Pigeon Squadron Review

Pigeon Squadron is a kitschy game that has you, a pigeon squadron member, trying to protect your kind from those menacing people crawling all over the ground. In order to protect your kind, you must successfully land bird poop on various heads, vehicles, and whatever else your commander tells you to hit.

In Pigeon Squadron, you are an aerial attack bomber with a birds eye view of the city. The controls are all accelerometer based, so turning your iDevice from side to side turns your pigeon and rotating it forwards and backwards changes your speed. The rest of the controls, such as your poop bombs, are laid out in easy to reach buttons.

At the beginning of each level, you are given a briefing that tells you to go attack something like the "reinforcements" that the humans call "tourists," and it is up you to attack them with as much gusto as possible. The faster and more efficient you are, the better your medal becomes. If you totally miss the point of the level and go crazy on random people, you lose.

All in all, the game is a pretty fun, lighthearted affair that may or may not have you coming back for more. The concept is fun for a while and the missions are funny, but the actual gameplay is a mixed bag. For one, the accelerometer controls for moving make for some strange playing angles. When you tilt the screen hard to go fast, you really have to move your body around to get a good view of the screen. Also, the whole poop bombing thing can get a bit stale (in comedic effect and gameplay) after a while. You'll quickly get to where you can time your poop bombs for direct hits almost every time, and the levels get pretty easy after that point.

I guess the real problem with the game, at least for me, is that it isn't hard enough. There is a shallow learning curve, and once you reach the peak, every level just becomes monotonous. I'd love to see some bird upgrades, or some kind of level up system just to add a spark to some of the levels.

If you're looking for a fun game to pick up every once in a while, Pigeon Squadron is a good buy, but if you're looking for a game with some meat, this is not the place to look.