it five stars. Its probably not because (despite a handful of posters on this post) the overwhelming majority of people who try this game consider it do be a fun physics game with cute graphics, a wide variety of puzzles and addictive gameplay. This is my favorite post of the whole thread. You mean some game played on a much more capable dedicated game machine with a large TV as the display is more entertaining then one played on a handheld with a 4 inch display? I am shocked. Shocked and stunned. Next you'll be saying that's its easier to do spreadsheets on your PC then on your iPhone.
I never said people didn't like the game, but popularity begets popularity. It is more talked-about than any other game on the app store. Even sites like Gizmodo and FlowingData, which are not dedicated iPhone gaming blogs, bring it up time and again, making new people aware of its existence. Not to mention the fact that it's always on the front page of the iTunes store. Many people make decisions based on the decisions of those around them. This is not controversial in the least; I don't see why you're getting worked up. Your statistics are fairly meaningless out of context since it's estimated that over 6.5 million people have downloaded the game. How many of those played it for a while, got bored, and deleted it? Unfortunately no data exists for that.
All of the things you quote would help with sales, but not with reviews. A lot of publicity is going to get more eyeballs on the game, but it isn't going to make more people like it. I'm sorry, but I just can't see someone saying, "Well, Gizmodo liked it, so I am going to give it 5 starts too". I'm not worked up at all. I think a lot of people on this thread are posting their opinions as if they were objective facts. I find that foolish, but I don't find it something to get worked up about. Now you are just being silly. There are plenty of negative reviews on the app store for other apps. Typically, people are just as quick to post negative reviews when they don't like something as when they do. It actually used to be easier to give a low review, because if you deleted an app off your phone, Apple gave you an opportunity to rate it. So if you hated something, you could give it 1 star as you deleted it, but it you loved it, you had to go to the app store to rate it higher. Are you suggesting that there is something about Angry Birds that causes a lower number of people to rate it badly? Perhaps a subliminal message in the app? If not, you are going to have to live with the fact that most people who play it love it. Other then this thread, most of publicity you have been going on about is about how great it is.