4 ms·
I'd wasted enough time on Angry Birds to feel qualified enough to write about it. 1. The splash screen shows a high degree of polish compared to all other
by teyc 16y ago
I'd wasted enough time on Angry Birds to feel qualified enough to write about it.
1. The splash screen shows a high degree of polish
compared to all other games. Every time I start it,
it stands out heads and shoulders above other apps.
2. The whimsical characters mean that there are no scruples
with killing real pigs.
3. The ability to advance to the next level quickly, but at
the same time, there is a higher three star achievement
for finishing a level with some finesse.
4. There is an element of luck and timing involved, and
this makes for addictive gameplay. It is also very difficult
to get the angles exactly the same each time on a small
device. Every time you play, you think "this is going to be
the perfect game".
5. The matter of waiting for 2-3 seconds makes for exasperating
play, which again is pretty addictive.
- DamagedProperty 16y agoI agree
- jules 16y agoWhat do you mean by point 5?
- icegreentea 16y agoIt's like teasing. To draw a ridiculous analogy, its like foreplay to sex. It makes it better. Less ridiculous is this comparison. It's like that slight twitch you get watching the "starting in 3..2..1" dialog before a round of Starcraft or Halo or something... but even more frequent. Anticipation is everything. You get addicted as much to the anticipation, as the moment itself.
- teyc 16y agoWhen I was in Japan, I saw this gambling machine where you toss a coin into a pile, and a little mechanical arm pushes the large pile of coins towards a big hole. Whatever goes into the hole is yours. (I think there is a similar one on iPad at the moment) Once you have tossed your coin, the control is out of your hands. All you can do is sit there and watch the mechanical arm sweep. It is over in about 2-3 seconds. The tension climaxes when the arm gets to its full reach, and it is usually unresolved because the coins end up being herded together into an even bigger pile. (Incidentally, this reminds me of Screwball Comedies http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/screwball.jsp http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/screwball.jsp, where the male and female characters are kept apart right until the last minute). It is the same with Angry Birds. When you launch a projectile, most of the parameters have been set. You may have some control later, but it could not "fix" a bad move. So you now have 2-3 seconds where you are totally helpless, and once it a while, all the stars line up and you get rewarded. Like a monkey throwing a stick at a stationary object. This is insanely addictive. It is a hail-mary gamble that works out often enough to make you keep trying. To earn three stars, one needs at least two "perfect" throws. This is extremely difficult and chancy. The levels have been designed to progressively require smaller tolerance against errors. The Rovio people probably could programmatically control the angle and velocity to see the effects, and from that tweak the pieces to make the gameplay easier or harder.