Tap, tap, tap, bam! You’ve hit an obstacle. Repeat. Tap, tap, tap…
And so goes the story of our spring of 2014, which consisted mostly of playing the ultra-popular mobile game Flappy Bird during our down time (and also during our supposedly productive hours).
It was a truly sad day when Flappy Bird took its last flight later that year (well, some people still have the app, but it’s no longer available on app stores), and we haven’t had a (truly) free mobile game of equal addictiveness to fill the void since.
Sure, there are many Flappy Bird copycats around, but they’re mostly cheap ripoffs that couldn’t replicate the essence of what made the original great.
So maybe it was just our sense of patriotism that caused us to give Floppy Garuda a shot.
Floppy Garuda is, undoubtedly, another rip-off of Flappy Bird. The product of Bandung-based Anak Indie Studio, the main difference is that instead of controlling an ordinary bird, you get to take flight as a garuda, the mythical eagle-like creature that is also one of the symbols of Indonesia. It wears a cute little golden crown too.
Graphics-wise, there’s not much that differentiates Garuda from Bird, with both utilizing simple, yet vibrant, 2D graphics (though Garuda would look a lot prettier if it added color to all the black obstacles).
Unlike Bird, however, Garuda is only playable in landscape orientation, which kind of makes it impossible to play with one hand, especially on heftier gadgets. Its game physics are also some ways behind Bird’s, with each tap launching the garuda forward farther than necessary, making navigation an especially awkward process to learn, particularly after getting used to Bird’s game physics.
At least Garuda has soothing gamelan music playing in the background, which helps a little in taking away our frustration over always failing.
Is Flappy Garuda a worthy copycat of the famous Flappy Bird? Well, it’s just as frustrating to play and it’s made more difficult because its gameplay isn’t as polished as it could be. But, just like Bird, there can be no winner – you just try to do better each time. And if you fall into the spiraling addiction that may cause, then it could be the spring of 2014 all over again, where you are just a loser with no life tapping away at your phone’s screen.
Floppy Garuda is available for download at Google Play Store.
