Early Bird and Friends Review

Early Bird with Friends is an action-puzzle game and a sequel to another popular iOS game. It is a fun game that will appeal to kids and anyone who enjoys puzzles, but it looks like many other action puzzle games available in the App Store and the controls aren’t perfect.

Besides all of the traditional action puzzle game mechanics, there are four different birds and each one is different. For example, Quincy the quail doesn’t fly. Instead he rolls around on the ground. Having birds with different abilities changes the game around and makes it interesting. With Quincy, instead of looking for a path in the air to the target, players have to use the different slopes and terrain of the level. Each level begins with selecting the bird to use and the levels have many different components that make the game challenging. For instance, there are “fandelions” that blow birds.

Despite being intuitive and simple, the controls don’t feel to be as finely tuned as I’d like. Swiping causes the selected bird to jump in the air, and the length and direction of the swipe is what determines how far the bird will move. Swiping while a bird is in mid-air will cause it to fly or do some other action. Players only get a limited amount of moves, called feathers, so they have to be used strategically. The goal is to land on a target where a worm is waiting. The controls definitely take some time to get used to and sometimes don’t feel accurate enough. Many times I found myself wanting more precise controls.

Early Bird and Friends is free, but there are ads and incentives to watch videos and fill out surveys. They pop up every so often, but they aren’t required. 80 levels can be unlocked, so there is definitely plenty of content.

Early Birds and Friends will definitely appeal to kids with its simple controls and cartoonish looks. The controls can definitely be improved, but considering it is free, anyone who has been waiting for the follow-up to Early Bird should download and give it a try.